Narrowband Satellite Communications:

Challenges and Emerging Solutions

Emre Gündüzhan and K. Dewayne Brown

ABSTRACT
Narrowband satellite communications (NB-SATCOM) technology is used by the DoD primarily for
communications among dismounted soldiers, as well as among ground vehicles, ships, and air-
craft. It is attractive because of the favorable propagation properties of the frequencies in the ultra-
high-frequency, L-, and S-bands. NB-SATCOM has continuously been evolving in both military and
commercial domains. This evolution is necessary to keep up with the technological advances and
to meet increasing user requirements; however, the high cost of terminal replacement demands
continued support for the existing terminal base. This article focuses on the challenges faced by
DoD for future NB-SATCOM services, along with potential options for next-generation systems.
Emerging technology enablers and recent advances in SATCOM services are also discussed.

INTRODUCTION
In the context of satellite communications SATCOM system.2 MUOS operates at 300–320  MHz
(SATCOM), the term narrowband (NB) generally refers for the uplink and 360–380  MHz for the downlink. It
to the ultra-high-frequency (UHF)-, L-, and S-bands, consists of four operational satellites in geosynchronous
where available bandwidth is limited compared to the Earth orbit (GEO) plus one in-orbit spare. When fully
higher-frequency bands. These lower-frequency bands operational, MUOS is expected to provide 39.2 Mb/s of
in the 300-MHz to 4-GHz range are attractive to the global capacity to terminals compatible with the new
DoD because of their better penetration into buildings Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA)
and through foliage and their reduced signal attenuation waveform.3 Each MUOS satellite also includes a legacy
in adverse weather conditions. Because of limited avail- payload to support the legacy UHF terminals. The DoD
able bandwidth, primary applications of NB-SATCOM also uses leased services from commercial SATCOM
are voice and low-rate (e.g., 64 kb/s) data transfer. providers such as Iridium and Inmarsat.
The existing legacy DoD NB-SATCOM constellation Although MUOS and leased commercial SATCOM
consists of the UHF Follow-On (UFO) and Fleet Satel- services are expected to provide orders of magnitude more
lite systems operating in the 240- to 320-MHz range. capacity compared to the legacy UHF system, emerging
Each UFO satellite supports seventeen 25-kHz channels requirements still present significant challenges. These
and twenty-one 5-kHz channels.1 This legacy constella- challenges include developing low-cost, low-power,
tion is currently approaching the end of its life; hence, it small-footprint terminals; continuing support for legacy
is being replaced by the Mobile User Objective System SATCOM terminals; achieving resilience against kinetic
(MUOS), which is the DoD’s next-generation NB- and electronic attacks; and increasing the efficiency of

52­­­­ Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest, Volume 33, Number 1 (2015), www.jhuapl.edu/techdigest
 Narrowband Satellite Communications

