System to improve helicopter communications.

• Author: Tadjdeh, Yasmin

A new technology developed by Hughes Network Systems could improve a helicopter operator's ability to transmit satellite-based communications.

Hughes Defense and Intelligence Systems division recently demonstrated a 360-degree beyond-line-of-sight SATCOM capability that transmitted high-definition video through rotating helicopter blades, said Wayne Marhefka, the division's senior director.

"The beyond-line-of-sight SATCOM for rotary wing platforms is a technology that we've been working on since 2012," he said. "We've been evolving it and... now that we have perfected it... [we] are ready to go into production."

During the demonstration that took place in late 2016, the company integrated a Hughes HM200 airborne modem and two antennas onto a NorthStar Aviation 407 multi-role attack helicopter. Hughes was then able to show that it could provide continuous HD video through a SATCOM link, Marhefka said.

Previously, because of the positioning of satellites, helicopters could only transmit SATCOM-based communications when the rotorcraft was going in a certain direction, he said.

"It doesn't do you a lot of good to have to say, 'Well, I'm only going to fly in this direction because that's the only way I can get my video,'" he said. Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance sensors on fixed-wing platforms "don't have this problem because they put it on the fuselage and they... have much more real estate to put it on."

Hughes' system can be integrated onto any helicopter platform due to its small form and easy roll-on/roll-off installation, which can be done in less than 15 minutes, he said. The antennas weigh around 20 pounds each, he added.

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