november/december 2017 · 2020-05-06 · - page 28 cyber security - page 32 q&a hispasat - page...

November/December 2017

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www.satellite-evolution.com | November/December 2017 1

View From The Top

Finding some stabilityChristmas is upon us again. Night is drawing in early while many of us are still atwork, there’s a definite nip in the air, and the streets are bustling with shoppers.The stores have the most interesting mixture of aromas; warming spices designedto set the Christmas shopping mood, the sickly-sweet smell of too many differenttypes of sweets, and geosmin, the scent of rain.

For many of us, it’s been a busy year. The biggest shows, CABSAT, Satellite 2017, CommunicAsia, IBC and AfricaCom,have been interspersed with smaller but still critical events like the IRG’s Annual Workshop and Global MilSatCom, as well asinvaluable visits to key clients.

This year has been my second year in the satellite sector, and it’s been great to find some stability. 2016, my first year,was an uphill battle, becoming familiar with as many different concepts and technologies as possible, meeting thousands ofnew people, and visiting unfamiliar places. This year was a substantial improvement; there is always a lot to be learned, buthaving a solid grounding in the technologies and a fantastic group of contacts around the world has been a massive boost.Next year is sure to be even better again.

Christmas is a time for rest, and we should all take advantage of the opportunity to recharge our batteries. Certainly, onceI’ve finished preparing the January/February issues of Satellite Evolution Asia, Satellite Evolution EMEA and Global MilitaryCommunications, I’ll be winding down for a relaxing couple of weeks of mulling; cider, wine, rum, cupcakes. The possibilitiesare endless.

Intuition tells me that 2018 is going to be an unusual year. Rest and preparation, therefore, is essential. For many of us,our travelling is going to start early with a trip to Dubai for CABSAT in January, instead of the usual March. Around the sametime, President Trump’s wall prototypes in San Diego should have been completed and evaluated, and we should be hearingabout whether he can get the funding to build the full-scale Border Wall. Something tells me Mexico isn’t going to pay up…Meanwhile, friction between the West and North Korea should be interesting to observe, if a little terrifying. Memes havepopped up all over the Internet speculating on whether we’ll ever get to see the final season of Game of Thrones (scheduledfor 2019), or whether the Earth will have been obliterated by that time.

Here at Satellite Evolution, we wish everyone a wonderful winter break. And remember to get lots of rest ready for 2018– you’re going to need it.

Editor - Amy Saunders

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock

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www.satellite-evolution.com | November/December 20172

Contents

No part of this publication may betransmitted, reproduced or electronicallystored without the written permissionfrom the publisher.

DS Air Publications does not give anywarranty as to the content of the materialappearing in the magazine, its accuracy,timeliness or fitness for any particularpurpose. DS Air Publications disclaims allresponsibility for any damages or losses inthe use and dissemination of theinformation.

All editorial contentsCopyright © 2017 DS Air PublicationsAll rights reservedISSN: 1745-5502

Printed by:Times PrintingSingapore

DS Air Publications1 Langhurstwood RoadHorshamWest Sussex, RH12 4QDUnited KingdomT: +44 1403 273973F: +44 1403 273972Email: [email protected]

EditorAmy [email protected]

Circulation ManagerElizabeth George

PublisherRichard [email protected]

Managing DirectorDavid [email protected]

Photo courtesy hxdbzxy/Shutterstock

1 EditorialFinding some stability

November/December 2017 - Vol.14. - No.6.

4 Satellite newsNews and Views

Myth Buster - 4th Edition- page 8

Q&A Bubble Media- page 12

Q&A Gilat Satellite Networks- page 22

Reducing Rain Fade - page 26

The Need for Innovation- page 28

Cyber Security- page 32

Q&A HISPASAT- page 34

Contents

STN Case Study - page 36

Emergency Communications- page 14

6 Private Cellular Networks: Done the Right WayWhite paper produced by ND SatCom

Satellite Interference - page 40

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News Review & Analysis

Marlink to acquire Livewire Connections to createthe leading maritime VSAT company in thesuperyacht marketMarlink, backed by Apax-partners has signed a definiteagreement to acquire 100 percent of the shares inLivewire Connections, a UK headquartered satellitecommunications service provider with focus onsuperyacht customers. The move follows the recentannouncement that Marlink intends to acquire a majoritystake in the Spanish superyacht service providerOmniAccess. Both companies have been strategicallychosen for their leading position, unique capabilities andquality focus to provide unrivalled services and valuefor customers in the highly demanding superyachtsegment.

Following completion of the share purchase, LivewireConnections will become part of the Marlink Group,joining the worldwide leader in maritime communicationsand maritime VSAT services, generating close to $500million revenues, employing approximately 1,000 expertsglobally and serving an installed base of around 5,000VSAT vessels under contract. Established as aninnovator and today the most trusted service provider inall key maritime markets, including shipping, offshore,cruise/ferry and fishing, Marlink’s recent round ofacquisitions will complement and extend further itsleading position to the superyacht market segment.

4KUNIVERSE to launch in Swiss TV households viaSES4KUNIVERSE made its international debut beyond NorthAmerica in early December, as SES began distributionof the fast-growing Ultra HD channel to Swisscom,Switzerland’s leading telecom company and one of itstop IT firms, with 1.45 million television customers acrossSwitzerland.

Swisscom is adding 4KUNIVERSE to its expandingUltra HD offering, which already includes a growingchannel line-up, video on demand (VOD), and live sportsevents.

4KUNIVERSE was first introduced earlier this yearon the SES Ultra HD platform in North America, whichnow features ten channels offering everything fromaction-packed adventure and travel television to spaceexploration, sports, and documentaries.

Telenor Satellite sails further northSince before the launch of THOR 7 in 2015, TelenorSatellite has been running a Ka-band propagation studyusing a network of reference stations spread throughoutmainland Norway and the Svalbard archipelago.

As a result and the operational experience gainedfrom nearly two years of operating a commercial service,Telenor has seen that the artificial boundary it imposedwas denying service to vessels operating north of the 5°elevation contour.

NOW - The service maps extend the usable servicearea all the way north to the 0-degree elevation contourwhich is perfect for vessels sailing further north in theBarents Sea region.

Having spoken to several customers who provide VSATservices to fishing vessels, Telenor know this added

coverage is crucially important to their operations as thenewly added area contains several important fishinggrounds. Most fishing vessels have to provide regular catchreports and being able to use VSAT is generally preferredas it lowers the overall communications cost.

Reliability in this unstable worldCABSAT will take place from the 14-16 January 2018 atthe Dubai World Trade Centre. Over the years the eventhas established itself as one of the key events for theMiddle East, Africa and South Asia. The ContentCongress at CABSAT is the leading platform for thebroadcast, production, content delivery, digital media andsatellite sectors and plays a critical role in deliveringindustry-shaping dialogue, uniting over 250 creativevisionaries, technological disruptors and industryinfluencers for two days of active debate and discussion.

The MEASA market offers significant opportunitiesfor innovators looking to exploit new growth channelsoutside of traditional platforms. The Content Congressengages a unique cross-section of senior industrystakeholders and up-and-coming influencers to shareforward looking insights into how to adapt traditionalbroadcast models, the benefits of disruptive thinking andthe future of broadcasting not only for the region, butworldwide. Let’s take a look at some of the industryplayers taking part:

ABSABS is a young and fast growing global satellite operator,with an entrepreneurial and creative business approach.Led by a management team of talented and experiencedprofessionals, ABS offers a complete range of end-to-end solutions including Direct to Home (DTH), CableTV distribution (CATV), cellular backhaul, VSAT andInternet backbone services with diverse IP transitthrough its European, Middle East and Asian internetgateways.

APT Satellite CompanyAPT Satellite Company Limited is a leading satelliteoperator in the Asia-Pacific region. APSTAR commencedits operations in 1992. The company currently owns andoperates five in-orbit satellites: APSTAR-5, APSTAR-6,APSTAR-7, APSTAR-7B (partial), and APSTAR-9satellites, covering regions in Asia, Europe, Africa,Australia and Pacific islands which contain approximately75 percent of the world’s population.

ArabsatNow one of the world’s top satellite operators and by farthe leading satellite services provider in the Arab world,it carries over 500 TV channels, 200 radio stations, pay-tv networks and wide variety of HD channels reachingtens of millions of homes in more than 80 countriesacross the Middle East, Africa and Europe—includingan audience of over 170 million viewers in the MiddleEast and North Africa (MENA) region alone tuned intoArabsat’s video “hotspot” at 26°E.

Comtech Xicom TechnologyComtech Xicom Technology has grown to be a world

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News Review & Analysis

leading satellite communications (satcom) amplifiersupplier, offering one of the broadest product lines in theindustry.

Its focus on customers, innovation, and quality hasdriven growth and created a company with a reputationfor excellence. Regarded as an industry leader acrossthe board, Xicom provides rugged, highly efficient andreliable Travelling Wave Tube Amplifiers (TWTAs), KlystronPower Amplifiers (KPAs), Solid State Power Amplifiers(SSPAs), and Block Upconverters (BUCs) for commercialand military broadcast and broadband applications aroundthe world.

CPI SatcomCPI’s Satcom Division (CPI Satcom) is a worldwide leaderin uplink amplifier products and systems for satellitecommunications. The company has played a pivotal rolein the satcom industry since its inception. The first satelliteprojects, including Intelsat and CONUS, were supportedby CPI, which was then part of Varian Associates, Inc.

Today, its scope and global reach is unmatched, havingshipped over 40,000 high power amplifiers to uplinkstations in over 150 countries.

Gazprom Space SystemsJoint Stock Company Gazprom Space Systems – adaughter company of Gazprom, carries out spaceactivities in the development and operation oftelecommunications and geo information systems for thecompanies of Gazprom Group and other customers.Gazprom Space Systems has created, and now operatesand develops the Yamal satellite communication andbroadcasting system.

IntelsatIntelsat operates the world’s first Globalized Network,delivering high-quality, cost-effective video and broadbandservices anywhere in the world. Intelsat’s GlobalizedNetwork combines the world’s largest satellite backbonewith terrestrial infrastructure, managed services and anopen, interoperable architecture to enable customers todrive revenue and reach, through a new generation ofnetwork services.

Thousands of organizations serving billions of peopleworldwide rely on Intelsat to provide ubiquitous broadbandconnectivity, multi-format video broadcasting, securesatellite communications and seamless mobility services.The end result is an entirely new world, one that allowsus to envision the impossible, connect without boundariesand transform the ways in which we live.

IntegrasysIntegrasys is a pr ivately-owned SME softwaredevelopment, engineering and integration companyspecialising in the telecommunication and broadcastingmarkets. It was founded in 1990 by a group of Hewlett-Packard engineers - developers of automated RF &microwave test systems and software, starting as aturnkey project company specialising in softwaredevelopments for measurement automation in distributedenvironments.

Since then Integrasys has evolved, offering a wide

range of signal monitoring products for different telecomservices.

ND SatComWith over three decades of experience, ND SatCom isthe premier supplier of and integrator for innovativesatellite communication equipment systems and solutionsto support customers with critical operations anywhere inthe world. Customers in more than 130 countries havechosen ND SatCom as a trusted and reliable source ofhigh-quality and secure turnkey and custom system-engineered communication solutions. The company’sproducts and solutions are used in more than 200transnational networks in government, military, telecomand broadcast environments. ND SatCom’s flagshipproduct, the SKYWAN platform, enables internationalusers to communicate securely, effectively and quicklyover satellite.

NEWTECNewtec specializes in designing, developing andmanufacturing equipment and technologies for satellitecommunications. As a pioneer in the industry, Newtec isdedicated to creating new possibilities for the broadcast,consumer and enterprise VSAT, government and defence,cellular backhaul and trunking and mobility, offshore andmaritime markets. Its products and technologies can beapplied in a wide range of single and multiserviceapplications from DTH broadcasting, video contributionand distribution and disaster recovery and backbones forcellular backhauling, to small and medium enterprises,SCADA and oil and gas networks, aircrafts and vessels.

RSCCThe Russian Satellite Communication Company (RSCC)belongs to the group of ten largest world satellite operatorsin terms of satellites and orbital slots and has more than50 years of experience.

The company possesses the largest satell iteconstellation in Russia located in the geostationary orbitalarc from 14 West to 145 East and covers the whole territoryof Russia, the CIS, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, theAsia-Pacific region, North and South America, andAustralia.

Santander TeleportSantander Teleport is an independent teleport operatoroffering satellite communication services in C, X, Ku andKa-bands for service providers, enterprise andgovernment organisations in a number of marketsincluding maritime, enterprise, broadcast and defence.

Santander Teleport owns its own satellite teleportfacilities in Spain with access to a global terrestrial networkand works with partner teleports to provide global reach.

SpacePathSpacePath Communications was founded in the UK in2014 to design, manufacture and deliver satellite uplinkamplifiers to a global customer base. Its portfolio includesindoor and outdoor products, travelling wave tubeamplifiers (TWTAs) and solid state power amplifiers(SSPAs), using both GaAs and GaN technologies.

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Technology Update

Private cellular networks

ND SatCom fixed small cell

With recent developments in Software Defined Networking (SDN) andNetwork Functions Virtualization (NFV),private cellular networks are becomingthe technology of choice for a growingnumber of connectivity requirements.

Existing users can be found acrossdifferent industries and organizationtypes: oil and gas, mining, educationalcampuses, ships, municipalities, firstresponders, the military and manyothers. Customers embrace privatecellular networks for different reasons;some are attracted by cost-freetelephone calls within theirorganizations, some employ themwhere there is no other coverage, andothers prefer to keep their networksclosed for security reasons. Whateverthe driving factors may be, customersare delighted with performancesupremacy over competing tech-nologies such as Wi-Fi.

Since the technology is modular andsoftware-defined, it can be tailored to fitany customer need. If such a privatecellular network needs to communicateto the outside world in an area where noconnectivity except satellite exists, thena reliable partner will get the job done.

Coverage done rightND SatCom’s private cellular networkis a unique product on the market. Itcombines the power of small cells andmobile core networks with the mostefficient satellite connectivity to date. Inthe SKYWAN 5G modem, a fullyfunctional Evolved Packet Core (EPC)is integrated according to 3GPPspecifications, supporting 2G, 3G and4G base stations from many differentvendors.

A customer can easily set up areliable and secure cellular networktailored to his needs, from one tohundreds of base stations. It can be aclosed private network with or withoutan inter-connection to Public SwitchedTelephone Network (PSTN), an easilydeployable first-responders network, oran extension to an existing network ofa Mobile Network Operator.

Because all the network nodes arevirtualized and fully inline with 3GPPspecifications, many different networkdesigns are possible and fully adaptableto each single use case. Whether GSM,UMTS, LTE, or a combination of thethree is required, customers can use thenetworks interchangeably and makeseamless handovers with Single RadioVoice Call Continuity.

Thanks to local switchingfunctionality implemented in the EPC,voice calls and SMS can be locallyswitched, thus taking the burden off thebackhaul links, while data can be locallyoff-loaded and cached. Traffic thatneeds to go over satellite will beoptimized using state-of-the-ar tmechanisms.

As an integral part of the solution, aSKYWAN 5G modem performs thebackhaul of traffic in any topologyrequired. Traffic from one cell to anothercan be transmitted directly via singlesatellite hop (no hub), halving the delayand satellite cost. If needed, a traditionalhub and spoke topology can also beimplemented.