spectrum usage. This article discusses these challenges port of legacy terminals will end. For this reason, each
and some emerging potential solutions, such as advances MUOS satellite carries a legacy UHF payload for exist-
in cognitive devices, lower-orbit and nanosatellite sys- ing terminals in addition to the payload for the new
tems, and terminals for specialized applications. WCDMA waveform.
In the next section of this article, we present some of
the main NB-SATCOM challenges. This is followed by Resilience
a discussion of several technological enablers as poten-
tial solutions in future systems. We conclude the article NB-SATCOM systems must be resilient against a
with a summary. number of threats, including kinetic attacks, jamming,
and cyberattacks.5 In general, resilience can be achieved
by preventing an attack, withstanding an attack, or by
NB-SATCOM CHALLENGES rapid restoration of services after an attack. In this arti-
cle, we talk about some potential approaches for robust-
Small Terminal Footprint ness against kinetic attacks and jamming and for rapid
restoration of services in the event of an attack. Prevent-
The primary NB-SATCOM users include dismounted
ing kinetic attacks and jamming requires eliminating the
soldiers, special operations forces, and small unmanned
attacker and is outside the scope of this article. Resil-
vehicles. Their missions require terminals with low size,
ience techniques against cyberattacks on NB-SATCOM
weight, and power (SWaP) operating in remote loca-
are similar to techniques used for other cyber systems,
tions, areas with unsecure infrastructure, or areas with
and they are also not discussed in this article.
denied access.
MUOS is the next-generation military NB-
SATCOM system, but current MUOS form factors are Increased Spectral Efficiency
impractical for such missions. Although some com- Another challenge for NB-SATCOM is efficient
mercial NB-SATCOM systems (e.g., Iridium) support use of the relatively narrow spectrum. Although new
handheld radios, the only program-of-record handheld, technologies can help, the significant time required to
manpack, and small-form-fit radio for MUOS is the design and deploy a new satellite system will prevent
General Dynamics PRC-155, which is a manpack. One their rapid introduction. As technological advances
of the main reasons for the lack of handheld MUOS ter- continue at a rapid pace, the technology used in a satel-
minals is the large link margin that was used in link lite system can be obsolete by the time it is launched. For
budget calculations.4 The link margin that was used sat- instance, an analysis-of-alternatives study for MUOS
isfied >97% link availability and resulted in a maximum was concluded in 2001, but the first MUOS satellite was
transmit power specification of 8.5  dBW. This power launched in 2012. The challenge, therefore, is to reduce
level would be impractical to implement in handheld the design phase for a new system and keep up with the
terminals because of heat-dissipation issues. However, newest technologies.
recent analyses showed that much lower power levels
(e.g., 6  dBW) can achieve acceptable performance.
These results seem to eliminate one of the key barriers POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS
to developing a low-SWaP terminal.
Another challenge for a small-form-factor MUOS
Miniature Terminals for Specialized Applications
terminal is the requirement for full-duplex operation. One approach for developing low-cost, small-form-
MUOS is based on the 3rd Generation Partnership Proj- factor NB-SATCOM terminals is customizing terminal
ect (3GPP) WCDMA standards and does not support a functionality for the intended uses and applications. It is
half-duplex mode. Because that mode is not supported, critical to minimize the functional scope to include only
the terminal must have separate transmit and receive those functions that are necessary. The Johns Hopkins
chains, which increases its SWaP. University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) has begun
to explore this approach, developing a Miniature MUOS
Terminal (MMT) proof of concept as an independent
Legacy Terminal Support research and development project. The end goal of this
A key characteristic of NB-SATCOM is its relatively project is a potential MUOS terminal to support special-
large number of users. This large user base drives the ized operational applications such as data infiltration/
need for a large number of terminals in the field. The exfiltration in denied, remote, or unsupported areas.
replacement cost for such a large number of terminals The MMT is realized in two risk-reduction form fac-
puts significant constraints on new NB-SATCOM sys- tors: MUOS on a printed circuit board and MUOS in a
tems. New satellite systems should continue to support multichip package. These small form factors will enable
the legacy terminals until they are replaced by newer low-profile handheld capability, use on unmanned vehi-
terminals, and currently it is not known when sup- cles, and unattended sensor bidirectional interfaces to

Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest, Volume 33, Number 1 (2015), www.jhuapl.edu/techdigest 53­­­­
 E. Gündüzhan and K. D. Brown

