Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) has demo'd the interface compatibility of the first Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) satellite's dual legacy and nexgen Ultra High Frequency (UHF) communications payloads with ground user test terminals. This major milestone ensures that mobile users of the existing UHF Follow-On (UFO) system will have a smooth transition to MUOS, which will provide significantly improved and assured communications for U.S. mobile warfighters. With the adaptation of state-of-the art 3G mobile technology, the Lockheed Martin design will deliver simultaneous voice, data and video services as well as the ability to increase capacity and features over the life of the program.

The successful test, conducted at Lockheed Martin's Space Systems facilities in Sunnyvale, California, validated the compatibility of the dual UHF payloads with legacy radios and MUOS test terminals using the newly developed Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) waveform and ground system. A simultaneous WCDMA data call and legacy voice call was performed to validate simultaneous operations of the dual payload configuration. The test was successfully completed under a multi-beam area communications environment. Two simultaneous network circuits were established including a dedicated 25-KHz legacy channel supporting 16 Kbps voice and a WCDMA 5-MHz channel point-to-network supporting 9.6 Kbps data. The legacy signal was also subjected to propagation loss due to environmental and atmospheric conditions to simulate an operational environment.