Photon-IV develops predictive software for traffic handover across satellite and terrestrial networks. Stellarlink addresses tactical connectivity, Predict schedules satellite-IoT activity, SwarmNet forms and manages autonomous-platform mesh links, and Spectra addresses RAN automation. Virginia Tech independently lists Photon-IV in the Spring 2026 O-RAN PlugFest; this corroborates test participation without establishing every advertised performance or security claim.
Technical detail
Core features
Predictive satellite-terrestrial path orchestration in Stellarlink
Satellite-aware scheduling and duty cycling for IoT power management in Predict
SwarmNet node discovery, mesh formation and gateway/link selection
Spectra tooling for RAN automation
Virginia Tech-listed Spring 2026 O-RAN PlugFest participation
NTN-TN
Satellite communications
Mesh networking
O-RAN
Artificial intelligence
Use & integration
Recorded applications
Mobile command-and-control connectivity
ISR data relay
Remote-base communications
Autonomous-system networking
These describe the reviewed application scope, not confirmed deployments, released requirements or procurement eligibility.
Evidence of maturity
Software development, field trials and interoperability testing. Predict's reported battery gains concern an unnamed partner trial; its target fleet size is not a disclosed installed base.
Commercial availability
Briefing and integration engagement with network, airframe, payload and systems partners. DDI qualified-supplier status is a route to compete for requirements, not a procurement contract.
Integration and verification
Readiness
A technology readiness level is not established by the reviewed public sources.
Mesh and multi-path connectivity could support distributed autonomous platforms that need to preserve control and data links; platform integration remains unverified.
Resilient handover between satellite and terrestrial paths could support connectivity for remote Arctic sensing and operations; this is a derived fit assessment, not a documented deployment.
This is a reviewed public-source assessment. It is not procurement eligibility, endorsement, customer interest, or classified demand.
Original sources 4 linked records
These records support this capability and its published Mission area and Defence need connections. A source count is not a count of independent confirmations.
Photon-IV separates Stellarlink tactical network orchestration, Predict satellite-IoT power scheduling, SwarmNet autonomous mesh and Spectra RAN tooling. These software products integrate with existing radio/network infrastructure; advertised availability, latency and security adjectives lack a publicly disclosed common test configuration.
Supports: Capability · technical tags
Photon-IV separates Stellarlink tactical network orchestration, Predict satellite-IoT power scheduling, SwarmNet autonomous mesh and Spectra RAN tooling. These software products integrate with existing radio/network infrastructure; advertised availability, latency and security adjectives lack a publicly disclosed common test configuration.
Supports: Capability · core features
Photon-IV separates Stellarlink tactical network orchestration, Predict satellite-IoT power scheduling, SwarmNet autonomous mesh and Spectra RAN tooling. These software products integrate with existing radio/network infrastructure; advertised availability, latency and security adjectives lack a publicly disclosed common test configuration.
Supports: Capability · summary
Photon-IV develops software that predicts changing link conditions and orchestrates traffic across satellite and terrestrial paths, alongside mesh-networking and open-RAN tools for mobile and autonomous platforms.
Supports: Capability · technicaldomainslugs
Photon-IV separates Stellarlink tactical network orchestration, Predict satellite-IoT power scheduling, SwarmNet autonomous mesh and Spectra RAN tooling. These software products integrate with existing radio/network infrastructure; advertised availability, latency and security adjectives lack a publicly disclosed common test configuration.
Supports: Capability · technical tags
Photon-IV separates Stellarlink tactical network orchestration, Predict satellite-IoT power scheduling, SwarmNet autonomous mesh and Spectra RAN tooling. These software products integrate with existing radio/network infrastructure; advertised availability, latency and security adjectives lack a publicly disclosed common test configuration.
Supports: Capability · defence applications
Photon-IV separates Stellarlink tactical network orchestration, Predict satellite-IoT power scheduling, SwarmNet autonomous mesh and Spectra RAN tooling. These software products integrate with existing radio/network infrastructure; advertised availability, latency and security adjectives lack a publicly disclosed common test configuration.
Supports: Capability · technical tags
Photon-IV separates Stellarlink tactical network orchestration, Predict satellite-IoT power scheduling, SwarmNet autonomous mesh and Spectra RAN tooling. These software products integrate with existing radio/network infrastructure; advertised availability, latency and security adjectives lack a publicly disclosed common test configuration.