an operations center across the MUOS satellite system. robustness against interference and jamming by seam-
The independent research and development project lessly switching to an optimal operational configuration
evaluated feasible small-form-factor RF power profiles for in highly dynamic environments.
compatibility with MUOS and determined that useful
data rates and link availabilities can be achieved. Advances in 3GPP
The critical enabler to achieve the small form factor
3GPP is the standards forum supporting the devel-
in the MMT is waveform scope tailoring. There is a
opment of many commercial mobile network standards.
direct correlation between the amount of processing
Advances in 3GPP standards can be adopted by satellite
and the SWaP of the terminal. Effective trades between
systems as well. For instance, the new MUOS waveform
operational requirements and terminal SWaP can be
is based on the 3GPP WCDMA standards.
achieved by developing terminals that provide only a
Because the electromagnetic spectrum is a valuable
sponsor-defined subset of the full functionality.
resource, 3GPP and other wireless standards organiza-
tions have performed extensive work to improve the
Cognitive Systems spectral efficiency of modulation schemes. Orthogonal
Cognitive communications capabilities are likely to frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) emerged as a
be supported in future SATCOM systems. Wireless com- main trend and has become the modulation of choice in
munication resources, including SATCOM resources, Wi-Fi, WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Micro-
are scarce and expensive; therefore, communication wave Access), and LTE (Long-Term Evolution) systems.6
channels are designed as a trade-off between perfor- This embrace of OFDM suggests that it is worth consid-
mance and cost. Furthermore, both the channel charac- ering OFDM-based waveforms for future NB-SATCOM
teristics and the link requirements in terms of geometry, systems as well, given that satellite spectrum is also a
environments, and resources are time-varying processes valuable resource. Applying OFDM to NB-SATCOM
in general. Communication equipment configurations is a promising solution to increase user throughput and
need to be adaptive in order to maintain optimum per- overall system capacity.
formance and efficient use of resources in this highly Heterogeneous network deployment is another trend
dynamic environment. As shown in Fig. 1, a cognitive in cellular wireless communications.7 The basic concept
architecture enables adaptive configurations by using is building a layered organization of cell towers. Low-
environmental sensing and cognitive processing. power towers are used to form “pico” cells that provide
Environmental sensing is used to estimate a number coverage to hard-to-reach locations, while regular towers
of critical communication parameters, including fre- provide service to larger “macro” cells. A related concept
quency, power, bandwidth, waveform, multiple access, is the relaying functionality, where mobile phones com-
location, and angle of arrival. It provides input to cogni- municate with a base station via a relay node. Relaying
tive processing engines to implement real-time commu- extends the coverage area of a base station.
nication policy. Cognitive processing generally includes These concepts can be adopted by NB-SATCOM to
a cognitive memory, a learning process for self- and envi- provide service to small disadvantaged terminals, as illus-
ronmental awareness, and a decision-making process for trated in Fig. 2. Portable ground stations or an aerial layer
adaptive configuration and dynamic resource alloca- can be positioned to serve disadvantaged terminals that
tion. For example, adaptive network, digital, RF, and cannot communicate with the satellite directly. In a het-
antenna processing functions can be used to enable flex- erogeneous configuration, the portable ground stations
ible maneuvers in the communication and networking or an aerial layer would handle local communications,
services, and dynamic resource allocation can control while the satellite would provide reachback to the global
resources such as frequency, power, multiple access, and network. In a relay mode, portable ground stations or an
beam direction according to environmental conditions. aerial layer would strengthen the signals to and from the
Cognitive communication algorithms will increase satellite, extending service to disadvantaged terminals.

Cognitive processing Environmental Environmental Cognitive processing

Mobile wireless channel

sensing sensing
Configuration software Configuration software
parameters parameters

Baseband IF RF RF IF Baseband
processing processing processing processing processing processing

Software-defined radio transmitter Software-defined radio receiver

Figure 1.  Cognitive communication architecture. IF, intermediate frequency.

54­­­­ Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest, Volume 33, Number 1 (2015), www.jhuapl.edu/techdigest
 Narrowband Satellite Communications

