Lightweight AEHF Modem for Manpack Terminals

ABSTRACT: The ongoing launch of next generation AEHF satellites promises significant new protected MILSATCOM capabilities. To allow dismounted forces to leverage this benefit requires very low size, weight, and power (SWaP) AEHF modems capable of operating at up to 256 kbps. ORB Analytics proposes a 0.1 pound, 1.1 Watt, modem design with application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) accelerators for fixed physical layer functionality including AEHF modulation, demodulation and forward error correction. Careful modem design will also allow the use of low resolution, low power, data converters and calibration and tracking on the modem will provide significant further terminal SWaP reduction. BENEFIT: Many current and proposed DoD systems use continuous phase modulation (CPM) methods such as Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying (GMSK) and powerful forward error correction such as turbo codes. Besides AEHF, UHF SATCOM terminals use multi-h CPM and shaped offset QPSK which can be demodulated using the same architecture proposed for GMSK. NASA has recommended the use of GMSK for most NASA links through the year 2030. The proposed modem design can also be used for commercial Ku-/Ka-Band SATCOM. Each of these systems would benefit greatly from a reduced SWaP modem.