REDONDO BEACH, Calif., Jan. 24 (UPI) -- Engineers in Southern California completed the installation of the three primary antennas on the first U.S. Advanced EHF military communications satellite.
The uplink and the two downlink phased-array antennas were in place and their performance with other components of the payload was verified, Northrop Grumman said in a news release late Tuesday, meaning Northrop remains on track to deliver the payload to prime contractor Lockheed Martin at the end of the month.
The Advanced EHF (Extremely High Frequency) satellite is designed to provide about 10 times the total capacity and six times the secure high-channel data rates as the current Milstar communications satellites. The result will be better video and targeting data for commanders in the field and at the Pentagon.
The phased-array antennas are the first designed to operate at 20 Gigahertz and 40 Gigahertz in space. They will be joined with microelectronics and XDR (extremely high data rate) waveforms that will also be applicable to the next-generation Transformational Satellite Communications Systems (TSAT) that will eventually replace both Milstar and Advanced EHF.
Northrop said the testing for the trio of antennas included 40 separate tests on a system-wide and individual antenna basis. The results showed gain and coverage in excess of requirements.
