Canada to Use ETL Systems’ RF Equipment for WGS Constellation

Artist rendition of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) Mercury Global project. Photo: General Dynamics.

ETL Systems has announced that General Dynamics and the Canadian Armed Forces will use its Radio Frequency (RF) equipment for in-service support of the Mercury Global Anchor Segment (MGAS). The MGAS anchor stations — seven stations at three sites across Canada — will communicate with the Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) satellite constellation and link them to existing Canadian Armed Forces communications infrastructure.

Mercury Global will provide the CAF with assured access to wideband military satellite communications. The CAF will ultimately have access to bandwidth from the nine WGS satellites, using the three anchor sites located in Eastern, Central and Western Canada.

A range of ETL’s RF equipment has been used as part of the WGS project, including its receive matrix system on downlinks and combining matrix on the uplink. Additionally, General Dynamics is using ETL’s Alto line amplifiers for both the satellites’ Transmitter (TX) and Receiver (RX) links at the MGAS anchor stations.