ViaSat Wins U.S. DoD Study Contract to Assess Bandwidth Cost Reduction Methods

Oct. 17, 2011

ViaSat Inc. has received a contract from the U.S. Department of Defense for its current study of commercial communication satellite (COCOMSAT) systems. The contract asks ViaSat to develop methods to assess various approaches for reducing the cost of capacity through application of commercial satellite capabilities, and examine trade-offs among modems and teleports, satellite communication payloads, mission planning, and terminal constraints, performance, and operations.

"The entire Milsatcom community recognizes the need to reduce the cost of bandwidth for the warfighter," said Steve Gardner, chief technology officer of the Government Systems Division at ViaSat. "However, without a metrics-based analysis, such as cost-per-bit or cost-per-unit of capacity, the relative merits of high-capacity payloads with 50 to 70 fold capacity improvements can't be compared with concepts like hosted payloads offering more affordable launches or acquisition streamlining that can lower program costs."

The study results from ViaSat will be delivered to the Military Satellite Communications (MILSATCOM) Systems Directorate of the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center.