The development of a military-COTS mobile satellite earth station

The explosive development of a series of high bandwidth satellite constellations by 2006 coupled with the paralleled explosive growth of intranet/extranet networks will provide an opportunity to nonNATO countries to develop mobile C4I systems using Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS) equipment. The systems can be semimilitarized by installing the C41 systems in military shelters and using military vehicles as transport platforms with the heart of the system is still being COTS. This paper describes key points in the development of just such a Military-COTS mobile satellite earth station, from design requirements to the actual build-out of the mobile system.