OneWeb, which is building a constellation of satellites to enable global broadband access, has awarded GMV a contract to develop the Command and Control (C2) element within the ground system for OneWeb’s constellation. GMV, undisputed leader as provider of GEO telecommunication satellite control systems, now undertakes a new challenge of monitoring and controlling a constellation of nearly 900 Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites, by far the largest ever global satellite broad band system.

The C2 element will be installed in an operations center in the United Kingdom and another center in the United States, and will provide telemetry and telecommand processing, automation of the contacts between the vehicles and the ground antennae, as well as full constellation situational awareness. The contract involves the supply of various products from GMV’s real-time suite including hifly® for satellite monitoring and control, flyplan for contact automation and a new product called fleetDashboard to provide situational awareness of the complete satellite constellation from a single location, now being developed in close cooperation with the OneWeb operations team.

A key factor in the selection of GMV as C2 provider was the unmatched flexibility of its products, which will not require significant reengineering to meet the OneWeb business needs and schedule. In particular, hifly® supports both GEO and LEO satellites out-of-the-box as well as the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) Packet Utilization Standard (PUS) used by the vehicles. Also, all involved GMV products are compliant with the strenuous automation requirements imposed by OneWeb operations concept. Finally, GMV’s fleet-management products are being complemented with excellent situational awareness capabilities to allow for efficient operations. GMV has offered its comprehensive API, which will be used with SPELL as one of the primary automation languages, thus enabling its low-risk integration into the overall ground system.