GOES and GOES-R Spectrum Issues: L-Band Status

1. GOES and GOES-R Spectrum Issues:L-Band Status Office of Satellite and Product Operations November 16, 2010

2. Outline • Purpose • Provide an update on the Federal Government’s efforts to accommodate wireless broadband systems in the 1675-1710 MHz band • Background • NTIA is evaluating multiple regions of the spectrum to accommodate wireless broadband systems. Some of these regions such as the 1695-1710 MHz band are on a fast track to allow wireless operations to commence within five years • Impact • POES and GOES direct broadcasts, as well as emergency managers weather information network use this band to support mission critical services • Future Actions GOES and GOES-R Spectrum Issues: L-Band Status

3. NOAA’s Use of L-Band 6-10 year overlap period when legacy & new are operating 15 MHz Shared Band under consideration “Sharing” requires government & commercial sectors to operate without interfering with each other 3 GOES and GOES-R Spectrum Issues: L-Band Status PREDECISIONAL

4. Purpose • The purpose of this brief is to: • Provide a background of the directive and frequencies involved • Provide an overview of the potential loss of spectrum due to the Federal Government’s effort to accommodate wireless broadband systems • Describe the potential impact to current POES and GOES operations and possibly future GOES-R and JPSS development GOES and GOES-R Spectrum Issues: L-Band Status

5. Background • The Presidential Memorandum, Unleashing the Wireless Broadband Revolution, dated June 28, 2010, lays out plan to make available a total of 500 Megahertz (MHz) of Federal and nonfederal spectrum over the next 10 years, suitable for both mobile and fixed wireless broadband use. • http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/presidential-memorandum-unleashing-wireless-broadband-revolution • http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/fact-sheet-doubling-amount-commercial-spectrum-unleash-innovative-potential-wireles • Bandwidth to be provided to the commercial broadband industry (i.e., 4th generation cell phones) – the “L-Band” (1675-1710 MHz) was identified for potential sharing. • Presidential memo further states that any plan to make federal spectrum available must take into account the need to ensure no loss of critical existing and planned Federal, State, local, and tribal government capabilities, the international implications, and the need for appropriate enforcement mechanisms and authorities. GOES and GOES-R Spectrum Issues: L-Band Status

6. Background • The 1675-1710 MHz band is allocated on a co-primary basis for federal and non-federal use for the Meteorological Aids Service and the Meteorological Satellite Service (Space-to-Earth) • Advantages of 1675-1710 MHz band as a delivery system for mobile use • Minimal rain-fade • Small dish size • Availability of affordable receivers • One option is to share all, or parts of this band • Potential for interference GOES and GOES-R Spectrum Issues: L-Band Status

7. Background • POES & GOES direct broadcasts – First use: 1978 (Tiros-N) • Mission-critical data for severe weather & environmental warning: National hurricane warnings; regional tornado warnings; regional flood warnings • EMWIN – First use: 1996 (GOES) • Critical tool for U.S. emergency managers for local severe weather forecasts & warnings in North America and U.S. Western Pacific possessions • Extensively used by Caribbean and Central American countries for regional warnings • Mobile EMWIN vans are quickly deployable by first-responders into disaster areas • L-Band direct broadcast capabilities in use by key international mission partners • EUMETSAT: Direct broadcast of polar satellite imagery • Japan: Direct broadcast services on geostationary satellite • Future L-Band systems planned by Russia and China • Other uses such as radiosondes GOES and GOES-R Spectrum Issues: L-Band Status

8. Background • The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) further directed the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to identify any parts of the spectrum which could be available on a fast-track basis, which OMB defined as spectrum in which the government could make available within five years. • Numerous bands under NTIA consideration – initial recommendations have cost and technical and mission impacts on NOAA weather satellite and radiosonde operations GOES and GOES-R Spectrum Issues: L-Band Status

9. Background • NTIA identified the 1695-1710 MHz portion of the 1675-1710 MHz “L-Band” frequency for “fast track” consideration. Under the fast-track option, NOAA would have to implement sharing within five years. The Administration acknowledges that essential government functions must continue. This requires that “sharing” must be accomplished without interference among the government and commercial sectors. This portion of the L-Band contains: • Current POES and Metop satellite high-resolution imagery direct broadcasts • Current POES satellite commanding and telemetry • Some future GOES-R direct broadcast services • JPSS low-rate data transmissions • NOAA requirements for L-Band operations include providing all weather (24/7) uninterrupted, reliable, and survivable products and services to thousands of government and private sector customers world-wide, operations of weather balloons providing near-term data for forecasting. GOES and GOES-R Spectrum Issues: L-Band Status

10. Status • 10-year and fast-track reports presently being transmitted from the Secretary of Commerce to OMB. • National Telecommunication and Information Administration (NTIA) is recommending that 15 MHz of the NOAA band, from 1695 to 1710, along with 100 MHz of the DOD radar band, from 3550-3650 MHz, be reallocated in the next five years and shared with the broadband industry. • “Sharing” means that both NOAA and broadband providers may operate in the same spectrum on a non-interference basis. To mitigate the effects of interference, will be some geographic limitations placed on what is made available to industry. These will take the form of exclusion zones, or protection zones, around the ground stations that control the weather satellites and along the coastlines to prevent interference with the Federal missions. The NTIA Administrator announced the recommendation during a speech to the Federal Communications Bar Association on October 21, 2010. GOES and GOES-R Spectrum Issues: L-Band Status

