Northrop Grumman tests hybrid satcom capability across LEO, GEO

An AFRL depiction of the types of multiple aircraft and command nodes that could be connected via a hybrid satcom architecture. (AFRL)

Programme officials at Northrop Grumman have demonstrated a hybrid satellite communications (satcom) capability, which company officials claim can maintain resilient connectivity to satcom assets operating at proliferated low Earth orbit (pLEO) geostationary Earth orbit (GEO).

The demonstration, conducted as part of the Global Lightning satcom initiative at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), featured a Northrop Grumman-developed hybrid satcom terminal, the ViaSat-3 F1 GEO satellite and a “commercial pLEO communications provider”, according to a statement issued by Northrop Grumman in September.

“The demonstration proved communications diversity with a connection to a commercial pLEO communications provider at Ku-[band] frequencies in low Earth orbit and … Ka-[band] frequencies through [a] ViaSat-3 F1 satellite in geosynchronous orbit,” company officials said in the statement.

The notion of a hybrid satcom architecture is akin to how cellular data is transmitted during voice and video calls, as well as other means of electronic communication. A cellular signal can ping across any number of cellular provider networks and infrastructure, transmitting on to one network, then leapfrogging across other networks until the data reaches its destination.

In terms of satcom, under a hybrid approach, data transmission can be initiated through a network at GEO, then jump onto a satcom network at LEO and even medium Earth orbit (MEO) – and potentially back up the orbital satcom chain – until the data transmission reaches the receiver.

The company's terrestrial hybrid satcom terminal maintained “resilient, uninterrupted connectivity” as data transmissions moved between GEO and pLEO constellations during the demonstration, according to the statement.