Supports: Capability · technical tags
Photon-IV separates Stellarlink tactical network orchestration, Predict satellite-IoT power scheduling, SwarmNet autonomous mesh and Spectra RAN tooling. These software products integrate with existing radio/network infrastructure; advertised availability, latency and security adjectives lack a publicly disclosed common test configuration.
Supports: Capability · defence applications
Photon-IV separates Stellarlink tactical network orchestration, Predict satellite-IoT power scheduling, SwarmNet autonomous mesh and Spectra RAN tooling. These software products integrate with existing radio/network infrastructure; advertised availability, latency and security adjectives lack a publicly disclosed common test configuration.
Supports: Capability · name
Photon-IV separates Stellarlink tactical network orchestration, Predict satellite-IoT power scheduling, SwarmNet autonomous mesh and Spectra RAN tooling. These software products integrate with existing radio/network infrastructure; advertised availability, latency and security adjectives lack a publicly disclosed common test configuration.
Supports: Capability · technical tags
Photon-IV separates Stellarlink tactical network orchestration, Predict satellite-IoT power scheduling, SwarmNet autonomous mesh and Spectra RAN tooling. These software products integrate with existing radio/network infrastructure; advertised availability, latency and security adjectives lack a publicly disclosed common test configuration.
Supports: Capability · defence applications
Photon-IV separates Stellarlink tactical network orchestration, Predict satellite-IoT power scheduling, SwarmNet autonomous mesh and Spectra RAN tooling. These software products integrate with existing radio/network infrastructure; advertised availability, latency and security adjectives lack a publicly disclosed common test configuration.
Supports: Capability · defence applications
Photon-IV separates Stellarlink tactical network orchestration, Predict satellite-IoT power scheduling, SwarmNet autonomous mesh and Spectra RAN tooling. These software products integrate with existing radio/network infrastructure; advertised availability, latency and security adjectives lack a publicly disclosed common test configuration.
Supports: Capability · technicaldomainslugs
Photon-IV separates Stellarlink tactical network orchestration, Predict satellite-IoT power scheduling, SwarmNet autonomous mesh and Spectra RAN tooling. These software products integrate with existing radio/network infrastructure; advertised availability, latency and security adjectives lack a publicly disclosed common test configuration.
Supports: Capability · core features
Photon-IV separates Stellarlink tactical network orchestration, Predict satellite-IoT power scheduling, SwarmNet autonomous mesh and Spectra RAN tooling. These software products integrate with existing radio/network infrastructure; advertised availability, latency and security adjectives lack a publicly disclosed common test configuration.
Supports: Capability · technology readiness level
Photon-IV separates Stellarlink tactical network orchestration, Predict satellite-IoT power scheduling, SwarmNet autonomous mesh and Spectra RAN tooling. These software products integrate with existing radio/network infrastructure; advertised availability, latency and security adjectives lack a publicly disclosed common test configuration.
Supports: Capability · technicaldomainslugs
Photon-IV separates Stellarlink tactical network orchestration, Predict satellite-IoT power scheduling, SwarmNet autonomous mesh and Spectra RAN tooling. These software products integrate with existing radio/network infrastructure; advertised availability, latency and security adjectives lack a publicly disclosed common test configuration.
Supports: Capability · capability type
Photon-IV separates Stellarlink tactical network orchestration, Predict satellite-IoT power scheduling, SwarmNet autonomous mesh and Spectra RAN tooling. These software products integrate with existing radio/network infrastructure; advertised availability, latency and security adjectives lack a publicly disclosed common test configuration.
Supports: Mission area · Autonomous Patrol and Monitoring
Photon-IV separates Stellarlink tactical network orchestration, Predict satellite-IoT power scheduling, SwarmNet autonomous mesh and Spectra RAN tooling. These software products integrate with existing radio/network infrastructure; advertised availability, latency and security adjectives lack a publicly disclosed common test configuration.
Supports: Mission area · Autonomous Patrol and Monitoring
Photon-IV separates Stellarlink tactical network orchestration, Predict satellite-IoT power scheduling, SwarmNet autonomous mesh and Spectra RAN tooling. These software products integrate with existing radio/network infrastructure; advertised availability, latency and security adjectives lack a publicly disclosed common test configuration.
