Lightweight Portable Tactical Weather Terminal

This proposal describe an SBIR Phase I program to specify, design, and perform functional prototype demonstrations of a lightweight, portable, Basic S-band tactical terminal (B-STT). The proposed work utilizes innovative FLAPS antenna technology and miniaturized digital receivers in a simplified satellite earth station architecture to significantly reduce the size and weight of the existing B-STT to well under 100 pound weight limit.The proposed tasks include completing a high level design for a lightweight B-STT, and demonstrating functional prototypes of the critical parts of the design. The lightweight B-STT design will also be analyzed with respect to size, weight, cost, and other performance criteria in order to determine the feasibility of follow-on Phase II.ViaSat is teamed with Malibu Research Associates to jointly apply our complementary skills to the problem of reducing the weight of the existing B-STT by more than a factor of four. This team provides the full spectrum of expertise required for satellite earth terminal development, as demonstrated by our past successful joint development of lightweight portable satellite earth terminals.