The US military is to trial putting internet routers into orbit in an experiment that could have important implications for civilian applications.

The internet routing in space (IRIS) project will be run over three years in conjunction with Cisco and Intelsat. The system will carry network services for voice, video and data communications, enabling military units or allied forces to communicate with one another using internet protocol and existing ground equipment.

“The IRIS architecture allows direct IP routing over satellite, eliminating the need for routing via a ground-based teleport, thereby dramatically increasing the efficiency and flexibility of the satellite communications link, ” said Don Brown, vice president of Hosted Payload Programs for Intelsat General.

The router will cover layer 3 routing and can be reconfigured remotely for multicast distribution. Cisco is providing the software and a specialist company will be building the radiation hardened router and casing.

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