O3b Networks today announced the
successful testing of its Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellite
connectivity with the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet during a
Limited Objective Experiment (LOE) during Trident Warrior 2015.
Together with lead integrator Oceus Networks and partner
TrustComm, Inc., O3b demonstrated, and the Navy officially
evaluated, the game-changing advantages the O3b satellite
constellation provides.
O3b’s state-of-the-art MEO satellites are in a unique orbit
significantly closer to earth than legacy Geostationary (GEO)
satellites, vastly reducing network latency. The high throughput
O3b satellites also offer much greater capacity, supporting up
to 1.6Gbps in a single 700km/450NM wide beam, enabling true
broadband speeds even at sea.
The “Trident Warrior” experiments are designed to identify
new and innovative technologies, which will enable more
effective naval operational capabilities. A primary goal is to
realize Network Centric Warfare capabilities; achieving a
military advantage based on providing more usable information
directly to operations in theater. This is enabled through
robust technology amongst dispersed units, coupled with seamless
communications that allow those forces to interact and share
information as soon as it becomes available in an asymmetrical
warfighting environment.
O3b is a unique enabler of Network Centric Warfare
capabilities, which was demonstrated during “Trident Warrior.”
For the exercises, O3b 1.2m maritime tracking antennas were
placed on the USS Fort Worth Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-3), which
achieved connectivity speeds of approximately 600Mbps (200Mbps
uplink, 400Mbps downlink).
O3b, Oceus, and TrustComm were able to prove they could
provide much higher broadband connectivity than Navy vessels
currently receive, to a ship while in theater. This enables
applications and technologies never available to the U.S. Navy
including 4G/LTE, WiFi, HD video streaming and telemedicine—all
of which were accomplished during “Trident Warrior.”
“O3b Networks is delighted to be allowed to participate in
Commander, 7th Fleet’s Trident Warrior 2015
exercises,” said “D” D’Ambrosio, EVP Government Solutions for
O3b Networks. “We’ve been actively testing O3b with the Navy at
SPAWAR’s SSC PACIFIC Common Optical Distribution Architecture
(CODA) lab, where 7th Fleet first saw the service, but it’s
great to see it deployed on a naval vessel and perform as
advertised at sea.”
“Providing Maritime LTE services has been a major focus for
Oceus Networks, and our partnership with O3b combines two robust
technologies,” said Randy Fuerst, President and CEO of Oceus
Networks. “The U.S. Navy, through Trident Warrior, was able to
see first-hand how to achieve a high data rate with low latency
and at an affordable cost in an operational environment.”
“TrustComm prides itself on delivering the most innovative,
state-of-the-art capabilities to our customers,” said Bob Roe,
CEO of TrustComm, Inc. “During Trident Warrior, the O3b service
performed impressively, facilitating multiple bandwidth hungry
operations simultaneously and exceeding expectations."
