On April 6, San Diego, CA-based Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. announced the release of its OpenEdge 2500 digitizer designed specifically to help satellite antenna makers digitally enable their products. When integrated into any antenna, the compact digitizer reliably converts radio frequency (RF) signals into Internet protocol (IP) data streams that are easily consumed for use in modern software-defined communications networks.
The OpenEdge 2500 enables digitization to occur natively within nearly any parabolic, electronically steerable, or flat panel antenna. Today, when digitization is done at all, it occurs within a separate, added network component located either at the gateway, at the remote user terminal or somewhere in between. For both accuracy and transport efficiency, however, it is best to digitize as close to the signal’s origin as possible, and there is no place closer than within the antenna itself.
Cobham Satcom, a global industry leader in the design and manufacture of accurate, multi-orbit, active tracking antennas for land, maritime, fixed and mobile applications across GEO, HEO, MEO and LEO satellites, will be the first to integrate the OpenEdge 2500 into its Comms on the Pause (COTP) satcom Tactical Terminals as well as other parabolic and flat panel electronically steerable antenna (ESA) terminals for both maritime and land applications. Cobham Satcom has considerable prior experience in the development and integration of digitization in its product lines and is an ideal partner to introduce the OpenEdge 2500.
The OpenEdge 2500 easily and effectively transforms traditional satellite antennas into digital ones, streamlining operations and allowing satellite service providers far more flexibility in configuring the best terminal solutions to meet their customers’ needs. Specifically, the availability of digital-ready antennas will provide network operators with an additional path for migrating to software-enabled (SE) terminals. SE terminals replace the purpose-built, proprietary equipment used at the network’s edge today with generic off-the-shelf compute, placing far more application power and security directly in the user’s hands. The OpenEdge 2500, like all Kratos OpenSpace® products, is based on industry standards, including the DIFI interoperability standard, enabling seamless integration with other standards-compliant devices and virtualized network functions from other vendors.
“Digitization offers much needed flexibility and opens up new ways to drive forward satellite communications,” said Bob Potter, TRACKER CTO at Cobham Satcom. “As one of the first antenna manufacturers to join the Digital IF Interoperability (DIFI) Consortium, we have long promoted standards-based digitization for the next generation of multi-orbit, multi-domain and multi-network terminals and gateways into the digital age. Adapting and optimizing the OpenEdge 2500 will allow us to deliver much desired digital-ready capabilities to both government and enterprise users, whether on COTP terminals deployed in the electronic battlefield, or to New Space and research organizations at the forefront of signal processing, virtualization, and cloud connectivity.”
Source: Kratos
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