The Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific has conducted a demonstration to validate cross-banding capabilities between legacy and modern military satellite communications for the Department of Defense.
During the event, operators established two-way communication between ultra high-frequency military satcom channels and modern mobile user objective system wideband code division multiple assets, Space Systems Command said Wednesday.
NIWC PAC configured a portable radio communication single-channel radio to the legacy UHF communications mode and another to the MUOS WCDMA group voice mode. A two-channel radio was used to receive legacy UHF voice communications and retransmit the communication over the MUOS WCDMA.
Operators made calls from each radio to SSC’s Narrowband SATCOM office and to Col. Jay Steingold, SATCOM mission area team chief of the U.S. Space Force’s HQ Space Operations Command.
“As more MUOS WCDMA-capable terminals are fielded, cross-banding concepts, like the one demonstrated today, will allow WCDMA users to take advantage of improved MUOS capabilities while retaining critical interoperability with DoD and coalition partners still operating legacy UHF terminals,” Steingold said.