ND SatCom portable small cell

Key Features• Fast to deploy• Portable or fixed• Local switching via embedded EPC• Local caching• Traffic optimization• Re-use of satellite bandwidth• 3GPP compliant (2G, 3G, 4G)• Voice, data and SMS

Cell-to-Cell communications in one LTEnetwork

Applications• Oil rigs• Ships• First responders• Power plants• Campuses• Holiday resorts• Farms• Remote & rural areas and many

others

“ND SatCom’s privatecellular network is a unique

product on the market. Itcombines the power of

small cells and mobile corenetworks with the most

efficient satelliteconnectivity to date. In the

SKYWAN 5G modem, afully functional EvolvedPacket Core (EPC) is

integrated according to3GPP specifications...”

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Myth Buster 4th Edition

By Richard Swardh, Senior Vice President, MNO for Comtech EF Data

Myth Buster 4th Edition: 5G willnever work over satellite

Image courtesy of: iStock

Over the last year I have often heardconcerns from satellite operators andservice providers that 5G will not workwith satellite. Comments like, “satellitewill never be able to provide thebandwidth required by 5G” or “satelliteround trip delay of GEO, MEO or evenLEO will make 5G impossible.” Before Iaddress these statements specifically,let’s take a step back and try to framewhat 5G is actually trying to achieve.

Every 10 years or so, a new mobilestandard is introduced. In the early1990s, 2G was introduced as thesuccessor to analog systems. The early2000s saw the dawn of the first 3G

networks, and 10 years later, 4G/LTEwas introduced. To generalize a bit,each standard came with distinctcharacte- ristics that evolved over timeas new use cases developed. 2G GSMwas a digital standard originallydesigned to increase the efficiency overanalogue systems through the use ofTDMA – more calls could fit in a givenslice of spectrum. Originally, dataservices in 2G were very low bandwidthand circuit switched. But, as the successof SMS surprised most in the industry,a packet-based option was eventuallyadded called GPRS in the first iterationand EDGE in the second. As 2G was

being rolled out, a 3G specificationbased on CDMA was already beingdrafted. The goal of 3G was to supportcircuit switched voice and packet-baseddata services simultaneously with evenhigher spectral efficiency and capacity.2Mbps was the stated goal in thebeginning. As new use casesdeveloped, the 3G standard evolved aswell to now support up to 48Mbps to ahandset. With the advent of featurephones and eventually smartphones, itbecame clearer that applications andservices were demanding even higherdata rates. Hence a new 4G standardwas developed, and LTE wasintroduced in 2010, with the vision ofone day being able to provide 1Gbps ofthroughput to a single user. This couldbe achieved through yet another radiointerface standard, this time based onOFDM, higher order modulation and

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Richard Swardh is Senior VicePresident, Mobile NetworkOperators for Comtech EF Data. Inthis role, he leads the marketdevelopment and direction for the2G/3G/LTE mobile backhaulmarket, directing long-term strat-egic initiatives and defining solutionsuites and feature sets. A mobilenetwork backhaul veteran,Swardh’s background includesstrategic and operational positionsat Ericsson with businessdevelopment, partnership manage-ment and strategy executionresponsibilities. He holds both aBachelor of Science degree inMechanical Engineering and aBachelor of Business degree inAdministration and Logistics fromVaxjo University in Sweden.


bonding of spectrum in several differentfrequency bands into one large bit pipeof data. As the massive growth ofInternet services, smar tphonepenetration and the emergence ofInternet of Things continued, and yetagain surpassed all previous forecasts,it became clear that the existing networkarchitecture and frequency allocationswould not be enough to support newand emerging use cases. As such, therewas yet again the need for a newstandard, 5G.

What is different?What is different with the new 5Gstandardization from previousgenerations is that it takes a much moreholistic view on the overall ecosystemneeding connectivity. In the past, therole of a new mobile standard wasprimarily focused around achieving ahigher degree of spectral efficiency toallow for better utilization of the most

valuable asset a mobile operator has,namely its spectrum rights. 5G on theother hand, according to a definitionused by many industry insiders, bringstogether all previous mobile standards,wired networks, IP services and Internetof Things under a common framework.As such, the goal of 5G is not only abouta new radio interface standard, but toenable end to end ecosystems that cancost-efficiently scale while supportingnew services and business models. Thisis by no means an easy task, and hencea new level of cooperation betweenstandardization bodies like never seenbefore is needed. The traditionaltelecom and ICT focused associationslike 3GPP, ITU, ETSI, IEEE, GSMA areall coming together with various verticaland industry associations to define, testand trial a variety of use cases to drivethe 5G ecosystem forward and ensurequick and efficient time to market.

As discussed earlier, the goal of 5Gis to support the widest array of usecases possible. As with previousgenerations, it is really difficult to predictwhat will ultimately be the “kil lerapplication.” Prior to the introduction ofsmartphones, and perhaps the iPhonein particular, it was somewhat unclearhow users would take advantage of thehigh data rates that LTE brought tomarket, and the same is now true forwhat 5G brings. As such, a variety ofuse cases are being modelled. To

illustrate this, here are a few examplesof trials and demonstrations currentlyongoing to help define the standardwhich is set to be ratified in 2020:

End-to-end latencyOne of the stated goals of 5G is tosignificantly reduce the end-to-endlatency. With lower latency, new usecases can open up, like being able tooperate machinery or to perform remotesurgery from a distance. Virtual realityheadsets coupled with gloves, roboticarms or joysticks providing hapticfeedback will make it all come together.Being able to couple tactile sensationswith sights and sounds will open upmany new use cases both in theprofessional workspace, as well in theentertainment and leisure industries.

Connectivity to cars is somethingthat is being talked about to a greatextent in the satellite industry and holdsa lot of promise thanks to satellite’sexcellent reach. What is also importantfor a safer and more secure future, andalso part of something called IntelligentTransport Systems, is the ability tocommunicate car to car, car to roadwayinfrastructure or even car topedestrians. Communication to andfrom and between vehicles, is seen asa priority by car manufacturers, as wellas by many governments andregulators as it can help alleviatecongestion, pollution and reduce

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accidents. While some use cases willrequire just the same low latency andhigh security as in the remote surgeryexample above, some use cases suchas watching a movie and streamingmusic on the go will not be subject tothe same latency requirements.

Fixed wireless broadband servicesAnother goal, and likely one of the firstcommercial deployments of 5G, will beto enable fixed wireless broadbandservices. As these services require alot of spectrum, the satellite industryneeds to be on the lookout at the nextWorld Radiocommunication Con-ference in 2019, as mobile operators willwant to gobble up more spectrum. Thereare several pre-standard based trialsgoing on around the world of 5G NewRadio (NR is the very creative name thestandardization body settled on)predominately in various millimetrebands between 28 and 80GHz.Previously, these bands in a telecomcontext were mostly used for point-to-point microwave deployments, as theypropagate poorly especially inwidebeam scenarios. However, newantenna technologies using massiveMIMO and intelligent beam formingcoupled with advanced signalprocessing will one day enable tens ofGbps to be delivered several kilometresto hundreds of users simultaneously.One could say this use case is perhapsfollowing closest in the footsteps of what3G and LTE already star ted withenabling the mobile broadbandrevolution. In fact, many of theinnovations in LTE-Advanced are alsopart of the 5G NR standard for forwardcompatibility. As such, it was recentlyagreed in the 3GPP that a pre-releaseof the 5G standard will be released in2019, using LTE radio and core networkas an anchor for mobility managementwhile adding a new 5G carrier.

On the other side of the bandwidththroughput spectrum, we find many usecases for M2M communication orInternet of Things. Anything thatbenefits from being connected will beconnected, is the goal. However, it willbe through a large variety of differentconnectivity options based on existingand new wireless standards, and thefocus will largely be on how to costefficiently manage and orchestrateservices needed by basically an infinitenumber of connected “things.” Key to

IoT’s success will be battery life of upto 10 years, ultra low-cost chipsets andcost effectively being able to support amassive amount of devices within asmall area. Many of the use cases inthis space are not sensitive to latency.

As you may notice, some of the usecases sound quite familiar and 5Gshould initially not be seen as anentirely stand-alone networktechnology, but as part of an evolutionof existing standards. In a mobilecontext, it will build upon and enhancesome of the building blocks alreadydefined in LTE. Examples of two suchtechnologies that MNOs have alreadystarted small scale implementations inmobile networks are Software DefinedNetworking (SDN) and NetworkFunction Virtualization (NFV). Thesetechnologies will be at the core of 5G.Being able to de-couple user plane fromcontrol plane and have programmablenetworks will allow service providers toscale based on the needs of eachapplication at a price point the marketcan support. Network functions that inthe past could only be created throughthe use of dedicated and many timesproprietary hardware can now berealized in software, and moved tocommercial off-the-shelf compute andstorage platforms either in private orpublic cloud infrastructure. Networkslicing is a new term used to describehow multiple logical networks can becreated on top of a common sharedphysical infrastructure and allow forgreater flexibility as resources areelastic and on-demand. Not a subjectfor this paper, but many of the functionsin satellite hub infrastructure areactually ideally suited to adopt SDN/NFV, cloud and open APIs to allow for

even greater flexibility and deeperintegration in to telecommunicationsnetworks.

So where does all this leave satellitein the world of 5G and mobile backhaul?Well, obviously there will be use casesrequiring very low latency to enable atactile Internet with haptic feedback thatcan never be supported with GEO, MEOor LEO satell ite constellations.However, many use cases will simplybecome an evolution of existing usecases already supported today in 2G,3G and LTE networks. What 5G willbring are additional opportunities forsatellite as the cost of deliveringservices over 5G will continue to dropcompared to using previousgenerations; improvements in spectralefficiency and smarter utilization ofnetwork resources will lower the costper bit delivered making servicesattainable for even more users and“things.” And, just like I discussed in my“Myth Busters 2nd Edition: LTE is onlyfor High-Speed Services,” the cost perbit delivered is always a key metric tofollow. At any given data rate, 1Kbps,1Mbps or 1Gbps, what matters most toan operator is the cost of delivering thatbit. So, don’t be surprised if use caseswill emerge in 5G, just like they alreadyhave for LTE, for narrowband servicesusing satellite. A new wireless standardis not just about achieving higherspeeds, but about finding a more cost-efficient way of delivering services.Satellite will always have a role to playwith its unique capabilities not availablein any other technology. So, fret not –satellite will support many 5G use casesand be an important part in fulfilling itsvision. Just don’t expect it to happenright away.

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Q&A bubbles media

bobbles.tv is a privately-held pay-TV platform from bubbles mediaGmbH based in Hamburg,Germany. The company deliversinternational channel packages viathe SES ASTRA satellite systemand over the Internet to targetedaudiences in Europe. Now bubblesmedia is extending its reach into theB2B space by offer ing pan-European platform services tobroadcasters. Watch bobbles.tvand enjoy the best TV Shows andMovies from home. bobbles.tvbroadcasts over 38 TV Channelsfrom India, China and South Koreaall over Europe via Satellite and viaInternet. With bobbles.tv you willnever miss an episode of yourfavorite TV Show. Stay in touch withthe best series and movies fromhome, enjoy traditional cookingshows, children programs in yourmother tongue or get the latestNews from back home wheneveryou want!

Staying in touch withhomebobbles.tv is a privately-held pay-TV platform from bubblesmedia GmbH based in Hamburg, Germany. The companydelivers international channel packages via the SES ASTRAsatellite system and over the Internet to targeted audiences inEurope. Now bubbles media is extending its reach into the B2Bspace by offering pan-European platform services tobroadcasters. Amy Saunders spoke with Arnold C. Kulbatzki,CEO at bubbles media, to discuss the company’s marketpresence, raison d’etre, and plans for the future.

Arnold C. Kulbatzki, CEO atbubbles media

Photo courtesy of bubbles media

Q&A bubbles media

Question: Can you provide anoverview of the development ofbobbles.tv, from its founding towhere it stands today?Arnold C. Kulbatzki: Our goal withbobbles.tv is to help expats locatedacross Europe stay in touch with homeand their culture through top qualityentertainment and news from theircountry of origin. We aim to bring peopletogether and make ‘home’ seem not sofar away. Convenience, choice andusability for our customers are at thecentre of our company values, so wecombined a state of the art over the top(OTT) streaming service with direct tohome (DTH) satellite reception viaASTRA at 19.2 degrees East.

We went live in August 2016, initiallywith programming offers for Chineseand Indonesian communities. In 2017,

we launched our package of Indian TVchannels. Subscribing is easy andaffordable, with a flat monthly feeranging from just euros 9.95 online toeuros 19.95 on satellite.

Now we have begun to reachbeyond direct consumer delivery to offerthe capabilities of our proven end-to-end distr ibution platform to otherbroadcasters. Also, we are aiming toenter tain even more people withbobbles.tv by offering our premiumchannels to cable networks and hotelsacross Europe.

Question: How has the combinationof SES’ satellite system and MX1’sonline video platform set bobblesapart in the market?Arnold C. Kulbatzki: It has rapidlybecome apparent that this combinationof satellite and online is a really uniqueand compelling offering. Certainly inEurope, if you want to truly engage withpeople located right across the region,pan-European satellite is the only wayto go. We realised that combining OTTwith DTH would yield the best of bothworlds and enable us to build ourbusiness based on reach to span thecontinent, including areas where thereis no or l imited broadband. Oursubscribers, and our broadcastpartners, value the choice we enable.

Question: How important do youthink it is for expats to be able toconsume content from their homecountries, and in the language oftheir choice?Arnold C. Kulbatzki: We knew from

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Q&A bubbles media

experience that people who relocate toanother country still want to stay intouch, want to be par t of what ishappening back home. This view wasvalidated by people in my own circle offriends who wished they could easilywatch their favourite shows and moviesin their mother tongue. These language-based services really help bring expatcommunities together. But the desire tosee news and other TV entertainmentin one’s own language also ties in withour new initiative to offer our attractivepackages as a B2B proposition to hotelsand resorts. Travellers are as interestedin hearing the news from home whilethey are on the road as they are whenin their own living rooms. Also, withincreasing multiculturalism, we believethat offering our efficiently packagedentertainment delivers cable operatorsa differentiating offering, and a new wayto attract subscribers.

Question: The broadcast market is ina major state of change right now,with OTT, 4K/UHD and virtual realityall finding their place in the sector.What is your take on these innovativetechnologies, and how can traditionalbroadcasters get on board?Arnold C. Kulbatzki: Our OTT offeringis a key par t of what makes thebobbles.tv consumer offering differentin the market. The pay-TV industry haschanged dramatically, and even morerecently, the success of Netflix has beena game-changer. For the first time,people today have widely come to useand understand words like ‘streaming’and to adopt the vocabulary of newkinds of TV service including over-the-top. At the same time, attitudes aboutwhat makes technologies competitive orcomplementary are changing, and wethink the bobbles story is part of thatshift. People in our industry increasinglyunderstand that satellite and OTT canwork together and create a combinedpresence that embraces more peopleand engenders more businessopportunities.

Generally, when it comes totechnology, we are not in any hurry torush in. This year we launched our twonew Humax set-top boxes: HEVC STBfor satellite reception and our new OTTbox for streaming on the TV set.Chromecast is a standard feature.Typically, we take the view of ‘wait andsee,’ primarily because it is essential

that we keep our prices as low aspossible. 4K will be more widelyavailable over time, but now, it is veryfar from being mass market. But ourgreat core technology, including SEScapabilities and reach, is a key reasonwhy broadcasters are interested inleveraging our best-in-class technologyplatform.

