Airborne ISR Mesh High-Speed Communication via Satellite

LinkWay(S2), the mesh IP satellite communications system for the Army's Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (WIN-T) and Marine's Support Wide Area Network (SWAN) program, has proven itself over the last decade to be the fastest and most flexible mesh MF-TDMA modem available. Traditionally utilized predominantly in fixed or At-The Halt (ATH) applications, new improvements in the LinkWay(S2) waveform make ground-mobile and even airborne mesh communications using LinkWay(S2) possible. High-speed mesh communications with a manned ISR aircraft was demonstrated in a mesh MF-TDMA network which combined At-the-Halt (ATH), ground mobile, and an airborne SATCOM terminal in a single, hubless tactical LinkWay(S2) meshed IP network. In two separate exercises using the LinkWay(S2) mesh MF-TDMA modem, high-definition (HD), high-speed ISR video was transmitted from a King Air manned ISR aircraft to 2.4m aperture ATH terminals while the aircraft simultaneously participated in IP video teleconferences (VTCs) with the ATH terminals. Operating on a 10 Msps Mesh TDMA carrier, ISR HD video rates exceeding 6 Mbps, and VTC rates exceeding 1 Mbps, were transmitted and received without error while the aircraft performed evasive maneuvers at airspeed in excess of 230 mph. The ground mobile SATCOM terminals communicated with the ATH terminals simultaneous with the airborne terminal operation, and, for the first time, direct mesh communication between an airborne terminal and a ground mobile terminal. These exercises were the first demonstrations of airborne mesh satellite communications, achieved the highest speed TDMA operation from any mobile terminal (10 Msps) to date, and are the first networks to combine airborne and ground mobile terminals is a single mesh MF-TDMA network. These exercises conclusively demonstrate that highspeed mesh satellite communications-on-the-move (COTM) is possible using LinkWay(S2) without requiring a large hub infrastructure and is being deployed today.