Innovation and Growth
When people ask me how Hughes determines what products and services to develop, I’m reminded of Lee Iacocca’s famous observation: that great opportunities are often brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems. So the short answer is we try to solve, and even anticipate, customer problems. The longer answer is that we follow a disciplined approach that considers a number of factors when determining research and development strategies. Here’s a brief overview of some of them.
Optimizing Products
System resources – We always seek ways to optimize system resources, particularly power consumption. For example, we’ve developed novel techniques to conserve required transmission power from a satellite to each VSAT terminal. We’ve also developed ways to reduce the transmission power from a satellite handheld terminal, thereby increasing talk time by minimizing battery usage.
Spectrum – Reducing spectrum requirements is an ongoing challenge, yet with a big payback in lowering operating costs for our service provider customers. Examples are in system and product designs that leverage spot beams for frequency reuse and incorporate techniques to better manage adjacent channel and cochannel interference.
Bandwidth – Our latest products employ novel modulation and coding methods to maximize bandwidth utilization for both fi xed and mobile satellite communications, an area in which Hughes has been a leader for over 30 years.
Latency – We can’t escape the laws of physics, but we can fi nd algorithms to mitigate effects of latency from the customer perspective, such as IP spoofi ng.
Applications – Using a well-defi ned satellite-access interface, as in the IPoS (IP over Satellite) standard, we can enable the widest range of applications that can be transported across Hughes platforms.
Cost – In all cases we strive through innovation to create products at the lowest possible manufacturing cost.
Creating Industry Standards
It has always been the Hughes philosophy to invest in the broadband and satellite industries by contributing intellectual property and promoting the development of global industry standards. Such standards include: IPoS, with DVB-S2 including adaptive coding and modulation (ACM).
IPoS is the world’s fi rst standard approved by TIA in North America, and ETSI and ITU in Europe.
Next-generation Regenerative Satellite Mesh (RSM-A) for our full suite of next-generation SPACEWAY terminals.
Geostationary Mobile Radio (GMR-1) for both mobile satellite handheld voice and IP data terminals.
The Innovation Continues
Hughes’ newest system offerings, the advanced HN and HX broadband satellite platforms, employ advanced broadband technology, cover a wide spectrum of market requirements for large and small businesses, and are fully compliant with IPoS and DVB-S2 standards. In 2007, we are continuing the expansion of these platforms, which were launched late last year and which enable the entire breadth of HughesNet services and solutions.
A signifi cant part of our design and development work continues to support the world’s premier operators in the mobile satellite business. For example, we’ve designed and developed systems and dual-mode GSM/satellite handsets with built-in GPS location for Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications Co., serving over 250,000 customers throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia. The Hughes 9201 BGAN terminal was the fi rst to be certifi ed for portable data services throughout Inmarsat’s Broadband Global Access Network (BGAN). And we recently launched the high-speed 9250 BGAN mobile satellite terminal, which is designed to deliver two-way throughputs over 460 kbps while on the move, utilizing Inmarsat’s global coverage—ideal for news reporters, emergency response, and mobile workers.
Under separate contracts with ICO Global Communications, TerreStar Networks, and Loral Space Systems, Hughes is now developing advanced ground-based beam forming (GBBF) systems that will enable the reuse of spectrum by combined satellite and cellular networks. In addition, Hughes is under contract to Mobile Satellite Ventures (MSV) to develop and supply its core Base Transceiver Subsystem (BTS), which will enable a new generation of combined satellite and cellular services.
SPACEWAY
SPACEWAY, the world’s fi rst satellite system with onboard IP switching, will represent a signifi cant step forward in the history of satellite communications when it is launched later this year. Operating in the Ka-band, SPACEWAY has greater throughput and capacity than today’s conventional Ku-band satellites, and employs advanced phase array antenna, spot beam, and onboard processing technologies. Designed and developed by Hughes in partnership with Boeing, SPACEWAY will enable very highspeed communications between terminals in a single hop, without a central hub, delivering the next generation of HughesNet services and solutions throughout North America.
Getting to Growth
While problems and innovation may seem like strange bedfellows, they in fact are a natural fi t. Those “brilliantly disguised problems” indeed create opportunities, which lead to innovation and breakthrough products and services—which ultimately fuel growth. That’s the way Hughes thinks.