Caspian Telecoms 2012 Satellite Interference: The Counter-Offensive

1. Caspian Telecoms 2012Satellite Interference: The Counter-Offensive Stéphane Chenard Executive Advisor on International Programme Development GVF

2. Why is Interference Increasing?

3. Characterizing Interference Types Note: Percentages are based on Intelsat's experience but are indicative of hundreds of interference events experienced by the world’s satellite operators.

4. Satellite RFI: Breaking It Down Problems: 1. Improper Installations 2. Sub-Standard Equipment 3. Unidentified Carriers 4. Wireless Interference 5. Information Sharing 6. Dysfunctional Networks • Solutions: • Training & Certification • Product Quality Assurance • Carrier ID • Spectrum Initiative • SDA • Network Validation

5. Solutions – Key Points • Training & Certification – GVF Basic Installer Certification; GVF Advanced Installer Certification; Technology Specific Specialist Certification; all through online instruction & testing plus Hands-on-Skills-Test (HOST); Supplementary Instructor-led Classes; Training Centres Worldwide; 5,000 technicians enrolled; NEW Auto-Deploy Operator Certification. • Product Quality Assurance – GVF PQA Framework – A Strategic Plan for a Global Satellite Industry Arrangement to Facilitate Earth Station Design & Production; outsourced equipment type approvals through GVF MRA WG (Mutual Recognition Arrangement Working Group) appointed ATEs (Authorized Test Entities). • Carrier ID – Technical feasibility established for Video Encoder implementation – now underway; GVF VSAT Group established in 2009; working with sIRG (Satellite Interference Reduction Group) [www.suirg.org]; Root-Cause Analysis underway. • Spectrum Initiative –IMT/BWA in C-band downlinks; WBU-ISOG endorsed GVF C-band paper – submission to national spectrum & inter-governmental proceedings; enforcement of WRC-07 C-band decision; now focused on WRC-12 & defence of Ku-band and Ka-band. • SDA (Space Data Association) – Automated space situational awareness system to reduce risks of on-orbit collisions and RFI [www.space-data.org] • Network Validation – GVF piloting new Network Validation Service (2011) – network optimization and interference prevention; Report finalized and presented to network operator & end-user

6. GVF Training Programme Background 1 • 2002 – Responding to satellite operator members, GVF created a global programme to serve as the international standard for VSAT installer certification training. Programme endorsed by the international industry • 2006 – Programme expanded with extensive online interactive content • 2009 – Programme restructured at satellite operators’ request to expand its reach, and to more sharply focus on mitigating uplink interference • Accordingly “GVF Basic Certification” awarded to students who can demonstrate core skills in interference mitigation: • Accurate antenna pointing (to minimise Adjacent Satellite Interference) • Accurate cross-pol alignment (to minimise cross-pol interference) • Proper connector attachment (to prevent interference due to rebroadcast/retransmission)

7. GVF Training Programme Background 2 • The key aspect of Basic Certification is the entry-level online course GVF510 for which the student is required to pass the simulator-based interactive pointing and cross-pol exercises • On completion of GVF 510 and the Hands-on-Skills-Test (HOST) a technician will understand the importance of interference mitigation and have the skills to do so • The HOST hands-on assessment is focused entirely on practical skills and allows an experienced, GVF-approved technician/trainer to act as HOST examiner in the field • Students with the Basic Certification are assigned a unique GVF Certification Identification Number, they are registered in the GVF Database, and their contact details are accessible by satellite operators who may wish to confirm a field technician’s certification status at the time of a new VSAT activation • GVF believes it is a practical goal to train EVERY VSAT TECHNICIAN to at least basic Certification status, and to achieve this the satellite operator community has begun implementation of a phased programme

8. GVF Training Programme Background 3 • GVF offers Advanced Certification for students requiring thorough knowledge of fundamental theory and practical technique • Online courses GVF520 Satcom Fundamentals • GVF 521 Practical Technique for VSAT Installers • Students who complete GVF 510, GVF520, GVF521, and HOST receive GVF Advanced Certification and are eligible to be listed in the GVF Public Online Installer Database • Many students also take advantage of follow-up specialist Certification courses, which currently include product-specific training for Gilat, Hughes, iDirect, Schlumberger/HarrisCapRock, Seatel, and others. • The GVF Certification Programme is delivered in coordination with other organisations that provide complementary training.

