[Satellite News 01-13-12] In part two of this roundtable interview conducted in the aftermath of the Satellite Interference Reduction Group (sIRG) conference, Inmarsat Senior Director of Network Operations and Engineering Howard Feldman, Intelsat RF Operations Center Director Patty Constantino and SES Senior Manager of Customer Service Delivery Steven Smith discuss the challenges that face the satellite industry’s effort to combat interference and what role the Isle of Man’s Space Data Association (SDA) will play in overcoming those challenges.

 

Feldman: I think that we have to proceed with policy matters in the commercial arena first. That is, to ensure that we get all commercial systems aligned to common standards in the three initiatives. The various military organizations will proceed on a different schedule, but I’m sure they’ll catch up in the end. The solutions for military systems may be different, as they have different constraints and requirements. It’s too soon to tell exactly how and where they will fit in, but they have similar problems and the necessity for solutions is what will drive them.

 

Smith: There may be some customers who will not want to use carrier ID because they don’t want to be identified or located. We understand that. However, the key thing that we want from this capability is to find out the satellite operator that is responsible for the respective carrier so that they can work with the customer to resolve the interference problem. While there may certainly be concern from some customers, I think a unique code known only to the satellite operator, which links that operator to their customer, is not such a wide concern.

 

 

Feldman: The technical teams of the big four operators — Inmarsat, SES, Intelsat and Eutelsat — are supportive of the goals and the initiatives. We are in broad agreement. The focus is now in working out the details with the rest of the stakeholders — customers and equipment manufactures, and the legal and commercial departments within the big four operators. In parallel, we need to bring the regional operators along.

 

Constantino: Intelsat and other satellite operators, in conjunction with sIRG, are working with hardware manufacturers to ensure that the technology embedded accurately detects, analyzes and locates incidents of RFI. Intelsat has endorsed a recommendation from WBU-ISOG and supports the sIRG initiative for inclusion of a carrier ID in carriers with MPEG transport streams. Some positive steps have been made, and we continue to encourage manufacturers to develop more robust systems.

The sIRG has sponsored meetings with manufacturers, integrators and satellite operators to discuss requirements. Similarly, the satellite community is looking at developing a universally agreed-upon approach for carrier ID insertion, for all carrier types, to address the interference problem, and we encourage the community to come to a quick resolution on a common approach.

 

Smith: I can’t speak for other operators, but from participation in various industry forums it is clear that there is broad agreement about the actions that are required, because we all see that carrier ID could make a difference in helping resolve interference events. Once enough of us start to implement this technique, I expect most other operators will soon follow.

 

Feldman: The SDA was originally founded by Inmarsat, SES and Intelsat to cooperate on measures to monitor and avoid potential satellite collisions. The organization is a cross-industry organization ideally suited to hold the databases for the various initiatives. It has the right legal structure and leadership to keep confidential data, with an eye on legal and commercial sensitivities. In particular, this will be important for the carrier ID initiative, but also for the Quality Assurance initiative.

 

Constantino: The SDA became operational in September and provides SDA members with full conjunction assessment capability for the physical proximity of objects in space and data-sharing in support of radio frequency interference (RFI) mitigation. There are 10 active members and 12 more in the process of joining, and the data sharing will expedite communications among operators and provide data for quicker troubleshooting using geolocation tools. The SDA is also pursuing data-sharing agreements with a variety of government and industry data providers to enhance the scope and quality of data available for these critical operations.

 

Smith: Many in the satellite industry are increasingly viewing the SDA as a central repository for useful operational data related to flight safety, RFI mitigation, and most recently, carrier ID. All of these data items have a logical link, so there is good reason to have them in one place that has been designed as a secure data sharing facility. The SDA also has strict legal agreements with its members regarding the use and protection of this operational data, which is a major benefit compared to other potential data sharing sites. Of course, when it comes to expanding the scope of the SDA there are issues of access, security and implementation/development that have to be addressed, but there does seem to be common agreement that the SDA is a good home for these types of functions.