Case Studies
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The following case studies represent some of the the wide variety of industries and end users that use Psi-Sys products and services, either through direct or indirect contract vehicles. Psi-Sys customers include the US government, nongovernmental organizations, and a range of commercial customers from the resource management, finance, transportation and infrastructure-operators sectors. Scroll down to read about the diverse range of Psi-Sys networks and customers. |  |
Member-State NGO: Global Communications Infrastructure (GCI)
Project True global satcom project with more than 250 Remote Sites scattered across the planet.
Key Points:
- True global satcom project with more than 250 Remote Sites scattered across the planet
- Multisatellite (six supported today)
- Multiteleport (three supported today)
- Sites exist on all continents and on smaller land masses (remote islands)
- All terrestrial backhauls provided by Psi-Sys
- Network is managed by Psi-Sys on a 24/7 basis for network management, help desk, maintenance, and warranty support
- Licenses arranged for operations in over 90 countries on six continents
- Replaced major supplier
In February 2007, Psi-Sys was awarded the prime contract to design, deploy, operate and maintain this Austria-based organization's Global Communications Infrastructure (GCI). The GCI provides the network resources necessary for the NGO to undertake its charter to enforce a multinational treaty and comprises more than 250 remote VSAT sites around the globe.
As the prime contractor for the GCI
Project, Psi-Sys, is responsible for the program on a turnkey basis,
including satellite space segment procurement, teleport capacity
procurement, telecom licensing, dedicated program management office,
engineering design, network implementation, operations and lifecycle
maintenance throughout the 11-year term of this contract. The GCI is
one of the most diverse satellite communications network in the world,
transporting sensor data collected at remote site locations in 98
different countries and territories to a data center in Vienna,
Austria. Psi-Sys replaced Hughes, the previous prime contractor, as the
new service provider and has upgraded all network technologies).
A mix of fixed satellite services, mobile satellite services and terrestrial technologies are used in the GCI network incorporating IP/TDMA, MPLS, IPSec and a host of other advanced networking and security features. To deploy and operate a network of the diversity of the GCI, the Psi-Sys team has built a vast global support infrastructure including global field network operations, field service and repair/maintenance facilities.
To ensure a smooth
migration, easy collaboration with the client, and to provide premium
customer care during the critical initial 1-year network migration
phase, Psi-Sys collocated its program management office and service
management desk at the customer's data center in Vienna.
US Department of Defense (DoD) Teleport Program: Upgrades to DoD Teleports
Key Points:
- Satcom systems integration at four of the six DoD teleports
- Deployment of eight major earth stations in highly secure environments
- Dealt with challenged environment at Lago di Patria due to space limitations to successfully install new earth stations
Psi-Sys
was awarded a major subcontract by Arrowhead Global Solutions, Inc. to
design, deploy, commission and maintain eight US DoD teleport earth
stations as part of the military GIG-BE infrastructure. Project
commenced in early 2004 and deployment was completed by end of 2005.
Psi-Sys continues to provide services to all installed equipment today.
Each of the four teleports required installation of a pair of large earth stations comprising the following major subsystems:
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- Wahiawa, Hawaii
- Camp Roberts, California
- Landstuhl, Germany
- Lago di Patria, Italy
Military Sealift Command (MSC): Military Sealift Command BEST Program
Key Points:
- Global project in the three oceanic regions
- Installation on US naval vessels
- Provided multimedia/broadband capability over L-band technologies for MSC
Psi-Sys’
predecessor company, Innovative Communications Technologies, Inc.
(ICTI) was awarded a contract in 2001 to design, develop, integrate,
install and commission an advanced broadband networking solution for
the Military Sealift Command (MSC) fleet. MSC, the logistics arm of the
US Navy, consists of a 150-vessel fleet that operates on a global basis
in all 3 ocean regions.
The networking solution
deployed across the entire MSC fleet was based on the unique, patented
bandwidth efficient satellite transport (BEST) technology pioneered by
Psi-Sys’ predecessor company. BEST multiplexed a series of multimedia
applications (voice, data and video) into a single converged stream for
efficient delivery via L-band satellites (such as Inmarsat).
Because
it relied on leveraging commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) networking
technologies based on use of frame relay protocols, the deployed BEST
solution was 100% open standards from a networking perspective. The
unique attributes incorporated by Psi-Sys staff for this project
included development of bandwidth-on-demand use of scarce and costly
Inmarsat spectrum, advanced scheduling techniques for delivery and
posting of user-defined transmission plans on a real-time basis,
spoofing techniques for point-to-multipoint delivery of payload load,
and integration of this solution with legacy Inmarsat shipboard
terminals.
The BEST solution was fielded across the
MSC fleet by the end of 2002 and continues to be used today by MSC.
BEST has been recognized across the industry as the most innovative and
cost-effective, fleet-based, asymmetric, broadband solution deployed on
Inmarsat satellites and has resulted in dramatically more efficient
operations and significant cost savings for MSC and its end users.
Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs Worldwide WAN
 | Key Points:
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Psi-Sys was awarded a subcontract to design, deploy and maintain the satellite portion of the next-generation Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Dutch MoFA) global telecommunications embassy network. The deployed solution provided for secure, reliable transport of voice and data traffic between remote embassy locations throughout the world and the MoFA’s headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands.
The satellite
network implemented for the Dutch MoFA was based on a hybrid SCPC and
bandwidth-on-demand (BOD) solution, providing for flexible sharing of
network resources and allocation of dedicated capacity to sites on a
scheduled basis. Coverage spanned 50 remote site locations throughout
South America, Africa, the Middle East, SW Asia, and SE Asia. The
network uses three C-band satellites with teleport services at two
teleports: Fuchstadt, Germany and Bercenay, France.
To
enhance network availability, redundancy and resiliency schemes were
designed and implemented via Psi-Sys’ Master Station Controller (MSC)
product, including 1:1 redundancy for routers, ComtechEFDATAs satellite
modems and RF equipment, as well as Inmarsat GAN/ISDN connectivity
switch-in to backup the VSAT connectivity in the event of total outage
of that link (such as deep fades at Ku-band locations or microwave
interference at C-band locations).
The Dutch MoFA satellite network was deployed in 2004/05 and Psi-Sys continues to provide operations and maintenance support through the initial 5-year contract of this project.
Chevron/Texaco African Satellite Network Infrastructure
Key Points:
- Large Pan-African network of greater than 40 nodes
- Challenging terrain for installations across Africa
Psi-Sys
was awarded a subcontract in 2005 to design and deploy new satellite
network infrastructure for Chevron/Texaco in support of its operations
in Africa. The information transported across this network included
voice and time-critical data applications. Locations covered by this
network included multiple remote sites in Benin, Cameroon, Kenya,
Malawi, Mauritius, Nigeria, Congo, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zimbabwe and
Zambia.
The satellite solution designed and deployed
for Chevron/Texaco was based on the use of the iDirect TDM/TDMA
platform, utilizing a relatively large C-band beam that covered all
target sites within Africa. Broadband connectivity was provided to/from
the remote sites leveraging the use of a more than 5Mbps forward (to
remotes) TDM satellite carrier and a range of return (from remote)
carriers from 256kbps to 1Mbps.
This advanced network
architecture resulted in efficient and cost-effective use of the
allocated satellite capacity, with assignments to the multitude of
carriers being made dynamically “on the fly” based on real-time offered
load at any of the sites in the network. Psi-Sys continues to support
the Chevron/Texaco program today, offering extended warranty services,
help desk and maintenance/callout support.
Orange (formerly Equant) Africa Satellite Network
Key Points:
- Large Pan-African network of
- Extremely high availability required (> 99.9%)
Psi-Sys was awarded a contract by the Equant satellite and wireless subsidiary of France Telecom to design, deploy and maintain the Equant Africa Satellite Network (EASN). Equant is the owner and operator of the largest multiple protocol label switching (MPLS) data network in the world. EASN comprises the backbone wide area network (WAN) portion of Equant’s global MPLS network and the solution deployed for this project required extremely high reliability (in excess of 99.9% performance) at each remote site.
The design of this
network was premised on the use of 1:1 redundancy for all active
elements deployed at a remote site (routers, satellite modems, BUCs and
LNBs). To provide redundancy control for all of these elements on a
cost-effective basis, a single box equipment monitoring and redundancy
control solution based on Psi-Sys’ own Master Station Controller (MSC)
was implemented. Furthermore, a networked spectrum analyzer was
integrated into each remote site kit to provide visibility into
potential local “over the air” interference issues.
SCB Bank Pan-African Broadband Project
Key Points
- Subcontract included all of SCB’s points of presence on the African continent, spanning 30 remote site locations in 14 different countries.
Psi-Sys
was awarded a subcontract in 2006 to design, deploy and migrate a
satellite network for Standard Chartered Band (SCB), a global financial
institution with headquarters in London, England, UK. Information
transported for SCB included voice, voice over IP (VoIP), and
time-critical data applications (IP as well as legacy data protocols).
The challenges posed with this project were driven by the customer’s desire to migrate its existing ViaSat LinkWay mesh network on a legacy satellite to an iDirect-based star/mesh network on a different satellite, without loss of data during the transition. To deploy this network in a timely and cost-effective manner, Psi-Sys developed a migration approach that incorporated multiple antennas at each remote site location, one pointed to the legacy satellite, while a second was pointed to the new satellite. A complex IF combiner network and management system (based on Psi-Sys’ MSC product) was developed to allow multiple satellite modems to connect across multiple RF subsystems.
All remote sites were successfully
migrated by Psi-Sys to the new network and satellite in less than six
months. Psi-Sys continues to provide operations and maintenance support
through the initial three-year base contract period of this project.