US Space Force increases efforts to plug training capabilities gaps
The service has been seeking simulation and emulation solutions capable of reproducing multiple in-orbit threats.
Silvus Technologies has announced that it has been awarded a DARPA contract for prototype development for Phase I of the Fixed Wireless at a Distance programme.
Silvus is being sponsored by the Air Force Research Lab for the project, and the contract value for Phase I including options is $1 million.
The company is drawing on its experience in developing advanced multi-input multi-output (MIMO) wireless technology, and subcontractors to Silvus are BAE Systems and Alcatel Lucent Bell Labs acting through LGS Innovations.
‘Current military communication systems have limited ability to support mobile, distributed operations in remote geographic areas due to the small size of networks and relatively short range of individual military radios,’ a statement released by the company said. ‘The Fixed Wireless at a Distance program seeks to enable pervasive, high-throughput military communications to geographically dispersed forces using a mobility backbone infrastructure that provides unlimited scalability for high-speed communication for warfighters.’
In response to this requirement Silvus will deliver a ‘fully self-organizing and highly-scalable communications solution’, while ‘advanced MIMO techniques and proprietary Media Access Control (MAC) protocols will be exploited to seamlessly scale from as few as 10 distributed antennas to as many as 100 antennas, or more.
‘The resulting deliverable will be a distributed multi-antenna communication system that delivers performance on par with that of a centralized multi-antenna system.’
Phillip Duncan, Silvus’ COO and VP of business development, commented: ‘We are delighted to have an opportunity to work with DARPA and our partners Alcatel Lucent Bell Labs and BAE to bring next-generation technology one step closer to the reality.
‘With years of experience developing MIMO technologies for military and commercial applications, Silvus is uniquely positioned to leverage its expertise to bring a much needed capability to the warfighter.’
The service has been seeking simulation and emulation solutions capable of reproducing multiple in-orbit threats.
The service has been conducting several acquisition and upgrading efforts involving artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve communication, data analysis and ISR systems.
The Syracuse 4B communications satellite, developed by Airbus and Thales Alenia Space, was launched last year, bolstering secure military satellite communications for the French Armed Forces. Thales has now been selected to provide terminals for vehicles.
The growing importance of space in modern warfare, advancements in satellite technology, and increasing threats from rivals like China and Russia were among the topics of a Eurosatory 2024 panel on military space operations.
AN/ARC-232A is a Starfire radio that provides VHF/UHF communications to airborne platforms and the transceiver is software-programmable, allowing for multiple waveform support as well as optional national electronic counter counter-measure (ECCM) capability.
During the 18-month period of the contract, Lockheed Martin will apply Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) techniques to create surrogate models of aircraft, sensors, electronic warfare and weapons within dynamic and operationally representative environments.