Hughes Ships Over 5,000 Electronically Steerable Antennas for OneWeb

Hughes Ships Over 5,000 Electronically Steerable Antennas for OneWeb
by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Aug 14, 2024

Hughes Network Systems, LLC, an EchoStar (Nasdaq: SATS) company, has announced the shipment of more than 5,000 HL1120W electronically steerable antenna (ESA) terminals for the OneWeb Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) network. This achievement reinforces Hughes' position as a major supplier of OneWeb's enterprise-grade LEO terminals.

The HL1120W terminal features a low-profile, full-duplex, self-aligning design with an integrated modem. Engineered for the Eutelsat OneWeb LEO constellation, it incorporates a phased array antenna without any moving parts, enabling seamless support for Eutelsat OneWeb's speeds of up to 195 Mbps for downloads and 32 Mbps for uploads. The terminal ensures continuous connectivity by transitioning from one satellite beam to another approximately every 11 seconds. These terminals are produced at Hughes' new manufacturing facility in Germantown, Maryland.

"We are seeing a digital transformation of both business and government services. This is creating a future where high-speed, low-latency connectivity needs to be ubiquitous," said Paul Gaske, COO of Hughes. "The EchoStar family of companies is meeting this demand by developing enterprise-class technologies that are multi-orbit, multi-transport, and globally available."

In addition to the terminals, Hughes develops and manufactures the gateway electronics and core modules integral to each terminal within the Eutelsat OneWeb LEO system. These gateways are designed to manage over 10,000 beam-to-beam and satellite-to-satellite transitions per second.

"We are pleased to work with Hughes as an engineering and distribution partner for the Eutelsat OneWeb service," said Massimilano Ladovaz, COO of Eutelsat Group. "Our LEO constellation offers customers a high-speed, low-latency global connectivity experience and, together with Hughes, we are able to support digital transformations in business and government."

Hughes also provides a fully managed LEO service that includes design, installation, maintenance, and capacity management. This service offers reliable, enterprise-grade, low-latency broadband connectivity in remote areas. Coupled with Hughes' Managed SD-WAN capabilities, it enables business and government users to stay connected wherever they need to work.