Technology Innovation of the Year

The Hughes JUPITERTM high-throughput satellite system was named the 2014 Technology Innovation of the Year at VSAT 2014, one of the satellite commu- nication industry’s top international events. The award recognizes how VSAT technological innovation has enhanced the delivery of satellite services to the wider community, while evolving the industry beyond its current limits.

First introduced as the cornerstone tech- nology for HughesNet® Gen 4 broad- band Internet service in North America operating over the 100+ Gbps Echo- Star® XVII satellite, the highly successful JUPITER System has now been produc- tized for the global marketplace.

Employing a novel System on a Chip (SoC) and numerous other advance- ments—including an enhanced air interface and wideband carriers— JUPITER’s modular design makes it the ideal, future-proof platform for operators to gain technology and cost advantages on today’s conventional satellites and be well positioned for migration to next-generation HTS satellites. Besides powering HughesNet service in North America, the versatile JUPITER platform has now been chosen by operators in Latin America, Russia, Canada, Mexico, Malaysia, and the Middle East.

Ellersick Best Paper Award

Hughes was honored with the Ellersick Best Paper Award at the MILCOM 2014 Conference for its Faster-Than-Nyquist (FTN) technology. The paper was awarded the top prize based on technical advances for both commercial and military communications and innovative applications. The paper, “Faster- Than-Nyquist Signaling and Optimized Signal Constellation for High Spectral Efficiency Communications in Nonlinear Satellite Systems," summarizes research by Hughes engineers on the develop- ment and application of FTN transmis- sions. In addition to the winning paper, Hughes submitted two additional entries that are further evidence of the compa- ny’s renowned research and engineering capabilities.

Although the concept has existed for over three decades, Hughes engineers were the first to successfully transmit signals using a Nyquist filter at speeds that are considerably higher than Nyquist in nonlinear satellite systems. In simulations, Hughes has demonstrated transmissions more than 10 percent faster than Nyquist with an almost negligible increase in power. Military troops often operate in bandwidth-limited environments, and FTN transmissions provide the bandwidth they demand without requiring large amounts of additional power.