Medium data rate (MDR) satellite communications (SATCOM) on the move (SOTM) prototype terminal for the army warfighters

The US Army has an unfulfilled need to provide long-range beyond line-of-sight (BLOS) communications to lower echelon maneuver elements on-the-move (OTM). This need became painfully obvious during the recent Iraq war when the battlefield communications were unable to keep pace with the troop movement. Currently, the lower level elements such as the maneuver BNs communicate by terrestrial radios, which are severely range-limited (based on line-of-sight distance, terrain blockage, and foliage absorption). MITRE had developed a prototype satellite communications (SATCOM) on-the-move (SOTM) terminal that employs commercial satellite services that has the potential to provide the warfighter with a much-needed BLOS OTM communications capability. This paper explores the prototype design and test of the MITRE prototype SOTM terminal. The design of this prototype terminal was one of a number of development efforts that collectively paved the way for further development of SOTM terminals that will operate at Ka-band over the wideband gapfiller satellite (WGS). This paper addresses each of the major subsystems that form a part of the SOTM prototype terminal, defines the key performance attributes, and discusses some of the test and demonstration results and observations. The demonstration took place at Fort Dix as one of the many C4ISR communications OTM vignettes.