Shipboard Broadband Surge
Written by Adam Baddeley
NAVY COMMERCIAL SATELLITE PROGRAM WILL DELIVER AN
ALMOST TENFOLD INCREASE IN COMMUNICATIONS CAPABILITY.
Initially acquired under the aegis of a rapid deployment capability (RDC) program, 49 terminals will be installed, rising to more than 200 as CBSP transitions to a program of record.
CBSP is being led by the Navy’s Program Executive Office C4I. A company called CVG is supplying the smaller Small Ship Variant (SSV), with Harris Government Communications Systems Division (GCSD) providing the progressively larger Unit Level Variant (ULV) and Force Level Variant (FLV). In coordination with the Defense Information Systems Agency, PEO C4I will be acquiring commercial satellite communication services to support the Navy’s worldwide requirements.
The first CBSP system was tested on the USS Champion, a mine countermeasure vessel, late last year. “The CBSP SSV is a significant improvement in capability and reliability. It’s the first time I have been able to surf the SIPRNet while at sea. Throughput received by individual fleet units will depend on each ship’s satellite allocation of CBSP bandwidth, which will be used both to improve operational effectiveness and significantly improves quality of life for sailors underway,” said the ship’s commander, Lieutenant Commander John Callaway.
The ULV and FLV terminals are now in the final stages of assessment.
Kai Tang, director of PEO C4I’s SATCOM Division, outlined the gaps that the three CBSP terminals will fill. “For commercial SATCOM, the existing systems are aging and have served the fleet for a decade in some cases. Additionally, as the Navy considered the future and the ever-increasing throughput and reliability requirements of net-centric operations and sailor service, the decision was made to continue having commercial SATCOM capability on ships, but with a new consolidated terminal program that would be able to support those increasing requirements when or if MILSATCOM is insufficient. The Navy will lease the commercial satellite services needed for CBSP,” he said.
Tang also noted that the actual throughput for each ship will vary depending on the amount of commercial bandwidth the Navy will lease, as well as how much military SATCOM bandwidth the Navy is allocated.
“Balance between the two types of SATCOM is vital. The Navy intends to maximize its use of MILSATCOM to meet each user’s overall SATCOM requirement, and hopes to do so with the multitude of efforts under way on our MILSATCOM shipboard terminals,” said Jerry Rudeck, CBSP assistant program manager. “The Navy’s strategy is to continue our use of commercial satellites, but only as much as we need to after we’ve maximized our use of MILSATCOM.”
CBSP and the Navy Multiband Terminal (NMT) program represent the two pillars of the Navy’s SATCOM terminal road map to transition to fewer terminal programs in the future.
“The CBSP terminal is a commercial terminal replacing the legacy Commercial Wideband Satellite Program and Inmarsat terminals,” Rudeck explained. “The NMT will consolidate the Navy’s MILSATCOM shipboard terminals—Navy EHF SATCOM program, WSC-6 SHF and Global Broadcast Service—into one common terminal program. They are the extension of the Navy’s continuing strategy to allow the majority of our users to have the capability to maximize use of MILSATCOM with commercial SATCOM augmentation.”
SMALL SHIP VARIANT
The SSV variant was awarded in 2007 to CVG, which had experience in SATCOMrelated activities for DoD.
“Perhaps the most significant example of our history of implementing COTS-derived solutions on Navy ships traces its roots back to 1997,” said CVG President and Chief Executive Officer Steve Gizinski. “The CVG team put a number of similar systems on several Ticonderoga-class Aegis guided missile cruisers being used in theater ballistic missile defense testing in Hawaii. That is where we developed the mechanisms for taking commercial products, ruggedizing them and tightening them up for EMI and EMC compliance. When we saw that CBSP was coming down the path, it was an opportunity to be able to take that experience and apply it to the SSV.”
Gizinski emphasized the importance of the rugged aspects of CBSP. “The Navy called it a COTS system, but when you looked at the requirements that needed to be met, there wasn’t a COTS product on the market that could meet the specification being put forward. One requirement in particular was the need not to exceed the weight of a Saturn B Inmarsat terminal, for the above-deck equipment—200 pounds—while adding Ku-band operation. Most systems that were in existence at the time weighed about 275 pounds. That was a major effort in a very short time, because we had to deliver the first system 90 days from when we were awarded the contract.”
To date, 12 terminals have been built, with one sent for trials in the Gulf of Mexico on the Champion at the end of 2008. In December, the first system designed for operational use was completed and delivered to the Navy for installation. Priority is to install terminals for the most “bandwidth disadvantaged” users: mine countermeasure ships and coastal patrol ships.
CVG’s SSV design puts in place a new hollow-core radome, antenna, pedestal and entirely new control loops necessary to control the lighter-weight pedestal. The physics of that were challenging, Gizinski explained. “We had to go through every aspect of the system, and where we could we changed to lighter but stronger and stiffer materials to lose weight as aggressively as we could.”