SATCOM systems. Use of

these orbits would reduce
the transmission power
requirements of terminals,
allowing terminal designs
with lower SWaP, and would
also substantially improve
the quality of voice conver-
sations by reducing the end-
to-end delay.
Unlike GEO satellites,
LEO and MEO satellites are
not stationary as viewed from
Earth. But, NB-SATCOM
terminals typically use
omnidirectional antennas;
hence, tracking satellites
in non-GEOs would not be
an issue. However, MEO
and LEO satellites would be
traveling at very high speeds
relative to Earth, which
means a larger range of Dop-
pler effects would have to be
compensated. Although this
would add to terminal and
satellite payload complex-
ity, it is not expected to be
Figure 2.  A conceptual heterogeneous network for SATCOM. a significant issue. Doppler
compensation methods are
well known, relatively inex-
Non-GEO Constellations pensive, and currently deployed for some commercial
MEO and LEO Constellations LEO systems (e.g., Iridium).
Another benefit of using MEO and LEO satellites
Military satellites, including NB systems, tradition- would be the increased number of satellites in orbit
ally operate in GEO. GEO satellites cover larger areas of compared to those in GEO. This can enhance the resil-
Earth compared to satellites in lower orbits. This allows ience of the system against kinetic attacks to the space
coverage of all of Earth between 65S and 65N latitude segment. If a satellite is disabled because of an attack
with as few as three satellites. Also, GEO satellite posi- resulting in a lack of satellite coverage and thus a gap
tion is stable relative to the ground, which simplifies use in communications in a particular area, that gap would
of directional antennas and reduces required Doppler be filled when other satellites move into that area.
compensation. Therefore, a given point would experience only periodic
The major disadvantage of a GEO satellite compared service disruptions several times per day. This is a signif-
to those in lower orbits is the substantially greater dis- icantly more graceful degradation of service compared
tance that signals have to travel. Transmitted signals to the loss of a GEO satellite, which would result in a
experience a high level of attenuation and a large prop- large area completely without satellite coverage until a
agation delay because of this distance. The free-space spare satellite replaced the lost one.
propagation loss and propagation delay of GEO are com-
pared with medium Earth orbit (MEO) and low Earth
orbit (LEO) in Table 1, which shows that GEO has 11 dB Table 1.  Propagation delay and path loss at different orbits
and 37 dB more attenuation compared to MEO and LEO,
GEO MEO LEO
respectively. The table also shows that the propagation
delay for a satellite in GEO is 172 ms and 236 ms larger Altitude (km) 35,768 10,000 500
than for one in MEO and LEO, respectively. Ground-to-ground
239 67 3
Reduced attenuation and propagation delay make propagation delay (ms)
MEO and LEO attractive options for future NB- Free-space path loss (dB) 173 162 136

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 E. Gündüzhan and K. D. Brown

The resilience and propagation benefits of LEO and advances is required for improved spectral efficiency and
MEO constellations must be weighed against the total SATCOM traffic capacity.
cost of the entire deployed system. On one hand, these Promising solutions to these challenges include
lower orbits use smaller satellites compared to GEO, developing terminals for specific applications to drive
but more satellites are required for global coverage. On down terminal SWaP and cost; using lower orbits and
the other hand, the launch cost per satellite is reduced nanosatellites to improve resilience and shorten propa-
because of smaller size and weight. gation distances; and utilizing new technologies such as
cognitive systems, OFDM-based waveforms, and hetero-
Nanosatellites geneous network architectures.
An emerging technology that can potentially be uti- REFERENCES
lized for SATCOM resilience is nanosatellites.8 These   1Blaydoe, M., Mogor, R., and Wade, R., “An Evaluation of MUOS Sup-
small, low-cost satellites can be deployed in significant port to Legacy UHF Terminals,” in Proc. IEEE Military Communica-
quantities with a single launch. Although nanosatellite tions Conf. (MILCOM), Washington, DC, pp. 1–6 (2006).
  2Oetting, J. D., and Jen, T., “The Mobile User Objective System,” Johns
capabilities and limitations are still being researched,
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deploying a mesh network of such spacecraft could   3U.S. Department of Defense, Selected Acquisition Report: Mobile User
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attacks. Nanosatellites can also be deployed as relays to dod.mil/pubs/foi/logistics_material_readiness/acq_bud_fin/SARs/14-
F-0402_DOC_58_MUOSDecember2013SAR.PDF (Apr 2014).
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meet the emerging requirements for NB-SATCOM. no_02.pdf.
  63GPP, Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved
Small and low-cost terminals are required for dis-
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THE AUTHORS
Emre Gündüzhan was the APL Technical Lead for the Future Narrowband SATCOM study. He is the Supervisor of
the Next-Generation Network Systems Section in the Communication and Networking Systems Group and is also the
APL MUOS Project Manager. K. Dewayne Brown was the Technical Lead for the Miniature MUOS Terminal indepen-
dent research and development project. He is the Supervisor of the Resilient Tactical Communications Section in the
Communication and Networking Systems Group and is also a technical leader for several current DoD communication
development projects. For further information on the work reported here, contact Emre Gündüzhan. His e-mail address
is [email protected].

56­­­­ Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest, Volume 33, Number 1 (2015), www.jhuapl.edu/techdigest