Abstract
Modularity is a concept that the military has been advocating for the design of ground station shelters for the past several years. To this end the military has created a program known as the Standard Mobile Segment (SMS). This program is intended to create standards for military shelters and the modular equipment housed within.
Standard shelter sizes were determined to be 8 foot high by 8 foot wide in overall lengths of 10, 20, 30, or 40 feet. These dimensions were selected to allow transport by truck in any state of the union. Wall thickness was set at 3″ leaving inside dimensions of 90″ high by 90″ wide.
Shelter components such as workstations, racks, equipment, and storage areas would be designed to be “plugged in” or “unplugged” as the need arose. All manufacturers would provide components with uniform interfaces in standard dimensions to be interchangeable with components of other manufacturers. As an example, one 48″ workstation could be removed and replaced with two 24″ electronic racks.
Using a standard sized shelter and the concept of modularity, the IBM Human Factors team in the Federal Sector Division in Boulder, Colorado began by creating a modular 48″ workstation that conformed with the SMS standard. The modular workstation was then expanded into a complete 20 foot transportable operations shelter. The prototype of this shelter in now complete and the modular concept has been expanded to include a modular base system.
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