Satellite communications 'on-the-move' (SOTM)

Cobham Technical Services has developed a comprehensive range of antenna products, enabling access to high-speed, wide-band telecommunication services on a range of moving platforms.

The introduction of broadband Internet technology has rapidly changed the way people work and spend their leisure time. This has led to a large demand for high-speed, wide-bandwidth services and applications at home and in the office. This is being followed by demand for the same services in mobile environments, especially from professional users.

Terrestrial UMTS and WiMax 4G technologies can provide mobile wide-band access in urban and sub-urban areas. However, the provision of these services to airborne, maritime and train passengers is ideally suited to satellite communications, with a complementary rather than competing approach. Satcom-on-the-move (SOTM) forms a key part of a global communication grid, connecting mobile users with IP-based terrestrial networks.

Antenna Technologies

Cobham Technical Services has extensive expertise in a range of antenna technologies and can offer an antenna design which is best-suited for any given SOTM application, providing the best combination of performance, size and cost. Cobham Technical Services has developed three main antenna technologies for SOTM applications:

Standard Reflector Designs The parabolic reflector is the simplest and lowest cost solution for SOTM applications. Cobham Technical Services has developed an offset reflector, with an elliptically profiled reflector aperture. The antenna is mounted on a two-axis gimbal and rotated in azimuth and elevation. Polarisation control is provided by rotating elements of the feed chain.

Medium Profile Reflector Designs Cobham Technical Services has introduced a range of reduced height reflector antennas, based on a cylindrical geometry. Medium height reflector antennas can provide up to 3 Mbps on up-link (transmit) and well over 10 Mbps on down-link (receive). One of the most important features of cylindrical reflector antennas is reduced weight, which enables faster satellite tracking in off-road applications. These antennas have a small swept volume, making full hemispherical coverage available in a compact profile.

Low-Profile Scanning Arrays Cobham Technical Services has developed a family of antennas using a unique and patented scanning technology. The antennas rotate mechanically in azimuth and scan in elevation with no change to the overall height of the antenna. A near hemispherical coverage is provided.

Low-Profile vehicle mounted or airborne satcom terminal Cobham has developed the SPITFIRE low-profile Ku-band terminal, designed for the most demanding land and airborne applications. The antenna's low-profile and low-mass make it suitable for installation on small business jets and UAVs, commercial and military aircraft and a wide range of land vehicles including HUMVEEs and SUVs.