SBIR-STTR Award

The MUOS Satellite provides a S-WCDMA Bent pipe to a Terrestrial Base Station. The proposed MUOS-Aero provides a B-Band surrogate for the satellite that provides a S-WCDMA or WCDMA bent pipe to a MUOS-Aero compatible Base Station. This architecture would allow standard MUOS terminals to operate in mountainous or extremely northern or southern latitudes that cannot see the MUOS satellites. An in-theater base station would provide local calls and potentially reach back for global coverage through polar satellites. The MUOS-Aero design makes use of technology developed by Assurance Technology Corporation for the Naval Research Laboratory, Code 8120. This Software Reprogrammable Payload technology has off-the-shelf RF modules that would be reprogrammed with a MUOS compatible bent-pipe waveform to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed MUOS-Aero architecture during Phase I. The proposed approach would be extended into a low cost (~$25K in 50 unit quantity) MUOS-Aero product during a Phase II development.

Benefit:
Balloon, Unmanned AirSystem (UAS), or Terrestrial Tower mounted WCDMA Base Station Range Extender for Military, Homeland Security, or Commercial applications.

Keywords:
WCDMA, WCDMA, transponder, Range extension, bent-pipe, MUOS, Software Reconfigurable Payload (SRP)

The MUOS Satellite provides a S-WCDMA Bent pipe to a Terrestrial Base Station. The proposed MUOS-Aero provides a B-Band surrogate for the satellite that provides a S-WCDMA or WCDMA bent pipe to a MUOS-Aero compatible Base Station. This architecture would allow standard MUOS terminals to operate in mountainous or extremely northern or southern latitudes that cannot see the MUOS satellites. An in-theater base station would provide local calls and potentially reach back for global coverage through polar satellites. The MUOS-Aero design makes use of technology developed by Assurance Technology Corporation for the Naval Research Laboratory, Code 8120. This Software Reprogrammable Payload technology has off-the-shelf RF modules that would be reprogrammed with a MUOS compatible bent-pipe waveform to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed MUOS-Aero architecture during Phase I. The proposed approach would be extended into a low cost (~$25K in 50 unit quantity) MUOS-Aero product during a Phase II development.

Benefit:
The MUOS-Aero System provides an ultra-high reliability, mobile cellular communications capability, a critical and growing aspect of modern national security projections. The MUOS-Aero Payload would significantly augment and expand the MUOS System architecture, improving coverage and service in the disadvantaged and high traffic areas typical of today's military operations. In the longer run, the same payload adapted to commercial WCDMA bands could provide emergency communications overlay and replacement of Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) Third Generation Partnership Program (3GPP) where ground cells either have been disrupted or did not previously exist in a locale. Eventually, since the only bandwidth need be expanded, a modified payload could serve Fourth Generation Long-Term Evolution (4G LTE) systems. Such a system would have significant advantages over transportable cell approaches currently in use.

Keywords:
bent-pipe, Software Reconfigurable Payload (SRP), transponder, WCDMA, MUOS, Range extension