This news is classified in: Defense Contracts Communications Soldier
Sep 20, 2021
Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ: VSAT), a global communications company, today announced it received two awards from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) through the Information Warfare Research Project (IWRP) to conduct research that will examine the use and implementation of 5G networks on the battlespace. These awards are part of the DoD $600M 5G research initiative announced last year, to explore how 5G technology can strengthen warfighting capabilities.
Viasat is working with the DoD to solve complex communications problems across multiple network domains—from satellite to cellular to government specific networking waveforms. Specific to these contracts, Viasat will tap into its 5G wireless, networking and cybersecurity expertise and help the DoD understand how it can best utilize 5G technology to enable multi-domain operations in future joint warfighting programs, including Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) capabilities.
The awards focus on two areas:
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For these research experiments, which will be conducted over three years, Viasat aims to use its Expeditionary Lightweight Integrated Tactical Edge (ELITE) Kit solution with a 5G gateway to support the C2 application experiments, as well as its System Integration Lab (SIL) to establish an emulation environment for network dimensioning, planning and radio access network modeling. Additionally, Viasat's NetAgility™ product will offer the DoD multi-path transport and network management support. Viasat will also create a 5G digital twin model to test rapid network configuration and modification, and utilize 5G millimeter wave and Free Space Optics links to deliver high bandwidth needs.