NTS-3
NAvigation Technology Satellite - 3
TRANSFORMING PNT
TO MEET 21st CENTURY WARFIGHTER NEEDS
In a dynamic and fast-changing geopolitical environment, accurate, reprogrammable PNT is critical to the safety and mission success of our warfighters. PNT supports everything from combat aircraft, warships and weapons systems, to individual soldiers on the ground – making it a prime target for adversaries.
U.S. and allied forces need a PNT system designed to stay ahead of and quickly address dangerous adversary attempts to disrupt, deny access to and/or spoof U.S. assets with misleading information.
NTS-3 will demonstrate the value of multilayer resiliency and prove critical technologies engineered to defeat the threat that contested, degraded and denied PNT poses to our national security.
GIVING GPS A
LOYAL WINGMAN
ACCELERATING
THE FUTURE OF
SPACE-BASED PNT
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The NTS-3 Vanguard is the first U.S. integrated satellite positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) experiment in almost 50 years. It will provide an on-orbit demonstration of game-changing PNT technologies and techniques in the space, ground control and user equipment system segments. The planned experimental campaign will explore capabilities and concepts of operations that enhance U.S. and ally warfighter mission success in contested, degraded and denied environments.
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NTS-3 will on-orbit test innovative technologies to enhance the stability, availability, integrity and accuracy of military PNT capabilities.
In collaboration with trusted partner NASA Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL), the NTS-3 Cion receiver enables autonomous navigation by processing Space Service Volume (SSV) data from the medium Earth orbit (MEO) GPS constellation. This helps coordinate signals with the GPS constellation and allows uninterrupted service during station keeping to improve overall availability. The Cion is fully reprogrammable on orbit and has the capability to use SSV signals from multiple GNSS.
CION ANTENNA/RECEIVER
The HP2 hosts all payload flight software and the timekeeping system. It interfaces with the bus to process uploads from the ground and provides payload health and status information. The processor also controls the payload, clocks and Cion. The HP2 autonomously detects and corrects clock anomalies and enables autonomous operation if there are extended periods without ground contact, providing more resilient and dependable operation in contested environments.
HOSTED PAYLOAD PROCESSOR (HP2)
The NTS-3 AESA provides simultaneous transmission of Earth-Coverage (EC) and multiple independently configurable high-power regional beams to provide custom responses to diverse areas of operation. The AESA provides spot beams with significantly more power to warfighters on the ground to combat GPS jammers and reduce their effectiveness against U.S. forces.
NTS-3 is the first U.S. SATNAV system to integrate phased array technology to satisfy user requirements. Not only does the technology consume significantly less power than traditional GPS satellites, it also enhances available mission sets and provides graceful degradation over the system lifetime.
ACTIVE ELECTRONICALLY STEERABLE PHASED ARRAY (AESA)
GMA is a suite of cloud-based mission applications that provides operators with complete control of the payload configuration. It allows operators to independently plan, configure and control earth coverage and regional spot beams and signals to effectively support multiple operations over a wide geographical area. Other GMA tool features include a user interface to develop new signals based on a library of building blocks and the ability to quickly deploy these new signals to the reprogrammable payload.
AGILE WAVEFORM PLATFORM (AWP)
NTS-3 leverages industry standards along with commercial form factors and interfaces to provide a modular, scalable and host-agnostic payload. This size, weight and power (SWaP)-optimized approach provides launch flexibility by supporting both rideshare and multi-space-vehicle launch opportunities.
MODULAR, SCALABLE BUS-AGNOSTIC PAYLOAD
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L3Harris is proud to be the prime system integrator for NTS-3 – making PNT signals as resilient, agile and reliable as the warfighters who depend upon them.
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OVERVIEW OF NTS-3
THREATS TO PNT
NTS-3 INNOVATIONS
ABOUT L3HARRIS
FAST. FORWARD.
NTS-3 ANIMATION
PRIVACY POLICY | TERMS OF USE
Tap each hotspot to learn more.
Artist rendering of the Navigation Technology Satellite-3 (NTS-3) shown above a background animation of Earth viewed from space. Image source: L3Harris Technologies, Inc. https://www.l3harris.com/ and Envato Elements https://elements.envato.com/space-panorama-earth-shine-RYDXB6G?force_isolation=true
Animation of NTS-3 orbiting Earth. Image source: L3Harris Technologies, Inc. https://www.l3harris.com/
OV-1 graphic depicting NTS-3 mission scenario.
Image source: L3Harris Technologies, Inc. http://www.l3harris.com and Shutterstock https://www.shutterstock.com/license
Artist rendering of NTS-3 above Earth.
Image source: L3Harris Technologies, Inc. https://www.l3harris.com/ and Shutterstock https://www.shutterstock.com/license
Image of stars with zoom animation. Image source: Shutterstock https://www.shutterstock.com/license
L3Harris Technologies, Inc. Logo https://www.l3harris.com/
L3Harris Technologies, Inc. Logo https://www.l3harris.com/
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The space vehicle deploys the authentication regional military beam. The spoofing threat is now mitigated.
