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Satellite Operators and Ground Station-as-a-Service Providers Can Fully Orchestrate TT&C, Wideband Data Downlink, and Packet Processing of Mission Data
SAN DIEGO, Jan. 27, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq: KTOS), a leading National Security Solutions provider, announced today enhancements to its Earth Observation & Remote Sensing Service Chain (EO/RS SC) for its OpenSpace Platform. The new release adds features that enable satellite operators and Ground Station-as-a-Service (GSaaS) providers to increase automation, accelerate deployment times and further optimize operating and capital expenditures.
The OpenSpace Platform is the first fully virtualized and orchestrated satellite ground system. Service chains, such as the EO/RS SC, run on the OpenSpace Platform to seamlessly integrate and automate the tasks of service delivery in a fully virtual environment. The new release of the EO/RS SC enables customers to support the current and next generation of EO/RS satellites by providing fully orchestrated Telemetry, Tracking, and Command (TT&C), high-throughput wideband data downlink and packet processing of mission data.
Addressing the intensive bandwidth needs of today’s missions, the EO/RS SC delivers more than a gigabit-per-second of downlink throughput. It does so running solely on commercially available, off-the-shelf x86-based computers without specialized hardware or enhancements. Operators can deploy and reconfigure these service chains in minutes running in public cloud, private data center environments or hybrid cloud environments.
“The new enhanced capabilities of the OpenSpace EO/RS SC and the ability to orchestrate those functions within the OpenSpace Platform dramatically lower the cost of downlinks, while raising the performance for missions,” said Christopher Boyd, Senior Director of Product Management at Kratos. “Virtual TT&C modems, wideband receivers, and stream processing/recorders are orchestrated as a service chain along with the automated configuration of physical functions such as digitizers and antenna control systems to support fully automated EO sensing mission services from the antenna all the way to post satellite pass processing.”
Kratos’ OpenSpace family of solutions enables the digital transformation of satellite ground systems to become a more dynamic and powerful part of the space network. The family consists of three product lines: OpenSpace SpectralNet for converting satellite RF signals to be used in digital environments; OpenSpace quantum products, which are virtual versions of traditional hardware components; and the OpenSpace Platform, the first commercially available, fully orchestrated, software-defined ground system. These three OpenSpace lines enable satellite operators and other service providers to implement digital operations at their own pace and in ways that meet their unique mission goals and business models.