MIT Lincoln Laboratory personnel Joseph Zurkus, left, and Jacob Huang, right, operate a protected tactical waveform modem and collect data while Ted O’Connel monitors terminal equipment to ensure everything is working properly during flight testing Oct. 5

Flight testing validates waveform capability

December 29, 2017
Hanscom Air Force Base

The Air Force is moving forward to demonstrate the capabilities of the protected tactical waveform through recent flight tests.

The PTW is a government-owned waveform that provides resilient, anti-jam satellite communications. Although the Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center, SMC, leads the PTW effort, Hanscom, in collaboration with MIT Lincoln Laboratory and the MITRE Corp., is leading the Air Force ground and airborne terminal work.

On Oct. 5, researchers from MIT Lincoln Laboratory used their Boeing 707 test aircraft, the Paul Revere, to demonstrate the waveform performs as planned in flight. During a 2.5-hour flight using a commercial satellite and a reference implementation of the waveform, various aspects of the waveform were tested. The team also gathered additional data to ensure the waveform could operate under more realistic flight conditions.