Inmarsat Government, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Inmarsat, is launching a new satcom datalink service for transmission of reconnaissance imagery. The L-band Airborne Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (LAISR) service is designed for government customers and has already completed airborne testing. ISR data from aircraft is currently transmitted by various commercial and government-owned satellite networks, but these mostly use Ka- or Ku-band.
LAISR is particularly suitable for small-to-medium size UAVs, Jason Ramsbottom, chief operating officer of Inmarsat Government, told AIN. He claimed that L-band is a better choice for airborne platforms flying at medium or low levels because transmission is unaffected by weather. Other advantages include smaller, lightweight antennas on the platform, and the global nature of Inmarsat’s coverage. He acknowledged that L-band was previously associated with low data rates, but added that LAISR will provide guaranteed transmission at up to 10 mbps.
According to Imarsat Government, potential applications for LAISR include electro-optical and infrared; real-time high-definition video streaming; laser range finder and designator transmission; support of signals intelligence and synthetic aperture radar applications; and backup command and control. The service uses an integrated terminal that provides a simplex broadband return link for the ISR transmission and a full duplex channel for command and control. The capability can easily be added to existing platforms supporting Inmarsat SwiftBroadband service. The company claims that the satcom link “offers an alternative path to mitigate electronic attack and eliminates the need for a communications relay payload or retransmission vehicles.”
LAISR will use Inmarsat’s Alphasat and I-4 satellite constellations and be managed by Inmarsat Government's U.S.-based, security-cleared operations team. But Ramsbottom noted that the company is also building a Ka-band network named Global Express with some unique steerable beams, that will meet particularly high data throughput requirements.
