Comms on the Move Photo courtesy of US Army. COTM: the antenna challenge Communication must be facilitated anywhere and at any time on the battlefield, and therefore communications on the move is a vital and burning issue for the military. Communications have come a long way in a short time in terms of the development of COTM capability, and satellite technology has found a key role in this type of connectivity. Here, GMC looks at the satellite terminals that enable COTM. The development of communications-on-the-move (COTM) technology has made great advancements in a short period of time. Terminals have become smaller, low profile, and less expensive and this development has been of huge importance to the military that relies heavily on satellite-based COTM technology to connect its mobile forces. Today, troops are engaged in complex operational environments in regions like Afghanistan and Iraq. They are often deployed in remote and hostile areas that are mountainous, remote and difficult to reach. Their communications equipment must be highly reliable, easyto-use and must be able to go everywhere with them. Whether they are on foot, travelling in a vehicle, in the air or at sea, they rely upon their communications for vital situational awareness. Troops regularly travel rapidly over large areas and mobile units require real time, agile, communication systems for voice, data, image and video. Land systems must operate during all vehicle manoeuvres and should be unaffected by the type of terrain encoun- tered; likewise, airborne systems must be integrated onto a variety of platforms and need to operate in severe environmental conditions and meet demanding certification requirements. Substantial recent developments in communication technology have allowed COTM to become an essential reality in the theatre of war. The ability to command and control events in the battlefield from a fixed point has been a part of military communications since the early 1990s, but the ability to move around and still maintain situational awareness and to see the bigger picture is a rather new phenomenon. In a battlefield situation, information is everything. Broadband satellite communications have enabled the modern-day commander and soldier to send and receive data, to communicate by voice or email, to receive satellite imagery that enhances situational awareness, to send and receive video footage and to experience what each other is seeing in real time. All these elements have greatly improved efficiency, knowledge and decision-making within the mili- 28 www.satellite-evolution.com | March/April 2010 comms on the mover.pmd 28 4/14/2010, 10:28 PM