Hughes and Boost Mobile Showcase Advanced Network Management for U.S. Navy

Hughes and Boost Mobile Showcase Advanced Network Management for U.S. Navy
by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Aug 30, 2024

Hughes Network Systems, in collaboration with Boost Mobile, both subsidiaries of EchoStar (Nasdaq: SATS), recently demonstrated advanced multi-transport network management capabilities designed to enhance the U.S. Navy's operational resiliency. The successful demonstration, conducted earlier this year, focused on remote network orchestration, wide area network (WAN) resilience, and secure Radio Access Network (RAN) sharing between standalone Private 5G networks at U.S. Navy Air Station Whidbey Island in Washington and a base in Hawaii.

Boost Mobile's experience in deploying Open-RAN-based 5G networking technologies across the U.S. public network provided a solid foundation for the secure, standalone 5G networks implemented on each base. Hughes contributed its Smart Network Edge (SNE) mission-planning technology, Network Management System (NMS), and intelligent network orchestration capabilities. These technologies ensured continuous communication in environments that are often contested and congested.

Dr. Rajeev Gopal, vice president of Advanced Programs for the Defense Division at Hughes, stated, "The combined team successfully demonstrated a flexible and resilient mission network that dynamically switched communications paths to ensure uninterrupted situational awareness. We are ready to implement smart network orchestration and secure Private 5G networks for the U.S. Department of Defense to ensure that users have critical command and control information when they need it most, even in disrupted, occasionally disconnected, and low-bandwidth conditions."

The demonstrated network leveraged Automated PACE planning, utilizing Hughes' NMS and SNE technologies to dynamically manage multiple transport paths and deliver essential situational awareness. These advanced automation techniques optimize capacity, quality of service (QoS), and resource commitments based on time and location, enabling rapid changes and access to SATCOM resources. With command-in-the-loop, Hughes technology can process new service requests in under five seconds, adapting to emerging threats in the field and distributing information across paths orchestrated by the SNE. The NMS and SNE are vital for achieving resilient communications through diverse transports, including GEO, MEO, LEO, and 5G systems.

The demonstration further validated that the EchoStar Private 5G ORAN network can maintain secure connectivity for devices and applications even when users move outside the naval base. This capability allows a device on the Whidbey Island NAS 5G network to securely access applications from another location, supporting missions that require relocation from one base to another.