Global communications company Viasat has won a research award to explore the use of 5G technology for Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO) missions.
Awarded by the US Department of Defense (DoD), the research will focus on how the integration of 5G networking and partner solutions will support communications in EABO operations.
It is the third such award received by the company under the DoD’s $600m research initiative to accelerate the technology’s usage on the battlefield.
The company received the two research contracts from the DoD in September last year.
It was awarded via the Information Warfare Research Project (IWRP) and the research will support the DoD’s Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) strategy.
Viasat Government Systems president Craig Miller said: “Like the DoD, we see the significant potential for 5G to enhance the warfighter’s ability to produce, consume, and make sense of mission-critical data at the point and time of need in contested and congested environments to support JADC2 enablement.
“The ability to swiftly move information and data across the battlespace is essential to the multi-domain and joint-force operations needs of the future.
“The addition of 5G bandwidth and network management capabilities will support C2 for specific missions and greater visibility across highly dispersed forces in EABO and littoral operations in contested environments.”
Viasat will adopt a phased approach to deal with the 5G dynamic radio frequency (RF) spectrum and flexible network planning and management.
The company will conduct research experiments using the Expeditionary Lightweight Integrated Tactical Edge (ELITE) Kit solution, the 5G and tactical networking System Integration Lab (SIL), and NetAgility.
The experiments will be carried out over four years.