Question: Can you tell us more aboutyour platform services initiative?Arnold C. Kulbatzki: DTH via SES plusonline with MX1 form the heart of ourturnkey proposition. It appeals tointernational channels wishing to takethe opportunity to join our multiculturalconsumer packages. But additionally,international broadcasters who wish toforge their own path with their ownindependent pay-TV businesses canalso use our platform, which we offer tothem as a white label managed service.They can form their own marketingstrategy, with their own branding, whilebuilding their businesses in a highlyresource efficient way, using tried andtested world class technology andbroadcasting infrastructure. Ourplatform is truly an all-in solution,because broadcasters can evenleverage our partnership with HUMAX,whose set-top boxes we deployed thisyear. For many international channels,especially those wishing to reachEurope for the first time, our platform isa powerful yet highly resource-efficientway to connect with millions of viewers.

Question: What expectations do youhave for bobbles.tv for 2018 andbeyond?

Arnold C. Kulbatzki: 2018 will be allabout expanding our reach in new ways.We are widening our channel portfolio.

Right now, we are in activediscussions with a major broadcastinggroup to put together a package ofattractive programming from the MiddleEast. We are also very excited aboutnew opportunities in the B2B sphere.

In addition to offering our end-to-endplatform capability to broadcasters, weare reaching out to cable networks withour packages of internationalprogramming, which include premiumchannels, to help them engage newsubscribers.

Additionally, we are exploring theB2B opportunities with major hotelnetworks. We know that the hotel andtravel markets are fiercely competitive,and hotels continually look for new waysto enhance the guest experience. Withour packaged channel line-ups ofquality popular entertainment, hotelsand resor ts in Europe have theopportunity to very cost efficientlydeliver attractive TV services viasatellite to thousands of rooms for theirinternational guests. Hotel chains canoffer engaging premium content to thegrowing numbers of people from Asiawho visit Europe, for example, and theycan do so far more economically thanpossible with alternative offerings in thehospitality space.

We are excited to build on ourongoing consumer bobbles.tv offering,to keep widening our channel diversity,while in parallel making our uniquecontent offerings and transmissioncapabilit ies available to otherbusinesses.

Photo courtesy of bubbles media

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Emergency Communications

Photo courtesy MDay Photography/Shutterstock

Developments in criticalcommunicationsEmergency communications play a vital role in the modern world. The ability to organise aidworkers, medical personnel, clean water and other essential supplies is of the utmost importancewhen disaster has struck; all of these things require effective communications. Terrestrialnetworks are often damaged or overloaded following a natural or manmade disaster, thus satelliteoften plays a key role in getting things moving again. Without it, disaster zones are left almost ata standstill.

All in all, it’s been a pretty terrible year as far as emergencysituations go.

The 2017 Atlantic hurricane season is now among thetop 10 all-time most active seasons on record, featuring 13named storms, eight hurricanes and five major hurricanesas of 30 September. Catastrophic destruction and countlesslives have been lost across the Caribbean, Mexico and theUSA, while damage to property and infrastructure isinconceivable.

Monsoon flooding in Bangladesh, India and Nepal killedmore than 1,200 people over the Summer, while a mudslidein Colombia in April saw at least 200 fatalities. Flooding andlandslides in Sierra Leone in August caused the deaths of atleast 312 people. Earthquakes in Mexico, Italy and Chinasaw more than 500 people dead, while in Indonesia, 50,000people have been evacuated over fears of the imminenteruption of Mount Agung.

And that’s only brushing the surface of natural disasters,

never mind manmade events such as the October massshooting in Las Vegas, or the major terrorist attacks in Syria,Afghanistan, Libya and Somalia over the course of the year.

Emergency situations change everything, and nothing isever the same after the fact. Infrastructure is destroyed,homes damaged or devastated, and human lives may havebeen lost. While we can never entirely restore what existedbefore, emergency communications can go a long way inrestoring order, reuniting loved ones, and organisingtemporary, and later permanent, solutions.

Preparing for disasterThe saying goes that ‘failing to prepare is preparing to fail.’Notionally, we should all be prepared for disaster in whateverform it takes, although by and large, the general populationis extremely poorly prepared for anything out of the ordinary,at least in the West. Governments, however, must be moreprepared than the average person; it is their duty to look after

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their citizens and infrastructure to ensure the rapid recoveryof their country following a disaster.

The Pacific Ring of Fire, a 40,000km swath of the PacificOcean, plays host to a very large number of volcanic eruptionsand earthquakes, and, consequently, tsunamis. Naturaldisasters in the region are numerous, and as such, countriesin the ring must be well-prepared for every event.

The Philippines, as well as being situated within the PacificRing of Fire, experiences at least 20 tropical cyclones eachyear. Although the Philippine Government is very experiencedat responding to disasters, given the country’s geography,resource constraints, and current ICT infrastructure systems,the human and economic cost of disasters remains high.Accordingly, September 2017 saw Inmarsat and TélécomsSans Frontières (TSF), a humanitarian NGO specialised intelecoms and technology, join forces to support thePhilippines’ 3rd Quar ter Nationwide SimultaneousEarthquake Drill (NSED).

Through Inmarsat’s involvement with the UK SpaceAgency’s International Partnership Programme, TSF andInmarsat worked with the Department of Social Welfare andDevelopment’s (DSWD) Disaster Response Assistance andManagement Bureau (DReAMB) to put new emergencycommunications and information management protocols tothe test during the NSED. The exercise included the

deployment of Inmarsat’s Global Xpress (GX) service, theworld’s first globally available high-speed broadband networkdelivered by a single operator. The nationwide exercise alsosaw ‘out-of-the-box’ WiFi hotspots created for use by theemergency response teams, using Inmarsat’s award-winningBGAN service. BGAN, which is used across the world formission critical and emergency communications, has L-bandnetwork availability exceeding 99.9 percent, so connectivityis assured wherever operations are based and in anyconditions.

“The department has been strengthening its efforts toimprove its operational communications capability duringdisaster response. The bedrock of prompt and effectiveresponse is the ability to communicate and access reliable,accurate, and timely information, before, during, and after adisaster, at all levels of response governance,” said DirectorFelino O. Castro V, Head of the Disaster Response Assistanceand Management Bureau (DReAMB) of the DSWD.

During the drill, the Rapid Emergency Telecommunic-ations Teams (RETT) simulated their earthquake emergencytelecommunications response protocols and used theequipment to communicate with the different DisasterManagers in the Bicol Region, which is the first DSWD –Inmarsat Project pilot area, and the DSWD Central Office inthe National Capital Region (NCR) from the NSED

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Ceremonial Venue in Cavite.“The new satellite communications solutions are valuable

to the uninterrupted communication between the RapidEmergency Telecommunications Team (RETT) reporting tothe regional and provincial offices to ensure that affectedlocal government units (LGUs) will receive prompt reliefaugmentation,” said Arnel Garcia, DSWD Field Office VDirector.

Restoring connectivitySES has played a major role this year in restoring orderfollowing the devastating hurricanes that hit the Caribbean,Mexico and the USA. The company’s emergency.lu solution,a rapid communications solution for global disaster relief andhumanitarian missions, has been deployed extensively atmultiple sites.

“Establishing emergency communications during the firsthours in the aftermath of the disaster is vital,” Nicole Robinson,Corporate Vice President, Global Government at SESNetworks, told Satellite Evolution. “First responders need tostay connected and coordinated to bring help as quickly aspossible, but in most cases terrestrial infrastructures are badlydamaged and destroyed. This is why we contribute withsatellite-enabled connectivity and services to disasterresponse efforts, together with our partners.”

The emergency.lu solution consists of satell iteinfrastructure and capacity, communication and coordinationservices, and satell ite ground terminals as well astransportation of equipment to disaster areas all over theworld. Since its inception in 2013, the solution has beendeployed dozens of times around the world, and has providedconnectivity for relief efforts after Hurricane Matthew in Haiti,Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, and in many more crisissituations.

In September 2017, the Government of Luxembourgdeployed SES’s emergency.lu Rapid Response Kit to providesatellite-enabled connectivity to the coordination centre inDominica following the devastation caused by HurricaneMaria. The connectivity provided on an SES satellite wasused for broadband and voice communication, to ensure thatemergency services and first responders could stay informed

and connected, and were able to act quickly, where they weremost needed. The solution was deployed upon the requestof the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC) tosupport the Caribbean Disaster Emergency ManagementAgency (CDEMA), and installed by Luxembourg CivilProtection volunteers.

Another emergency.lu Rapid Response Kit was deployedearlier at the island of Saint Martin to re-establish connectivityto the airport of Sint Maarten after Hurricane Irma madelandfall in the North East Caribbean islands, severelydamaging terrestrial telecommunications infrastructure. TheGovernment of Luxembourg sent emergency.lu RapidDeployment Kits to the region to support the establishmentof humanitarian hubs and to provide vital communication linksfor first responders. In addition to the already-availablesatellite capacity for emergency.lu services, SES donatedadditional satellite capacity to support the high demand forconnectivity for relief actions.

“When a hurricane strikes, communication infrastructuresare often badly damaged or destroyed, and the situation canget even worse if first responders, emergency services andhospitals have no access to connectivity,” said GerhardBethscheider, Managing Director of SES Techcom Services.“Thanks to satellite technology, communication networks canbe rapidly restored, enabling effective and coordinatedassistance and aid in the most affected areas.”

Later, October 2017 saw SES Networks’ high throughputand fibre-like satellite connectivity service, the stratosphericballoons operated by X, Alphabet’s ‘moonshot factory,’ andlocal telecommunications expertise play a key role in restoring4G/LTE connectivity in Puerto Rico. The connectivity ispowered by Project Loon’s targeted cell coverage and SESNetworks’ O3b FastConnect, a rapidly deployable satelliteterminal delivering fibre-like performance. Together with localtechnology partners, SES Networks and X provided reliablehigh-performance connectivity to Puerto Ricans whose liveshad been devastated by Hurricane Maria.

“Our thoughts are with those whose lives have beenimpacted by this devastating hurricane,” said Steve Collar,CEO of SES Networks. “Access to connectivity is crucial ingetting those affected the information and help they needafter a natural disaster. We are really pleased to be workingwith X and their other partners to deploy high-performanceconnectivity to Puerto Rico and to play a part in the island’srestoration efforts.”

Intelsat, too, has supported multiple organisations inproviding relief services in the Caribbean, as well as helpinglocal and nationwide businesses in the USA recover fromthe three hurricanes that devastated the regions.

Intelsat’s support efforts began before the first stormapproached land, initiating disaster recovery and restorationplans for customers across the media, broadband and mobilitysectors with operations established in the projected paths ofthe storms. Some customers transitioned hub operations andrelocated staff to Intelsat teleport locations, maintainingunimpaired operations throughout the storms. Intelsat’ssatellites and teleports also provided restoration services andhelped deliver news coverage in the wake of the storms. Withbroadcasters being significantly impacted by the flood inHouston, Intelsat’s Galaxy 16 satellite was used to providevital connectivity to re-establish services. In Puerto Rico,Photo courtesy austinding/Shutterstock

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capacity was allocated to provide connectivity from New Yorkto the devastated island.

In addition to assisting existing commercial accounts withthe protection of their networks, Intelsat served an invaluablerole in delivering broadband capabilities to first responders.On Saint John in the US Virgin Islands, Intelsat supportedthe Global Disaster Immediate Response Team (DIRT) toprovide medical assistance, communications access, andsearch and rescue support. Global DIRT used IntelsatOneFlex services, antennas and kits donated by Intelsat tosupport communications at multiple sites, including a medicalclinic, and also coordinating multiple NGOs operating on theisland. Intelsat also contributed support to BT’s SatelliteEmergency Response Team, which set up in local communitycentres across Turks & Caicos, the British Virgin Islands andAnguilla to deploy broadband connectivity services.

In Puerto Rico, Intelsat worked with Kymeta to delivermobile communications to Liberty Global Puerto Rico insupport of Liberty’s Wi-Fi tour. Three vehicles, dubbed Liberty1, 2 and 3, travelled throughout Puerto Rico over next eightweeks as part of a caravan that delivered basic necessitiesand Internet connectivity to residents in 29 remote towns.Intelsat donated high-throughput bandwidth from the IntelsatEpicNG network and Intelsat’s managed services platform.Working with Kymeta’s roof-mounted, electronically steeredflat panel antennas installed on the vehicles, this combinationdelivers connectivity of up to 20Mbps forward and 1Mbpsreturn.

Intelsat also helped return communications to normallevels in Puerto Rico by working with AT&T and Verizon toprovide VSAT services to restore communications forenterprise customers. The Intelsat Ku-band broadbandservice helped banks and pharmacies open for customersagain, as well as providing communications support for thePuerto Rican government and FEMA.

Lastly, with disaster response underway, Intelsatcontributed services to a national televised fundraiser. Intelsat,along with Vista Worldlink, also supported the broadcast ofOne Voice: Somos Live! A Concert for Disaster Relief on Oct.14. The telethon and concert was held to bring awarenessabout the devastation of the storms and to raise funds tosupport Puerto Rico as well as impacted areas in the UnitedStates, Mexico and other areas of the Caribbean.

“Satellite solutions are unique in their ability to providenear-instant communications networks in areas wheredisasters have crippled terrestrial infrastructure,” said KurtRiegelman, Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing atIntelsat. “The reach and quick response of satellite, includingthe only geostationary HTS services covering the region,combined with the IntelsatOne Flex managed service, ishelping relief efforts in the immediate aftermath of the stormsand will also play an important role in helping the islandsand their residents return to a normal, day-to-day activities.”

Developing new solutionsIn the wake of a disaster, restoring power and communicationsplays a major factor in recovery effor ts. The fastercommunications can be restored, the more cohesive andtactical the rescue effort can be. Moving resources to wherethey’re needed most, and organising every step ofhumanitarian aid, rely heavily on effective communications.

Terrestrial options are often lost in the wake of a disaster,either due to damaged infrastructure, or else due tooverloading of networks in the aftermath. This is wheresatellite solutions really come into their own.

In April 2017, SES announced its latest solution for thedisaster recovery segment, a new Rapid Response Vehicle(RRV). The government satcom-enabled platform capable ofproviding high speed connectivity and global communicationsservices tailored to a variety of humanitarian, defence, civiland commercial applications. The RRV is equipped withwireless capabilities, including MIMO Multiple Input MultipleOutput (MIMO) software defined radio (SDR) technology,which provides an expansive mesh type, frequencyprogrammable, mobile communications platform to supportprivate 3G/4G LTE networks and government push to talk(PTT) frequencies.

According to SES, the RRV is the world’s first mobileplatform to offer collaborative communications technologiesover multiple orbits and frequencies, including Ku, Ka andmilitary X- and Ka-bands, across SES’s GEO fleet and fibre-like Ka-band delivered over its MEO constellation. The RRVcan easily adapt with connectivity customised for specificscenarios and applications such as high-definition videoconferencing, streaming, voice, GSM backhaul, high-speedbroadband, and large data file transfers in locations whereinfrastructure is non-existent or destroyed.

“The Rapid Response Vehicle can provide multi-band,multi-orbit connectivity to support virtually any situationimaginable, anywhere. This includes missions related toborder security, defence, peacekeeping, support forhumanitarian operations and response to natural disasters,as well as commercial applications,” said Nicole Robinson,Corporate Vice President of Government Market Solutionsat SES. “We are very proud to be at the forefront oftechnological advancements in rapid connectivity solutions,and are looking forward to continuing to deliver truly tailoredofferings to our customers.”

