In two separate demos for the US Army, Kratos, along with partners, showed how satellites in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) and Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO) could be utilized to support more agile and resilient multi-orbit, multi-mission capabilities. In the first demonstration, Kratos and satellite operator SES showed how a flexible, fully virtualized sat-ellite communications ground sys-tem could facilitate simultaneous communication pathways for resilient SATCOM.
The US Army’s Combat Capabilities Development Command demo successfully showed how a soft-ware-defined network architecture could seamlessly support satellites on a “make-before-break” mode over SES’s O3b MEO satellite net-work.
“Make-before-break” refers to the ability to transfer communication sessions while the user transvers-es coverage areas of different sat-ellites—an essential capability for leveraging MEO and LEO constellations.
However, to leverage multi-orbit satellites, MILSATCOM networks require a more agile capability than current hardware-based ground sys-tems. OpenSpace®, the software-de-fined satellite ground system devel-oped by Kratos, demonstrated the agility needed for these future-ori-ented operations.
In the second demonstration, Kratos, Telesat Government Solutions, and Cobham Satcom showed how a flexible network architecture could dynamically support simultaneous communication pathways for LEO-based SATCOM. LEO constellations offer the stra-tegic benefits of lower latency con-nectivity and redundancy. “Every mission has different requirements for connectivity, which require maximum flexibility for leveraging multiple satel-lites, networks, and network elements,” said Chris Badgett, VP of Technology for Kratos. “Only a software-defined approach can provide the level of adaptability at mission speed to maximize those avail-able network resources.” Kratos has worked with several satellite service operators over the past year to test and verify the func-tionality of OpenSpace as a gateway and edge platform at each of the major orbital belts, GEO, MEO, and LEO. In future conflicts, multi-orbit operations will be crucial to seam-lessly sharing information amongst joint military branches and international partners. Both projects were funded through the Network Cross-Func-tional Team (N-CFT) established by the Army Futures Command.
