Australian Defence Force Tests Hughes Advanced TDMA Waveform

Hughes Defense and Intelligence Systems Division (DISD) worked with the Australian Army personnel from Battle Group Griffin during Exercise Talisman Sabre 2015 in northern Queensland. Photo: Hughes

[Via Satellite 12-01-2015] The Australia Defence Force (ADF) and the United States military partnered with Hughes Network Systems’ Defense and Intelligence Systems Division (DISD) at Talisman Sabre 2015 to test the company’s advanced Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) waveform technology. The Australian Defence Force used the Hughes HX System with advanced waveform technology during the exercises to boost the performance of satellite connectivity, and intends to deploy it in future military exercises.

Talisman Sabre 2015 was the sixth biannual joint training exercise with the ADF and the United States military. A total of 30,000 Australian and American forces participated in these exercises, which are the largest of the year for the ADF. Hughes DISD spent a year participating in trials leading up to the exercises.

“Australia is still maturing its understanding of deployed TDMA satellite operations, and the support from Hughes was fundamental to both the successful outcome of the exercise, and educating Army on planning and executing operations utilizing TDMA waveforms,” said Colonel Shaun Love, director land network integration, ADF. “Hughes provided field service representatives to both the barracks and field COMMEX [Communications Exercise] supporting exercise work up, engineering, and ultimately informing the Satcom architecture deployed by the combined U.S. and Australian Division.”