satellite services and interference: the current … services and interference: the current...
TRANSCRIPT
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Satellite Services and Interference: The current situation
ITU International Satellite Communication Symposium
Geneva, 13-14 June 2016
Ruben D. Marentes
Director, RF Operations Center
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Current impact of RFI in satellite operations:
• Radio frequency interference (RFI) represents
the biggest impact in operational performance
for satellite operators, especially those working
in the geostationary orbits
• This is a significant cost for satellite operators,
not only because of the revenue impact but
because of the amount of resources needed to
isolate and mitigate these events
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Current impact of RFI in satellite operations (Cont.):
• It is estimated that more than 85% of all
customer problems and troubleshooting
activities performed by the RF operations center
are caused by interference
• RFI causes many impacts. Some of these are:
loss of usable bandwidth, allocation of
troubleshooting resources from end-users and
satellite operators, shifting timelines (delays),
service performance degradation, and the
overall perception of service response
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What is the current environment?
• We continue to operate in a congested
environment as satellite operators are pursuing
more services in their current capacity
• Commercial push to create a better value proposition
which means more carriers in less bandwidth for the
use of mobile and VSAT terminals
• More satellites with overlapping coverage
• Conflicts in some areas due to the competitive nature
of the regional markets and lack of coordination
agreements between operators
• Unknown flybys and other maneuvers not shared with
neighbors and affected parties
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What has changed?
• The increase of practices like frequency reuse places
remote stations in conflicting segments that could impact
adjacent satellites
• One of the major trends in the increase of RFI in satellite
segments is the technical skill dilution, as remote techs are being
replaced by operators and end-users when doing initial
implementations
• Reduced deployment timelines and loose installation practices
are causing a real impact in the operational RF frequencies
• Mobile (aero) terminals are performing much better than their
fixed VSAT counterparts due to antenna auto-tracking systems
with less than 1 out 10 incidents for networks in similar size
Regulators should not fear aero terminals!!
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What is Intelsat doing to isolate RFI?
• Increasing geolocation capability and installing
more antennas in strategic places where we
can capture most of the beams and
transponders.
• Supporting Carrier ID regulation and
participating with industry-based agencies for
its adoption.
• Working with vendors on improvement
monitoring and alarming tool to provide a more
proactive approach.
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What else is being done?
• Providing fast access to historical
spectrum captures to identify when and
where RFI was first detected
• Developing a customer web portal for the
submission of transmission plans:
My.Intelsat.com
• Users can upload their transmission plan
(new/changes) and keep their loading plans
up to date in a convenient way (RFM)
• Antenna information, AZ/EL utility, G/T
calculator tools can be accessed from
anywhere
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What are we doing to mitigate RFI?
• Invite satellite users and operators to provide training to
their installers
• Promote satellite self-access best practices and strict
quality controls for service activation
• Develop real-time interference alarming solutions
• Create a loading philosophy to accommodate carriers
depending on their RF profiles in order to reduce impact
and conflict
• Thrive to a higher level of operations and stimulate a
accountable approach to interference events
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Space Data Association/RFI Collaboration • Multi-national, open to all space operators, in
all orbital regimes
• The SDA is a not-for-profit cooperative for the
reliable and efficient data-sharing critical to the
long-term safety, viability and integrity of both
space and RF environments.
• SDA developing RFI tool to improve geolocation
abilities of members
• Accurate ephemeris + maneuvers + RF data +
antenna patterns + reference emitters +
geolocation sites
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Summary
• Enforce internal training and best practices and policies
• Support initiatives to share information between external
stakeholders (i.e, Satellite Database Center, geolocation
services, conjunction data, Carrier ID, C-band protection
rulings)
• When issues or exceptions are suspected, contact your RF
Operations Center:
• Our efforts are aimed to identify and eliminate sources of RFI.
• Share, communicate, collaborate and participate in
troubleshooting efforts.
What can we do together to isolate and mitigate RFI?
