Posts Tagged ‘communications’
U.S. Military Satellite Communications: Taking the High Ground with X-band SATCOM
On Saturday, March 18, the Department of Defense successfully launched the ninth of ten military satellite communications (MILSATCOM) satellites known as Wideband Global SATCOM – Nine (WGS-9) into orbit, bringing significantly more X-band and Ka-band SATCOM capacity into the hands of the U.S. Department of Defense and the militaries of Australia, Canada, Denmark, Luxembourg, the…
Read MoreSatellite Communications and Security Cooperation: Achieving All-Weather Global Resiliency, Interoperability, and Affordability – by Working with WGS
Background. On December 7, 2016, the US Air Force launched the 8th of 10 planned Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) satellites into orbit, from Cape Canaveral in Florida. This latest WGS satellite marks a technological leap forward for the WGS constellation, bringing more X- (and Ka-band) capacity to the Department of Defense. X-band is also an…
Read MoreSmall UAVs: Overcoming SWaP Limitations with Smaller, Lighter, High-Throughput X-band SATCOM Terminals
Have you wondered what trends in business ultimately will be successful, and which are just flashes in the pan? Look no further than everyday cell phones, the success of which is largely due to countless improvements overcoming Size, Weight, and Power (SWaP) limitations of previous generations of cell phones and computing devices. Not surprisingly, the UAV market faces the…
Read MoreSmaller, Lighter, Further: All-Weather, High Endurance Reconnaissance and the X-band UAV
Small UAV manufacturers, take note: your efforts to build smaller, lighter UAVs with longer range and higher endurance are not going unnoticed. Time for a quick primer on what the established competition already knows: UAVs are Size, Weight and Power-limited (SWaP-limited) applications, and thus operate better in X-band – and the reason is simple physics involving (a) X-band’s…
Read MoreDoD Acquisition Reform, Silicon Valley Innovation, and What These Should Tell Us about the Future of Satellite Communications
After years of watching struggling defense acquisition reform initiatives while simultaneously lauding the agility, responsiveness, and successes of U.S. industry (perhaps most notably, Silicon Valley companies), it is clear that the Department of Defense needs to transition from a traditional “you-buy-it, you-live-with-it” military satellite communications (MILSATCOM) architecture towards an agile, responsive, commercial-based satellite communications (COMSATCOM) solution to meet our…
Read MoreControl your own destiny
The satellite menu is a smorgasbord of options, particularly with the introduction in recent years of Ka-band. The search for effective Beyond Line of Sight (BLOS) solutions for governments, particularly in this new world of ever-changing threats is fraught with misinformation and misperceptions. An effective solution is at your fingertips. You may not know about…
Read MoreXTAR-LANT Enhances EMC Global X-band Coverage
EMC Using X-band for Airborne Terminal Application XTAR, LLC renewed a long-term contract to supply EMC with high-throughput X-band to disadvantaged airborne terminals. EMC is a leading provider of communications and content services for remote locations around the world. As part of the contract, XTAR will continue to provide space segment to Airborne intelligence, surveillance…
Read MoreXTAR Celebrates 10 Years of Service as the World Celebrates 70 Years of Satcom
70 years ago, in October 1945, on the heels of World War II, Arthur C. Clarke published his now famous article in Wireless World, “EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL RELAYS, Can Rocket Stations Give World-wide Radio Coverage?” It would be 12 more years before the Russians would launch Sputnik, followed closely by the U.S. with Explorer 1 on a Jupiter…
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