Throughout the three-day event, Inmarsat and its partners will be demonstrating how, together, they work with governments across the world to seamlessly and cost-effectively enhance MILSATCOM investments.
A highlight among Inmarsat’s comprehensive portfolio of robust, reliable satcom systems, built for military users, is the company’s latest innovation; L-TAC. This unique solution, which will be demonstrated by Inmarsat and its partners, is already generating significant interest from a broad range of armed forces. L-TAC simply and cost effectively delivers beyond-line-of-site communications by utilising Inmarsat’s global L-band network to extend the reach of UHF radios.
Representing Inmarsat at the event will be Andy Start, President, Inmarsat Global Government and Peter Hadinger, President, Inmarsat US Government, who will be joined by other senior representatives from across the company’s government businesses.
Andy Start will be delivering a key speech to senior military representatives during Global MilSatCom. His presentation will illustrate how satcom today is reducing the operational costs and increasing operational flexibility for government users. Further, he focusses on the incredible rate of innovation in the industry, using some of Inmarsat’s latest products to illustrate his points, including the new High Data Rate BGAN Service and the imminent launch of Inmarsat’s first Global Xpress Ka-band spacecraft.
“This is a very important event for Inmarsat,” said Andy Start, President, Inmarsat Global Government, “and we are proud to sponsor Global MilSatCom 2013, now in its 15th year, which has become one of the world’s leading military satellite communications events.”
The technology showcase includes:
- L-TAC—Military SATCOM typically uses expensive and scarce TACSAT channels. L-TAC uses Inmarsat’s global L-band network to extend the reach of the UHF radios used by armed forces around the world. By adding a small antenna and sub-system to either a vehicle or a soldier’s backpack, military and other personnel can use their existing UHF radios to provide L-band global satellite communications. The L-TAC’s hardware converts the UHF radio signal to L-band to enable transmission across Inmarsat’s global satellite network. Governments and militaries in more than a dozen countries around the world have successfully trialled or are currently evaluating the L-TAC service for communications-on-the-move, while two of the largest armed forces have already acquired the service to significantly enhance their communications capabilities in the field.
- E710 BGAN HDR—BGAN High Data Rate (HDR) delivers a significantly enhanced streaming rate, providing a step-change in connectivity for global governments. The E710 BGAN portable terminal delivers superior data and video communications anywhere in the world, especially remote regions or areas where the existing communications infrastructure is unreliable or damaged. It is compact and lightweight, no bigger than a laptop computer, and is fully ‘plug and play’ for rapid set up in the field.
- Mobile Data Node (MDN)—The Mobile Data Node (MDN) is a highly portable, rapidly deployable and secure communications base station that provides 3G voice and data coverage up to 500 metres from an Inmarsat BGAN terminal. It provides access to mobile applications delivered to smartphones and tablet devices in remote, hostile and extreme environments. By combining the global availability and reliability of Inmarsat’s BGAN service with SEA’s MDN, military users can establish a man-portable, global, 3G base station virtually anywhere in the world.
- Low Profile BGAN (LPB)—LPB is a unique surveillance service from Inmarsat. Rapid-to-deploy, LPB features a covert antenna, which can be buried under a layer of material while maintaining connectivity, linked to a specially toughened BGAN terminal. The device, connected to surveillance equipment in the field for example, can lay hidden for extended periods of time, to be awoken by a command or an event in the vicinity. It is designed to be compatible with a wide range of government equipment.
- Global Xpress—In addition to its existing product and services for the government sector, Inmarsat will be offering an update on its game-changing Global Xpress service. With the first GX satellite scheduled to be available to support a launch as early as December this year, and full global coverage on course to be achieved by the end of 2014, GX will be the world’s first globally available high-speed broadband network. It will offer the unique combination of global coverage from a single operator, consistent higher performance of up to 50Mbps, and the network reliability for which Inmarsat is renowned.
