Advanced airborne video solution successfully demonstrated, says Hughes

Hughes HX router

Hughes Network Systems, LLC, of Germantown, MD, a provider of broadband satellite networks and services, announced on July 26 it has completed a successful demonstration of its advanced airborne video solution to a key government agency, confirming full D-1 video resolution at air-to-ground user data rates of over 2 Mbps. 

“Our airborne technology has advanced rapidly,” said Rick Lober, vice president and general manager of Hughes Defense and Intelligence Systems Division. “Our new airborne video solution features speeds five times greater than what is currently available -- delivering groundbreaking performance at an affordable cost. Founded on a proven COTS-based platform, this progressive solution will truly enhance situational awareness for users in the military and government.” 

The Hughes Airborne Video Solution employs the high performance Hughes HX router and HX ExpertNMS, its advanced network management system, with a highly intuitive and interactive interface to optimize performance and productivity, says the company in a prepared statement. Hughes is building on its commercial aviation broadband offering, thereby facilitating adoption of  a COTS-based solution by the airborne Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) community. 

The demo took place on Row 44’s flying test-bed aircraft, based in Camarillo, CA, and outfitted with TECOM Industries Inc.'s KuStream 1000 bi-directional Ku- band antenna, and Streambox’s highly secure video coding and viewing sub-system. Intelsat General provided the communications link for the demonstration via its Horizon-1@127°W satellite.