Armed forces look to industry for solutions to tackle satcom problems

Representative image of Indian Army soldiers. (Image: AP/File)

The country's armed forces have been facing myriad problems when it comes to satellite communication, and are looking for solutions from the industry to tackle issues such as obscure connectivity.

Speaking at the India Space Congress, Lt. Gen MU Nair, Signal Officer-in-Chief (SO-in-C) said, "I'm a user of space and satellite communications and the challenges that I face are actually tremendous."

"We are looking at surveillance over a vast area, such as 7,500 km of coastline, large economic zone, and island territories, all of which are beyond the capabilities of our terrestrial base service systems. We need to have surveillance systems communication deep in space," Nair said.

He also explained how in the western and northern borders, the challenges compound because of high mountains. "We have multiple mountain ranges which prevent us from communicating in line of sight. That's where we again look at satellite and towards space as a domain for communications," he noted.

Space-based communications systems are also failing due to cloud coverage. "If we have blackouts on the space domain, how do we communicate? We have to fall back on terrestrial optical base systems which may not survive the vagaries of weather," he added.

The Signal Officer-in-Chief also emphasised the need for robust ground control systems to support these platforms.

"Unless we have a robust ground segment to support these platforms, we will not be deriving the benefits of high-resolution cameras (on satellites). Now, I am looking at each one of you (industry) to help me out by providing us with the best technology," he added.

Also present in the panel was Air Vice Marshal DV Khot, Director General of Defence Space Agency.

“While the space is primarily a military domain, the civilian sector has made rapid stride in space in terms of objects ahead of military sector. And because of the opening up of the space sector to private entities, we are able to find new talents,” Khot observed.