The RRV solution is ‘plug-and-play’ and boasts modularfeatures that can integrate and deploy a wide range ofcommunication technologies and devices aboard a mobilevehicle. One example is SES’s Tactical Persistent Surveillance(TPS) ISR solution, based on Lighter-Than-Air (LTA) inflatableaerostat technology hosting advanced electro-optical (EO)sensor and communications payload options, which isdesigned to provide situational awareness for disasterresponse initiatives, border and operations security, and eventmonitoring. The RRV can also quickly launch many otherplatforms, including the SATMED telemedicine service, whichhas been used at many locations to deliver critical medicalrelief. Other types of activities enabled by the RRV are‘respond and recover’ missions to support disaster reliefefforts, providing emergency wireless internet access forcommunities, reinforcing downed public infrastructure,providing IP backhaul for mobile networks and enabling long-term connectivity for agencies on the ground.

Enhancing existing infrastructureNot all disasters are massive, national events like thehurricanes, earthquakes and volcanoes we’ve seen all overthe news this year. Small-scale, more intimate disasters, arejust as important, particularly if you’re personally involved.

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As such, it’s vital that every country continues to prepare forthese as well, maintaining an advanced and efficient systemfor dealing with emergency situations.

Emergency services numbers have a long-standinghistory in most countries, although the systems were oftencomplicated in the beginning. In some countries, users hadto wait for an operator to answer and then request theappropriate service, while in others, the user had to locatethe precise dispatch centre in their phone book to contactthe police, for example, or the fire department.

The first direct-dial emergency phone number wasinitiated in London in 1937 using the number 999, which isstill in use today. When a user dialled, a buzzer with a redlight attached would signal the alarm at the operator centreto attract attention. Meanwhile, the USA’s version, 911, wasimplemented gradually across the nation, starting withAlabama in 1968.

Across the UK and the USA, countless lives have beensaved thanks to the implementation of direct-dial emergencyservices numbers. Systems have been upgraded over theyears to become more efficient, and more effective, althoughthere are still improvements to be made. According toComtech Telecommunications Corp., the current 911 systemhasn’t kept pace with the rapid pace of mobile innovationand adoption. The FCC estimates that improving the averageemergency response time to mobile callers by just 60 secondscould save over 10,000 lives annually.

In April 2017, Comtech Telecommunications Corp. andLaaSer Critical Communications announced a partnershipto deploy an enhanced solution to 911 emergency responsein the mobile age. The two entities plan to deliversupplemental location data and any rich media associatedwith an emergency call to the correct 911 dispatch centre.

LaaSer’s patented solution ingeniously solves the problemof wireless caller location determination by leveraging manyof the hardware components and software tools already builtinto modern connected devices, such as GPS, Bluetooth andWi-Fi. Operators at 911 call centres can see a caller’s location

just as quickly and accurately as calls placed from landlines.And just as importantly, LaaSer’s solution requires nooverhead in the form of new equipment, and is rapidlydeployable.

“This par tnership combines Comtech’s extensiveexperience delivering 911 calls to the nation’s first responderswith LaaSer’s innovative technology,” adds Fred Kornberg,President and Chief Executive Officer of ComtechTelecommunications Corp. “Together, we are committed toleveraging the latest technology to provide 911 dispatcherswith the information that can save more lives.”

Later, in October 2017, Comtech TelecommunicationsCorp. announced that its Enterprise Technologies Group hadreceived a US$1.8 mill ion order from a Canadiancommunications service provider for mobile positioningservices related to 911 emergency services.

“We are excited to extend our work with a Canadian mobileservice provider to deliver highly accurate and securelocation-based services to meet public safety needs,” saidKornberg. “This order validates our view that internationalcustomers have a need for 9-1-1 type solutions featuringreliable functionality and precision that help preserve life.”

Maritime disaster responseWhen we think of disaster events, what usually springs tomind are massive natural disasters, terrorist attacks, orsmaller 911 emergency events. Most of us overlook maritimeincidents altogether if they don’t involve tsunamis, completelyforgetting the vital search and rescue work undertaken aroundthe world, or the catastrophic damage that can be dealt outfrom large scale oil spills at sea.

June 2017 saw Spain’s coastal authority, SalvamentoMaritimo, choose the SPOT Trace solution from GlobalstarEurope Satellite Services Ltd. as an essential tool to helptrain its search and rescue teams, as well as oil spill disasterrecovery crews.

Using the equipment, Salvamento Maritimo attaches smallSPOT Trace units to human-like dummies that are placed inthe ocean to simulate emergency search and rescuesituations. By capturing and analysing the tracking data fromSPOT Trace as the dummy moves in the water, SalvamentoMarítimo can determine how far a person in water might driftdue to ocean waves, currents and winds using the Search &Rescue Model and Response System (SARMAP) application.By accurately predicting the movement of victims in theocean, Salvamento Maritimo can refine and enhance itsrescue procedures and life-saving operations.

SPOT Trace is also used during the training of Spain’s oilspill disaster recovery crews. SPOT Trace devices areattached to buoys and the tracking data gives researchersand crews in training a better understanding of how an oilspill spreads.

One of Salvamento Marítimo’s partner companies,Puertos del Estado, the Spanish agency responsible formaintenance of physical oceanographic parameters inSpanish waters, had suggested that satellite might be keyfor search and rescue, and oil spill recovery applications sometime ago. Salvamento Marítimo duly acquired several SPOTTrace units to assess how effective they would be in providingaccurate tracking data to understand how different objectsdrift in the ocean. The devices were initially tested in watersPhoto courtesy Grzegorz Czapski/Shutterstock

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off Spain’s northern Asturias region. The initial tests weresuccessful. Further tests and training exercises were sooncarried out in other parts of the country, and now SPOT ishelping in training operations throughout Spain’s coastalsafety organisations.

The data which SPOT transmits via satellite is pivotal toassessing the validity of theoretical ocean current modellingprogrammes. When assumptions and predictions of wavepatterns and drift are ratified by SPOT data, rescuers can bemore confident that their operations and processes areinformed and that personnel are well trained and prepared torespond in an emergency.

“The ability to understand how wind and currents behaveplays an important role in search and rescue training andcan help us improve the effectiveness of our recoveryprocesses,” said Christian de Lera Fernández, Head of e-learning and Research, Development and Integration Projectsat Salvamento Marítimo’s Training Centre. “Also, thanks tothe oil spill training exercises we have undertaken with SPOT,we have a better understanding of how quickly oil can spread

and we can more accurately assess how and where to deployour disaster recovery resources.”

Salvamento Marítimo is not the only organisation that hasrecognised the benefits of using SPOT for oceanographicresearch. In April 2017, Globalstar announced that Universityof Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and AtmosphericScience (UM) is deploying 550 SPOT Trace satellite trackersin its ongoing oil spill research. Studies undertaken withthe Consortium for Advanced Research on Transport ofHydrocarbon in the Environment (CARTHE) forecast thespread of oil dispersed into the environment in order to helpinform and guide response teams.

“With its ubiquitous satellite coverage and reliability, SPOTis playing an important role in helping international disasterrecovery organisations and research institutions to betterunderstand ocean behaviour. Globalstar technology isenabling researchers and rescuers to collect valuable oil spilldata in regions where alternative networks can’t reach andis contributing to life-saving training operations,” said GaryKing, SPOT Regional Sales Manage

SES Rapid Response Vehicle

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Q&A Gilat Satellite Networks

Gilat provides thousands ofenterprises, service providers andoperators with efficient and reliablesatellite-based connectivity solut-ions. Addressing the needs ofresidential broadband access,cellular backhaul, enterprisecommunications, in-flight conne-ctivity, rail and maritime mobility,defense and public safetyapplications, Gilat’s products andsolutions are in use in more than90 countries worldwide. As an end-to-end solution provider, Gilat offerscomplete integrated solutionswhich include satellite capacity,managed services, remote networkoperation, call center support, andfield operations. Working in closepartnership with leading satelliteoperators, major service providersand tier-1 MNOs, Gilat hasextensive expertise in providing arange of end-to-end turnkeysolutions.

Making waves inmobile and mobilityGilat Satellite Networks is a leading provider of satellitebroadband solutions, founded in 1987 in Israel. The companydelivers ground segment equipment and provides end-to-endservices across the globe, utilising high throughput satellites(HTS). Amy Saunders spoke with Doreet Oren, Director ofProduct Marketing and Corporate Communications at Gilat, tofind out more about the company’s current activities, marketpresence, and outlook in the years to come.

Doreet Oren, Director of ProductMarketing and CorporateCommunications

Photo courtesy of Gilat


Question: Can you provide anoverview of Gilat’s developmentthroughout the years, from itsfounding to where it stands today?Doreet Oren: This year, Gilat iscelebrating three decades of activity asa global company with an outstandingstory of innovation, growth and success.As a pioneer in satellite communi-cations, Gilat has led the industry withinnovative and cutting-edge technology,enabling affordable connectivity in themost remote regions of the globe. Gilatis committed to bridging the digitaldivide, bringing connectivity to all, insupport of a safer and better world.Gilat’s comprehensive solutions supportmultiple broadband applications with afull portfolio of products to address awide variety of market needs. Today, ourstrategic focus and leadership is on in-flight connectivity (IFC) and cellularbackhaul.

Back in the 1990s, Gilat led ruraltelephony over satellite communic-

ations. Today, we continue to be activeat the forefront of satcom technology,with innovative solutions enablingmobile and fixed broadband. Sevenyears ago, Gilat acquired two leadingtechnology companies to enhance ourportfolio, Raysat and Wavestream. Bothacquisitions contribute significantly toour IFC strategic direction. Thetechnology from Raysat, the leader inlow profile two-way communicationantenna solutions, serves as thefoundation of our IFC antennas. And,our subsidiary Wavestream, the leaderin high power Solid State PowerAmplifiers (SSPA), is the de-factoindustry standard for transceiverreliability and performance. Our widelydeployed Wavestream transceiversmeet the requirements of Boeing,Airbus and other major aircraftmanufacturers and integrators.

In recent years, we have expandedfrom being an equipment vendor tooffering complete integrated end-to-endsolutions, which include completenetwork installation, operation andmaintenance, as well as managedservices. Gilat has extended its offeringto additional geographies includingNor th America and Japan and isproviding solutions in the metro-edge,as well as in rural regions. Gilat hasextensive expertise in providing a rangeof turnkey solutions best meeting ourpartners’ business needs, while meetingthe most str ingent service levelrequirements.

Leveraging our strong partnershipswith the world’s leading satell iteoperators, we are taking advantage ofthe collaboration occurring throughout

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Gilat Satellite Networks facilities

the satellite ecosystem. We combineinnovative business models withoptimized platforms to deliver field-proven solutions. Today, we both designand manufacture cutting-edge groundsegment equipment, and delivercomprehensive end-to-end solutions,powered by our innovative technology.

Question: In May 2017, Gilat’s inflightconnectivity solution demonstratedunprecedented throughput of morethan 100Mbps in Gogo’s live airborneevent. What can you tell us about thisproject?Doreet Oren: Last May, Gogo hosted alarge, high visibility industry event ontheir Boeing 737 test plane, the ‘JimmyRay.’ After the event, analysts and mediaapplauded Gogo’s 2Ku IFC systempowered by Gilat’s onboard VSATmodem.

In the test flight, Gilat’s onboardmodem demonstrated over 100Mbpsperformance, which was acknowledgedas the highest throughput ever achievedonboard a commercial aircraft, as wellas demonstrating continuous servicewith excellent user experience. Inaddition, this test flight also successfullydemonstrated interoperability capab-ilities of Gilat’s aero modem with theaircraft’s communication (IFEC) avionicsystem.

In August, Gilat’s airborne modemwent into commercial operation,significantly upgrading Gogo’s 2Ku IFCservice. The major improvement in end-user throughput on Gogo’s commercialflights was highlighted in Gogo’s secondquarter earnings call, which stated thatthe modem delivers 16 times morethroughput than their previous solution,and that: “The network features fasterand more sophisticated processing thatenables much shorter hand-offs fromone satell ite to the next, fur therimproving our service availability.”

In November, the project reachedanother milestone as over 150 airplanesare now flying with Gilat’s airbornemodem. Gogo’s installed basecontinues to ramp up quickly, and isexpected to reach approximately 2000aircraft.

Gilat is engaged with Gogo indeploying one of the largest IFC satellitenetworks, spanning multiple locationsaround the globe with support for thehighest number of satellites. Leveragingour global reach, local experts and

service provider par tners, Gilat isinstalling its sophisticated groundsegment VSAT network in Nor thAmerica, LATAM, Europe, Asia andAustralia to build out this network.

Question: What can you tell us aboutGilat’s involvement in the IFCantenna market?Doreet Oren: In addition to the airborneIFC modem, we are also very involvedin the IFC antenna market. Gilat hasbeen a long-time leader in on-the-moveantennas for many years and is veryfamiliar with the challenges of trackingantennas. To meet the requirement forhigh-throughput connectivity aboardcommercial airplanes, Gilat offersinnovative IFC terminals.

Satellite coverage is a key challengefor IFC and other on-the-moveapplications. As passengers expectoutstanding IFC service in bothdomestic and transcontinental flights,airlines must ensure uninterruptedconnectivity along air routes that spangeographies that are not served by asingle satellite frequency band.

Gilat has risen to this challenge withour dual-band Ku/Ka antenna, whichcan operate in either band during theflight. The transparent switchingbetween frequency bands during flightwithout requiring any disassembly orcomponent replacement provides theflexibil ity to dynamically choosebetween different satellite technologiesbased on weather, network load or geo-location.

In addition, we are currently well intothe development of a next generationairborne antenna consisting ofelectronically steered array/phased-array antenna (ESA/PAA) with nomoving parts. A major advantage of thisdesign is meeting the airlines’ size andweight requirements and supporting the

IFC capabilities without affecting aircraftperformance or manoeuvrability. Sincethere are no protruding parts, thisinnovative technology also minimizesaerodynamic drag, while reducing fuelconsumption and CO2 emissions.

In parallel to our own R&D effort,Airbus selected Gilat and a number ofpar tners to develop an ESA/PAAantenna based on an array of flat panelsthat are embedded into the wingstructure of the airframe. The project isbeing funded by the Clean Sky 2research program, aimed at developingtechnologies that enable more efficientand greener air transport.

We see the next generation ESA/PAA direction as being particularlyrelevant in light of the emergence ofLEO and MEO constellations. The fastelectronically steerable beamcapabilit ies of ESA/PAA betteraccommodate the need for intensiveand robust multi-beams and satellitetracking that are required in the lowerand medium orbit constellations.

Question: IFC is hot right now forsatellite communication; how doesGilat differentiate itself?Doreet Oren: Gilat is unique in its abilityto offer IFC service providers a fullproduct portfolio for in-flight Internetconnectivity for commercial airlines. Theoffering includes Gilat’s aero satellitetracking antenna, the power amplifiertransceiver, and the modem manager(MODMAN). We offer both a completeIFC terminal as well as the individualcomponents.

Our architecture permits an opendesign enabling our antennas andmodems to work with equipment fromdifferent vendors. The antenna isagnostic to the underlying VSAT/modemtechnology and allows for easyintegration with any baseband, and

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alternatively, the airborne modem easilyintegrates with any antenna. Thisinteroperability enables IFC providersto mix-and-match according to theirspecific needs, to build their own bestof breed solution, and to avoid vendorlock-in.

