28 April 2011
EMS Technologies, Inc. announced the initiation of a new satellite communications study for The Commonwealth of Australia. The study will assess the feasibility of using Multi User Detection (MUD) technology as one potential option to provide efficient narrowband services for small aperture SHF terminals operating on the Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) constellation. The six-month long contract was awarded in March by the Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) to EMS SATCOM Pacific Pty Ltd, the Australian business unit of EMS Global Tracking.
“Our MUD technology has the potential to deliver significant efficiencies for Satcom on the Move (SOTM) terminals operating on WGS” said Dino Koutrouki, Vice President and General Manager, EMS Global Resource Management. “We are very pleased to be involved in this program for the Australian DMO; it represents an important milestone in EMS’s long and growing relationship with the agency.”
The study will focus on using WGS and the OPTUS C1 satellite to support narrowband services — such as Blue Force Tracking, Common Operating Picture dissemination, image upload and real-time voice — from mobile, small satellite communications terminals. “MUD technology could change the way satellite capacity is applied to narrowband services for Australia’s defence programs,” added Paul Weiss, Managing Director, Government Solutions, Asia Pacific, EMS Global Tracking. “By sharing wideband resources with large populations of micro terminals, there is also potential to enhance the execution of tactical command and control communications; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; battle management; and combat support information”.
If shown successful during the study, the MUD technology could be a candidate for enabling network access for a wide and diverse range of deployed forces.
