Context
Spectra supplies communications systems into military applications. ‘Slingshot’, one of Spectra’s key products, has given government customers a groundbreaking device to improve Beyond Line-of-Sight tactical communications between operational teams, leveraging geostationary satellites.
For some time, Spectra had a desire to modernise this product because of demands from customers to provide a more data-centric solution, for use with a wide range of applications.
Government communications systems tend to be closed by their nature, and therefore Spectra needed a solution that would fit into their existing channel leasing service, rather than a communications system that attaches to a commercial network. Additionally, a platform with enough capability to grow with Spectra’s future aspirations.
Solution
TTP undertook a programme of feasibility studies and intense development to devise a solution suitable for soldier worn and platform mounted satellite communications. The key requirement for the system was for it to work independently on leased spectrum over satellite, which demanded strict control over the transmissions used, and hence required custom waveforms to optimise bandwidth and performance over the available channel bandwidth. This can also offer enhanced LPI (low probability of intercept) and LPD (low probability of detection) performance for certain operational scenarios.
The platform was developed and built around the latest integrated radio ICs, together with a fully integrated System-on-Chip, featuring ARM cores and hardware acceleration provided by FPGA fabric. This enables the core platform to be a fully flexible Software Defined Radio (SDR) which can be integrated with any RF front end, BUC (block up converter) or LNB (low noise block) to operate on a range of different communications bands, over satellite or terrestrial.
Result
The GENSS™ family of products was publicly announced by Spectra in 2024, following successful realisation and live trials of early product prototypes over leased satellite channels. GENSS delivers robust, high bandwidth data transmission services, alongside secure and efficient voice capabilities, with significant improvements in the utilisation and throughput achievable on existing leased channel services. GENSS also offers immediate scalability to support operation on enhanced bandwidth leased channels where even further performance is realisable. GENSS is currently available in form factors which support Comms On The Move (COTM), as a soldier worn system or a platform installed system (Figure 1). Its modular hardware and software architecture simplifies future integration of the core technology into a wide range of application scenarios and systems.
“GENSS represents the pinnacle of our development efforts, transforming complex communication needs into simple, effective solutions. My vision has been to craft the ultimate radio system — user-friendly, light, modular and supremely flexible to adapt to the evolving demands of military operations and technological advances. GENSS is proving to deliver exactly that. By leveraging TTP’s expertise, deeply embedded into a collaborative team alongside our tactical communications experts and seasoned military specialists, we have been able to deliver a product which offers a step-change in capability for end users within an extremely rapid time frame.”
Simon Davies, Chief Executive at Spectra Group (UK) Ltd
Client’s Vision
Spectra aims to evolve the success of their existing Slingshot technology to offer end users enhanced capabilities for robust high bandwidth data communications alongside voice traffic with multiple capabilities integrated into a single low-SWAP unit.
Broad and Deep Capabilities
TTP deployed its broad, multi-disciplinary capabilities in communication systems design, engineering and product development together with our deep expertise in satellite communication modem development to rapidly evolve from a “blank sheet of paper” to a fully tested and qualified product with a supporting manufacturing supply chain in place. The team designed and deployed a bespoke physical layer and layer one protocol optimised to maximise performance, robustness and flexibility for applications working on Spectra’s leased satellite channels.
Platform for Future Growth
Close collaboration between Spectra’s team of veteran military communications specialists and TTP’s technical experts has resulted in a modular architecture, built around a software defined radio core, which provides a platform for rapid evolution of the product to meet the demands of emerging and future user needs. GENSS has an open API which abstracts system integrators from the complexity behind the powerful communication facility that GENSS provides, greatly simplifying the process of deploying GENSS into a range of standard and bespoke user level applications.
