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November 20, 2023
lisa daigle
Deputy editor
military embedded systems
Bethesda, Maryland Lockheed Martin will send a payload into orbit next year to demonstrate 5G connectivity from space as part of a large-scale project (which the company calls 5G.MIL) launched in 2020 in response to military demand for high-speed wireless communications. announced plans to launch. communication.
By deploying the latest cellular technology into space, the company said it hopes to eventually pioneer what it calls an “all domain network,” a seamless communications network between space assets, aircraft, ships and ground forces. Ta.
Dan Rice, vice president of Lockheed Martin’s 5G.MIL program, said the company has successfully completed hardware-in-the-loop testing of a 5G non-terrestrial network payload and plans to launch a satellite into low Earth orbit (LEO) in 2015. said. Space demonstration in 2024. Rice described the payload as the industry’s first regenerative advanced 5G satellite base station for non-terrestrial networks. The regenerative payload enables direct satellite-based communications that can bypass terrestrial networks if desired. Satellite base stations communicate with other satellites and ground stations. In a regenerative base station, the signal processing and radio access network are mounted on a satellite.
“In our case, the radio access network, all the software and hardware, the core network that does the user authentication are all on the satellite payload itself,” Rice said. “This creates additional resiliency when the satellite is operating over areas where secure communication with the ground is not established.”
The company said 5G payloads are being developed using open radio access networks, which allow mobile service providers to build networks with non-proprietary and interoperable subcomponents.
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