9. GVF Training Programme… Onward Overview (to include Auto-Deploy) • GVF is coordinating with the satellite-operator community on implementation of a phased plan to gradually prepare the marketplace for the day when Certification becomes a requirement of the satellite operators… key features: • - Online training in multiple language options • - HOST taken with immediate testing availability, and in local language • - Operators’ staff become “Examiners” (authorized for HOSTs) • - Events to promote awareness of the importance of training • - When installers call a satellite operator to activate a remote earth station they’re • asked for their Certification ID number. If they do not have one, the satellite operator • encourages the installer to become Certified • - GVF follows-up with all technicians identified by the Operator as requiring training • - After an agreed-upon date Operators will require installers to hold a certification validated by the Satellite Operators’ Interference Initiative group • - GVF supports verification of Certification by providing real-time access to a GVF-certified database • - GVF offers tuition fee incentives to encourage widespread enrollment

10. Addressing Installations… in Summary

11. Global Training Status Approx. 5,000 Technicians Enrolled Worldwide Training Centres Established in Every Major World Region Translated into Spanish and Portuguese (French is Next) Dozens of Examiners and Instructors Worldwide Operators Moving Toward VSAT Certification Requirements New: Auto-Deploy Operator Certification Strategy

12. Sub-Standard Equipment Trends Increasing Attempts by Inexperienced Manufacturers to Try Production of Transmiting VSAT Antennas Designers often unaware of how accurately installers must align the antenna to prevent ASI and cross-pol interference Now, Auto-Deploy Is Being Added to the Mix Reduced Satellite Operator Provision of Type Approvals for VSAT Earth Station Equipment Vacuum in Technical Know-How and Deployment of Systems That Spray Orbital Arc with Interference

13. Auto-Deploy Overview • The GVF Auto-Deploy Operator Certification Programme will comprise three categories: • Satellite News Gathering (SNG) • Government Auto-Deploy (e.g. military) • Commercial Auto-Deploy (e.g. oil & gas)

14. Auto-Deploy 1 • GVF has begun to coordinate with the satellite-operator community on implementation of a phased plan to gradually prepare the marketplace for the day when Certification becomes a requirement of the satellite operators… key features: • - Online training in multiple language options • - HOST taken with immediate testing availability, and in local language • - Operators’ staff become “Examiners” (authorized for HOSTs) • - Events to promote awareness of the importance of training • - When auto-deploy operators call a satellite operator to activate a remote earth station they’re asked for their Certification ID number. If they do not have one, the satellite operator encourages the auto-deploy operator to become Certified • - GVF follows-up with all technicians identified by the Operator as requiring training • - After an agreed-upon date Operators will require auto-deploy operators to hold a certification validated by the Satellite Operators’ Interference Initiative group • - GVF supports verification of Certification by providing real-time access to a GVF-certified database • - GVF offers tuition fee incentives to encourage widespread enrollment

15. Auto-Deploy 2 • NOC Staff Training • As with VSAT Installation Training, GVF recommends that satellite operators provide auto-deploy training to NOC technicians and engineers: • Firstly, the GVF curriculum provides efficient training in satcom fundamentals that benefit NOC technicians’ job competences • Secondly, NOC technicians are the primary point of contact with auto- deploy operators in the field, and both will have a common training background

16. Auto-Deploy 3 • NOC Contact with AD Terminal Operators • When an auto-deploy operator contacts a satellite operator to commission an AD terminal on that satellite operator’s platform, the satellite operator requests a GVF Certification ID number, which can be verified on the GVF database of Certified Auto-Deploy Operators • If an ID number is not available, the satellite operator can explain that they support the GVF-industry programme on Certification, and then invite the AD operator to visit the GVF training information resource at: • www.gvf.org

17. Auto-Deploy 4 • Satellite Operator Contact with AD Operators’ Employers • Representatives of satellite operators’ management can advise auto-deploy operators’ employers of the Certification programme • The respective satellite operators shall approach the auto-deploy operators’ employers to explain that the GVF-industry programme is designed to increase QoS and decrease operational costs by improving the skills associated with auto-deploy operations. • The initiative is a major benefit to all parties • In some cases, the auto-deploy operators’ employers may be interested to have their own staff qualified as a GVF Examiner

18. Product Quality Assurance... Overview GVF Now Provides Outsourced Type Approvals Intelsat and Eutelsat First to Embrace the Solution GVF ‘Authorized Test Entities’ Available to… Assist Antenna Manufacturers with Design Conduct Type Approval Testing Using Satellite Operator Specs Provide Type Approval for Compliant Systems Now: Global Product Quality Assurance Framework

19. Product Quality Assurance Framework 1 • Strategic Plan for a Global Satellite Industry Arrangement • to Facilitate Earth Station Design & Production • 1. Situational Analysis • Globally, many satellite operators are escalating deployment of Ka-band, Ku-band, C-band, X-band, L-band, and other systems, even as global demand increases for auto-deploy, “comms on the move”, maritime, sub-0.75m, and other transmitting earth stations that require a high degree of technical rigour in design, production, and performance • A significant number of satellite operators currently do not apply a product quality assurance programme • Compounding the problem, reduced terminal and installation fees, deregulation, increasing evidence of poor-quality manufacturers, increasing production volumes of small aperture/wide beam-width antennas, and other factors, are leading to a “perfect storm” of interference, not only for traditional C-band and Ku-band, but also for newly introduced Ka-band

