Satellite communications monitoring and interference detection

R&S®SATCOM Link Observer for failure-free SATCOM operations and high quality of service

In an ever-evolving communications landscape, staying connected via satellite is crucial for various industries. Critical infrastructures (such as power companies) often secure their networks with very small aperture terminal (VSAT) systems. General upgrading of the national infrastructure is driving growth in demand for SATCOM in the public sector. Militaries also use SATCOM for beyond-line-of-sight (BLOS) communications in challenging operational environments. SATCOM plays a pivotal role in connecting remote areas, providing essential services during emergencies, and enabling global connectivity for businesses, governments and armed forces.

The market for low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites is growing steadily. More and more providers entering the field has led not only to a higher number of different standards and local certifications but has also created more complexity in the market. The result of this growth in the SATCOM industry is that options for data transfer in non-terrestrial networks are increasingly in competition with terrestrial options as markets continue to expand worldwide. At the same time, governments are contributing to this expansion through the development of their own national solutions to ensure communications security. Tapping this enormous potential, these developments have led to a general growth in the total number of installed satellite terminals and an explosion in the number of satellite links in the spectrum.

Customer challenges

These trends give rise to an urgent need for continuous monitoring of the quality of these connections to ensure an interference-free data link and optimal quality of service (QoS). This task is complicated by high spectrum density and a need to rapidly identify errors early on in a crowded hardware environment. With the increasing demand for bandwidth, the need for efficient spectrum management and interference mitigation has become paramount, which creates new challenges for operators and customers:

• Ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements poses a continuous challenge in the dynamic environment
• Limited personnel available for monitoring, making efficient and intuitive monitoring systems necessary
• Additional transponders rented to guarantee capacity pose added risk in regard to error rates and must be checked regularly, sometimes even by operators in the space segment, which increases complexity
• Increased probability of the link being disrupted as it as passes through various interfaces of the link segment
• Merging of terrestrial and non-terrestrial communication networks further increases density in the spectrum, making it even harder to monitor them properly
• Increased need to monitor secured areas and critical infrastructure of different scales

Our solution – R&S®SATCOM Link Observer

The R&S®SATCOM Link Observer from Rohde & Schwarz, the advanced communications system monitoring solution for SATCOM, enables customers facing these challenges to keep tabs on SATCOM system reliability with:

• Automatic error detection and correction capabilities enables quick identification and resolution through early warning; reduces reaction time so that countermeasures can be initiated as soon as possible, thus reducing downtimes and failures, minimizing impact on operations
• Identification of impairments during operation, allowing prompt resolution and minimizing the impact on communications; enables maintenance of reliable and secure communication links, even in challenging environments
• Device access for users worldwide allows operators to conduct flexible monitoring
• High efficiency through a combination of features (including classic spectrum analyzer functions, 24/7 trapping systems, advanced signal detection, and signal analysis and classification) in one system, reducing the personnel needed for monitoring tasks
• Continuous measurements and event logging capabilities enhance SATCOM system resilience
• Future ready solution with both graphical and application programming interfaces that addresses the challenges of non-standardized SATCOM systems, evolving industry activities, mission-critical communications links, and growing spectrum interference
• Supports various Rohde & Schwarz sensors to meet individual customer requirements