SES Government Solutions (SES GS), a fully-owned affiliate of SES, and Isotropic Systems, a leading developer of transformational broadband terminal technologies, have announced a two-phased antenna evaluation contract with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, working in close collaboration with the U.S. Army Research Engineering Team. The contract is aimed at testing Isotropic Systems' multi-beam terminal over SES's O3b Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) constellation to ultimately unleash next-gen connectivity across the battlefield.
It is the first customer contract between Isotropic Systems and SES Government Solutions and follows on from the significant developmental partnership currently ongoing between the two companies to produce scalable, cost-effective terminals capable of providing government, military, and commercial access to the existing O3b constellation and the ground-breaking O3b mPOWER system set to launch late next year.
The U.S. Air Force and Army, through the innovative Defense Experimentation Using Commercial Space Internet (DEUCSI) program, will review a prototype of Isotropic Systems' optical beamforming antenna and its ability to connect simultaneously with two satellite constellations at GEO and MEO. The unique multi-beam capability will enable the armed forces to deliver data at the tactical edge by leveraging capacity from multiple commercial satellites and a military satellite over a single antenna platform.
The First phase over-the-air (OTA) is scheduled to be completed by early fall, followed by phase two in early 2021 where the Isotropic Systems optical lens technology will be utilized to demonstrate a full performance two beam connection. One beam will link with an SES geostationary (GEO) satellite, while another full performance optical beam will establish a simultaneous connection with SES's O3b MEO satellite constellation.
The biggest user of satellite capacity in the world, the U.S. Department of Defense, is exploring new ways to more effectively and efficiently utilize both existing and new capacity coming online in GEO, MEO and LEO orbits. Isotropic Systems' optical multi-beam terminals bring key advantages to government markets, including the flexibility to meet performance, cost, and power consumption requirements specific to defense.
