[SatNews] The U.S. Coast Guard will equip its large cutter fleet with high-speed satellite communications technology, including routers and modems from iDirect Government Technologies (iGT).

Integral Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ISYS) was selected as the prime contractor and its SATCOM Solutions division, formerly CVG Inc. and Avtec Systems, Inc., will serve as lead integrator on the five-year, $10 million indefinite delivery, indefinite quality (IDIQ) contract. (See the SatNews story at at this direct link. The contract is designed to help the U.S. Coast Guard modernize its communications backbone for its fleet of as many as 76 large cutters. The new system will take the Coast Guard from a legacy commercial satellite infrastructure to a Ku-band system, which is more reliable, improves the per-second data transmission speed, significantly increases bandwidth capacity and is more cost-effective. Implementation begins with three cutters early this year with the installation of the voice, video and data communications technology.

iGT will install its e8350 satellite routers that support DVB-S2 transmission technology using LDPC (Low-Density Parity-Check) and adaptive coding and modulation (ACM) for improved bandwidth efficiencies. The router will provide fast and reliable connections for Communications-on-the-Move (COTM) and is compliant with the highest military security requirements and advanced FIPS 140-2 certification. Integral Systems’ SATCOM Solutions division specializes in fixed and mobile satellite communications applications, bringing years of experience in ruggedized and secure mobile communications technology and integration support. On this contract, Integral Systems’ SATCOM Solutions division will provide its industry-leading 117MT Ku-band Maritime Antenna System. The 117 MT maritime stabilized satellite terminal is a 1.17m Ku-band VSAT system providing the ideal ocean‐going platform for Single Channel per Carrier (SCPC) or on‐demand networks supporting Video Teleconferencing (VTC), Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and large‐file data transfer.