{"id":85241,"date":"2011-03-08T17:25:52","date_gmt":"2011-03-08T09:25:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/intelsat-general-sees-major-increase-in-throughput-to-meet-uav-requirements\/"},"modified":"2011-03-08T17:25:52","modified_gmt":"2011-03-08T09:25:52","slug":"intelsat-general-sees-major-increase-in-throughput-to-meet-uav-requirements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/intelsat-general-sees-major-increase-in-throughput-to-meet-uav-requirements\/","title":{"rendered":"Intelsat General Sees Major Increase in Throughput to Meet UAV Requirements"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[03-08-11] The <strong>U.S. Department of Defense<\/strong>\u2019s long-term strategy for acquiring more unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), combined with the increasing sophistication of sensors employed onboard these aircraft, will drive a significant increase in required incremental data rates and bandwidth over the next 15 years, <strong>Intelsat General <\/strong>Vice President of Business Strategy Britt Lewis told <em>Satellite News<\/em>.<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; \u201cWe have done our own studies on the likely demand for the medium- and high-altitude UAVs that leverage satcom, and I also have recently reviewed the Teal Group\u2019s projections for those aircraft. Our projections are in line that the government is set to spend somewhere around $49 billion overall for the next 10 years. That would include production of approximately 70 to 100 medium- and high-altitude aircraft each year. It is a significant spending budget for satcom-enabled technology,\u201d said Lewis.<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In February, the Pentagon released its $553 billion 2012 budget, representing a $4 billion increase from its requested funding in 2011. For 2012, Gates highlighted support for UAVs, stating that the number of missions will increase substantially as ground forces will have to be replaced by other means to gather intelligence.<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; \u201cIt\u2019s clear from the Department of Defense on down that the government has made significant commitments to UAV capabilities providing full-motion video and a whole range of other types of capability that broadly provide mission-critical situational awareness for the effectiveness of their operations in a range of places around the world. UAV have become an indispensable part of the in-theatre capabilities that are deployed for U.S. military and civilian purposes,\u201d said Lewis.<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; There are a number of ways to backhaul UAV and manned ISR mission data collected by on-board sensors. Commercial satellites provide a vast majority of those communications. While managing UAV missions, the U.S. Air Force operates a remote split mechanism where UAVs are launched in-theater and controlled by pilots located in the United States. The military\u2019s terrestrial network provides communications to Europe, with leveraged satcom providing command and control and the reach-back or for the sensor data that is originated.<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Lewis said the U.S. government also has made significant milsatcom investments, like WGS wideband communications, to help support reach-back for UAVs as well. \u201cFrom the analysis that we\u2019ve done with our customers throughout the Air Force and combat command, the Pentagon will likely begin to aggressively leverage milsatcom starting in 2011. However, projections go out to as far as 2027, when the expectation is that they will continue to use a mix of commercial Ku-band and Ka-band on WGS to support UAVs. As the military has committed to an eight-satellite WGS constellation, the UAVs that are developed over time will likely be developed to support Ka-band, which will then be able to be compatible with WGS Ka-band.\u201d<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The sophistication of UAV-based sensors will drive growth in data rates, and according to Lewis, the military may not have the Ka-band capacity needed to support operations if they continue to operate in today\u2019s current battle-theatre hotspots. <br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; \u201cAs we look out over time, the military\u2019s throughput expectations become increasingly aggressive. Medium-altitude UAVs like the Predators, Reapers and the Army\u2019s extended-range multipurpose are planned to transition from 3.2 to 6.4 megabits-per-second (Mbps) throughput to 12.8 megabits per second by leveraging commercial satcom. The military eventually wants to move to Ka-band and go to 16 Mbps. During real combat missions, they want throughput support as high as 45 Mbps and 100 Mbps, so we\u2019re looking at a growth in overall data rates at 15 times the current rate, driven by sensor technology,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cIf you look at the high-altitude Global Hawk missions that Intelsat General is supporting today, they are configured to three different mission rates \u2014 8 Mbps, 20 Mbps or 48 Mbps. Their vision for Global Hawk over time is to move to 83 Mbps, 138 Mbps and, in some instances, to go well beyond 274 Mbps. This represents a growth in overall data rates for the high-altitude missions at six times the current rate.\u201d <br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Lewis said Intelsat General has been working with military officials to figure out a reasonable path to achieve its requirements. \u201cThe military is often taking the raw imagery data, processing it, analyzing it and then redisseminating it back out so that the deployed warfighters can leverage it within their mission and operations. Because of the increase of demand, the discussions have been based on finding the right balance of commercial satcom and milsatcom. It has been productive, as we realize that is the only way the military will have the bandwidth they need moving forward.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[03-08-11] The U.S. Department of Defense\u2019s long-term strategy for acquiring more unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), combined with the increasing sophistication of sensors employed onboard these aircraft, will drive a significant increase in required incremental data rates and bandwidth over the next 15 years, Intelsat General Vice President of Business Strategy Britt Lewis told Satellite News. 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