{"id":54454,"date":"2022-11-07T00:12:22","date_gmt":"2022-11-06T16:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/sda-considers-pnt-payloads-for-future-ndsa-satellites\/"},"modified":"2022-11-07T00:12:22","modified_gmt":"2022-11-06T16:12:22","slug":"sda-considers-pnt-payloads-for-future-ndsa-satellites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/sda-considers-pnt-payloads-for-future-ndsa-satellites\/","title":{"rendered":"SDA Considers PNT Payloads for Future NDSA Satellites"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

Hundreds of future satellites under the National Defense Space Architecture (NDSA) may carry GPS-type payloads to complement, improve, and back-up GPS satellites, per the Department of the Air Force Space Development Agency<\/strong> (SDA).<\/p>\n

SDA is \u201cinterested in proliferating a low-cost L-band Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT) service as a payload on the SDA Tranche 2 Transport Layer,\u201d per a Nov. 3 Request for Information (RFI).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe PNT payload would include an on-orbit reprogrammable PNT signal generator, mid-size high powered amplifier (HPA), and associated fixed wide beamwidth antenna,\u201d the RFI said. \u201cThe goal is to proliferate this low-cost payload onto hundreds of satellites within future SDA Tranches \u2013 potentially as early as Tranche 2. Ideally, solutions will be highly informed by the Tranche 1 Transport Layer and share technical approaches and hardware where possible as size, weight, power, cost, technical readiness and manufacturability will be significant constraints.\u201d<\/p>\n

SDA, which has a motto of semper citius<\/em>, Latin for \u201calways faster,\u201d plans to launch NDSA tranches every two years. Satellites in Tranche 1, which is to provide regional tactical data links, advanced missile detection, and beyond line of sight targeting, are to launch in fiscal 2024. Tranche 2, which is to integrate Tranche 1 for global application, is to launch in fiscal 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cConsistent with the continued evolution of the NDSA capabilities, the DoD and U.S. combatant commands have identified the SDA proliferated LEO constellation as a potential source for the transmission of a PNT service that would complement, augment, and, in extreme circumstance, back-up to GPS,\u201d SDA\u2019s Nov. 3 RFI said. \u201cIn this way, the SDA PNT service could serve as a forward-looking capability within NAVWAR [Navigation Warfare] resilience planning and operations. Implementation of the SDA PNT service would be compatible with military service planned software-defined PNT receiver user equipment programs (SDUE) and, potentially, as a software upgrade to the Modernized GPS User Equipment (MGUE) Increment 2 program.\u201d<\/p>\n

The RFI said that the agency \u201cexpects\u201d a high-Technology Readiness Level solution \u201cwith preference for COTS devices with space pedigree\u2013inferring manufacturing cost reduction through volume and availability.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis system may require two separate amplifiers and associated diplexer; SDA is interested both in the single wideband HPA and the two amplifier approach,\u201d per the RFI.  \u201cThe low-cost SDA on-orbit reprogrammable PNT signal generator should also minimize SWAP-C, likely utilizing either an SDR [software-defined radio] or FPGA [field-programmable gate array].\u201d<\/p>\n

While the Pentagon has considered 11 alternatives to GPS, DoD\u2019s PNT Oversight Council has emphasized the envisioned move to the anti-jamming, anti-spoofing, encrypted M-code GPS signal and should instead prioritize GPS alternatives, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report in August for the Senate Armed Services Committee.<\/p>\n

The council, co-chaired by the Pentagon acquisition chief and the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, \u201chas largely prioritized modernizing the existing GPS system over alternative PNT efforts during recent meetings and has no strategic objectives or metrics to measure progress on the alternative efforts,\u201d per the GAO report. \u201cDefined objectives and metrics would help the council better measure overall performance and mitigate any potential gaps in PNT capabilities as the military transitions to using M-code.\u201d<\/p>\n

Four of the 11 alternative to GPS efforts are multi-PNT receivers\u2013open systems boxes able to integrate multiple sources of PNT\u2013including GPS M-code, an inertial sensor, and clock\u2013so that military forces may continue a mission even if one PNT source becomes unavailable. Of the four military service multi-PNT receiver programs\u2013two by the U.S. Army, one by the U.S. Navy, and one by the U.S. Air Force\u2013only the Air Force\u2019s Resilient-Embedded Global Positioning System Inertial Navigation System (R-EGI) has a firm business case, GAO said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the late 1990s, DoD has been developing a new, more robust GPS capability known as military code, or M-code,\u201d the GAO report said. \u201cWhile M-code is a stronger signal with more advanced encryption, its development has been underway for more than a decade, with initial operational capability still years away.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition, GAO said that the cost to move to M-code \u201cwill likely be billions of dollars greater than the $2.5 billion identified through fiscal year 2021, because significant work remains.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAdditionally, current PNT receivers are not designed to easily add in new sources of PNT information,\u201d the report said. \u201cWe reported in 2021 that such PNT receivers are a challenge to fielding new capabilities, as these systems cannot be upgraded affordably.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the four multi-PNT receivers, there are seven other alternatives to GPS undertakings\u2013the Navy\u2019s Automated Celestial Navigation System (ACNS), PNT Upgrade to the Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC), and the AN\/WSN-12 Inertial Navigation System; the Army\u2019s Alternative Navigation (ALTNAV), and Assured Precision Weapons and Munitions (APWM); the Air Force\u2019s  Navigation Technology Satellite-3 (NTS-3);  and DoD\u2019s critical time dissemination.<\/p>\n

DoD, in its response to GAO, said that annual reports by the PNT Oversight Council will keep Congress apprised of the objectives of the council\u2019s alternatives to GPS and how DoD is meeting such goals.<\/p>\n

This story was first published by Via Satellite sister outlet Defense Daily.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hundreds of future satellites under the National Defense Space Architecture (NDSA) may carry GPS-type payloads to complement, improve, and back-up GPS satellites, per the Department of the Air Force Space Development Agency (SDA). SDA is \u201cinterested in proliferating a low-cost L-band Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT) service as a payload on the SDA Tranche 2 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49660,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54454"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54454\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}