Operations in Contested/Congested Satellite Environments

Intro

In our increasingly interconnected world, satellite communications have become a cornerstone of modern communication networks, enabling global connectivity for everything from connecting rural communities to navigation and surveillance. However, according to US Space Command (August 31, 2023), as the demand for satellite bandwidth grows and more actors enter the space arena, the once-uncongested satellite environment is becoming increasingly contested. The contention poses significant challenges to traditional satellite communications systems, leading to exploration of alternative solutions. One such solution that has gained renewed attention is tropospheric scatter, or Troposcatter, communications.

Contested Satellite Environment

Satellite communication has long been favored for its ability to provide wide coverage and high bandwidth connectivity across vast distances. This advantage, however, according to the European Space Agency (April 21, 2022), has led to an overcrowded space environment. A similar finding by the Union of Concerned Scientists (January 1, 2023), indicates that governments, militaries,  and corporations,  are launching more satellites into orbit, resulting in increased competition for radio frequency (RF) spectrum and potential interference issues. Moreover, the emergence of anti-satellite technologies and rapid evolution of satellite-targeted cyber threats have raised concerns about the reliability and security of traditional satellite communications systems.

Understanding Troposcatter Communication

Troposcatter communications is a technology that leverages the scattering of radio waves in the Earth’s troposphere – the lower portion of the atmosphere – to establish communications links over distances  beyond the radio horizon or beyond line of site (BLOS). Today, modern Troposcatter technologies send signals towards the troposphere, where they interact with atmospheric particles and scatter in various directions. A receiver located within the scatter region can pick up the signal enabling robust, resilient, and secure communications between the transmitter and receiver.

Advantages in Contested Environments

 Comtech’s next generation Troposcatter Family of Systems offer several advantages in contested satellite environments:

1. Resistance to Jamming: Unlike traditional satellite signals that can be vulnerable to jamming or interference, Troposcatter signals are more resistant due to their reliance on atmospheric scattering. Attempts to jam a Troposcatter link would require jamming a significant portion of the Earth’s atmosphere, making such efforts impractical.
2. Reduced Susceptibility to Cyberattacks: Troposcatter connections provide a smaller attack surface than broad area satellite beams, increasing the difficulty, cost, and complexity of launching a successful cyberattack. This inherent security advantage makes Troposcatter an attractive option for transmitting sensitive information.
3. Distributed Architecture: Troposcatter technologies are designed with distributed architecture, enabling multiple relay stations to create a network that can adapt to changing conditions. This flexibility is particularly valuable in contested environments where fixed satellite infrastructure might be compromised.
4. Lower Latency: Modern Troposcatter systems offer lower latency compared to satellite communications, as the signal does not have to travel all the way to space and back. This can be crucial for real-time applications like video conferencing or remote-control critical systems.
5. Spectrum Efficiency: As spectrum becomes a limited resource in contested environments, Troposcatter can make more efficient use of available frequency bands, potentially mitigating spectrum congestion.

Comtech’s Troposcatter Family of Systems

Comtech’s portfolio of defense and security technologies, including the company’s Troposcatter FoS, are uniquely positioned to deliver capabilities that will enhance Combined Joint All Domain Command and Control (CJADC2) operations. The company has extensive experience developing and deploying customized, interoperable, robust, and resilient communications systems for all branches of the DOD and coalition forces. Comtech’s expansive portfolio of defense and security technologies is designed to continuously evolve over time to meet emerging Command, Control, Computers, Communications, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) use cases and enhance mission effectiveness in future all domain command and control operations.

This article is the fifth in a series that will focus on important Troposcatter use cases including: Relay Link Replacement, Troposcatter Communications on the Move, Obstructed Line of Sight Communications, Operations in Contested/Congested Satellite Environments, and Extension of Services.

Comtech’s Troposcatter FoS meets the CJADC2 communication needs. Contact a Comtech representative at contact us, to discuss how Comtech’s Troposcatter FoS can increase the efficiency and effectiveness of your organization

 Learn more about the Troposcatter Family of Systems below.

