Intelsat General (IGC) has been providing reliable communications-on-the-move (COTM) via satellite to remotely piloted aircraft since the early 2000s. Airborne Satellite COTM is used to address two primary applications for manned and unmanned aircraft: en-route communications for senior leadership and airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (AISR) missions.
Over the last decade, Intelsat General has designed several Airborne Satellite COTM networks using Ku-band capacity that have fulfilled the ever-increasing customer demand for faster data rates over specific regions as well as for high data rates globally. These services support government and commercial users requiring en-route communications for various applications, including two-way voice/data/VTC communications and Internet connectivity for Department of Defense senior leaders who need reliable communications when in flight for operational missions anywhere in the world.
The main challenge in designing custom en-route communications is the engineering of SATCOM links to meet specific data rate and availability requirements over the entire needed coverage area. Network engineers aim to maximize the number of simultaneous aircraft operations for the service within a given performance range of aircraft terminals, while at the same time minimizing the leased MHz bandwidth required.
Typical en-route terminal size/performance consists of:
- 30 cm (12inch) terminals with a G/T of 8.4 dB/K and EIRP of 39.5 dBW
- 45 cm (18 inch) terminals with a G/T of 11 dB/K and EIRP of 43.1 dBW