NATO C3 Agency to assess Internet Routing in Space

On 23 November 2009, a space-tolerant router designed by Cisco streaks into orbit aboard a satellite owned by Intelsat Ltd. The router is currently part of a technology demonstration for the US Department of Defense (DoD), IP Routing in Space, or IRIS. The IRIS payload was successfully powered up in orbit on 01 December 2009. Network testing began on 17 December 2009, with all indications that the IRIS capability is operational.

On 28 January 2010, the US DoD will start the 90 day demonstration period to determine the IRIS suitability for the US and its NATO allies. The US DoD demonstration is the capstone of a 3-year Joint Capability Technology Demonstration (JCTD). NATO, facilitated by NC3A, has been a critical partner in the IRIS programme and has participated in a preliminary assessment last spring. During this final on orbit assessment, NC3A testing will focus on technical characteristics and operational benefits of the commercial IRIS technology for future NATO operations. IRIS is different from legacy SATCOM capabilities as it enables routing of IP packets in orbit, also across satellite beams. NC3A tests will provide insight into possible benefits for NATO operations, applications and capabilities. The NATO SATCOM architecture is defined in such a way that capabilities like IRIS can easily be integrated. The IRIS capability is envisaged as a part of the NATO network-enabled capability (NNEC) supporting seamless information exchange, ideally with global coverage.

The IRIS capability is promising and could enable US and allied military forces to seamlessly and instantly communicate over the satellite IP network from any regions of the world that are covered by any of the satellite beams. Representing the next generation of space-based communications, the on-board routing capability of IRIS offers several distinct advantages over conventional satellite technology. IRIS can route data between ground users covered by different satellite beams in a single satellite hop, thus reducing transponder utilization and increase efficiency. Because the payload regenerates the received signals, the end-to-end signal performance is improved, allowing a reduction in the size of sending and receiving terminals, particularly important for mobile applications. With IRIS, users will also be able to experience a true mobile network, one that enables them to connect and communicate how, when and where they want, and that continuously adapts to their needs without reliance on a predefined, fixed infrastructure. Finally, the software of the Cisco router and onboard modem can be upgraded from the ground, which increases the flexibility of the system to implement future waveform and router standards.

Source: NC3A