The need for the SSV to operate on patrol craft and mine countermeasure ships gives the system a very different mission from other CBSP variants. “Our ships have very high rates of maneuverability,” said Gizinski. “There is a rate challenge and there is also a range challenge to both low and high elevation satellite access as the ship goes through its various maneuvers. We have put a lot of control agility in the antenna in order to take the ship’s dynamic motion out of the equation, while still maintaining connectivity with the satellite.”
That is particularly challenging because the system itself is so lightweight. “The system is dynamic in and of itself,” he added. “Very light materials are very difficult to control, so we have a high-performance processor in our system that analyzes that dynamic motion and then compensates for it.”
CRUISERS TO CARRIERS
The ULV and the larger FLV were awarded to Harris in June 2008. The terminals will begin delivery in March of this year, after a nine-month development, production and delivery schedule.
“We have a direct contract with the Navy. We deliver these terminals, and the Navy installs them on various ship classes. We are at the end of the development process, and we delivered the first ULV terminal to the Navy in San Diego in January,” said Bob Hails, CBSP program manager for Harris GCSD.
Testing is slated to begin in April for the FLV terminal, which provides up to 21.4 Mbps over C- and Ku-bands, compared with 4 Mbps today.
The ULV terminal replaces Inmarsat terminals currently on medium-sized ships, a category that comprises cruisers, destroyers, frigates and the littoral combat ships. The FLV will be installed on aircraft carriers, amphibious command, amphibious assault, amphibious transport dock, hospital ships and submarine tenders.
The contract award stated that the initial value of the contract for the FLV is $15 million, in the initial year, rising to $85 million if all five yearly options were exercised. In the case of the ULV, the initial order is $17.5 million, potentially rising to $77 million over the same period if all options are exercised.
The current contract has seven ULVs and four FLVs, the option that the government exercised at contract award. The contract is an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity arrangement with four more option years, allowing the Navy to buy as many as 20 FLV terminals and 50 ULV terminals each year.
“For planning purposes, we have been told that the Navy needs 40 of the FLV and upwards of 150 of the ULV over the next 10 years,” said Hails.
Winning both contracts has allowed greater commonality, he remarked. “The entire below-deck equipment, the control electronics, is almost identical between the two variants. The below-deck electronics account for almost 75 percent of the line items and are primarily COTS items. Also common is the terminal control software. That is surely going to give the Navy some good life cycle cost advantages.”
Some backwards compatibility has also been enabled. The FLV replaces existing Harris terminals, the AN/WSC-8(V) Challenge Athena, which are approaching their 10th year of service. “Here, we were able to take advantage of our previous design and use identical antenna and radome foundations saving the Navy considerable installation costs,” Hails said.
One of the key characteristics of the CBSP is that it is a rapid development capability. This differs from a conventional program of record in that it provides fast-track installation of equipment, prior to completion in its entirety of conventional third-party certification. Absolutely no test is waived, but the order in which the steps are taken is relaxed in order to put something in the hands of users quickly. The Navy has only four RDC programs.
ACCELERATED TESTING
Harris is undertaking a lot of the testing on its own this winter. “We are treating CBSP as an accelerated program where we have very short deadlines,” Hails said.
Concurrency is very much the name of the game with this process, he continued. “A great example is the logistics data for buying spares, stocking depots and publishing technical and training manuals. That is all being done concurrently with on-ship testing through March as opposed to in-series, over a more conventional timeline.”
Testing of the FLV and ULV will contribute to a CBSP Milestone C decision, currently scheduled for September 2009. At that point CBSP will switch from RDC status to a more conventional approach and convert to a program of record.
To ensure the rapid delivery of terminals, Harris is using a number of off-the-shelf components. The company also used its antenna technology and the position and control elements from activities on other shipboard terminals. From outside the company, the modems are sourced from ComTech and ViaSat; while CPI provides the amplifiers, General Dynamics is supplying block up and down converters, and Optima is supplying the electronics cabinet.
CBSP also embraces IP. “The Navy’s concept for its network architecture is for IPbased dynamic bandwidth management, not only from ship to ship but ship to shore and from battle group to battle group,” Hails said.
High levels of ruggedization are among the most significant differences between CBSP and legacy systems. “Our design meets stringent environmental requirements that are unique to the Navy,” he noted. “Inmarsat was a COTS terminal. It’s done well for the Navy, but our specifications are much more stringent than an off-the-shelf commercial terminal. I think that it will have higher reliability and longevity, something closer to our AN/WSC-6V(9) terminal, which is on the order of 10 years.”
Beyond the requirements of the U.S. Navy, there is also considerable demand from NATO countries. Harris is already speaking to two potential export customers who could acquire CBSP terminals either via FMS, or a direct sale, Hails said. ♦