EchoStar-owned Boost Mobile and Hughes Network Systems demonstrated automated multi-transport network management between US Navy bases as part of a plan to employ various transport paths to deliver situational communications.

The demonstration involved remote network orchestration, wide area network (WAN) resiliency and secure RAN sharing between standalone private 5G networks operating at the US Navy Air Station at Whidbey Island in Washington and a base located in Hawaii.

Their goal was to help the US Department of Defence (DoD) evaluate 5G applications for military uses, along with LEO and GEO satellite communications resiliency.

In March, EchoStar won contract extensions from the DoD for open RAN-based private 5G networks across several military installations.

Boost Mobile provided its open RAN-based 5G networking technologies to enable standalone 5G at each location.

Hughes chipped in its intelligent network orchestration capabilities, smart network edge mission-planning technology and network management system. Combined, the companies stated their technologies can maintain communications in contested and congested environments.

Rajeev Gopal, VP of advanced programmes for the defence division at Hughes, explained the test “demonstrated a flexible and resilient mission network that dynamically switched communications paths to ensure uninterrupted situational awareness” across the bases.

Hughes stated its technology can process new service requests in less than five seconds to accommodate new threats in a wartime theatre and automatically distribute information across paths orchestrated by Hughes SNE.

The companies claimed EchoStar’s private 5G open RAN network can maintain secure connectivity for devices and applications when users travel outside of naval bases.

A device running on the Whidbey Island NAS 5G network can travel to another location and still securely access applications that reside at the first, enabling the Navy to use the access for missions requiring a user to move from one base to another.