Hughes Network Operations Center. Photo: Hughes

Hughes Network Systems and Boost Mobile have demonstrated optimized, multi-transport network management for the U.S. Navy in a recent demonstration. The demonstration, which took place earlier this year, tested remote network orchestration, wide area network (WAN) resiliency, and secure radio access network (RAN) sharing between standalone private 5G networks operating at the U.S. Navy Air Station, Whidbey Island, Washington, and a base in Hawaii. The two EchoStar companies announced the successful demonstration, Aug. 27.

The demonstration confirmed that the EchoStar Private 5G ORAN network can maintain secure connectivity for devices and applications when users travel outside the naval base. This capability supports a concept of operations where a device running on the Whidbey Island NAS 5G network can travel to another location and still securely access applications that reside at Whidbey Island. The Navy can use this secure internet access for missions requiring a user to relocate from one base to another.

“The combined team successfully demonstrated a flexible and resilient mission network that dynamically switched communications paths to ensure uninterrupted situational awareness. We are ready to implement smart network orchestration and secure private 5G networks, for the U.S. Department of Defense to ensure that users have critical command and control information when they need it most, even in disrupted, occasionally disconnected, and low-bandwidth conditions,” Rajeev Gopal, vice president of Advanced Programs for the Defense Division, Hughes, said in a statement.