Israeli technology start-up Commcrete is positioning its tactical satellite communications (SATCOM) technology – which enables any line-of-sight and VHF/UHF radio devices to access satellite connectivity – for defence, public security and commercial operations in Southeast Asia.
Conventional SATCOM systems often struggle in the region’s complex environments, but Commcrete’s CEO and Co-Founder Itzik Daniel Michaeli, told Asian Military Review in a statement that the company’s technology is already being used in parts of Southeast Asia.
He did not disclose specific operators, but Michaeli said the company sees growing regional demand for resilient communications that remain available in complex operating conditions. “We look forward to expanding our presence through additional deployments and live demonstrations in the near future,” he said.
For Southeast Asian operators, where prevailing conditions like dense vegetation, rain and high humidity often complicate communications planning, the company is emphasising a proposition centred on low-complexity, beyond-line-of-sight connectivity for tactical units, first responders and public safety organisations.
“Commcrete’s [solutions] operate over L-band frequencies via geostationary satellites, which are inherently resilient to rain fade and atmospheric conditions common in Southeast Asia,” a company spokesperson told AMR. “This provides a stable foundation for communication availability, even during intense monsoon periods.”
The company’s present portfolio of compact SATCOM devices, which includes the Flipper, Stardust and Bittel systems, have demonstrated consistent, reliable performance in the region, the spokesperson added.
At present, Commcrete said its devices operate over L-band satellite constellations including Viasat/Inmarsat and Space42 (Thuraya), with antenna polarisation tailored to network requirements. The company argued that this approach reduces the operational burden associated with the frequency changes and frequent handovers that are more typical of low Earth orbit architectures, thereby simplifying field use for dismounted personnel and mobile platforms.
Commcrete’s higher link margin of up to 32dB is intended to preserve communications where at least minimal signal penetration remains available, such as partial sky visibility or indirect signal paths. The company claimed that this approach enables reliable communications, even in obstructed or cluttered environments.
“While no system is immune to complete blockage, this margin allows continued operation in areas where conventional SATCOM or tactical radios would typically fail,” the spokesperson said.
Commcrete is also stressing scalability for major emergency and homeland security contingencies. The company said network capacity is determined during mission planning with the satellite provider, typically around allocated 25kHz channels, within which one to three distinct radio networks can be supported depending on waveform configuration.
Communications inside each network is based on a tactical push-to-talk model, allowing large numbers of users to participate in one-to-many traffic patterns, while scaling is achieved by adding channels rather than capping user numbers.
On interoperability, Commcrete said it offers an integrated command-and-control ecosystem built around its PC4I desktop environment and an ATAK plug-in for Android-based field operations. These tools support mapping, messaging, push-to-talk voice, SOS alerts and GPS tracking, and are intended to ease integration with existing mission systems and incident command architectures.
The wider product family includes the Flipper radio-to-SATCOM converter for extending line-of-sight radios into beyond-line-of-sight communications, the Stardust all-in-one tactical C4I SATCOM device, and the Bittel wireless multipurpose C4I SATCOM system.
by Jr Ng
