Exigent International has released an integrated suite of satellite ground control products, the Open System/Integrated Control Center (OS/ICC)(TM) that is aimed at reducing direct costs in launch-center operations.
Dan Flynn, STI's Vice-President for Commercial Operations reported, "Comparisons of satellite constellations that use the OS/ICC approach with those that don't indicate a potential 30% reduction in satellite operator manpower costs. Built-in automation tools relieve the operator of the need to configure software and hardware for satellite passes. They monitor the satellite and ground telemetry for faults, and automatically trigger responses to those faults."
Since personnel cost elements are typically the most significant in a ground station operating budget, the highly-automated OS/ICC solution appears to offer substantial relief for the operator, and a clear advantage over other existing options.
This saving can be attributed to the high degree of automation, coupled with extensive software re-use, in the OS/ICC system.
OS/ICC is an important new "commercial off-the-shelf" (COTS) product that merges the capabilities of the satellite industry's most expert providers. Firmly based in the proven technology of STI's flagship command and control environment, OS/COMET¿, it is a versatile, extensible, and scalable suite of services and equipment that can be used "out of the box", or easily customized for special applications.
STI offered OS/COMET as a COTS satellite command and control solution in 1992, allowing Iridium, GPS, and the Navy Space Program to use COTS rather than legacy or custom development. With OS/ICC, STI now also eliminates the need for customers to perform COTS integration for control center solutions.
