Plug and Play Testbed For Responsive, Tactical Satellites

There exists a need for a tactical or responsive space asset to support real-time battlefield intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. The desired attributes include being: 1. Responsive - deployable in days ; 2. Affordable - expendable tactical resources at a cost comparable to other tactical systems; 3. Employable - assets must be dedicated to support the Joint Force Commander (JFC); 4. Integrated space/air/terrestrial system-of-systems - full network connectivity, bandwidth on demand, and augment other assets. The challenge is to develop and qualify the satellite technologies and rapid integration and test processes to support an operational responsive system in the next five years. The primary objective of the plug and play testbed is to enable an operational responsive capability through development and ground validation of the various elements. Specific to providing an end-to-end mission simulation, the testbed should be equipped with the modeling and simulation tools to develop tactical satellite CONOPS and a front end tool for training. The testbed must be equipped with the capability to simulate the data processing and dissemination infrastructure envisioned to provide real-time data. The space segment of the testbed should consist of the hardware and software elements required to simulate the operations of a fully functional satellite system.