Comtech Telecommunications Corp. Expands Satellite Modem Product Line

March 31, 2021

 Comtech EF Data Corp., has introduced a new product, the CDM-650 Satellite Modem. The CDM-650 leverages the heritage and feature set of Comtech’s SLM-5650B/C, CDM-625A and CDM-425 modems, which have been adopted and deployed globally to support government and commercial applications.

“We are pleased to introduce the new CDM-650 Satellite Modem to address the needs of foreign government and military entities,” said Fred Kornberg, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Comtech. “The advanced feature set available in the CDM-650 provides the performance, reliability and scalability needed for secure and mission-critical networks.”

The CDM-650 Satellite Modem was purpose-built for secure government and military networks. The CDM-650 is suited for fixed location, on-the-pause and on-the-move communications applications. The product features Turbo Product Codes, three Low Density Parity Check (“LDPC”) code families, VersaFEC®-2 high performance LDPC short and long block forward error correction and a range of modulation, including BPSK, QPSK, OQPSK, 8PSK, 8-QAM, and 16-QAM. By employing the combination of state-of-the-art forward error correction and modulation techniques, the CDM-650 can optimize satellite transponder bandwidth usage.

In addition, Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (“DSSS”) is an option on the CDM-650 for supporting both point-to-point and point-to-multipoint applications in conjunction with LDPC-based forward error correction and BPSK. The combination of advanced features provides ultra-low power spectral densities, enabling the use of small antennas when adjacent satellite interference is an important consideration.

The CDM-650 offers data rates from 18 kbps to 155 Mbps and symbol rates from 32 ksps to 64 Msps. The modem supports an Ethernet 10/100/1000T user traffic data interface that can be used in Bridge mode or Routed mode offering Quality of Service protocols and traffic shaping / congestion control methods. In addition, the modem supports backward compatibility and interoperability in certain modes of operation with Comtech’s SLM-5650B/C, CDM-625A and CDM-425 modems.