[SatNews] NovelSat announced the availability of a new version of its SMOS (Satellite Modem Operating System) platform, offering Ka-band support, weather proofing enhancements and features upgrade.

Ka-band popularity has intensified for satellite operators due to its increased capacity availability. The high bandwidth availability in the Ka-spectrum and frequency re-use capabilities across multiple beams enable the delivery of more capacity at faster speeds to smaller dishes. This opens the door to upgraded services at lower cost for additional users.

However, at higher frequencies, such as Ka-band, transmission is more sensitive to weather fluctuations, potentially degrading signal efficiency. This challenge is mitigated with the new version of NovelSat SMOS, including the industry's fastest ACM and advanced AUPC TX power control, both synchronized for maximal link throughput and availability.

NovelSat SMOS is a unified satellite communications platform that ensures optimal interoperability, throughput, scalability and software-defined features and waveforms. The NovelSat SMOS platform ensures that upgrades can be implemented as software updates over the air (OTA) and without adding hardware. The new version of NovelSat SMOS is available for NovelSat NS3000 and NS300 satellite modems.

The new version of NovelSat SMOS includes features such as:

• Enhanced ACM: Upgraded ACM (Adaptive Coding & Modulation) for minimal link margin, maximum throughput and link availability in fast attenuating channels (i.e., Ka-oband), making NovelSat ACM the fastest available.

• Advanced AUPC (Automatic Uplink Power Control): Increased dynamic range of AUPC TX power (-4 to +15dB), fully synchronized with ACM for maximum link throughput and availability.

• Point-to-Multipoint Band Reuse: NovelSat DUET CeC (Carrier Echo Cancelation) is now the first embedded satellite band reuse technology available in point-to-multipoint configurations. Up to 32 inbound channels using the same bandwidth as the outbound channel. This translates into huge bandwidth savings for bi-directional point-to-multipoint satellite networks. Ideal for wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs) where outbound traffic is much higher than inbound.

• DVB-S with 5 percent ROF (Roll-Off Factor): Fully compatible with legacy equipment using the DVB-S modulation standard, providing up to 28percent higher spectral efficiency without replacing equipment.

• Advanced QoS: Enhanced automated and user-managed Quality of Service features for IP routing and VLAN applications.

These and other features are available now in new NovelSat satellite modems and as software updates for existing installations.