Cyber Secure Communications

Space Security covers both the security of satellites themselves and their supporting infrastructures as well as the security capabilities they deliver to protect our way of life. The critical national infrastructures of most nation states are heavily dependent on these capabilities and our space security clients are mostly government departments in the UK and European Community.

We provide expertise in:

• Secure satellite communications
• Secured navigation
• Earth observation
• Space weather

Our products include high grade crypto devices and optical communications. We have provided advice on innovative security measures for the key management of the Galileo PRS system and are developing secure receiver modules and a space-based crypto unit.

Some of our success stories include:

• Secure navigation receivers for Galileo PRS
• Primes on FRAME – GSA’s flagship R&D programme
• Autonomous landing of a Harrier on a moving aircraft carrier a
• DBSy Information Security Tool
• Transceivers for the Mars Rover
• NASA MOSC experiments into ionospheric activity
• Satellite imagery analysis for defence and security customers
• Q20 High Dynamic GPS receiver
• Bushman secured military asset tracking
• Skynet 5 secured network SATCOM infrastructure
• 24/7 real-time weather data service to accredited subscribers

Specialist support for Military Satellite Communication projects

QinetiQ has provided an extensive range of specialist client-side support services for a multitude of Military Satellite Communication (MilSatCom) projects. Our acquisition, technical and research expertise, for example, has been at the heart of the Skynet programme for the Ministry of Defence for over two decades.

The success of such programmes owes much to the detailed knowledge and specialist insight of our team and our commitment to match reliability and interoperability with value for money and exceptional performance. We also recognise the importance of effective collaboration in helping to provide the agility and foresight to meet the constantly evolving requirements of such programmes. Such qualities have enabled us to capitalise on the application of commercially developed waveforms, techniques and equipment to deliver highly resilient and reliable MilSatCom services.

Our range of support services for Skynet 5 demonstrates the breadth of our capabilities:

• Assessment of proposals for provision of new services and enhancements.
• Assessment of operation and performance of constellation payloads, including operational impact of reported spacecraft anomalies across the constellation.
• Risk assessment of MilSatCom in terms of aggregate capacity, threat, stress, geolocation, jamming and related geostationary space effects, including the impact of benign and enhanced space environments.
• Development of risk mitigation such as Paradigm Modem system (PMS) software upgrades, Response to Stress (RTS) activities and satellite move preparations.
• Ongoing support for the service assurance process for communication services, to challenge and ensure availability and value for money at all times.
• Provision of specialist advice to the Networks team and MOD Policy areas.
• Detailed assessment of potential avenues for the future delivery of UK military BLOS services, taking full account of the complexities of the space environment and all associated regulations.

As MilSatComs moves into a new era, we are committed to working in collaboration with a wide range of partners across the space sector as well specialist SMEs working in new and emerging areas of technology. Such a collaborative approach is vital for developing the benefits of interoperability and to provide innovative and progressive solutions to counter future threats effectively and to deliver enduring capability.