The role of the architect in the design of modern military communications terminals

With the advent of multi-band, multi-channel, re-programmable communications terminals, the phrase "architecturally-compliant" has become paramount. In light of a shrinking military budget and a desire for increased interoperability, portability, extensibility and scaleability, modern terminals must embrace widely-accepted standards and commercial initiatives. Insertion of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technology requires proper architectural segmentation. The ushering in of Joint Tactical Terminal (JTT) and Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) demands that the radio architect be knowledgeable concerning the operational, systems and technical architectures across all services, missions and environmental domains. In light of new performance-based requirements, failure of either the DoD or the radio-supplier architect to address all three architectures can result in a terminal that misses the mark for the ultimate customer: the warfighter. Just as in the home architect analogy, the communications terminal architect is neither the general contractor nor the implementor of the architecture.