Manportable and personal milsatcom terminals

This paper addresses those aspects of military satcoms relevant to the development and operation of manportable and personal satellite communications equipment. The principal differentiating factors between civil and military solutions tend to focus on the need for physical and electronic robustness. This, coupled with the need to design solutions for military frequency bands and the inevitable short production runs, has tended to make milsatcom an expensive proposition. With the rapid increase in the use of satcom since 1990 it is perceived many small and lightweight satcom terminals, with data and speech facilities into government networks, will be the next step in providing world wide communications to echelons below that of Headquarters Staffs. The likely numbers of terminals to meet this need will reverse the trend of short production runs and in consequence offer the potential for lower unit costs