Viasat Inc., a global communications company, has announced its Visual Integrated Satellite communications Information, Operation and Networking (VISION) management software has successfully achieved Department of Defense (DoD) Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC) Integrated Waveform (IW) certification. With this certification, global defense customers using the VISION software will gain greater communications interoperability, scalability and flexibility across legacy and next-generation Ultra High Frequency (UHF) satellite communications (SATCOM) platforms, while meeting stringent US DoD satellite access requirements.
VISION provides a user-friendly single network management interface for legacy UHF Demand-Assigned Multiple-Access (DAMA) and IW services. The integrated controller dramatically speeds warfighters’ abilities to connect on the battlefield, going from 90 seconds through a legacy UHF SATCOM system to as little as four seconds with IW. VISION also enables network operators to dynamically reconfigure UHF satellite networks on-the-fly to meet new mission priorities in real-time.
“Viasat is the only company to offer JITC-certified UHF SATCOM Network Channel Control software that meets the DoD’s performance standards to enhance situational awareness across the battlespace,” said Craig Miller, president, Viasat Government Systems. “The VISION platform is important because it enables global defense customers to optimize their UHF network management systems to gain resilient, secure UHF SATCOM capabilities with faster communications, greater reliability and improved functionality to support real-time mission needs.”
Viasat’s Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) VISION software enables users to locally or remotely manage and control ground station networks, monitor status and system performance, track event/alarm management situations and add/remove services when missions change. Operators can double their channel efficiency using IW networks without additional investment in the UHF space segment. This optimization doubles the number of simultaneous networks, giving more warfighters access to reliable, high-quality, resilient voice and data communications.
Additionally, Viasat's VISION platform passed system testing and has been in operational service since 2019 for the NATO Communications and Information Agency as part of its UHF SATCOM modernization efforts. VISION is recognized as the first commercially available software package to simultaneously support legacy DAMA and next-generation IW (5kHz and 25kHz) networks and services.