ESC, MITRE officials take hands-on approach to terminal management

  • Published
  • By Chuck Paone
  • 66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. (AFNS) --  Officials at Electronic Systems Center and MITRE Corp. are taking a hands-on approach to managing a major satellite communications terminal program, especially now that they have purchased and set one up in their own backyard.

More specifically, a team from the 653rd Electronic Systems Wing's Space and Nuclear Network division here, along with representatives from MITRE, set the large antenna up on the roof of the program office.

The team recently received the Ground Multi-band Terminal, or GMT, equipment and were trained to set it up and operate it. Then they hauled the pieces of the dish-shaped antenna onto the roof of a MITRE building in Bedford, Mass., and began assembly.

"It was incredibly easy and very user friendly," said Capt. Matt Hirzel, the GMT program manager. "Two trained operators can set up an entire system in about an hour."

While the ESC-MITRE team didn't get everything set up quite so quickly, they did validate the vaunted set-up ease of GMT, which supports deployed Air Force operations. GMTs provide wideband communications over both military and commercial satellite systems, including the new Wideband Global SATCOM, or WGS, satellite system.

The terminals can operate in four different frequency bands -- C, X, Ku, and Ka -- and enable operators to make "long-haul" transmissions, covering about one-third of the globe, according to Carl Markey, lead engineer for the program. The terminals connect deployed locations with one another and provide reach-back to rear area headquarters and support elements.

"GMTs help to create the tactical edge of the Global Information Grid," Mr. Markey said.

The GMTs were designed to replace, and are now replacing, Ground Mobile Forces, or GMF, terminals, which have been in the Air Force inventory for more than 20 years. The new terminals are packaged in transportable cases to support a wide range of operational scenarios and have been designed to significantly reduce the deployed footprint.

The main components of a dual-hub GMT, which supports two radio frequency strings, can be shipped on just one aircraft pallet, whereas two X-band-only GMF terminals needed to perform the same function required 24 pallets. Each GMT package is also 18,000 lbs. lighter than an equivalent GMF system.

"This allows the satellite communications equipment to arrive with the warfighters rather than after them," Mr. Markey said.

GMTs also provide far greater communications capacity. They supply 100 times the data throughput that GMFs provided. They also take advantage of the two-way Ka-band capabilities offered by the new WGS satellites.

Having a system -- in addition to the roof-top antenna, a laboratory has been set up to house the modems, multiplexer and control equipment -- in place in the program office allows program officials to troubleshoot reported problems and review terminal changes and enhancements before they're sent to the field, said Steve Briggs, a support contractor in the program office.

The program team also will use the terminal to support risk reduction efforts on the High Data Rate-Radio Frequency, or HDR-RF, program. That program will provide a five-fold increase in data transmission rates, from the current 52 megabits per second to 274 Mbps. This increased speed will prove particularly helpful to the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance community, Mr. Markey said.

GMT fielding has been under way for a little more than two years, with 61 of a planned 115 already in place, and is expected to wrap up by June 2011. That would be several months ahead of the original fielding schedule, Captain Hirzel said.

"The program is already on a very successful track, with great user feedback," the captain said. "Installing the GMT locally, so that we can work directly with it, should definitely help us provide an even better product, and better support, to the warfighters relying on the system."