MUOS radio terminal support facility opens

A new radio terminal development and certification facility has been opened by Lockheed Martin to support the US military in maximising utilisation of the Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) communications satellite network.

The US Navy’s MUOS network is expected to achieve global communications coverage in 2015, when it will significantly improve secure mobile, tactical communications for warfighters on the move. Once fully operational, MUOS will connect secure terminal users through Internet Protocol-based technology, allowing them to transmit and receive clear voice calls and data from almost anywhere in the world. 

Lockheed Martin’s new Test Radio Access Facility (TRAF) in Sunnyvale, California, will assist industry in testing, developing and certifying MUOS radio terminals and government applications more quickly.

More than 55,000 currently fielded terminals can be upgraded to the MUOS Wideband Code Division Multiple Access waveform. TRAF will allow developers to test and validate new software, hardware and applications, under a variety of operational environments, using TRAF’s ground segment testbed and satellite simulator. Private ‘suites’ will allow companies to maintain proprietary and secure areas, as well as facilitate joint development, including interoperating in over the air testing. Developers also can test terminals and applications on the same equipment expected to be used for final certification.   

Glenn Ladue, MUOS TRAF manager, said: ‘Lockheed Martin’s goal with the TRAF is to help terminal developers and application integrators get MUOS’ capabilities deployed to the warfighter as quickly as possible. Providing a high fidelity, end-to-end test environment during development will dramatically shorten the time it takes to get from a good idea to operational utility.’