1. Introduction

2. Relay Link Replacement

3. Communications on the Move

4. Obstructed Line of Sight

5. Operations in Contested / Congested Environments

One approach could be to build specific networks for specific needs which, however, could mean high network costs (both CAPEX and OPEX) and would demand a certain minimum number of clients to justify the business model.  With “Network Slicing,” 5G is geared to solve this problem by enabling the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to design and operate multiple dedicated logical networks over a common platform.

Industry Requirement Use Case: Public Safety

The concept of having a customized network for a specific use case was first realized within Public Safety. In the United States, the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) was created as part of the Middle-Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act (Public Law 112–96), which was signed into law on February 22, 2012.  The law allocated 20 megahertz of spectrum and $7 billion to establish a broadband network dedicated to the nation’s First Responders, and gave FirstNet the mandate to build, operate and maintain that network.

The initial objective of FirstNet was to have a dedicated network for First Responders to communicate during a crisis, especially when the existing commercial networks were overwhelmed with high volume traffic. Since then, the number of subscribers, data traffic needs and use cases has increased and evolved, which has continuously put pressure on FirstNet to not only increase the capacity, but also to evolve its product offerings.

The advent of Internet of Things (IoT) brings in a huge advantage to First Responders. Data from devices and sensors will provide better situational awareness and Responders will be able to act faster and more efficiently.

The High Capacity, Low Latency 5G network will not only provide the incremental advances to Public Safety applications with IoT-based situational awareness, but also enable the MNO ecosystem to quickly deploy dedicated “Emergency Slices” within and outside of FirstNet, as needed. 5G capabilities will improve the ability of First Responders to render help both to citizens and other First Responders in the area under distress:

In order to quickly deploy a customized “Emergency Slice” to realize such use cases as depicted in Figure 1, MNOs will need to dedicate and/or share resources, for example, in terms of processing power, storage and bandwidth and that has isolation from the other network slices.

Planning Considerations for MNOs

From an implementation perspective, MNOs could deploy a single “slice” (for example, an IoT-only slice) for multiple industry verticals (for example, Public Safety, Automotive, Manufacturing), and also bundle different slices (such as IoT, Broadband, Low Latency) to provide an end-to-end functionality to one specific vertical.

Each of these slices have specific attributes (latency, throughput etc.) associated with the performance of that specific and logical part of the network. As a first order of task, MNOs can create slice templates which can define the network interconnections, configurations which can deliver a certain performance, as defined by Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP TS 28.531).

These slice templates are mostly generic and enable the MNOs to quickly create a specific service. Thus, there could be only three specific slices across every MNO as shown in Figure 2. For vertical industry requirements however, for example, Public Safety, there are further tasks involved. The use case (as shown in Figure 1) will guide the MNOs to create the concept of a “Private Slice” or in this case a “Public Safety Slice.”

A slice template (Low Latency slice, or Broadband slice) with specific performance required for a use case combined with one of more different slice(s) will enable the fulfillment of “Public Safety Slice.”

An adoption of a Public Safety Slice rather than building dedicated networks not only saves cost, but also provides flexibility and options for Public Safety customers. Though Network slicing is scheduled to be standardized in Release 16 of 3GPP (scheduled in June 2020), yet MNOs can start to plan use cases like enhanced Public Safety right away.

Today’s model of MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) will be disrupted with Network Slicing; Enterprise customers can be offered a network as a slice with some guaranteed SLAs. The concept of “Public Safety Slice-as-a-Service” offered to counties, cities, etc., custom tailored to their specific needs, is very much within the horizon.

Challenges & Conclusion

The 5G network is the first generation of mobile network on the cloud. The concept of “Public Safety Slice-as-a-Service” is business oriented instead of technology oriented, while promising the seamless mapping of a public safety use case to functionalities, topologies, and policies of the specific logical part of the network.