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NTS-3
SPACE VEHICLE
GEO
MEO
LEO
ENHANCED SIGNAL PROCESSORS
L3Harris Technologies, Inc. logo animation. https://www.l3harris.com
Earth Coverage Beam (EC)
Authentication Waveforms
High Power Regional Military Beam (RMB)
The control segment develops another course-of-action response plan. It then sends an upload commanding the space vehicle to deploy a second regional military beam with authentication signals.
Earth Coverage Beam (EC)
High Power Regional Military Beam (RMB)
But simultaneously, U.S. warfighters in another geographical area encounter in-theater spoofing. They report situation awareness data back to command.
Earth Coverage Beam (EC)
High Power Regional Military Beam (RMB)
The space vehicle turns on a high-power regional military beam. Now, the jamming threat is mitigated.
Earth Coverage Beam (EC)
High Power Regional Military Beam (RMB)
The control segment receives feedback that M-code helped, but the threat is not fully mitigated. In response, the control segment sends an upload commanding the space vehicle to deploy a high-power regional military beam.
Earth Coverage Beam (EC)
The space vehicle turns on M-code. As a result, the jammed area of operations improves.
Earth Coverage Beam (EC)
The control segment develops a course-of-action response plan. It then sends an upload commanding the space vehicle to turn on M-code.
Earth Coverage Beam (EC)
Suddenly, U.S. warfighters encounter in-theater jamming and report situation awareness data back to command.
Earth Coverage Beam (EC)
NTS-3 is transmitting Earth-coverage beams only.
Earth Coverage Beam (EC)
USER
GROUND
SPACE
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L3Harris’ role
L3Harris’ role
L3Harris is the prime contractor responsible for:
L3Harris will also deliver novel ground mission applications for the cloud-based, Enterprise Ground Services (EGS)-compatible ground control system. Together with Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL)-developed reprogrammable, software-defined user equipment, this system demonstrates a multilayer, robust and resilient geosynchronous (GEO) augmentation to GPS to ensure U.S. freedom of operations in air, space and terrestrial domains.
ESPs are modular, digital and fully reprogrammable while on-orbit, leveraging a commercial space chassis and the best available field-programmable gate array (FPGA) technology qualified for space applications. ESPs provide unprecedented flexibility to support new signal types. This capability enables advanced concepts of operations to ensure our warfighters have the best answer against current dynamic threats,
and it future-proofs against next-generation adversary threats.
GROUND MISSION APPLICATIONS
The AWP is comprised of enhanced signal processors and ground mission applications.
Enhanced Signal Processors (ESP)
Ground Mission Applications (GMA)
The design, development, integration and test of the
NTS-3 space vehicle
Launch vehicle integration support
Support for integration with the control and user segments
On-orbit operations support
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In a dynamic and fast-changing geopolitical environment, accurate, reprogrammable PNT is critical to the safety and mission success of our warfighters. PNT supports everything from combat aircraft, warships and weapons systems, to individual soldiers on the ground – making it a prime target for adversaries.
U.S. and allied forces need a PNT system designed to stay ahead of and quickly address dangerous adversary attempts to disrupt, deny access to and/or spoof U.S. assets with misleading information.
NTS-3 will demonstrate the value of multilayer resiliency and prove critical technologies engineered to defeat the threat that contested, degraded and denied PNT poses to our national security.
TRANSFORMING PNT
TO MEET 21st CENTURY WARFIGHTER NEEDS
Earth Coverage Beam (EC)
Earth Coverage Beam (EC)
Earth Coverage Beam (EC)
Earth Coverage Beam (EC)
Earth Coverage Beam (EC)
Earth Coverage Beam (EC)
Earth Coverage Beam (EC)
Earth Coverage Beam (EC)
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. Public Affairs release approval #AFRL-2022-2635
GEO
MEO
LEO
NTS-3
SPACE VEHICLE
USER
GROUND
SPACE
The space vehicle deploys the authentication regional military beam. The spoofing threat is now mitigated.
Authentication Waveforms
High Power Regional Military Beam (RMB)
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The control segment develops another course-of-action response plan. It then sends an upload commanding the space vehicle to deploy a second regional military beam with authentication signals.
High Power Regional Military Beam (RMB)
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But simultaneously, U.S. warfighters in another geographical area encounter in-theater spoofing. They report situation awareness data back to command.
High Power Regional Military Beam (RMB)
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The space vehicle turns on a high-power regional military beam. Now, the jamming threat is mitigated.
High Power Regional Military Beam (RMB)
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The control segment receives feedback that M-code helped, but the threat is not fully mitigated. In response, the control segment sends an upload commanding the space vehicle to deploy a high-power regional military beam.
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The space vehicle turns on M-code. As a result, the jammed area of operations improves.
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The control segment develops a course-of-action response plan. It then sends an upload commanding the space vehicle to turn on M-code.
1
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Suddenly, U.S. warfighters encounter in-theater jamming and report situation awareness data back to command.
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NTS-3 is transmitting Earth-coverage beams only.
Earth Coverage Beam (EC)
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