Supports: Mission area · Autonomous Patrol and Monitoring
Photon-IV separates Stellarlink tactical network orchestration, Predict satellite-IoT power scheduling, SwarmNet autonomous mesh and Spectra RAN tooling. These software products integrate with existing radio/network infrastructure; advertised availability, latency and security adjectives lack a publicly disclosed common test configuration.
Supports: Mission area · Autonomous Patrol and Monitoring
Photon-IV separates Stellarlink tactical network orchestration, Predict satellite-IoT power scheduling, SwarmNet autonomous mesh and Spectra RAN tooling. These software products integrate with existing radio/network infrastructure; advertised availability, latency and security adjectives lack a publicly disclosed common test configuration.
Supports: Mission area · Arctic Domain Awareness
Photon-IV separates Stellarlink tactical network orchestration, Predict satellite-IoT power scheduling, SwarmNet autonomous mesh and Spectra RAN tooling. These software products integrate with existing radio/network infrastructure; advertised availability, latency and security adjectives lack a publicly disclosed common test configuration.
Supports: Mission area · Arctic Domain Awareness
Resilient handover between satellite and terrestrial paths could support connectivity for remote Arctic sensing and operations; this is a derived fit assessment, not a documented deployment.
Supports: Mission area · Arctic Domain Awareness
Photon-IV separates Stellarlink tactical network orchestration, Predict satellite-IoT power scheduling, SwarmNet autonomous mesh and Spectra RAN tooling. These software products integrate with existing radio/network infrastructure; advertised availability, latency and security adjectives lack a publicly disclosed common test configuration.
Supports: Mission area · Arctic Domain Awareness
Photon-IV separates Stellarlink tactical network orchestration, Predict satellite-IoT power scheduling, SwarmNet autonomous mesh and Spectra RAN tooling. These software products integrate with existing radio/network infrastructure; advertised availability, latency and security adjectives lack a publicly disclosed common test configuration.
Supports: Mission area · Arctic Domain Awareness
Photon-IV separates Stellarlink tactical network orchestration, Predict satellite-IoT power scheduling, SwarmNet autonomous mesh and Spectra RAN tooling. These software products integrate with existing radio/network infrastructure; advertised availability, latency and security adjectives lack a publicly disclosed common test configuration.
Virginia Tech CCI xG Testbed names Photon-IV among Spring 2026 O-RAN Global PlugFest partners. The lab page corroborates participation, while its separate general certification programme notice does not identify a Photon-IV certificate or performance badge.
Supports: Capability · core features
Virginia Tech CCI xG Testbed names Photon-IV among Spring 2026 O-RAN Global PlugFest partners. The lab page corroborates participation, while its separate general certification programme notice does not identify a Photon-IV certificate or performance badge.
Predict’s supplier field-trial notice reports 3–5 times battery-life improvement with an unnamed partner and identifies more than 10,000 devices as target fleet scale. Neither tested deployment size nor an independently replicated performance baseline is disclosed.
Supports: Capability · maturity
Predict’s supplier field-trial notice reports 3–5 times battery-life improvement with an unnamed partner and identifies more than 10,000 devices as target fleet scale. Neither tested deployment size nor an independently replicated performance baseline is disclosed.
Photon-IV reports DDI Marketplace qualified-supplier status on September 3, 2026 and invites airframe, payload, counter-UAS and prime integration partners. The release explicitly excludes a procurement award or revenue guarantee and describes SwarmNet mesh formation, link selection and return-to-base intent.
Supports: Capability · core features
Photon-IV reports DDI Marketplace qualified-supplier status on September 3, 2026 and invites airframe, payload, counter-UAS and prime integration partners. The release explicitly excludes a procurement award or revenue guarantee and describes SwarmNet mesh formation, link selection and return-to-base intent.
Public sources cited · Facts and assessments kept separate · Human review
Virginia Tech CCI xG Testbed names Photon-IV among Spring 2026 O-RAN Global PlugFest partners. The lab page corroborates participation, while its separate general certification programme notice does not identify a Photon-IV certificate or performance badge.
