TAMPA, Fla. — Astranis announced plans Nov. 5 to roll out a mobile ad-hoc network service called Vanguard, using its small geostationary satellites to extend the range of point-to-point communications for disaster relief or secure defense operations.
The capability was recently demonstrated at the company’s headquarters in San Francisco, Astranis CEO John Gedmark said, in partnership with mobile networking specialist Persistent Systems and flat-panel terminal providers Kymeta and Satcube.
“With a dedicated satellite and the on-board digital processing of Astranis’ software-defined radio, you can do true ‘hubless’ communications,” Gedmark said via email, “meaning that your internal communications never have to hit the broader internet.”
He said Vanguard enables customers to quickly set up a private network capable of voice, video and data transport anywhere within the beam footprint of an Astranis broadband satellite, roughly 2,250 kilometers.
“The satellite link between nodes also gives a high-reliability connection, allowing radios to connect in a wider range of conditions,” he added.
For defense, dismounted or mounted teams could deploy mobile satellite terminals compatible with Persistent Systems’ Wave Relay peer-to-peer radio network technology, which is widely used by U.S. and allied forces.
Gedmark said Vanguard is available anywhere an Astranis satellite serves as an additional service that existing and future customers can opt into, “starting immediately.”
Astranis has deployed five satellites to date and announced the start of broadband services on two of them, covering the continental United States for in-flight connectivity specialist Anuvu, following a solar array failure on its debut spacecraft in 2023.