NATO to upgrade UHF SATCOM control stations
NATO has awarded ViaSat a contract to upgrade its ultra-high frequency (UHF) satellite communications (SATCOM) control stations to comply with the Integrated Waveform (IW) baseline, the company announced on 3 January.
The upgrade will give NATO improved communications interoperability, scalability and flexibility across legacy and next-generation platforms to enhance situational awareness across the battlespace.
NATO is upgrading its legacy UHF communications network to Viasat’s Visual Integrated SATCOM Information, Operation and Networking (VISION) planning and network management platform, a software package designed to simultaneously support all 25kHz legacy demand-assigned multiple-access (DAMA) and next-generation IW networks and services.
The VISION platform gives network operators real-time capabilities to reconfigure UHF satellite networks to meet new mission profiles on the fly. By enabling interoperability between DAMA and IW platforms, NATO can double its efficiency without additional investment in the UHF space segment. This optimisation doubles the number of users, improving access to reliable and resilient voice and data communications.
The Viasat VISION platform provides a single user-friendly network management interface for DAMA and IW services. It also provides the ability to locally or remotely manage and control ground station networks, monitor status and system performance, track event/alarm management situations and add/remove services when missions change.
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