11. Status • FCC issued public notice seeking comments on the use of the 1675-1710 MHz spectrum • over 200 respondents, most opposing release of NOAA spectrum to mobile broadband users • http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/proceeding/view?z=ryjse&name=10-123 • Many objections revolved around proposed reliance of internet land line in place of this spectrum • latency, power or other outages, access, mobile users, etc… • NOAA conducted technical analyses and related preliminary costs for approaches required to mitigate some, but not all, technical and operational impacts • key analyses are on-going • What doesn't change • GOES services: GVAR, LRIT, EMWIN, DCPR, MDL • Initial spectrum of 1675-1710 MHz reduced to 1695-1710 MHz after providing defensible statements on the real time, life and property value of the 1675-1695 MHz frequencies used by GOES GOES and GOES-R Spectrum Issues: L-Band Status

12. Potential NOAA Systems Impacted • Polar satellite direct broadcast of high-resolution imagery – can only be transmitted directly from satellites to users on the ground • Estimated to be over 160 U.S. and 600 international users • Imagery used for real-time severe weather forecasting, forest fire monitoring, etc • Remote ground sensors that monitor flash floods, water levels and provide tsunami warnings which transmit data in real-time through NOAA satellites • New Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite R-Series (GOES-R) program: Redesign of the satellite’s direct broadcast communications subsystem • Radiosonde redesign would be required as a result of GOES-R redesign to avoid mutual interference GOES and GOES-R Spectrum Issues: L-Band Status

13. Top Concerns • Unprotected mobile users, such as emergency first responders, operating outside established exclusion zones • Highest-resolution imagery from POES that are lost because of interference, cannot be stored & re-transmitted • Possible numerous adverse impacts if terrestrial or wireless (4G) communications used • timeliness, reliability, power outages, over subscription, availability • Adverse impacts to NOAA operations caused by adjacent band interference • User-incurred costs, such as purchase of new direct broadcast receiving equipment, do not qualify for reimbursement under current laws GOES and GOES-R Spectrum Issues: L-Band Status

14. Proposed Exclusion Zones - NOAA GOES and GOES-R Spectrum Issues: L-Band Status PREDECISIONAL

15. Proposed Exclusion Zones - NOAA GOES and GOES-R Spectrum Issues: L-Band Status

16. Impact Examples (Polar) • Emergency response and research uses of polar direct broadcast (1695-1710 MHz) • Polar satellite direct broadcast provides a 1KM resolution, real-time image of the location immediately below the satellite. • Agencies use polar direct broadcast for real-time, high resolution weather imagery for their location • Operational products are used by the marine transportation and fishing industries • Polar direct broadcast cannot be replaced by terrestrial distribution methods • 1KM resolution imagery is only available by direct broadcast. Except in very limited circumstances, there is no ability to store the high resolution images on the satellite and transmit them over a fixed ground station for redistribution. • Much lower resolution imagery (4KM), far less valuable for emergency response and research, could be made available for terrestrial distribution, but with added latency. GOES and GOES-R Spectrum Issues: L-Band Status

17. Impact Examples (Polar) Impacts to unprotected users -- greater chance of interference Example of POES Imagery Interference (Miami Direct Broadcast) NOAA-16: 2 hrs later – interference NOAA-18: Interference Free GOES and GOES-R Spectrum Issues: L-Band Status

18. Next Steps • NOAA working with Department of Commerce to identify alternatives to protect mission critical applications and allow spectrum to become available for commercial applications • NOAA continuing to work with NTIA as it identifies additional spectrum available for broadband use in the coming months to assess the potential impacts of such efforts on NOAA’s core operations, as noted in the “Ten Year Plan”. • If selected, FCC and NTIA will need to add a non-Federal allocation to the National Table of Frequency Allocations for the mobile service • FCC may need to implement services rules based on license exclusion zones around key ground sites • Size of exclusion zones may vary depending on site • Testing needed at Wallops -- adjacent band interference and ducting GOES and GOES-R Spectrum Issues: L-Band Status

19. NOAA’s Use of L-Band 6-10 year overlap period when legacy & new are operating 15 MHz Shared Band under consideration “Sharing” requires government & commercial sectors to operate without interfering with each other 19 GOES and GOES-R Spectrum Issues: L-Band Status PREDECISIONAL

20. Backup GOES and GOES-R Spectrum Issues: L-Band Status

21. POES Data Links GOES and GOES-R Spectrum Issues: L-Band Status

22. NOAA downlinks GOES and GOES-R Spectrum Issues: L-Band Status

23. GOES Data Links GOES and GOES-R Spectrum Issues: L-Band Status

24. Current GOES Spectrum GOES and GOES-R Spectrum Issues: L-Band Status

25. Frequency Background GOES and GOES-R Spectrum Issues: L-Band Status

26. Frequency Background GOES and GOES-R Spectrum Issues: L-Band Status