20. Product Quality Assurance Framework 2 • Strategic Plan for a Global Satellite Industry Arrangement • to Facilitate Earth Station Design & Production • 2. Background Phases • Phase 1 – Rigorous satellite operator in-house product quality assurance (PQA) programmes; satellite operators without their own programmes used other’s as a reference point to provide for the quality of earth station products used with their satellite platforms • Phase 2 – Many satellite operators withdrew from in-house PQA, reportedly to reduce operational costs; vacuum partially filled by GVF, industry-endorsed, out-sourced product testing; GVF still provides this, but use of the programme has been limited due to lack of industry resolve to return to PQA • Phase 3 – Industry now experiencing major financial losses through signal interference, some of which caused by insufficient product quality; satellite operators now support a global industry PQA framework; GVF Mutual Recognition Arrangement Working Group (MRA WG) working with industry

21. Product Quality Assurance Framework 3 • Strategic Plan for a Global Satellite Industry Arrangement • to Facilitate Earth Station Design & Production • 3. GVF MRA & PQA • Through the collective view of GVF (shortly after its foundation in 1997) the satellite industry identified as a problem the redundant testing requirements required of equipment manufacturers who sought type approvals from multiple satellite operators • The solution was created in 1999 by global industry consensus through the GVF MRA WG, with the Mutual Recognition Arrangement reducing costs and improving industry efficiency

22. Product Quality Assurance Framework 4 • Strategic Plan for a Global Satellite Industry Arrangement • to Facilitate Earth Station Design & Production • 4. MRA WG Documentation: • GVF 101S – Executive Summary of the MRA process • GVF 101 – Implemented 1999, recently adapted to address Ka-band type approvals, in addition to C-band and Ku-band terminals • GVF 102 – Reference on operators’ type approval specifications and to • facilitate coordination • GVF 103 – Describes the processes associated with Authorised Test Entities • GVF 104 – Drafted for approval of auto-deploy systems • GVF 105 – In first-draft for type approval of “Comms on the Move” systems • GVF 106 – Envisioned for type approval of Maritime systems

23. Is VSAT Carrier ID Part of the Solution? Video Encoder Implementation Underway Data Group Launched in ‘09 GVF VSAT Group Launched in ’09: Includes VSAT Manufacturers, Satellite Operators, IRG, Detection Experts, Others Scope & Principles Agreed New: Technical Feasibility Now Established Evaluating Next Steps: Root-Cause Analysis, Who Pays, Proprietary Considerations, etc.

24. IMT/BWA in C-band Downlinks Is currently being introduced country by country worldwide Was considered at ITU WRC-07 Future mobile phone networks (IMT Advanced, 4G, ….) Broadband Wireless Access (BWA), WiMax, FWA, …. 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 4.1 4.2 4.0 Std. C Etx. C Band commonly used by FSS satellites Additional band (FSS, feederlinks for MSS, …)

26. Addressing Spectrum Proceedings WBU-ISOG Endorsed GVF C-band Paper Submission to National Spectrum Proceedings Has Begun in Multiple World Regions, Including... United Arab Emirates Iraq FCC Angola And in Inter-Governmental Proceedings…

27. The ITU Pursuing Enforcement of WRC-07 C-band Decision Inputs made to WRC 2012… Agd Item 1.13 - Protect 21.4-22 GHz for HD/BSS Agd Item 1.19 - Protect All Satellite Bands from SDR/CR Agd Item 1.20 - Protect 5850-7075 from HAPS Agd Item 1.22 - Protect All Satellite Bands from UWB Agd Item 1.25 - New Satellite Spectrum at 4-16 GHz ++? Next Step: Defend Ku- and Ka-bands!

28. Addressing Sub-Optimal Networks New: GVF Network Validation Service Service Pilot: Team Evaluated VSAT Network in 27 Countries Service Pilot Findings: Most/All Facets of Interference-Mitigation Initiative Would Help Network Performance Report Submitted to Owner on How to Optimize Network and Prevent Interference Network Validation as Latest Feature of Interference-Prevention Initiative

29. Satellite RFI: Breaking It Down… Again Problems: 1. Improper Installations 2. Sub-Standard Equipment 3. Unidentified Carriers 4. Wireless Interference 5. Information Sharing 6. Dysfunctional Networks • Solutions: • Training & Certification • Product Quality Assurance • Carrier ID • Spectrum Initiative • SDA • Network Validation

30. Thank You!