Tag Archives: 5G.MIL

Sea

5G Communications

The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) has awarded Lockheed Martin a $19.3 million Prototype Project Agreement (PPA) to create a 5G communications network infrastructure testbed for expeditionary operations experimentation for the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD R&E) and the U.S. Marine Corps. The testbed, known as Open Systems Interoperable and Reconfigurable Infrastructure Solution (OSIRIS), is a key initiative of Lockheed Martin’s 5G.MIL programs which are positioned to help its customers field, scale and integrate 5G technology rapidly and affordably across all operations on land, water, in air, space and cyber.

5G.MIL
Lockheed Martin selected to prototype Next Generation U.S. Marine Corps 5G Communications

«OSIRIS will serve as a critical proof point of Lockheed Martin’s 5G.MIL capabilities», says Deon Viergutz, vice president, Lockheed Martin Spectrum Convergence. «We are integrating the technical capabilities of 5G waveforms, software and hardware with higher bandwidth and low-latency data rates into our defense products to enhance their performance for our warfighters. We want to ensure that warfighters operating in communications contested and denied environments have resilient access to data to perform their missions anywhere in the world».

The OSIRIS program will help address the need for test facilities that enable rapid experimentation and dual-use application prototyping. The testbed will identify areas for further compatibility between 5G network and DOD platforms that will enhance customer capabilities.  The infrastructure will also allow for the connection of various 5G-ready user devices, sensors, vehicles and endpoints to explore the military utility of commercial 5G technologies and pave the way for onboarding of new technologies from other OUSD investments while addressing cybersecurity requirements. This capability will further enable and advance DOD’s Joint All Domain Operations concept.

Teams from Lockheed Martin, along with subcontractors DISH Wireless, Intel Corporation, Radisys Corporation and Rampart Communications, Inc., will create the 5G network testbed infrastructure at U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. The period of performance will begin immediately and conclude in September 2024.

Lockheed Martin’s recent agreements with Radisys, Verizon and Keysight Technologies are significant enablers in furthering the DOD’s new warfighting concepts. Through collaboration with commercial companies and leveraging its industry experience, Lockheed Martin’s 5G.MIL programs support the chairman, president and CEO Jim Taiclet’s vision to achieve network effects by bridging commercial technologies into future DOD capabilities that enable JADO and Joint All Domain Command and Control to meet our customer’s and partner’s needs across all operational domains.

Ground Forces

Hybrid Antenna

Lockheed Martin has invented a new type of satellite dish technology with a wide range of use on satellites and ground terminals, including space-based 5G. The Wide Angle ESA Fed Reflector (WAEFR) antenna is a hybrid of a phased array Electronically Steerable Antenna (ESA) and a parabolic dish, and increases coverage area by 190% compared to traditional phased array antennas at a much lower cost.

WAEFR
Lockheed Martin Develops High-Performance, Low Cost Hybrid Antenna For 5G, Radar and Remote Sensing Applications

This antenna is part of a larger research and development investment in 5G.MIL technologies that will optimize and securely connect warfighting platforms to enable Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2). Lockheed Martin is uniquely positioned, leveraging commercial best practices, strong partnerships, a broad supply chain and leadership expertise, to bring 5G connectivity and capabilities to the defense community rapidly and affordably.

«We adopted a commercial mindset to quickly mature this technology and discovered there were multiple use cases and applications that could benefit from this new hybrid antenna», said Chris Herring, vice president of advanced program development at Lockheed Martin Space. «5G.MIL technologies like this will bring greater connectivity, faster and more reliable networks, and new data capabilities to support our customers as they navigate the complexity of 21st century battlefields».

The team rapidly prototyped, tested and validated this system in a matter of months compared to what previously took years. WAEFR also features:

  • High performance gain of a dish with the beam agility of an ESA;
  • Low Size Weight and Power (SWAP) common product solution to accommodate any orbital altitude or ground terminal application;
  • Advances in 3D-printing technology and accelerated parts production.

This type of antenna will also benefit the broader communications and ISR communities by providing a more reliable scanning solution compared to gimbaled designs.

«The primary benefit of the WAEFR approach is accomplishing more mission with fewer resources», said Thomas Hand, Ph.D., associate technical fellow at Lockheed Martin Space. «While state of the art ESA solutions can address more demanding link performance, capacity, and data rates using multiple agile analog beams, they do so at a premium».