Boeing’s new Commercial Satellite Services entity was created in February to design and market a variety of hosted payload and other configurations based on customer needs. The move is a significant return to the commercial side of the military aisle for Boeing and shows that the hosted payload market represents a major part of the company’s long-term business model, as global demand for communications bandwidth continues to increase dramatically.
Boeing entered the hosted payloads business in 1993, when the company helped the U.S. Navy upgrade its ultra-high frequency (UHF) satellite communications system to host an extremely high frequency (EHF) payload as well as the first military Ka-band payload. In August 2010, the company was contracted to build three Ka-band MSS units for Inmarsat’s new Global Xpress broadband network, also based on the 702HP, following a four-spacecraft sale to FSS operator Intelsat in 2009 that draws on a new medium-power 702MP Boeing developed to broaden its market reach.
Boeing conducted research on new military communications-on-the-move mission requirements for low-altitude airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms operating on Ka-band frequencies.
Jim Simpson, vice president of business development for Boeing’s Space and Intelligence Systems (S&IS) business unit and its new Commercial Satellite Services division, spoke about what his company has learned during its last 12 months in the hosted payload business, which incorporates partnerships across the industry’s fixed, mobile and broadband satellite service segments.
Via Satellite: In February, Boeing received a U.S. Air Force contract to study ways to modify existing commercial satellites to place hosted payloads on Intelsat and Inmarsat spacecraft. What were some of the key discoveries during your research and development process on this contract?
Simpson: The key element we found was how important it was to have interoperability between the military’s current systems being used in both Ka-band and also in the ultra-high (UHF) frequencies that are already a part of our systems. It was important to consider that if the Inmarsat system and the Intelsat system allowed the same type of ground system to be utilized, the user would not have to purchase unique hardware to be compatible with the system.
Another important discovery we made was that the U.S. government found it surprising that they could actually utilize these hosted payloads autonomously from the actual activities of the satellite. In other words, we found that we would be able to provide this critical capability for them to operate the payload independently of the actual satellite service provider.
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