Now that you understand more about the technology and connectivity within the Osprey u8 — HGL, I want to talk to you about the life-changing capabilities made possible.

The modern world relies on information, information moves at the speed of communication, and reliable communications are your lifeline. This article is being written from the comfort of my office in Arizona where it is a beautiful sunny day, I have high-speed Internet access, and my cellphone service is providing me with 5G. I rely on those communication paths for an outsized portion of my life; they allow me to work, shop,
manage my health, keep up with friends and family, and to receive entertainment. “Be prepared” and “Two is one and one is none” are two adages from different points in my life I live by. Whether you are a warfighter, emergency manager, first responder, or working in commercial industry like me, you can be assured:

• Crises aren’t predictable
• Steady states don’t exist
• Communications paths aren’t assured

Because we can bet crises will occur that we didn’t predict and the day-to-day communications paths we rely on may be unavailable, we must be prepared with alternate paths to send and receive information. Kymeta is leading the way in fielding resilient communications capabilities with true multi-orbit, multi-network, mobile, and hybrid terrestrial/ SATCOM communications systems like the Osprey™ u8 hybrid GEO-LEO (HGL) terminal. Systems like this can help you prepare for the unpredictable and ensure your information lifelines are available when you most need them.

Go ahead and hop into my trusty time machine and join me in Panama City, Florida on October 10, 2018. I sure hope you prepared for the trip as we’re stepping into the path of a landfalling category four hurricane.

In case you don’t remember, Michael was a devastating storm that wrought catastrophic damage along the Florida panhandle; 59 people lost their lives, and it caused an estimated $25.1 billion in damages. Part of the damage was to the communications infrastructure with cellular and Internet systems down for weeks due to severe damage to the fiber networks. This left residents, first responders, emergency managers, and government officials with severely limited communications.

In the months prior to Michael, I had the privilege to work with a US government organization headquartered in Panama City, Florida that purchased Kymeta terminals for maritime operations. The terminals had not yet been put into service when Michael hit. In the immediate aftermath, one of the integrators was able to move far enough out of the damaged area to place a call to me. During that call, the individual asked if Kymeta could start service to one of their terminals as they had no other communications, and they had an urgent need to coordinate disaster recovery efforts. Kymeta immediately started service, and the organization relied on that communications lifeline for disaster recovery for nearly two months. This organization was fortunate to have an alternate communication path, but had Michael struck today, they could have had even more options for resiliency.

The past five years have seen unprecedented growth in satellite communications, particularly in low earth orbit (LEO). LEO has emerged as one of the critical communications lifelines, but just as we cannot predict the next crisis, we cannot predict what will affect our ability to connect to a LEO constellation. Going back to my two adages, I would prepare for the worst, and I would not rely on a sole source for my communications be it terrestrial LTE, LEO SATCOM, or GEO SATCOM, and with GEO SATCOM I would not rely on a single satellite or network. I know what you’re thinking, you’re thinking a solution capable of providing multi-network terrestrial LTE, multi-satellite and multi-network GEO SATCOM, and LEO SATCOM would include multiple antennas, feeds, and other gear. You’re probably also thinking one system that can do this is years away at best, but in both cases, you’d be wrong.

The Kymeta Osprey u8 — hybrid GEO-LEO terminal is available today and it is a true mobile, multi-orbit, multi-network, hybrid LTE terminal that can keep you connected to your information lifelines through resilient path diversity. Let’s take a closer look at how the Osprey u8 — HGL can keep your communications flowing in a crisis, or even during the normal day-to-day cycles of communication disruptions. I’ll use the primary, alternate, contingency, and emergency (PACE) acronym to illustrate:

P – Terrestrial LTE available on multiple networks with two SIM cards for built-in global LTE
A – LEO SATCOM available through Eutelsat OneWeb™ for high-throughput, low-latency SATCOM
C – GEO SATCOM through Kymeta Broadband™ multi-satellite iDirect™ network
E – GEO SATCOM through alternate GEO service provider(s) using an external modem

The Osprey u8 — HGL provides an intuitive interface enabling you to determine, blend, and automatically failover between communication paths, and as paths recover, your paths will reestablish without your interaction. This automated path resiliency allows you to focus on your priorities instead of trying to establish communications. If you’re a warfighter, emergency manager, or first responder, the information flow keeps you safe and allows you to save lives.

As a commercial industry user, keeping communication flowing helps keep productivity high, especially in today’s hybrid office/remote environment. Finally, you can use this capability on the move on both land and sea, and at the halt, because oftentimes you have to be on the move.

There is no need to wait for a product to move from a PowerPoint presentation to something real to bring true multi-orbit, multi-network, hybrid terrestrial/SATCOM capabilities to your organization as it is available today from Kymeta. Join Kymeta as we seek to keep the world connected to critical information lifelines through resilient communications.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

DAVID LAMME
PROGRAMS DIRECTOR, ADVANCED APPLICATIONS
David is a retired USAF Major who started his career with the Air Force as an enlisted Avionics Guidance and Control Systems specialist at McGuire AFB, NJ. David’s final Air Force assignment was at the Space Test and Training Range (STTR) at Schriever AFB, CO.
As Programs Director, Advanced Applications, David is responsible for identifying, developing and delivering products and services centered around Kymeta’s technology to military and government agencies. He is charged with cultivating key partnerships and leading internal teams to deliver Kymeta solutions in support of customer requirements.