NG tests Advanced EHF ground-sat interface

REDONDO BEACH, Calif., Feb. 1 (UPI) -- U.S. company Northrop Grumman has tested the interface compatibility of the Advanced EHF satellite with ground terminals.

The company said in a statement Friday it had "demonstrated the interface compatibility of the next-generation Advanced Extremely High Frequency -- EHF -- military communications satellite with user ground terminals using the new Extended Data Rate --XDR -- waveform and protocols. Tests were conducted using a U.S. Army user terminal as well as a terminal configuration to be used by international partners participating in Advanced EHF.

"Advanced EHF is a joint service satellite communications system that will provide global survivable, protected and assured communications for high-priority military ground, sea and air assets. Northrop Grumman's Space Technology sector is under contract to provide the communications payloads to Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor for the Advanced EHF system," the company said.

"The XDR capability and other advanced technologies will allow Advanced EHF satellites to provide 10 times more communications capacity and six times higher channel data rates than the predecessor Milstar system," Northrop Grumman said.

"Demonstration of the satellite-to-terminal interface shows that Advanced EHF is able to serve its U.S. and international users with the high-data-rate protected communications that are so critical to today's war fighter," said Alexis Livanos, corporate vice president and president of the company's Space Technology sector.

"This latest demonstration was conducted using terminals modified for the higher rate XDR capability of Advanced EHF, and demonstrated operation of all three waveforms -- LDR, MDR and XDR," the company said.

In all, "84 test objectives were demonstrated with the Advanced EHF payload interfacing to XDR-compatible terminals, including the U.S. Army's Warfighter Information Network-Tactical terminal -- WIN-T, the international variant of the Secure Mobile Anti-Jam Reliable Tactical Terminal -- SMART-T, and Lincoln Laboratory's Advanced Universal System Test Terminal -- AUST-T," Northrop Grumman said.

"The test team, sponsored by U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, was led by Northrop Grumman, and included participants from the Joint Terminal Engineering Office, Lockheed Martin, U.S. Army WIN-T program, Lincoln Laboratory, and Raytheon -- terminal manufacturer," Northrop Grumman said.