In this way, IFC providers canmanage their services independent ofthe satellite operator and equipmentvendors, and choose the best solutionas needed based on performance andcost. Gilat’s flexible technology andsatellite-agnostic architecture enablesservice providers to optimize satellitebandwidth costs.

In addition, Gilat’s VSAT solution isbased on X-Architecture, a distributedcloud based design easily scalable tolarge networks. The architecture hasbeen flexibly designed allowing for highdensity, thus saving rack space andpower.

Gilat’s solution is based on a singleplatform that supports both fixed andmobility applications. Dynamic resourceallocation among applications such asIFC, broadband, enterprise, andcellular-backhauling reduces satellitecapacity OPEX by offering efficientbandwidth management. Mobilityapplications can benefit from datasharing while transitioning betweencoverage regions.

Operational benefits are providedvia Gilat’s leading TotalNMS, whichincludes a comprehensive set ofmapping tools delivering mobilityservices to a configurable geographicservice area, with automatic beamswitching. Global bandwidthmanagement is supported by Gilat’sinnovative cloud quality of service(QoS), enabling service providers toprovision and manage bandwidthacross multiple teleports, satellites anduser beams from a central NMS.

Question: We’re hearing a lot aboutcellular backhaul right now – how isGilat meeting market demands in thefield? What is your competitiveadvantage?Doreet Oren: Gilat has had tremendoussuccess in the area of satell itebackhauling for LTE cellular networks,evidenced by project wins with Tier-1Mobile Network Operators (MNOs)worldwide, such as Sprint and T-Mobilein the United States, Globe in thePhilippines, Optus in Australia, EE in the

UK, SoftBank in Japan, and others. Infact, Gilat is leading this market withboth innovative technology as well asexpertise in integrating into the MNO’score networks.

When it comes to satellite backhaul,I would like to emphasize the need toprovide a true LTE user experience. Thistask is particularly challenging in LTEnetworks due to the high throughputrequired. This requires the VSATplatform to be capable of overcomingthe inherent satellite delay. To this end,Gilat developed a patented accelerationtechnology with SoftBank that mitigatesthe latency effects, thus enablingdelivery of a maximum user experienceto end-users over satellite. This patentenables true LTE speed, by acceleratingtraffic inside the LTE GTP tunnel. Theimplementation of the acceleration,which is embedded in Gilat’s CapricornVSAT, enables achieving 150Mbps ofTCP traffic to a single handheld device.

We see significant advantage inhaving the acceleration integrated intothe VSAT. Having a single card for boththe VSAT functionality and theacceleration obviously reduces costs,as well as providing accountability witha single point of contact for all softwareand hardware issues. In addition,complexity is reduced by using a singleNMS, while the QoS is maintained withend-to-end bandwidth management. Ontop of this, an integrated solutionenables maximum traffic efficiencyduring any link condition by eliminatingsync delay between cards, which iscritical to avoid packet loss during fadeconditions.

Question: Small cells appear to begreat a solution in rural areas. Whatis Gilat’s approach?Doreet Oren: In this context, Gilat seesa major advantage in an integratedsmall cell over satellite solution. Thisapproach, in a sense, redefines thebusiness case for remote cellularconnectivity. Here we are working witha technology partner to provide a fulloptimized solution that includes theSoftware Defined Radio (SDR) smallcell and our Capricorn VSAT. Gilat’sCellEdge SDR solution worksconcurrently in 3G and 4G networks,allowing flexibility and an easy migrationpath.

The integration and optimization ofthe small cell with our cellular backhaul

solution, provides an enhanced userexperience with high throughput andreduced bandwidth costs. CellEdgedelivers the same speed and quality asterrestrial backhaul solutions. Thesolution uses the open standardinterface luh (for 3G) and S1 (for LTE),enabling satell ite bandwidthoptimization for high efficiency and datarates.

At the same time, CellEdge helpsoperators to reduce capital expenditure(CAPEX) through low-cost equipmentand low installation costs, whilesubstantially lessening operationalcosts (OPEX) by enabling the use ofinexpensive solar power. The integratedsolution enables operators to overcomehigh rollout costs, lack of terrestrialbackhaul and power infrastructure, lowconsumer uptake and low ARPU. Gilatoffers a full turnkey solution includingthe power solution, which is typicallysolar, as well as the tower, civil worksand fence. Optus has successfullyimplemented this integrated solution asan extension to their network to SouthAustralia and the Northern territory.Mobile coverage is now provided tolocal residents and travellers innumerous previously unserved areas inthe Australian outback.

Gilat’s CellEdge solution has givenOptus a highly efficient way to introducemobile and broadband services inchallenging and potentially expensivelocations. Optus can use Gilat’s VSATtechnology and its own existing satellitenetwork for backhaul rather than havingto set up microwave or fibreconnections. Furthermore, the compactsmall cell enables quick and easydeployment on almost any existingstructure, as opposed to building a largeand costly mobile base station.

Question: It appears you’ve had anoutstanding year in 2017. What canwe expect from Gilat in 2018?Doreet Oren: Thank you, yes indeed.Gilat is committed to continuousinnovation in our strategic areas ofcellular satellite backhauling and IFC aswe deliver cutting-edge solutions for thebenefit for our partners. We intend tocontinue to focus on larger long-termdeals and to address and prepare fornew and emerging trends in themarketplace. We are hard at work tomake sure that next year is evenstronger.

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Reducing Rain Fade

Photo courtesy of L3 Narda-MITEQ

Using Uplink Power Controllers toreduce rain fade effects ontransmitted signalsNo matter how far we advance, rain fade remains a very real problem faced by many in thesatellite industry today. Signal attenuation caused by scattering or adsorption of electromagneticwaves by raindrops or snow is only amplified when the operating frequency increases. Here,Mitch Haft, Director of Sales at L3 Narda-MITEQ, outlines methods of mitigating atmosphericconditions.

Earth station designers are extremely sensitive to theeffects of rain fade on the transmitted signal performance.Adverse weather conditions such as rain or snow can causesignal attenuation due to scattering or adsorption ofelectromagnetic wave by the raindrops. This effect becomesworse as the operating frequency is turned higher. With thelatest talk about Q and V-band stations, the attenuation effectwould be more significant at these frequencies.

Modern Earth station architecture includes managementof the uplink signal level with control and monitoring capability.The uplink signal integrity is usually determined by monitoringthe downlink signal level from a beacon receiver. The uplinkand downlink are subjected to the same atmosphericconditions, and the beacon signal level can provide anindication of the atmospherics conditions present. In bestcases, under clear sky conditions, there will be minimum

atmospheric attenuation of the uplink and downlink signals.By monitoring the beacon signal level relative to its clear skylevel, the losses due to atmospheric conditions can bedetermined. A level correction can then be computed andapplied to the transmitted signal.

The Uplink Power Control (UPC) includes variableattenuator channels that are integrated into the RF terminaluplink chain to control the transmit level. Configured correctly,the attenuators adjust the transmitted signal level to maintaina constant level at the satellite regardless of atmosphericconditions. Under clear sky conditions, the UPC is configuredto the reference level. When atmospheric attenuationincreases due to rain fade, the UPC will adjust the transmitlevel to compensate for the loss in signal. Consequently, thetransmitted signal level reaching the satellite will be constantregardless of the atmospheric conditions.

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Reducing Rain Fade

Typical UPCs will have more than one attenuation channeland can be remotely controllable via RS485, RS422, and/orEthernet. The unit should also include a fail-safe path in caseof system errors or unit malfunctions.

The brains of the UPC will do all the calculations todetermine the required attenuation levels based on the clearsky condition. The UPC should include a calibration stepduring the initial setup to correlate the beacon input voltageto the downlink signal strength. The voltage input at clearsky will represent the downlink signal strength with minimumatmospheric attenuation. When this state prevails, the signalstrength will be repor ted as 0dB. When there is anatmospheric event (rain, snow, etc.), the downlink signalstrength will change and be reported differently. The UPCshould include several different methods of calculating theseconditions including open-loop, closed-loop, comparison, anddual-track algorithms.

Correction algorithmsThe open-loop algorithm is a technique of correction for themeasured downlink signal not subject to the uplink powercorrections. A beacon signal is monitored, and the powercorrection is based on changes in the downlink signal strengthand the relationship between the uplink and downlinkfrequency bands.

The closed-loop algorithm is a closed-loop method ofcorrection. A carrier is transmitted at an uplink and loopedback from the satellite to a downlink receiver at the sameEarth station. The signal measured at the downlink isdegraded twice, once on the uplink and again on the downlink.The uplink correction is therefore based on the downlinksignal strength and the uplink and downlink frequencies.

The comparison algorithm is superior to the otheralgorithms and can be used when both a beacon signal anda looped-back carrier is monitored. Because the beacon issubjected only to the downlink effects while the looped-backcarrier is subjected to both the uplink and the downlink, thedifference in downlink signal strengths can be attributed tothe uplink. Uplink power corrections are based on thisdifference.

With the dual-track algorithm, both beacon inputs mustbe active. The downlink signal strength reported by bothreceivers must be within 0.5dB range. If this is achieved,correction is applied using the open-loop algorithm basedon the average downlink signal strength of both receivers.Otherwise, the UPC will suspend any automatic correctionadjustment.

Finally, the diversity beacon algorithm can be used whenthere are two receivers available at a single site. With thisalgorithm, the UPC will select the receiver with the highestreported signal strength as the primary receiver. The signalstrength reported by the other receiver must exceed the signal

strength reported by the primary receiver by at least 0.5dBin order to switch that system to primary mode.

Site diversityAnother means of migrating the effects of atmosphericconditions on the uplink signals is with site diversity switching.Two redundant uplink systems, in separate geographiclocations, are configured such that uplink signals will only betransmitted from the site experiencing the best weatherconditions. All relevant content to be uplinked must bedistributed and present at both sites simultaneously. AnEthernet link connecting the UPCs at the two sites cancommunicate key parameters to determine which of the twosystems should transmit. This configuration can also providebackup in the event of a hardware failure.

In addition to site diversity, the UPC should include aredundant power supply to ensure continuous operation inthe event that a power supply is faulty. The unit should alsoinclude the capability to provide two beacon inputs forredundancy purposes. The beacon diversity should includean algorithm when there are two beacon signals at one site.

The L3 Narda-MITEQ Uplink Power Control (UPC2) Modelis the second-generation unit to provide automated signalmonitoring and control utilizing the beacon signal strengthand up to 10 internal attenuation channels for both IF and L-Band signals. The UPC2 can be used in standalone mode orin a site diversity configuration. Ethernet and RS-485/RS-422 interfaces are provided to monitor and control the unit.With built-in redundant power supplies, the unit always remainfunctional.L3 Narda-MITEQ UPC2 Model

Photo courtesy of L3 Narda-MITEQ

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Technology Innovation

Photo courtesy of Integrasys

The need for innovation in satelliteIt’s an exciting time to be in the satellite industry with the level of innovation present right now.From high throughput satellites (HTS) to massive low Earth orbit (LEO) constellations and flatpanel antennas, there’s so much going on. But of course, as Alvaro Sanchez, Sales & MarketingDirector at Integrasys explains, it’s vital that innovation takes place throughout the entire chain,and not just at the top, to ensure we get as much as we can from these new technologies.

The satellite industry is certainly going through a periodof immense innovation right now. High throughput satellite(HTS), whilst talked about for many years, is finally makingbig headway, and we are seeing more and more flat panelsemerging onto the market that eventually will require to beused as smartphones, plug and play. The other greatinnovation on the horizon is of course the new satelliteconstellations for LEO and MEO that only will be able tosucceed if flat panel antennas do.

All this innovation makes it even more important foreveryone to innovate, which is why Integrasys pushes theboundaries of innovation in our strengths: Access to thesatellite, SLA maintenance and receiving the most innovativeaward once again this year.

Innovation needs innovationInnovation in this industry is positively accelerating; thesatellite industry is much more exciting than ever before. Thechallenge is when things are developing so fast, that generallycomes with a whole load of challenges and it is often all tooeasy for errors to happen. Therefore, whilst thesedevelopments in satellite constellations and technology aregreat, there is now even more need than ever for innovationright through the chain, so that these can be properlysupported.

Take for example, HTS, which is suddenly giving morepeople access to much needed services than ever before,

whether that is as an alternative to other connections, orconnecting remote areas, or for comms-on-the-move. Whilstsatellite connections were always possible, HTS makes itaffordable, quick, and easy. Because of this, HTS has led toa veritable explosion in service provision, but that means anumber of things:

1. More services to a lower priceWe are faced with lower cost and a larger number ofconnections. As with anything, if we fill up that satellitecapacity with lots of services and applications, that can havean implication for all the other services, jostling for spaceand bandwidth. Also, the more services, the more chancesome of them will make a mistake and, for example, point tothe wrong polarization or satellite. This of course causes awhole host of problems, including satellite interference, thatcan affect both the interferer and the unwilling ‘interferee.’This effect will drive in a much lower SLA.

Satellite users, especially using HTS, need to ensure theirpartners are pointing to the correct satellite, beam and pol.In HTS, beam hopping also becomes an important tool,enabling users to commission in multiple beams and hopfrom beam-to-beam, depending on traffic demand in eachbeam. This need was the impetus behind our latest versionof Satmotion, Satmotion HTS. As well as having the sameauto-commissioning features of Satmotion Pocket, it alsosupports multiple beams, allowing beam balancing and

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Technology Innovation

Photo courtesy of Integrasys

hopping and traffic sharing to resolve the problem of too manyusers within a particular beam.

2. There are more services than ever in hard-to-reachareasHTS makes it easy to connect remote areas, but that of coursemeans antennas in truly remote areas, often devoid of anyother means of communication. In this type of area, when anerror occurs, it often involves a great deal of time and expenseto send someone out to fix it. It is therefore important to firstlyget pointing right in the first place, using technology such asour Satmotion Pocket. Being able to remotely monitor thosesites after they have been installed with periodic checks isalso crucial.

Yahsat benefited from this capability with its YahClickservice, which offers broadband satellite solutions for bothhome and business customers with iDirect VNO. Using theiDirect Remote Commissioning Solution, which is based onIntegrasys’ Satmotion product, it is able to streamline theoverall process of getting remotes into the network. It workswith a Smartphone app and enables the installer or endcustomer to deploy and commission the remote swiftly andaccurately. The operator has already noticed a difference inthe performance of its entire network and a reduction in coststhanks to getting it right at the first installation.

3. Comms-on-the-move continues to be a challengeComms-on-the-move will arguably always be a challengingarea, faced with moving terminals, and often harshenvironments. Again, this comes down to ensuring users havethe tools at their disposal to ensure both accurate installationand an easy overview of ongoing operation. One clearexample for multiple years has been Marlink, a world leaderin maritime service provision, which, using our technology,has been able to grow its business twice as fast as it otherwisecould, thanks to significant cost savings on the deploymentand maintenance of its network.

In the connected car space, users will soon be able todownload software, so that the car can self-diagnose, andthey don’t have to visit the garage. However, if these sameconsumers had to visit the garage for an antennarecommissioning, this would reflect badly on the satelliteindustry. We are working on intelligent tools to avoid this.

All of these factors mean we need lots more accuracyand cost reduction to remain relevant in the fast-movingmarket as is satellite today.

New Constellations are comingThere are already 640 LEO satellites in orbit. However, thereare some 9,000 LEO satellites planned to launch in the nextfive years. That is an absolutely huge increase, and doesn’teven begin to count the planned MEO constellations. Theselaunches are being met by a great deal of trepidation andscepticism, with many in the industry nervous of the impact,not only on other LEO and MEO satellites, but on the potentialcloaking effect for GEO satellites.

