Satnews Daily
September 7th, 2016

Diversity Rings True With Assured QoS Backup From Kratos


Avoiding a network's Quality of Service (QoS) disruption is of paramount importance... if such an interruption does occur, seeking an alternative channel to complete communications can become a nightmare.

However, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq:KTOS) now offers a solution with the release their SpectralNet 1.2 with Automated Site Diversity functionality. This product enables satellite and network operators to locate backup antennas in optimal and cost effective locations and to seamlessly switch between antennas without impacting a network’s QoS.

SpectralNet digitizes RF signals for packetized transport over IP networks—preserving frequency and timing characteristics without degradation or loss of data—and restores the RF signals at their destination. Prior to SpectralNet, the transport of RF signals was limited to approximately 75 kilometers, severely constraining satellite ground system architecture by requiring teleports and antennas to be in close proximity. As SpectralNet digitizes RF signals for transport over IP networks, antenna placement is no longer subject to the distance limitations of traditional RF transport technologies.

Automated site diversity is an enhancement in SpectralNet Release 1.2. When satellite or network operators must switch from one antenna to another for factors such as rain fade, equipment or network failure, or other events that can compromise performance, the switchover can be difficult and potentially cause loss of data in the process. SpectralNet’s Automated Site Diversity application provides seamless switching between geographically dispersed antennas with no effect on downstream services, thereby optimizing antenna utilization, minimizing data loss and maintaining QoS.

The Site Diversity application continuously aligns the two RF signals (from the primary and remote antennas) in both time and frequency, compensating for timing changes caused by satellite movement and network changes— all within a few nanoseconds. Set-up and control of the site diversity application is easily accomplished from a single user interface.

David Soderholm, SpectralNet Product Manager, explained that in addition to automated site diversity, SpectralNet Release 1.2 opens up new operational enhancements for network operators that include mitigation of rain fade, new backup and disaster recovery strategies and ground system centralization, just to name a few.

www.kratosnetworks.com/products/rf-transport