Communications On The Move (COTM) has increased dramatically in the last years

Communications On The Move (COTM) has increased dramatically in the last years. The need for broadband connectivity on vessels, aircraft and ground vehicles has demanded new terminals that can provide this services. Along with these needs, there are physical and security considerations that need to be taken in account. Military campaigns are specially prone to the use of COTM. Military personnel cannot afford to lose connectivity at any moment. Whether cruising on the seas, flying through the air or traveling across the battlefield, high speed, reliable, always-on connectivity is imperative to their success. Increasingly, the military is turning to satellite communications for these critical needs. Current COTM terminals are using 18” antennas and there is a trend to reduce them even more to 12”. With this comes along the need of trade offs between complexity, capacity and availability. Because of the limited space on a moving platform, most moving vehicles will require very small antennas, normally under 1 m. in diameter, these terminals have been defined as Ultra Small Satellite Terminals (USAT). Although the commercial industry has been working on the development of COTM terminals, there are limitations governed by the laws of physics that need to be contemplated. The size of the antenna limits the amount of energy collected, and determines the width of an angle where energy can be focused at a specific distance. With this in mind we can see that the smaller the