How does interference mitigation affect the performance and security of SATCOM systems?

1 Types of interference

Interference can be classified into two main types: intentional and unintentional. Intentional interference is caused by malicious actors who aim to disrupt, deny, or degrade the SATCOM services for strategic or tactical reasons. Examples of intentional interference include jamming, spoofing, and hacking. Unintentional interference is caused by natural or human-made factors that are not meant to harm the SATCOM services, but still affect them negatively. Examples of unintentional interference include atmospheric noise, solar flares, equipment malfunction, and frequency misalignment.

2 Interference mitigation techniques

Interference mitigation techniques are methods or technologies that can reduce or eliminate the impact of interference on SATCOM systems, and can be applied at different levels of the system such as the satellite, ground station, or user terminal. Frequency hopping involves changing the frequency of the signal randomly or according to a predefined pattern to avoid staying on a fixed frequency, spread spectrum involves spreading the signal over a wider bandwidth than the original data, coding and encryption adds redundancy and security to the data, beamforming and nulling use multiple antennas to shape and steer the signal beam towards the desired direction, and adaptive modulation and power control adjusts the modulation scheme and power level of the signal according to channel conditions and interference level. All of these techniques are effective for interference mitigation.

4 Challenges of interference mitigation

Interference mitigation techniques can present certain challenges and limitations, such as increasing complexity and cost, introducing trade-offs and interferences, and adapting to dynamic and hostile environments. Additional hardware, software, or processing capabilities may be necessary for implementation, which can raise the cost of design, implementation, and maintenance. Additionally, interference mitigation techniques may involve trade-offs between different performance parameters, such as data rate, power consumption, latency, and coverage. In addition, they may introduce new sources of interference or interfere with other systems or services. To handle dynamic and hostile environments where interference sources, types, and levels may vary rapidly and unpredictably, advanced algorithms, sensors, and feedback mechanisms may be needed to monitor and adjust system parameters accordingly.

5 Future trends and opportunities

Interference mitigation techniques are constantly evolving and improving, as new technologies, standards, and applications emerge. Future trends in this field include multiple access techniques for IoT and SATCOM, such as non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) and grant-free multiple access (GFMA). Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can also be used to enhance the performance of interference mitigation techniques. Furthermore, quantum communications and cryptography technologies offer unprecedented advantages for interference mitigation, such as ultra-high bandwidth and unconditional security. These technologies can be used to generate and exchange encryption keys that are immune to eavesdropping or hacking.

6 Here’s what else to consider

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