The Shiron SATCOM Business Line, part of Elbit Systems Land and C4I-Tadiran, is a leading satellite communications technology powerhouse, dedicated to the design and production of network systems for cost efficient delivery of Broadband IP over satellite. Focusing on the delivery of Broadband IP over Satellite with emphasis on satellite space segment efficiency, scalability, and software configurable multi standard, best suited to serve the needs of satellite operators, governments, military, Telco’s, ISP’s, public and private companies.

To date, Shiron has deployed hundreds of broadband Hubs and tens of thousands of remote terminals, worldwide. With new satellite communication products and applications for commercial and military markets, InterSKY 4G for the commercial market and InterSKY 4M for the military market, the Company offers solutions to a full spectrum of satellite networking systems, for which it has been known throughout its history. Its world-class team of engineers has introduced innovations such as the first integrated L-band 256Ksps satellite communications modem in 1998, the introduction of InterSKY, the first Digital Video Broadcasting/Frequency Division Multiple Access (“DVB/FDMA”), broadband satellite communications system in 1999, and the first shared alternative to Single Channel Per Carrier (“SCPC”).

In 2006, as DVB-S2 standards were accepted, Shiron once again was a leading innovator, adding DVB-S2 capabilities to its suite of InterSKY satellite communications systems and thereby further enhancing the capabilities and operating efficiencies of its customers. More recently, Shiron invented and incorporated advanced bi-directional Adaptive Coding and Modulation (“ACM”) technology with integrated Automatic Uplink Power Control (“AUPC”), which delivers over 30 percent throughput gain improvement over competing ACM solutions utilized on DVB-S2 products. By adapting its techniques to application requirements, Shiron has been able to package InterSKY as a multi service solution, fitting many types of service providers’ (Telcos, ISPs) backhaul applications including 3G, WiMAX, GSM and WLL systems.
An example of a large scale successful project for the application of GSM backhaul over satellite is the use of InterSKY™ VSAT technology delivered to one of the largest cellular operators in Brazil, as part of the USO (Universal Service Obligation) contract. The Shiron InterSKY™ platform was successfully integrated with a leading Remote Base Station (RBS) vendor. The combined solution provided high level and reliable TWOWAY Satellite Broadband connectivity to maximize network efficiency and enabled cellular coverage in remote locations.

This GSM backhaul project, spanning more than 58 sites, presents a mixture of challenges for Shiron. These challenges ranged from strict requirements for efficiency and technical capabilities, maintaining the highest service quality and availability (as required in GSM backhaul projects), and ending with complex turn-key deployment demands, requiring Shiron to design, deploy and operate the project in under six weeks. As part of the project, the Company delivered a complete solution, supporting several key functionalities, including Multi-Vendor & Multi-TRX, BTS support (mixed vendor cellular infrastructure), flexible scalability which allows the same modem to support variable size BTSs and Integrated QoS mechanism to provide high availability and service delivery.

Dr. Shaul Laufer, CTO of Shiron SatCom Business Line, foresees in the following years, “a significant commoditization of the VSAT equipment and deployment process, which will enable further growth of the SATCOM broadband market. The VSAT will become a cost effective and simple installation process. Fewer cables effortless installation and easy antenna alignment processing will all help to reduce the installation costs. VSAT systems will become more efficient due to further integration of satellite communication layers with QoS, IP acceleration, compression and optimization, so that at all layers will be adapted to SATCOM specific conditions, thus enabling higher throughputs per Hz and optimized application support, thereby reducing the OPEX.

“We will also see further usage of Ka-band transponders that will increase the available bandwidth and reduce its cost. This will be achieved by maturation of the technologies required for extensive usage of Ka-band transponders, namely availability of low cost antennas, BUCs and LNBs for Ka-band. The availability of Ka-bandwidth and low cost fixed and mobile components will also enable the growth of the COTM (Communication On The Move) market which is a bandwidth hungry application due to the usage of small antennas.

“The growth of broadband mobile services, airborne, maritime, and terrestrial, will be enabled also by low cost, electrically steering antennas. In relation to COTM we will also witness improvements due to implementations of the new ETSI standard which defines mobile mode based on continuous carrier with spread spectrum rather than TDMA /MF-TDMA which is not efficient for broadband mobile COTM. The above commoditization process will thus yield better VSAT multi-service technology and improved SATCOM support tailored for varied application environments, new improved COTM support, all in parallel to lower VSAT deployment costs.”