Lockheed Martin readies military 5G satellite with UK tech
Lockheed Martin has demonstrated 5G satellite technology in the lab using UK technology that is ready for a launch on a satellite next year.
The Lockheed Martin 5G.MIL technology is the industry’s first fully regenerative Advanced 5G Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) Satellite Base Station and is based on IP from Accelercomm in the UK.
In 2024, in a self-funded mission, the company will launch this payload into orbit on the TacSat satellite to provide 3GPP release 17 5G connectivity.
A hardware-in-the-loop lab demo showed high-speed data transfers connecting with prototype NTN user equipment. During a simulated satellite orbital pass, the Satellite Base Station, running on space-hardened flight hardware, and the user equipment on the ground successfully connected and transferred data, including live video streaming.
- AccelerComm, TTP team for regenerative O-RAN satellite
- First 5G satellite voice call is to Europe
- 5G satellite constellation to connect 25m in rural areas
The system connects to industry-leading prototype NTN user equipment through a space communications channel emulator from Keysight Technologies that introduced doppler and delay parameters consistent with a satellite Low Earth Orbit.
“Our UE simulator provided validation of the base station’s required behaviours and performance, including during integration testing on reference flight hardware and early hardware-in-the loop (HWIL) confidence demonstrations,” said Vince Nguyen, Vice President/General Manager, Aerospace, Defense, and Government Solutions at Keysight Technologies.
The standards-based approach is compliant with 3GPP Release 17 and was developed in anticipation of pre-Release 18 & 19 regenerative specifications.
- Lockheed Martin, Intel team on 5G.mil satellite tech
- Ayar Labs’ optical chip-to-chip connection for Lockheed Martin satellite system
“Space layer capabilities are essential for consistent, secure connectivity and global coverage for 5G communications systems. 5G from space will enable Joint All-Domain Command and Control operations especially in austere environments, remote locations and contested areas,” said Joe Rickers, Lockheed Martin’s vice president for Connectivity, Transport and Access. “Our Satellite Base Station is real, operational hardware and we’re excited for the next step — integrating this powerful payload into our self-funded Tactical Satellite which we’ll launch next year.”
The gNodeB base station includes a full 5G New Radio (NR) Radio Access Network (RAN) stack, RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) and 5G Stand Alone (SA) Core running on space-qualified flight hardware that will fly on TacSat.
The system is reprogrammable on orbit using Lockheed Martin’s SmartSat software-defined satellite architecture and can be structured with a split architecture placing the Control Unit (CU) on the ground and the Distributed Unit (DU) on the satellite, further enhancing network implementation options.
“Space-based communications will provide high-speed backhaul to land, air and sea 5G.MIL Hybrid Base Stations as well as direct access to user equipment running 3GPP NTN standard protocols from orbit,” said Dan Rice, vice president for Lockheed Martin’s 5G.MIL Programs. “Regenerative NTN solutions enable direct, satellite-based secure communications between users in a coverage area – bypassing more vulnerable terrestrial networks when necessary.”
- CEO Interview: Accelerating OpenRAN 5G wireless
- AccelerComm raises £21.5m for 5G satellite and OpenRAN
AccelerComm provided an advanced 5G NTN Layer 1 PHY solution, developed to support Lockheed Martin’s system requirements and space flight hardware specifications, while Radisys supplied 5G NTN Layer 2/3 and 5G SA Core software, working with Lockheed Martin to ensure interface implementation enabled seamless integration with L1 and RIC solutions.
“5G satellite communication promises to unlock a whole new world of services and applications for government organisations and individuals, and we are proud to have worked with Lockheed Martin and its partners on delivering this vision. A space deployed – scalable 3GPP Release 17 compatible 5G gNodeB proves that 5G NTN communications is a reality. AccelerComm’s LEOphy delivers higher data rates with reduced power and has dedicated features to overcome the specific challenges of NTN channels. We look forward to continuing our partnership, and to further developing advanced 5G Layer 1 NTN solutions that deliver the robustness, latency, and throughput that are critical to the success of 5G in space,” said Tom Cronk, Chief Executive Officer at AccelerComm.
If you enjoyed this article, you will like the following ones: don't miss them by subscribing to :
