Security and Robustness Enhancement Techniques for Commercial SATCOM

Techniques to enhance the security and survivability of commercial Mobile Satellite Services (MSS) systems are needed, which are technically innovative in one or more of three areas. First, signal processing techniques to reduce LPI/LPD and increase resistance to jamming and geolocation are needed which are effective while still maintaining compatibility and interoperability of the mobile user terminal with the MSS satellite, gateway, and other operational elements. Second, satellite network signaling, control, and key management techniques are needed that will reduce vulnerability to traffic analysis, and support introduction of existing, highly capable cryptographic algorithms while maintaining interoperability with existing and emerging commercial MSS. Third, terminal design enhancements in antenna, A/J, and other areas are needed capable of reducing the circular equivalent vulnerability radius of small mobile terminals, while again maintaining MSS interoperability. Together, these design innovations will enable offloading oversubscribed military satellite capacity by allowing military use of commercial MSS assets, which are undergoing a period of rapid expansion. The goal of this research is to determine how low vulnerability of existing and emerging commercial MSS can be driven, and to validate the achievability of vulnerability reduction sufficient to allow widespread, effective use of commercial MSS by the U.S. military.