There will be challenges around mapping the NFV architecture to specific slice preparation (Figure 3) for implementing such custom service models.

From an operational perspective, a Public Safety Slice will have one or more Network slice(s) which will need to be configured, monitored, and controlled. There could be instances where the Public Safety customer might need an Application Programming Interface (API) from the MNO to control the network service.

Operations Support Systems/Business Support Systems (OSS/BSS) will play an enhanced role towards the success of Network Slicing. Closed loop automation of the slice from design to deployment to assurance will be key from the OSS standpoint. Dynamic charging and billing, dynamic fulfillment across varied SLAs and pricing models will have to be managed by BSS.

In the 5G era, there is a clear merge of the operations domain and the business domain, allowing MNOs to evolve beyond that of connectivity providers, by offering customized network slices for vertical industries, such as Public Safety.

Wi-Fi is nowhere to be found or is dysfunctional, at best. Your team on location with you is having similar, constant issues.

This might be a familiar scenario to you, your partners, clients and suppliers at the present time. But with 5G wireless technology on the horizon, these instances are set to be few and far between.

Aptly, 5G is the fifth generation of wireless technology, and promises to deliver massive speed and latency upgrades on current LTE wireless tech.

But the degree to which it will improve business communications and location services might be unbeknownst to the average professional.

In Q4 2017, average 4G LTE download speeds in the United States were 16.3 Megabits per second (Mbps), per OpenSignal. That’s not particularly fast. However, a Qualcomm simulation of 5G technology unveiled at Mobile World Congress in 2018 not only displayed a nine-fold increase in speeds, it showed that even the 10th percentile user could count on download speeds of over 100 Mbps.

In other words, once 5G is rolled out to most carriers, networks and hardware – which still might be 2-3 years away, mind you – even the slowest speeds and latency times are going to seem like the difference between bumper-to-bumper traffic and a top fuel dragster race.

That sets up the potential for a whole new era in mobile technology. You’ll be able to do business faster, and your suppliers will have the same technology available to them. But it will also set up a new world in location technology.

Let’s look at a few of the areas/technologies in which location services will be enhanced by 5G.

• GPS

According to GPS World, 5G infrastructure will include myriad sensors and radio frequencies that will improve positioning capabilities. Additionally, these improvements in positioning will be so refined that they’ll include indoor environments as well as the now-traditional outdoor GPS.

• Internet of Things (IoT)

If you’ve been following tech headlines at any time in the last 5 years, you’ve undoubtedly heard about IoT. And while the era of connected devices has arrived already, 5G technology will take the IoT to a new level – including location services for the enterprise and industry.

According to Verizon, there will be a whopping 20.4 billion connected devices by 2020 – about the same time 5G rollouts will be underway in many markets. Localized IoT technology enhanced by 5G’s super speeds and minimal latencies will give businesses constant data on equipment and logistics.

• Geofencing and advertising

Like other technologies mentioned in this piece, geofencing is already here. Just recently, Burger King used it in conjunction with the chain’s branded app in a very novel way – allowing customers to order a Whopper for 1 cent when on the app and placing an order within 600 feet of a McDonald’s location. The app then directs the burger buyer to the nearest Burger King to pickup their order.

If your company has a retail component, 5G will make interesting marketing tools like geofencing more attainable.

• Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR)

When the AR/VR wave started around the middle of the decade, it promised to take a user anywhere they wanted to go – and for business purposes as well as more recreational uses like gaming. But the price points on VR headsets were pretty high, and network connections suffered at times on inherently visual mediums.

Now, the coming dawn of 5G looks to reinvigorate that promise. Want to show a supplier or potential client your products or have them tour your offices/plants/factories but don’t have the resources to do it in person? VR and AR with increased 5G bandwidths and precise location measures mean you might be able to conduct previously in-person business virtually.

5G is coming soon. Location technology and business capabilities will never be quite the same afterwards.