That said, these new constellations are clearly an amazingfeat of engineering and innovation and mark some excitingtimes for our industry. As consumers are increasingly lookingto stay connected everywhere, and with the rise of Internetof Things (IoT), satellite has a part to play in fulfilling that

demand. As I said in my panel at Satellite InnovationSymposium, IoT will play a big role in satellite, nevertheless,as sensors traffic is so minimal, there will be many sensorsfeeding a single satellite link. Therefore, IoT should notgenerate a vast number of satellite links.

Naturally, no-one is more adamant that they must performwell than the LEO and MEO providers themselves. As such,they are investing a great deal of time, resources, and moneyin putting the technology in place to ensure service quality.With these constellations, being able to constantly monitorthe entire fleet at all times will therefore be more importantthan with any other part of the satellite environment.

At Integrasys, we have been working on solutions for theLEO and MEO operators, which have dynamic thresholdsfor effectively monitoring their carriers and services 24/7 inthese new types of constellations. Additionally, we can alsouse our very cost effective Controlsat HTS topology wherewe centralize the operation in the main NOC and have smalland cheap systems spread around the user beams. Or inthis new constellation case, around hundreds of smallgateways. We have also been working on a solution formaintaining the remotes when they change beams andsatellites, ensuring that continual accuracy and SLAscompliance.

InnovatingIt is clear that innovation needs to happen right through thechain to make certain that new developments can be fullymaximised. At Integrasys, we have already launched anumber of innovative solutions that are helping operators andusers become more efficient and error-free. As the industrycontinues to innovate, so too do solutions providers such asus need to continue to innovate to suppor t thosedevelopments as effectively as possible and we are very gladthat the industry recognized our work awarding us with threeinnovation awards in the last four years.

We truly believe in our slogan: We are building successfrom innovation.

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Distributed Denial of Service Attacks

Photo courtesy Markus Spiske

The most common DDoS threats forsatellite service providers and howto thwart themDenial of Service (DoS) and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks are a grave concern intoday’s world as an increasing number of devices, critical to infrastructure, come online. Thereare several different types that can cripple a network, and as such, it is vital to stay on top of thethreats. Maya Canetti, Director of Product at Allot Communications, outlines the threats faced bysatellite operators today, and how they might be prevented

Denial of Service (DoS) andDistributed Denial of Service (DDoS)attacks are a grave concern in today’sworld as an increasing number ofdevices, critical to infrastructure, comeonline. There are several different typesthat can cripple a network, and as such,it is vital to stay on top of the threats.Maya Canetti, Director of Product atAllot Communications, outlines thethreats faced by satellite operatorstoday, and how they might be prevented.

Denial of Service (DoS) andDistributed Denial of Service (DDoS)

attacks have been a cause for concernfor communication service providers(CSPs) since early 1970. In terms ofdamage to network infrastructure,service continuity and businessreputation, DoS/DDoS attacks haveracked up some of the most successfulcyberattacks to date.

Histor ically, satell ite serviceproviders assigned low risk to beingsubjected to a DDoS attack. Today,however, technology advances havemade it easier to launch flooding attacksand to increase the scope of damage.

Service providers can no longer affordto take a passive approach thatassume, “If it hasn’t happened to mynetwork, it probably won’t. And if it does,I’ll handle it then.”

One of the main factors drivingservice providers to adopt a DDoSProtection strategy is the Quality ofExperience (QoE) that consumersexpect. Sluggish response time is notappreciated, and downtime is nottolerated. To assure service availabilityand performance, CSPs must takemeasures to protect against DDoS

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Distributed Denial of Service Attacks

Maya Canetti, Director of Product atAllot Communications

attacks that are designed to overwhelmnetwork resources and deny service tolegitimate users.

But how much do satellite serviceproviders know about the threat as itcurrently stands? Below we outline themost common attacks and theirimplications for CSP network assetsand the business.

Three common types of DDoSattacksThere is unfortunately more than onetype of DDoS attack which satelliteservice providers need to be aware of.TOS Floods, SYN Floods and PINGfloods all vary in their approach, andit’s important to know the difference:

TOS (Type of Service) FloodIn a TOS (Type of Service) Flood,attackers forge the ‘TOS’ field of the IPpacket header, which is used for ExplicitCongestion Notification (ECN) andDifferentiated Services (DiffServ) flags.There are two known types of TOSattack scenarios. In the first, the attackerspoofs the ECN flag, which reduces thethroughput of individual connectionsthereby causing a server to appear outof service or non-responsive. In thesecond, the attacker utilises the DiffServclass flags in the TOS field to increasethe priority of attack traffic overlegitimate traffic in order to intensify theimpact of the DDoS attack.

CSPs will see their services slowdown or become non-responsive dueto reduced connection throughputcaused by the TOS forging. Applicationslike VoIP, that require fast response time,will suffer dropped calls and bad QoEdue to attack traffic receiving higher

DiffServ priority than legitimate VoIPtraffic.

IoT botnet attackIoT botnets are created as hackersinfect numerous Internet-connected(IoT) devices and recruit them to launchlarge-scale DDoS attacks that havebeen measured in Terabits per sec.These attacks are difficult to detect andmitigate because they use hit-and-runtactics that originate from numerous IoTvectors distr ibuted across manylocations – often worldwide.

IoT botnets utilise malware sourcecode that was leaked in early 2015 andhas been parlayed into many variants.The most infamous of these is called‘Mirai.’ In a Mirai botnet attack, theattacker scans for vulnerable IoTdevices such as digital surveillancecameras, modems and DVR players(with open L4 ports), and employs asequence of known passwords to gainaccess. Once inside, the attackerdownloads the malicious code, whichenables remote control of the deviceand the ability to recruit it for attacks.

Ping FloodIn a Ping Flood, the attacker sendsspoofed ICMP echo requests (pings)packets at a high rate from randomsource IP ranges or using the victim’sIP address. Most devices on a networkwill, by default, respond to the ping bysending a reply to the source IPaddress. If numerous endpoints on thenetwork receive and respond to thesepings, the victim IP addresses will beflooded with traffic and their devices/computers/servers will becomeunusable. Once the pinging succeedsin flooding its target, customer responsetime will become sluggish or worse,customers will experience a blackout.

There’s a common misconceptionthat the DDoS threat only originatesfrom outside the network. However,once a third party gains access, there’sno stopping them using your networkto launch an attack. It’s important thatany protection deployed offers thisvisibility and can mitigate an attack fromboth inbound and outbound threats.

When a DDoS attack strikes, theclock starts ticking on yourcredibilityMassive DDoS attacks can causeimmediate service interruption. Effective

protection must be able to detect theattack and act fast enough to thwart it,so there is little or no impact on thenetwork and/or its hosted targets. Fastdetection and mitigation is even moreimportant when dealing with hit-and-run DDoS attacks that are designed todo maximum damage in just a fewminutes and then disappear. Real-timethreat detection can detect andmitigates DDoS attacks inline, on thespot, and within seconds, leaving theCSP network and hosted targetsunharmed.

It’s not uncommon for attacks toexceed 100Gbps and to strike with noadvanced warning, to inflict maximumdamage. To protect service networksagainst today’s and tomorrow’s attacks,service providers need a solution thatcan scale to match the ever- increasingvolume and innovation of these attacks– which often come in even at Terabitsper second. Ideally, satellite serviceproviders should look for a solutionwhich also offers granular policymanagement to allow them toaccurately block attack traffic and avoidfalse positives, and to trigger trafficshaping to assure user Quality ofExperience (QoE).

Finally, visibility is critical to effectiveDDoS Protection. Service providersneed essential threat intelligence statsthat facilitate root cause investigationto find out how big the attack is; whattype of attack it is; who is the attackerand what are the intended targets.These questions can only be answeredwith analysis of network usage statisticstogether with threat intelligence toobtain a clear assessment of DDoSattack impact on the service provider’sbusiness.

Photo courtesy Markus Spiske

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Q&A HISPASAT

HISPASAT is the Spanish satellitecommunications operator, leader inthe distr ibution of content inSpanish and Portuguese.

With more than 25 years ofexperience, the HISPASAT Groupmaintains an important presenceon the Iberian Peninsula and inLatin America, where it is now thefourth satellite operator. HISPASAThas solidly positioned itself in highgrowth markets and has a stablestrategic client base.

HISPASAT distributes more than1,250 television and radio channelsthrough its powerful fleet ofsatellites and is a key driver for theSpanish aerospace industry.

Expanding capacity inkey regionsSpanish satellite operator HISPASAT has more than 25 years ofexperience in the industry, and has solidly positioned itself inhigh growth markets and gained a stable and strategic clientbase. The company distributes more than 1,250 TV and radiochannels through its extensive fleet of traditional and highthroughout satellites. Amy Saunders met with Jorge Rodriguez,Marketing Manager at HISPASAT, to discuss the latest trends inthe broadcast market and the company’s growing presence inthe satellite sector.

Jorge Rodriguez, MarketingManager at HISPASAT

2017 is a very important year for us because we have launched two newsatellites - HISPASAT 36W-1 and Amazonas 5

Q&A HISPASAT

Question: Can you provide anoverview of HISPASAT’s keyachievements this year?Jorge Rodriguez: 2017 is a veryimportant year for us because we havelaunched two new satellites - HISPASAT36W-1 and Amazonas 5 - that togetherwith HISPASAT 30W-6, which will be inorbit in the following months, willcomplete the significant milestone tolaunch three satellites in one year.

It’s a substantial change for us interms of growth. Our capacity will beexpanded a lot, especially in our keyregions; EMEA and the Americas. Interms of market segments, Amazonas5 and HISPASAT 30W-6 include Ka-band high throughput capacity, whichwill help us to grow in the broadband

and connectivity markets. Amazonas 5,for example, will provide 25Gbps of HTSconnectivity in Latin America,consolidating our leadership in theregion in HTS.

We are also incorporating more Kuand C-band capacity, especially in theAmericas, where we have major videodistribution and DTH neighbourhoodsin both 30 degrees W and 61 degreesW orbital positions. With these newsatellites, we are reinforcing our role invideo delivery in the region, boostingour customers’ platforms and services.

Question: What can you tell us aboutHISPASAT’s key markets, and howare they evolving?Jorge Rodriguez: In terms ofgeographies, we are seeing LatinAmerica as a key market for us in termsof growth. Additionally, we are alsoadding new capabilities to our coveragein Europe, North of Africa and NorthAmerica to support our key partnersand customers in these regions.

Video delivery, includingdistr ibution, broadcasting, andcontribution, is key to our business, sowe are supporting this ver tical byincreasing our capacity andperformances, serving high level ofquality requirements for our mediacustomers and boosting innovation inareas such as 4K TV and secondscreen.

Moreover, we see very promisingprospects for the connectivity market.The fixed broadband market will havea CAGR growth rate of 18.3 percentdur ing 2016-2026. Consumerbroadband and backhauling, where

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Q&A HISPASAT

Amazonas 5

HISPASAT has a strong position, areleading the growth in this market. Weare sure that satellite will play a role toconnect the unconnected that will drivethe growth of our sector in the comingyears.

HISPASAT is also the leader in themobility sector for railway. We have aproven track record of projects inEurope. Currently, we are exporting oursolutions to other markets incollaboration with key players in thevalue chain. Railway is relevant, butother market segments like maritimeand aero are impacting positively on ourrevenues.

Question: The broadcasting marketis in a major state of change as 4Kand HDR become more common-place throughout the industry. Whatis your assessment of these trends?Jorge Rodriguez: HISPASAT has along history with 4K. Our firstdemonstration was in 2013, four yearsago. Since then, we have performedmany demonstrations and pilots, andalso have our own 4K channel:HISPASAT 4K TV. After some years oftechnology consolidation, it is now timefor commercial launch.

Sales of 4K TVs are growing. Somekey players in the market are investingin 4K and we expect that, in the comingyears, the number of 4K channelsavailable will grow significantly. Rightnow, there are close to 100 UHDavailable, and it is expected that by 2025there will be more than 800 services.

We are working to help ourcustomers launch their 4K projects. Forexample, during IBC 2017, HISPASATannounced a new project with MediaBroadcast Satellite for a 4K distributionplatform across Europe, North Africa,and the Middle East. With this newplatform, we will help service providersto launch their 4K services mitigatingthe main barr iers they have fordistribution.

In terms of technology innovation,HDR is key for 4K development; it is agreat technology that will help all ultra-high definition systems to increasequality and prove a truly immersiveexperience.

There are many formats on themarket right now, some with dynamicmetadata, and some with staticmetadata, so it is important that thisfragmentation is solved soon. We need

to have a clear solution for operatorsas soon as possible.

Question: OTT is another major trendaffecting the broadcast sector rightnow – How do you think this trend isgoing to develop?Jorge Rodriguez: We think that thefuture is hybrid. The combination of OTTwith linear TV is key to balance userneeds and network efficiency. Thefigures are supporting this idea; Netflixusers, for example, watch 1.5 hours perday of Netflix content, but they’re stillwatching 2.5 hours of linear TV per dayas well (this data is taken from the USA).So, while we’re seeing some changesin patterns from the consumerperspective, these two technologies arelinked, creating a very good experiencefor end users.

Question: What can you tell us aboutHISPASAT’s plans for futuresatellites?Jorge Rodriguez: As you know, thesatellite sector is changing, and thereare a lot of options available right now.Many operators, as HISPASAT is, arelaunching HTS and looking for solutionsfor very high throughput satellites

(VHTS), which will provide close to1Tbps. Additionally, new entrants areannouncing new LEO constellationsthat will arise in the coming years.

At HISPASAT, we are committed toproviding affordable and seamlessconnectivity in our footprints, so we willalways look for the best solution for ourcustomers and partners. It is too soonto say what technology will win thebattle for efficiency and performance;what is sure is that HISPASAT will keepinnovating and working with the industryto improve current solutions. Our futuresatellites for sure will incorporateadvanced communications systems tokeep being competitive and a leader inour market segments.

Question: What do you expectHISPASAT to achieve in 2018?Jorge Rodriguez: From thecommercial and operational per-spectives, our focus will be theoperation and commercialization of ourthree new satellites. Getting those newpayloads and the ground segmentoperational is key, especially the Ka-band HTS capacity. So, 2018 will be achallenging year for us, full of newprojects and opportunities.

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STN & PBT EU: Case Study

Jurij Blazin, Technical Director of STN-EQ Center STN

STN’s collaboration with PBT EUenhances their specialist technicalinfrastructureThe world of broadcast is changing; we’re moving away from traditional linear TV models to amore flexible OTT and catch-up based consumer culture. It was recently reported that moreconsumers are now watching OTT content on devices than TVs, marking the next evolution inconsumer habits. Broadcast solutions have changed and evolved as necessity dictates. Here,Carole Cox, Communications Director at Radiance Communications outlines how STN hascollaborated with PBT EU to deliver an unsurpassed Channel-in-a-Box service for customers.

Consumer demand to view content on any device andanywhere has dramatically transformed the way broadcastersand telecommunications companies operate and finance theirinfrastructures to keep up with market dynamics. The turnkeybroadcast production solution also referred to as ‘Channel ina Box’ emerged to help companies run a more a turnkeybroadcast production system that combines master controland playout functions into a single, compact unit. By reducingthe number of complex, high-maintenance systems in aproduction workflow, a Channel-in-a-Box solution offers greatpotential for helping broadcasters run a more agile operation.These playout server systems continue to improve andembrace the latest that technology has to offer.

