First-Ever Live Demonstration of HeloSat on a Black Hawk Helicopter May 19, 2020 Wayne Marhefka, Senior Director HeloSat , Airborne Connectivity false In the U.S. and allied nations, governments and militaries increasingly rely upon helicopters in fulfilling national security requirements and military mission sets -- from search and rescue to airborne command posts to emergency transport. One of the most commonly used rotary aircraft is the formidable Black Hawk, with more than 4,000 deployed worldwide. At the same time, to access important situational awareness in today’s tactical environments, commanders and their airborne teams must have technology that can transmit bandwidth-intensive Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) data and high-definition (HD) video to command centers on the ground. Unfortunately, communicating Beyond Line of Sight (BLoS) from a helicopter presents technical challenges that can limit the use of rotary wing vehicles. But not anymore. Hughes has overcome these technical challenges with Hughes HeloSat™, the BLoS, enhanced communications technology that delivers uninterrupted, wideband full-motion video (FMV) communications by satellite, through the rotor blades. Already tested across nearly a dozen rotary wing platforms, HeloSat is easy to install and now features a single antenna with near 360° visibility. With low Size, Weight and Power (SWAP), HeloSat is the only reliable, validated, wideband BLoS SATCOM capability for helicopters to transmit uninterrupted, full-motion video in real time. HeloSat delivers: Real-time, full-motion video for vital situational information. Uninterrupted, high data-rate transmissions through the blades of a helicopter. Multi-megabit capability. Low SWaP. On May 21, 2020, for the first time, Hughes demonstrated HeloSat technology aboard a Black Hawk helicopter. The helicopter – outfitted with HeloSat and a high-definition video camera – took off from Tullahoma, Tennessee and traversed the Tennessee landscape, sending real-time HD video intelligence, through the rotary blades, by satellite, back to ‘command’ and a live audience worldwide. To see a video of the demonstration, click here. From today’s high-definition (1080p) FMV and electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) cameras to tomorrow’s augmented reality, HeloSat, with its wideband SATCOM capabilities delivering multiple megabit per second, uninterrupted transmissions will help maximize the benefit from the onboard systems including EO/IR cameras or other high data rate sensors. It’s just one of the ways that Hughes Defense continues to innovate, adding new modular, open-systems technologies to support the next-generation airborne network. Categories See All Airborne Connectivity (7) Government Solutions (7) SATCOM (7) Broadband (6) SD-WAN (6) Innovations (5) Network Management (4) HeloSat (3) Security (3) Emergency Communications (2) Popular Blogs Lessons Learned from 2020Dec 8, 2020 Forty-Three States Prioritize Broadband AccessDec 10, 2020 Carving a Quicker Path to Dynamic Readiness for the WarfighterDec 15, 2020 How State IT Teams Can Modernize Networks NowOct 22, 2020 Insights on Security, 5G and the Internet of ThingsOct 27, 2020 Related Posts See All Lessons Learned from 2020 December 08, 2020 Connecting Military Helicopters—3 Critical Things to Know September 09, 2019 Debrief: Three Takeaways from SOFIC 2019 Dan Brown May 30, 2019 Securing SATCOM: Modernizing Military Systems for Smarter Adversaries September 05, 2018 5 Reasons to Add SATCOM to Rotary Wing Platforms September 05, 2018 ENJOY THIS POST? Provide your email below to receive a monthly round-up of what’s happening in the world of connectivity! First Name Last Name Email Company Campaign ID CAPTCHA This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.