In Priority Queue 154, we chatted with PC Drew about the challenges of standing up a fully operational network in the middle of nowhere.

That’s standard operating procedure for the military as they fulfill their combat and humanitarian missions around the world.

In this episode, we’re going to go deeper on one facet of that conversation, satellite communications. PC Drew is back, and he brought along a colleague, Evander Cook, to educate us on SATCOM.

PC is Chief Technology Officer at SchoolBlocks, and Evander is Director of Network Operations at the United States Marine Corps.

We discuss basic concepts including frequency bands, TDMA vs. FDMA, satellite coverage areas, and the relationship between signal quality and signal power.

PC and Evander also explain how different satellite orbits affect network design, the different kinds of military and commercial services available, and how to account for moving vehicles in satellite communications.

Sponsor: Packet Pushers Virtual Design Clinic

Join the Packet Pushers for our next Virtual Design Clinic on December 19th, 2018. This live, free virtual event includes presentations on continuous integration and continuous testing for networking, and the impact of NVMe over Fabrics to network design. We’ll also have a panel of experts to partipate in“ask me anything” segments. Celebrate the holiday change freeze by registering at packetpushers.net/vdc.

Show Links:

PQ 154: Design Challenges In Military Networks – Packet Pushers

Orbital Altitudes of many significant satellites of earth – Wikipedia (jpg)