European systems integrator PlayBox Technology EU

(PBT EU) launched their line of EXEcutor broadcast serversat IBC 2016 to meet customer demand for more performancefrom less equipment. Customers also want a single point ofcontact for technical resolution, and the ability to be faster tomarket with new and improved services appeals to technicaldecision makers. Meanwhile, reduced power consumption,more attractive initial purchase prices, and lower total lifecyclecosts satisfy the financial heads.

Undoubtedly there are a considerable number ofindependent teleports in the industry today, but what is itthat makes STN (Satellite Telecommunications Network)stand out and thrive in an already saturated market? Whatare the unique advantages that STN offers that attractsbroadcasters to invest in them? We will examine how their

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collaboration and close relationship with technology partnerPBT EU is playing a role in their soaring success, as well astheir willingness to embrace new technology and to be flexiblein their business approach.

What does STN do?Internationally established as a world-leading, award-winningspecialist satellite Earth station operator, STN is a leadingglobal teleport that offers end-to-end service solutions for allbroadcasting and media requirements. Secure and reliableaccess to diverse distribution solutions allows for channel

growth in whatever direction customers choose to move in.Whether the need is to reach an individual region or to builda global distribution network, STN’s advanced technologysimplifies the most complex requirements. With clientrequirements always at the forefront, STN can seamlesslyaccommodate demand for increasing channels turnaroundor a time-dependent project. Experience, knowledge, anddedication to their business has made STN a trusted partnerto hundreds of successful channels to date.

STN’s Chief Technical Officer Tomaz Lovsin moves pastthe technical jargon and gets to the point: “In simple terms,teleports like STN enable broadcasters to place their channelson-air in order to reach millions of viewers all around theworld. They deliver content to end users across many differentviewing devices ranging from TV screens, laptops and mobilephones.”

The channel’s signal can be picked up via satellite, fibre,or IP connection. To achieve this, it is essential thatbroadcasters or content owners have a variety of servicesavailable to them such as playout, OTT, time delay, and ad-insertion solutions.

“Not all teleports have the capability to provide all theseservices,” said Tomaz. “Due to the fact that STN was built ona flexible and open technical infrastructure, it allows us toencompass the entire range and centralise clientrequirements with immediacy, but also leaving room to evolvefurther as industry trends and technology dictate.” This smartly

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enables STN to continue to offer current services in the future,therefore allowing their clients to grow in whichever directionthey choose.

How does the Channel-in-a-Box solution fit into ateleports infrastructure?In broadcasting, playout is a term for the transmission of radioor TV channels from the broadcaster into broadcast networksthat delivers content to its audience. Those networks compriseterrestrial transmitters for analogue or digital radio and TV,cable networks or satellites. Playout happens in mastercontrol in a playout area, which can either be situated in thecentral apparatus room or in purpose-built playout centres,which can be owned by a broadcaster or run by anindependent specialist company that has been contracted tohandle the playout for a number of channels from differentbroadcasters. A common workflow is for the broadcastautomation system to have a recording schedule to ingestmaterial from a satellite or line feed source, and then time-shift that material based on a playlist or schedule. The playoutschedule will have been created in the customer’s broadcastprogramming scheduling system and exported into a formatsuitable to be used in the Playout system.

Channel-in-a-Box systems are appealing for theirsimplicity and valueThere are several very important benefits of Channel-in-a-Box systems:

• Easy to use and learn;• Provide a fast setup for a new channel;• Cost effective;• Simple maintenance and support; and• Fast return on investment (ROI).

This results in an increase in the number of channels forsome operators, and a decrease of investment costs for newchannels that they are maintaining and operating.

“Channel-in-a-Box is revolutionary as it provides moreefficient, simplified, and cost-effective solutions, with fastdeployment time, and with lower total cost ownership benefitsthrough reduced CAPEX and OPEX expenditure,” said GMVladimir Stanic from PBT EU. “Broadcasters must ensurethat the solutions they choose meet the functionalities theyneed. Of course, there are a lot of manufacturers in the marketusing the same name for the product line ‘Channel-in-a-Box,’but this does not mean that they are necessarily able toperform the same functionalities. The huge advantage of onesystem over another in the Channel-in-a-Box category is theInteractive Graphic feature and the option to have a fullyautomated and completely interactive, and very complex CGcapability. Key features include unlimited layering, total on-air CG control, dynamic data sources, slide sequencer,advanced scripting engine, API possibilities and automation.There are a wide range of input and output standards thatcould also give a distinct advantage in the competition game.”

STN’s secret of success in strategic relationships andcollaborationPrioritising the customer’s requirements and really listeningintently, unquestionably matters, as STN’s CTO Tomaz Lovsin

confirms: “The recipe for our success cannot simply be naileddown in a few sentences; and for obvious reasons, nor wouldwe want to blatantly disclose what it is that makes us distinct,in full scrutiny of our competitors. Although, to make ananalogy, why do people choose one car model or brand ofsoda or burger over another?” He adds: “I guess it’s aboutadvanced technology, security, capability, accessibility,availability and just a matter of professional preference.”

How does PBT EU’s EXEcutor™ broadcast servers fit intothe teleport model?Channel-in-a-Box is designed as a simple solution with justone server location, but with full functionality for ingest,playout automation, interactive graphics, subtitling, playlistpreparation/scheduling, local video storage and in somecases, remote management and monitoring.

Tomaz outlines how PBT EU’s broadcast servers fit intoSTN’s technical infrastructure: “A playout centre needs to bearat least two very important things in mind when it comes toselecting (and using) the Channel-in-a-Box broadcastingserver; the first one is the flexibility a playout server offerswhile remaining as ‘user-friendly’ as possible. Granted, theseare two somewhat contradictory features; nevertheless, somevendors have managed to merge the two somewhat moresuccessfully than others. Secondly, how well a particularplayout system is already established – and known – in aregion is significant; whatever the term region may cover.”Tomaz elaborates: “The fact is that the original idea of usingthe PlayBox solution was partially driven by some of ourindividual customers in the Middle East. This particular playoutsystem was already well established there and known by ourcustomers, and they felt comfortable operating it. The demandwas there, and as STN is one of the main distributors overthe region of MENA, it made sense to offer additional servicesbased on PlayBox technology.

“Later on, we established that the PBT EU EXEcutorsystems can do much more than just cater for the individualchannels, and we are proud to say that today we not onlyhave dozens of such customers, but also operate some largersystems for multichannel customers. In fact, one of ourcustomers runs over 50 playouts, most of which are in HD.Despite the large number of existing channels which areplayed out on the PBT EU servers, various customers areconstantly adding new channels based on PBT EU’sEXEcutor broadcasting servers. The ease and flexibility ofthe PBT EU system enables STN to easily cater for thecustomers constant expansion demands,” added Tomaz.

PBT EU’s Vladimir Stanic delves into the technical nittygritty details: “Video inputs can be SDI SD/HD/UHD, IPStream, GPI and LTC and outputs can be SDI SD/HD/UHD,IP Stream, GPI and Key (Alpha) optional for CG. ModernChannel-in-a-Box servers can accept all kinds of video formatfor input, and deliver in all video standards for output. Usuallythe system is compatible with a vast variety of compressiontypes such as MPEG-2, DV, DVCPro, DVCPro HD, AVC/H.264, HAVC/H.265, XAVC and so forth; and it supports amultitude of media containers: MPEG-2 program andtransport streams, AVI, QuickTime, MP4, MXF, GXF, LXF. Livesources include SDI, MPEG-2 TS (UDP/RTP), https, HTTP,RTMP, MMS and MMSH and YouTube. It is an advantage if italso supports SCTE 104/35 generation for commercial

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insertion.” Vladimir continues:“With this wide range ofpossibilities available, userscan organise even verycomplex workflows within a TVstation, including fullyautomated remote managedplayouts located on distancedplayout, telepor t or datacentres. The EXEcutorChannel-in-a-Box powered byPlayBox Technology Softwareor PBT EU’s por tfolio ofproducts such as SubtitleNEXTand the Media Integrator andLAPIS provide a powerful

solution to cover all a teleport’s needs.”

What made STN choose PBT EU’s EXEcutors above othermanufacturers out there?One of the key services offered by STN are play-out serviceswhere the company provides a customised, cost-effective,and innovative solution especially adapted to full-time networkplayout. To achieve the optimum solution, STN uses theautomated playout method, which is where the broadcastservers fulfil the functions of the multiple devices usedtraditionally, and is effectively a self-contained system; aChannel in a Box solution. PBT EU’s EXEcutor BroadcastServers play one of the key roles in STN’s set-up for play-outservices.

“The EXEcutor Broadcast Servers offer STN hugeflexibility of usage in a variety of working environments,” Tomazremarks. “In addition, by using EXEcutor Broadcast Servers,we are able to deliver custom-tailored solutions based onthe demands and specific workflows of our customers. Thesolutions based around the EXEcutor range from simple non-redundant SD play-out services to highly complex play-outservices that include unlimited CG layering, advancedgraphics scheduling, powerful and flexible object event controlsystem which allows creation of tasks for manipulation ofobjects, events, data providers, etc. depending on dynamicobjects’ states, dynamic data sources (Text, RTF, RSS,ODBC), AsRun logging and much more all in SD/HD/4Kenvironments.”

How EXECutor Broadcast Servers are enhancing STN’sservicesOne of the new features that PBT EU’s EXEcutor system isoffering STN is a full control web interface, which is a simplifiedplayout operation that appeals to STN’s customers. “User-friendly and with an easily configurable ‘hybrid cloud’ makesthe system easy accessible and at the same time reliableand secure for us and our customers,” said Tomaz.

The successful STN - PBT EU collaboration grows evenstronger“PBT EU is well known and provides us with a user-friendlyand reliable system, which are some of the reasons why STNchose PBT EU’s EXEcutors as its current main playoutplatform. Dependable, fast and efficient support between theteams at STN and PBT EU are crucial for good collaboration

and the swift development of projects,” said STN’s TechnicalDirector, Jurij Blazin. “Together, our ultimate goal is to achievethe highest standards to satisfy our clients’ requirements. AtSTN, we operate a 24/7 support system for our customerswho are based all around the world. In our experience, PBTEU responds quickly and professionally to our client queriesno matter the hour, and this is crucial to eliminate or minimiseany potential downtime of playout service,” added Jurij. “PBTEU always listen to our requests for additional or brand-newfeatures such as different levels of access to playout, separatemanagement of playlists and additional small tweaks onplayout software itself and we value this quality immensely.”

General Manager at PBT EU Vladimir Stanic added: “AtNAB, we were proud to announce STN’s expansion of itschannel distribution services with 100 EXEcutor BroadcastServers. STN’s unrivalled experience of the market andcommitment has made them a trusted partner to hundredsof successful channels across the world.”

Following a highly successful IBC 2016 debut, PBT EUhighlighted at IBC 2017 its EXEcutor™ broadcast server linewith enhanced features, introducing a new EXEcutor MediaIntegrator module as an addition to the Channel-In-A-Boxbundle, as well as significant functionalities in the intuitiveEXEcutor Virtual Control Panel (EVCP). Manufactured andrigorously tested by PBT EU to meet industry standards, theproduct lines cater for all industries and organisations acrossthe spectrum including broadcasters, content providers,telecoms, production, and post-production companies.

Displaying on their own stand again this year at IBC gavePBT EU the opportunity and platform from which to providesolutions to valued customers and partners. The team at PBTEU is eager to show how the EXEcutor servers offer acompelling and complete solution to suit specificrequirements, delivering a complete ‘TV Channel-in-a-Box’solution if required. This can be configured whereby thecomponents can either be compiled from the PlayBoxTechnology Neo product suite or PBT EU’s own productportfolio which includes SubtitleNEXT, EVCP, LAPIS or anyother products to create a custom-built solution to best suitindividual requirements.

“We appreciate our long-standing relationship with STNand are proud to support them. We have a high regard fortheir abilities to seamlessly accommodate the demand forincreasing channel turnaround or time-dependent projects.PBT EU, along with STN’s innovative technology, simplifiesthe most complex requirements for industry professionals andthey provide a positive and valuable contribution and serviceto the industry,” Vladimir concluded.

Vladimir Stanic, GM ofPBT EU

EXEcutor Broadcasting Server

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Solutions to the Problem of Interference

The Satellite Interference Reduction Group (IRG) held its Annual Workshop at the Harbour Hotel in Brighton

Working together on interferencemitigationThe Satellite Interference Reduction Group (IRG) held its Annual Workshop at the Harbour Hotelin Brighton in 2017. Delegates from all over arrived to discuss key topics such as newtechnologies, economic implications, collaboration challenges, education in the military, andCarrier ID (CID). Satellite Evolution attended the event for an inside view into the challengeswe’re facing.

Welcoming the delegates on the first day of the IRG’sAnnual Workshop, IRG Executive Director Martin Colemanexplained that this year’s event would look at a much broaderrange of topics than ever before in line with the increasingnumber of subjects that are affecting the industry, such as5G and spectrum sharing, debris, MEO/LEO constellationsand deep learning/artificial intelligence (AI).

“The world is changing, and RF is becoming a black box.Maybe we shouldn’t be looking so much for RF engineersanymore, maybe we should be hiring IT people and teachingthem RF… Whether you like it or not, AI is coming, and wemust pick up on that too. I’m hoping to start a project to seewhether AI can work for us to solve interference or mitigateproblems in space,” Coleman announced.

Coleman highlighted the need for more investment, whileadmitting that the satellite sector doesn’t have a lot of moneyright now. “I’m hoping that in the next few days, we can startto make a difference. People are saying we can’t share, we

can’t do this, that or the other; but maybe we can.”The wealth of interference solutions on the market today

has changed the industry entirely. “Once upon a time withVSAT interference, we might be able to fix it, but it wouldtake maybe a month, or a year, and some operators neverfixed it at all. VSAT interference was the thing we thought wecouldn’t fix. SatGuard changed three years to three minutes;you can’t operate a satellite system without it now.”

Looking to the futurePhil Carrai, President of Technology & Training Solutions atKratos, stated: “It’s a fascinating time to be in the satelliteindustry; space is hot. When you look at what’s happeningwith prices and capacity, some things about space are prettyterrifying, actually. I’ve talked to several CTOs and satelliteoperators, and the consistent theme is that we haven’t seenanything like this in 25 years in terms of disruption.” Hecontinued: “Gone are the days when we could launch a

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satellite having 35 percent capacity sold and expect 10percent growth year-on-year.”

Everything is changing in a dramatic way, and very littlecan be predicted. Today, billionaires are investing their ownmoney into space, for tourism, mining, colonisation, and that’snot like anything we’ve seen before. Demand is high, andthere are many sources; mobility, the IoT, 4K and 8K,emerging markets, etc. It’s all about the applications, andthey’re driving the types of supply we need, such as latencyrequirements making LEO and MEO constellations desirable.There’s no question that we’re moving more into the dataworld.

“There’s also a lot of focus on infrastructure, a lot ofinvestment to reduce the costs via automation. We have waymore capacity and capability in space than we do on theground, and that needs to change. As an industry, we’re onlynow working out how to deal with spot beams in a way thatwon’t break us financially,” said Carrai. “People need to getsmarter on IP/networking, the Cloud, data analytics,infrastructure tools, and applications. It’s because of all thesechanges that we’re seeing more IP and networking peoplepopping up within our organisations. There’s no question inour mind that the Cloud is going to have a major role in ourindustry as things move forwards, and we need to be preparedfor that.”

