ESA4S MER

Secure Satcom for Safety & Security (4S)

Status

Ongoing
Status date

2022-04-28

Objectives

The final product of the MEO Extension to REACH project is designed to provide an extension of the Precursor PACIS-1(now named REACH) project to support MEO mPOWER capacity in addition to the existing GEO capacity.

The objective is to develop an interface to REACH that enables the users with the option of booking mission request using the SES MEO mPOWER constellation and/or GEO constellation.

Challenges

The implementation of MEO Extension to REACH requires the integration between the GMOC, which is the Platform in charge of the booking, assignment, distribution and administration of the services and satellite capacity offered by REACH, with ARC that oversees the booking, assignment, distribution and administration of services and satellite capacity of SES's MEO mPOWER Platform.

This integration includes the preparation of the ground stations to support MEO and GEO constellations according to the customer requirements, and the improvement/enhancement of the GMOC platform, therefore, the service is operated with MEO antennas and GEO antennas as well as satellite modems capable of supporting both constellations.

Benefits

Expands the possibilities of coverage of the service by increasing the number of satellites available in the REACH platform.

By including the SES mPOWER MEO fleets, the user has higher throughput, expanding the range of services that can be carried through satellite communications.
The system decides whether to use MEO or GEO constellations depending on customer requirements such as throughput location, delay, jitter, optimizing the resources and assuring the service delivery to the customers.

The customer will have the possibility of switch from MEO to GEO and from GEO to MEO with the same satellite modem, giving versatility to the service in terms of throughput, location, type of service and SLA.

Features

Possibility of requesting Services on GEO or MEO in a single platform/ user interface.
MEO and GEO Services with a Single Modem.
Low latency for critical mission applications
Data rate up to 300 Mbps RTN and 1.5 Gbps FWD.
Global coverage of services.
Intelligent service, defined by location, throughput, constellation, or type of traffic.

System Architecture

The external interfaces of REACH are the REACH MOPS (Govsatcom Mission Operation Platform Software) and mPOWER’s ARC (Adaptive Resource Control and management system) Through the VSH.

The Virtual Satellite Hub (VSH) allows REACH GMOC platform to manage its capacity through the customer care interface, this allows the direct management of the satellite capacity that REACH would be assigned by SES. This makes use of a specialized SLA (Service Level Agreement) called Virtual Satellite Hub SLA, that defines the amount and types of capacity that the customer (un our case REACH) has purchased.

Within the bounds permitted by the VSH SLA, the customer can request changes to their satellite capacity, and they will be placed into operation.

Plan

The project is implemented under the following planned steps:

Requirements:

The requirements of the project will be defined, reviewed, and approved.

Design:

A preliminary design based in the requirements will be delivery for review.
Final design and asses approved through the compliance of the technical requirements.

Tests:

Test plan review
SES Techcom Internal test outcome review
Test subsets perform with ESA witnessing the process and the results.

Final Review:

Development outcome summary
Future product development strategies.
Socioeconomic impact estimation of the product.

Current status

Since the launching of the project in November 2021, the team have been working in the improvement of the project requirements and the definition of the System and Software requirements.