Submarines look to Ka-band to increase bandwidth of satellite burst transmissions

by | Dec 5, 2017 | Seradata News, Technology

While X-Band is the traditional military communications band for satellite transmissions, it is somewhat limited in bandwidth. As such, an export customer of the German submarine manufacturer ThyssenKrupp has specified that it wants Ku-band terminals for its mast mounted communications. The outfit also plans to test Ka-band communications as well, which would provide much larger bandwidths weather permitting (rain fade remains an issue for these). The systems will be manufactured by Indra Company.

ThyssenKrupp manufactures Type 214 submarines. Courtesy: ThyssenKrupp

 

While submarines can receive very low and extremely low frequency transmissions travelling through the ocean, they do not have an aerial long enough to transmit in this very long wavelength signals. As it is, these very low data rate transmissions only allow text messages to be received.

There are two main ways that submarines can communicate back to base without surfacing.

One is to use a sound based underwater telephone system near a suitably hydro-phone equipped subsea telecommunications relay wire or fibre line – albeit that these can sometimes be tapped into or cut by enemy submarine forces.

The other is to use conventional radio or satellite communications via an antenna attached to a periscope like mast. However, long transmissions make it more likely that the signal and hence submarine will be tracked, so short time “burst” communications are often used. And to get as much information into this transmission, the higher the bandwidth the better. Hence the move towards Ku- and Ka-bands.

 

 

About Seradata

Seradata produce the renowned Seradata database. Trusted by over 100 of the world’s leading Space organisations, Seradata is a fully queryable database used for market analysis, failure/risk assessment, spectrum analysis and space situational awareness (SSA).

For more information go to https://www.seradata.com/product/

Related Articles

Categories

Archives

Tags

nasaspacexecoreviewsissesaArianespacevideochinaFalcon 9v1.2FT Block 525virgin galacticULAfalcon 9RoscosmosevaDGAspacewalkaviation weekaressoyuzIGTInternational Space StationRocket LabBeidouawardsBlue OriginStarlinkspaceSatellite broadcastingrussiamoonboeingAirbus DSISROCargo Return VehicleresearchOneWebmarsblogspaceshiptwojaxaorionmarsimpactdelayhyperbolaEutelsatdemocratrocketlunarhypertextobamagoogle lunar prizelaunchVegabarack obamaconstellationSEStourismnorthfiguresthales alenia spacespaceflightnode 2fundedIntelsatRaymond Lygo2009Lockheed MartinExpress MD-2Elon MuskAtlas Vromess2dassault aviationaviationLucy2008wk2sstlukradiomissilesuborbitaldocking portexplorationAriane 5 ECAVirgin OrbittestinternetLong March 2D/2sts-122Ariane 5Northrop GrummanSLSChina Manned Space EngineeringElectronflightspace tourism2010cotsnewspapermissile defensegalileospaceportExpress AMU 1Long March 4Cbuildspace stationaltairsoyuz 2-1aProton Minternational astronautical congressshuttlespace shuttleEuropean Space AgencyLauncherOneCosmosIntelsat 23scaled compositesnew yorkrulesAriane 6hanleybudgetatvVietnamshenzhoucongressMojaveboldenLong March 2COrbital ATKInmarsatcnesnew shepardiaclunar landerGuiana Space CenterkscApollolawsSpace Systems/LoralUK Space AgencyLong March 4BKuaizhou 1AILSprotonUS Air ForceTalulah RileydarpaElectron KSFalcon 9v1.2 Block 5Vega CeuAstriumSkylonpicturebaseusaastronautdragonlanderfiveeventTelesatNorth KoreaSSLAprilSNC50thinterviewLong MarchSea LaunchfalconWednesdaycustomerlinkatlantissuccessor