The use of satellite communications for unmanned aircraft...

need for expensive airborne communications relay,” said Steve Jacklin, vice president-business development, Gilat North America. It also provides beyond-line-of-sight (BLOS) capability and offers near-global coverage, he said. A 4.5-meter transportable antenna can be used, which eliminates the need for numerous data links in a region to support the mission, he said. “One antenna can support a mission.” The solution is available in the Ku and X bands, he said. Gilat is working on providing the service in the Ka band, he added. To implement satellite communications for UAS, a compact terminal and compact antenna module are needed to fit in the UAS, said Kevin Bruestle, Gilat vice president-product engineering. The antenna must allow the UAS to maintain a low profile, he said. The size, weight and power “need to be as small as possible without compromising the performance of the antenna,” he said. Gilat provided its Black Ray 1000 terminal for a UAS customer, he said. The customer wanted a solution that wouldn’t affect the endurance of the UAS, and a restricted payload capacity and volume, he said. Gilat installed the BLOS terminal, which is less than 26 pounds and it reached nearly 1 Mbps, Bruestle said. “In spite of the small antenna … you're still able to get good throughput.”