An analysis of emerging commercial wide band satellite system and their potential for military use
Abstract
Spurred by the growing need of information transfer around the globe, considerable investment is being made in the private sector to develop and field new commercial SATCOM services. From the military perspective, the exploitation of this commercially developed SATCOM services becomes an attractive augmentation to expensive MILSATCOM programs especially in an era of declining defense dollars. Applications such as battlefield situational awareness, operational planning and execution, weather, telemedicine, operations and maintenance support, tailored intelligence, distance learning, training, morale, welfare and recreation services are areas where emerging commercial wide-band satellite systems such as Teledesic, Skybridge, Cyberstar, Astrolink and Spaceway might offer possible solutions. This thesis analyzes these five commercial satellite systems in terms of their performance measures derived from the seven required characteristics as defined in the Advanced MILSATCOM Capstone Requirement Document Ref. 7. In addition, factors that might account for the commercial viability of these systems are also considered to determine their survivability in this competitive market place. A portion of this thesis has also been devoted to illustrate current MILSATCOM architecture so as to give reader an appreciation of the present capabilities, life spans and the possible future architecture that it might take.
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Identification of commercial items risk factors
Cummins, Robert W. (Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School, 2003-03);Since the end of the Cold War, reduced budgets have limited technology growth in the defense industry making the use of Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) software the accepted way to build systems. Twenty years ago, almost ... -
The use of commercial standards in place of military standards in Army NDI acquisitions - M915 trucks
Schwarz, Richard R. (Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School, 1995-12);This paper examines the United States Army's use of commercial standards in place of military standards (MIL-STDs) for the acquisition of Non Developmental Items (NDI). The recent acquisition of M915 series trncks is ... -
WARGAMING RELIANCE ON COMMERCIAL SPACE PARTNERS: A DETERMINATION OF GUIDING PRINCIPLES AND APPLICATIONS
Smithson, Michael S. (Monterey, CA; Naval Postgraduate School, 2021-06);The 2010s saw a revolution in the space industry leading to the commercial proliferation of space technologies once reserved for national space programs and militaries, dubbed by many as Space 2.0. This rapid rebalancing ...