The Kymeta u8 antenna mounted on a vehicle. Photo: Kymeta

Kymeta and Kratos Defense & Security Solutions have formed a strategic partnership to develop products that integrate mobile satellite antennas and virtualized ground systems. According to the Feb. 1 announcement, the partnership will first focus on jointly developing a software-defined remote terminal for multi-orbit use cases, connecting to multiple orbits through the same antenna. 

The companies said the result will be a digital ground terminal that leverages the Kymeta u8 antenna technology and Kratos’ OpenSpace technology. The OpenSpace Platform, which debuted in October 2020, is a software-defined ground system designed to advance the digital transformation of satellite networks. The u8 is an electronically steered antenna for land mobile use that commercially launched in November 2020.  

“Today’s modem/antenna interface assumes an analog, static, one-for-one relationship at a time when the space layer has evolved to include highly dynamic multi-orbit networks and software-defined payloads,” said Greg Quiggle, vice president of Space Product Management at Kratos. “Remote terminals must digitally transform to dynamically enable multi-beam, multi-band, and multi-use at the network edge.”

Kratos and Kymeta are both founding members of the Digital IF Interoperability Consortium (DIFI), and said jointly developed products will conform to industry standards, including the IEEE-ISTO Std 4900-2021: Digital IF Interoperability Standard, v1.0. 

DIFI is bringing together companies from across the satellite industry to push for open standards in ground technology. It recently consolidated two separate standards groups into one group to extend, adapt, improve, and certify the current standard.