[Cesg-all] USN Demonstration of TCP/IP Space Link Extension

[Adrian J. Hooke]

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/061220/dcw045.html?.v=82

Press Release	Source: Universal Space Network, Inc.

USN Announces Successful Demonstration of TCP/IP Space Link Extension

Wednesday December 20

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Dec. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Universal Space Network, 
Inc. (USN), a leading provider of space operations and ground control and 
communications services, along with subcontractor Integral Systems 
Incorporated (ISI), today announced the successful demonstration of the 
TCP/IP Space Link Extension (SLE) with a U.S. Air Force (USAF) satellite 
utilizing Space Ground Link Subsystem (SGLS) and Unified S-Band (USB) 
receiving channels.

SGLS is the current Department of Defense (DoD) and USAF telemetry, 
tracking and command standard, and USB will be the telemetry tracking 
channel employed on many of the next-generation USAF satellites.

The demonstration under a USN contract with the USAF Space and Missile 
Center (SMC) successfully verified the SLE's capabilities using the Command 
and Control System-Consolidated (CSC-C) ground system deployed at the Air 
Force Center for Research Support (CERES) Satellite Operations Center (SOC) 
and the USN Remote Ground Station (RGS) in Alaska. The SLE protocol used is 
expected to become the command and telemetry interface standard between the 
user's SOCs and the Air Force Satellite Control Network's Remote Tracking 
Systems.

During the demonstration, live telemetry from an orbiting USAF test and 
checkout satellite, DSCS 3 A1, was received, processed and displayed by 
CCS-C equipment. Both telemetry and command interfaces between the CERES 
CCS-C strings and the USN RGS in Alaska were established over the CCSDS SLE 
TCP/IP interface. SGLS commands -- sent by CCS-C, transmitted over SLE and 
up-linked at the RGS -- were verified at CERES with the returned echoes.

"This demonstration represents a significant step forward in the evolution 
of standard interfaces to meet future satellite requirements for the Air 
Force," stated Ken Riley, USN's Vice President of Customer Development. "It 
proved that commercial ground stations, using industry standard interfaces, 
can provide telemetry, tracking and command support to USAF missions using 
both the commercial USB and DoD SGLS standards."