Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA - Sep 11, 2024, GL Communications Inc., a global leader in telecom testing solutions, addressed the press regarding their Satellite Testing Solutions. These solutions evaluate the user experience across satellite communication networks. As the demand for satellite networks increases for mission-critical applications and rural home internet, GL provides tools that interface with satellite endpoint devices, generate customizable audio, objectively measure voice quality, and produce detailed reports.

Satellite communications networks handle diverse traffic from commercial internet to mission critical communications. Unfortunately, satellite networks are prone to numerous network impairments such as reduced bandwidth, long latency, packet loss and jitter. These impairments affect user experience, especially for voice traffic or other streaming services. Poor voice quality impacts government and military operations as well as private internet use.

Robert Bichefsky, Director of Engineering at GL Communications Inc., states, “GL’s test tools are designed to test user experience and can be used to test any Satellite communications network. Key metrics include Voice Quality scores, measuring delay and detecting dropouts. GL’s test equipment interfaces with endpoint communications devices such as satellite phones and radios. These solutions enable thorough monitoring and analysis of satellite networks.”

GL offers comprehensive test solutions for monitoring and assessing satellite networks, regardless of traffic type. Portable equipment can be provided for use in rural areas. Rack-mountable systems can be deployed permanently at ground stations, where signals are converted from wired to wireless and sent into outer space.

GL’s Voice Quality Testing (VQT) Solutions are designed to test voice communications in satellite networks. Utilizing industry-standard algorithms such as POLQA (ITU-T P.863) and PESQ (ITU-T P.862), these solutions allow users to send a variety of audio files, simulating different languages and voices. This ensures thorough testing of the network across a broad spectrum of audio traffic, accounting for varying degradation based on voice frequency composition.

Voice Quality Testing of Radios over Satellite

GL’s vMobile™ conducts voice and data traffic transmission over satellite networks by connecting to mobile phones and radios through Bluetooth® and wired interfaces. This handheld device manages call control functions including placing and answering calls, sending and receiving audio, and disconnecting calls. Audio captured over the satellite network is recorded and transmitted to WebViewer™, a central database, for voice quality analysis. WebViewer™ features a web-based dashboard that provides global access to results via any standard browser. If out-of-band network access is not available, vMobile™ stores the files locally until they can be uploaded to the database. Results are displayed on Google Maps for location-based analysis and identifying areas of poor voice quality. Multiple vMobile™ devices can send information to WebViewer™. Furthermore, multiple users can connect simultaneously to WebViewer™ to perform testing from anywhere in the world.

Voice Quality Testing of Satellite Phones

The figures demonstrate how vMobile™ interfaces to satellite phones and radios. vMobile™ sends and receives audio through the endpoint devices and transfers the recorded files to a central database for comprehensive analysis. vMobile™ can operate across any satellite network and frequency range by connecting directly to the endpoint device. Additionally, it supports scripted testing, enabling users to perform extended, repetitive tests over weeks as needed.

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