History has taught us so many lessons about disruptivetechnologies, but it’s important to learn the right lessons. “Ina disruptive marketplace, things don’t move smoothly from Ato B to C,” said Carrai. “The next few years are going to be abig challenge, but with that challenge comes greatopportunity.”

5G and C band5G and the dispute over C-band has been waging for quitesome time now, and there’s still no end in sight. Historically,sharing C-band has gone quite well because there’s a lot ofcer tainty and predictability around the current FSSapplications. “Suddenly, that frequency has become of interestto the wider terrestrial community as the pioneer band for5G,” said Richard Rudd at Plum Consulting. “A lot of the action

is going to be at 700MHz and 3.5GHz, because these arethe most practical in terms of covering the most geography.”

Rudd noted that the European Commission (EC) isdeveloping harmonised technical conditions for the band, andOfcom has been in a very lengthy process in both technicaland regulatory areas. “There are a lot of legal questions aboutthe auctioning of spectrum at C-band.”

The whole question of shielding around Earth stationshas become more important because Ofcom in the UK saythat Permanent Earth Station (PES) licenses and RecognisedSpectrum Access (RSA) will be withdrawn, but ‘to facilitatecontinued operation of satellite services in the band wherepossible, we will explore applying localised restrictions infuture mobile licences.’ “That wording sounds suspiciouslyvague to me,” stated Rudd. “Undoubtedly, we’re going to needto learn a lot about radio wave propagation, cluster losses,and isolation.”

Nigel Fry, Head of Distribution at the BBC World ServiceGroup, explained that the BBC uses C-band extensively forB2B distribution: “We distribute content to around 1,000locations around the world. Our DTH services, meanwhile,are on Ku-band, and that’s where we have suffered mostinterference in the past.”

Many years ago, the BBC’s shortwave services to behindthe Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe were jammed, but thatwas left behind in the late 1980s. In 2009, its Television serviceto Iran was jammed. The BBC also has extensive experienceof other types of interference: “Marine radar and wirelessbroadband has been quite an issue for us over the years.The latter gives us an idea of what the issue with 5G mightbe,” observed Fry. “In the Caribbean and West Africa, theestablishment of wireless broadband equipment systems hassometimes not been as good as it could be, and that’s beeninterfering with our satellite downlinks as well.”

“We’re seeing technologies coming with HTS that giveoptions for the control of interference, which works for bothintentional and accidental interference by nulling it out. Weunderstand that Intelsat’s upcoming HTS will have a certainamount of on-board processing to filter out interference, whichshould help to a certain level,” observed Fry.

The opportunity for interference is increasing all the timeas the number of terminals the world over expands. “We alsohave the issue of 5G, and other users coming into thespectrum,” said Fry. “With 5G, the future is going to be hybrid,so as a broadcaster, the main obstacle to staying in C-bandinstead of moving to Ku-band is price; it’s two to three timesas much, at least. But we’re not seeing the pricing efficienciesin the satellite domain that we’re seeing in the fibre domain,and we can’t forget the rain fade issue,” said Fry, “I want bitrate, coverage and availability at the same price – I don’tcare what the frequency is.”

Debris – The new interference?According to the European Space Agency (ESA), there arearound 30,000 debris objects larger than 10cm, 60,000objects larger than 5cm, and around 750,000 objects largerthan 1cm, in space. “If you’re looking at smaller particles, it’snot a question of when you get hit, but how often,” stated DrManuel Metz, Team Leader Space Situational Awareness atthe German Aerospace Centre (DLR).

The highest density of debris in LEO is found at around

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800km above Earth, where most Earth observation satellitesoperate. “If you go to a lower altitude, there’s a clearing effectfrom atmospheric drag which causes debris to eventually re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere, whereas everything that islaunched above 750km effectively stays there for hundredsof years,” said Metz.

Satellite launch rates have boomed in recent years, andthere are guidelines in place like those of the IADC todetermine how a satellite should be dealt with at the end ofits life. For GEO, satellites should be moved to a more distantgraveyard orbit; compliance with that guideline is pretty good.“The story for LEO is very different,” said Metz. According tothe guidelines, LEO satellites should be moved to a loweraltitude orbit at the end of their life to ensure that they will re-enter the atmosphere within 25 years due to natural drag.On the positive side, around 50 percent of LEO satellites arelaunched into orbits lower than around 650km, which do notneed to be re-positioned at the end of their life. However,some 80-90 percent of LEO satellites orbiting higher than650km today are not complying with the guideline to move tolower orbits at the end of life, and compliance hasn’t improvedin the 15 years that those guidelines have been in place.“There are only minimal attempts to comply, and thoseattempts are often unsuccessful,” added Metz.

The upcoming large constellations of LEO satellites aregoing to change the environment completely. With so manyshort-lived satellites in orbit above 750km, and an industry-wide end of life compliance rate of less than 20 percent, debriscan only multiply if the situation stays the same.

Dan Oltrogge from AGI/SDC highlighted the need tocontinue to educate space sector personnel about debris:“It’s not sufficient to make a standard to mitigate orbital debrisif nobody reads it or knows about it.”

The public catalogue on debris, according to Oltrogge, isfar from complete, omitting an estimated 50 percent ofGEO±100 km-crossing objects down to 20cm in size. “The20cm demarcation is important because we estimate thatcollisions with objects larger than this could become game-changers in the GEO orbit regime, adversely increasing thedebris population across the GEO arc.”

In GEO, active satellites are quite long and are typicallyaligned in a North/South orientation. GEO debris typically

has orbital inclinations ranging from 0 - 15 degrees, with theinclination vector trending through a 53-year cycle. “Thismotion of the inclination vector introduces a ‘relative node’ atthe point where an equatorial orbit conjuncts with an inclinedorbit, causing the debris to fly past active GEO satellites inroughly a North/South manner. That’s a good thing as far ascollisions go, because if satellites were orientated the otherway, we’d have a higher GEO collision risk than we do today,”explained Oltrogge.

“Statistical evaluation of 34,000 near-misses (closer than10km) for 167 active GEO satellites over the last three yearshas identified relative velocities up to 4km/s. That’s significantbecause previous research asserted that the highest relativevelocity of a GEO collision would not exceed 1km/s, and that’spatently not true,” stated Oltrogge. There are very bigimplications of this finding for debris and impact modelling.

The Space Data Association’s (SDA) Guy Wilkinsonidentified one of the main problems within the debrischallenge: “One of the problems is that while an operator’sinternally-consistent orbit determination processes areadequate for their own operations, inherent biases and offsetsare often too large for accurate collision avoidance. Thegeneral lack of sub 1-metre sized debris in the publiccatalogue is another problem, as is the fact that we don’thave transparency over all catalogues.”

According to Wilkinson, an operator’s satellite mayactually be located as much as 15 km away from where theoperator believes it to be. “Most operators don’t know theyhave this gap,” said Wilkinson. “That can impact geolocationoperations, and significantly degrade conjunction assessmentpredictions. There needs to be a common, fused data set, sowe can get information that is more accurate. Such largepositional offsets can render collision and RFI mitigationstrategies invalid, as operators may not know where they areor whether they are moving towards an object or away fromit. We need to pool our operator data with non-cooperativetracking data to create more meaningful information.”

Protection of the geostationary environment from apotentially disastrous debris-generating event requires alloperators to adhere to operational best practices andestablished norms of behaviours, and tireless pursuit of thebest, most actionable and timely collision avoidance spacesituational awareness (SSA) data, techniques and mitigationstrategies.

Education is keySSA is becoming increasingly important, according toSquadron Leader Chris Dunn of the Air Warfare School atRAF Cranwell. “In the military, it’s vital we understand ouradversaries and their intent, enable freedom of action inspace, anticipate potential conflict in the domain, and this isfundamentally driven by reliable, accurate and timely SSA.”

The RAF’s approach, therefore, is based onunderstanding the space domain, safeguarding capabilitiesand interests, and incorporating space further and moreresiliently in its operations. “We’re working in a congested,contested and competitive environment, so we’re looking atsolutions that are complimentary, collaborative andcooperative,” affirmed Dunn.

Education regarding the space domain, has been a littlepatchy in the military, and consequently needs further

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attention if we are to fully understand and exploit theenvironment. “Our knowledge and experience are spreadquite thinly in some areas, so we’ve got to safeguard thoseabilities and improve upon them. We need to be able to usespace resiliently and integrate it into our operations. When athird of the globe can see your satellite at any one time, that’sa big vulnerability. But so many users don’t understand howsystems work and their potential susceptibility.”

The domain is evolving, and it’s important to stay on topof that to have the best available options. “We also need tolook beyond X-band, utilising more parts of the spectrum.We additionally need to develop long-term relationships withthe industry built on trust and honesty instead of thoseshorter-term ventures.”

TechnologiesDeveloping new technologies to mitigate interference is akey aim of the IRG’s Annual Workshop.

“Some 93 percent of communication satellites suffer frominterference,” said Bob Potter from Kratos. “It’s been said that40 percent of global interference is due to VSATs, and acrossthe USA, it is as high as 80 percent. Even though VSAT isonly responsible for 40 percent, it’s accounting for 50-70percent of downtime, because it’s not an easy problem tosolve.”

Potter stated that there were between five and eight millionVSAT terminals installed around the world in 2015. VSATshave really benefited from economies of scale in recent years,with £1,000 now considered an expensive terminal. “If you’vegot cheap terminals, then you can’t pay for expensiveinstallers, and if you’re getting £3 per install then it is aboutmaximising the number of VSATs installs in a given day; you’renot going to be taking due care during the process,” assertedPotter. “It’s a perfect storm, and you end up with lots of smallantennas, untrained or poorly trained installers, pointing theseantennas up the sky, and it doesn’t take much for theinterference to start.”

Current methodology for locating an interfering terminalbegins with switching off sections of VSATs to narrow downthe source of interference. “If you’ve got a network of 150,000terminals, it might take as long as a week to find the interferingterminal, plus you’ll risk facing unhappy customers,” saidPotter. “You’ve got the cost of not being able to sell ‘polluted’bandwidth, costs for staff trying to identify the interferingterminal; it’s very resource-heavy.”

“SatGuard allows us to identify the interference, and it’scompletely changed the workflow. With SatGuard, you canidentify the interfering terminal much faster, in half an houror so, by looking at the network itself,” said Potter. More thanthat, the parameters can be changed so that SatGuard canidentify terminals which might cause interference in the future.“It’s a lot more cost-effective for a network operator toschedule maintenance on an antenna than to fix it once it’salready interfering.”

“Another problem with VSATs is that they can actually betransmitting interference when there’s nothing wrong with theVSAT network. In other words, they’re re-transmittingterrestrial signals back to the satellite,” explained Potter.“There’s been a number of incidents of this; we’ve even seenL-band radar transmitted.”

Joakim Espeland from Quadsat outlined how his company

is working to develop a testing solution for the oil and gassector: “Oil and gas ships are very concerned with havingoperational communications as fast as possible. But the onlyway we could test their equipment was to have them leaveport and move around, to see whether they could connectwith the satellite,” explained Espeland. “This is an expensivemove, so ships often skip this step. We needed to find asolution to this, and we wondered whether instead of movingthe ship around the satellite, could we move the satellitearound the ship?”

Quadsat’s solution is to install a satellite simulator on adrone, and fly the drone around the ship to test the system.“The National Drone Association turned a small airport intoa national test centre for drones. Together with thegovernment, a large test area was formed, some 900km2 withan urban area, a rural area and a maritime area, and fastapproval processes to do beyond line of sight tests at altitudesup to 1000km,” said Espeland. “So far, we’re working on threeconcepts: The tracking test, antenna performance evaluation,and Last Mile ID.”

“Instead of bringing the antenna to the test centre, wecan bring the test centre to the antenna,” said Espeland. Thisis especially valuable, since antennas can test perfectly inthe factory, but even the subtlest of changes to the equipmentduring the shipping process can change the way it works.

Lance Hayward from SES, too, weighed in with somenovel ideas: “I would say that 99 percent of our interferencesare caused by our own mistakes; incorrect frequency, poorinstallation, equipment failure, pointing errors, etc.”

All operators have experienced contract disputes, wherethe customer might refuse to pay. If the customer occupies afull transponder, then the operator can mute it, leaving thecustomer with no traffic. However, when the transponder isshared with other customers, it can be very difficult to forcethe customer to remove their service.

Hayward proposed a number of ‘what if’ situations: “But,what if we were able to manage the bent pipe throughintelligent access control? Could we dynamically link a serviceor frequency range to CID, preventing unauthorised modemstransmitting through the satellite? It’s already ready, and it’sgoing to be available on every modem going forwards. Couldwe terminate a service being transmitted through the satellite,no downlink to the receive station? And finally, could we switchoff return links to identify terminals causing interference viaaccess control?” asked Hayward.

The IRG has already paved the way to have CID on allterminals in the future, so this unique ID could be used onthe satellite as part of an access code. “So, a satellite couldbe intelligently configured where an uplink can only passthrough the bent pipe when authorised on the satellite,” saidHayward. Transmit Authorisations (TAs) could be set in a tableon-board the satellite based on a Line-up/TA or other operatoractivation notification. This could probably be doneautonomously and at a very low overhead, utilising the TT&Cchain. “This could make a big difference in downlinkinterference,” stated Hayward.

Project AIAI is hot news right now; it’s in the business media domainon a global scale, and whether there are benefits to be foundfor the satellite sector is a frequent conversation topic. Like

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many other industries, the satellite sphere is now producingtoo much data than we can reasonably process; decisionsneed to be made repeatedly, and fast.

Andreas Voigt from Eutelsat stated: “In the next few years,we expect RF engineers will reflect increased IT competence.Combining RF and IT technologies to strengthen decisionmaking will be key going forward. More automated datacorrelation systems will also support risk analysis to enhancesituational awareness and document results.”

The IRG’s Martin Coleman, meanwhile, believes that adigital assistant will be the future of space domainmanagement: “There’s a lot of muddled confusion about AI,but we have all this data, and there’s more coming in all the

time. The funny thing is, we don’t use it very much, probablyless than one percent.”

“My dream would be a global digital assistant, which wouldbe smart, maybe contained within the SDA. It would processall this data, constantly, and be able to tell all of the operatorsexactly what’s happening in the background,” said Coleman.

The machines will need to be trained to recogniseinterference, but after a year or so, they’ll be able to recogniseinterference immediately, faster and better than a human.“Once you get to that point, you can start phase two, evenmore training, so that it can recognise and predict many moretypes of things,” said Coleman. “It’s going to changeeverything.”

Question: How much of a challenge is interference in the military today?Squadron Leader Chris Dunn: It’s a growing challenge; as we look to exploit ever moreof the EM spectrum for our communication demands, we need to ensure that we areeffectively using it. Understanding and resolving interference is a key part of this as weneed to ensure efficient delivery of our dynamic networks.

Question: What do you think is the biggest challenge in solving interference rightnow?Squadron Leader Chris Dunn: A lot of the challenges come down to good, soundsituational awareness, and part of this is through open collaborative processes thatenable effective information sharing. Whether this is internal within the military or throughindustry providers, and even internationally. Naturally, providers are generally restrainedabout discussing interference issues on their own systems, but we all need to be a littlemore proactive in dealing with ever-increasing demands on our satcom systems globally.

Question: How important is education within the military when it comes tointerference?Squadron Leader Chris Dunn: Education is very important, because it ties intounderstanding space situational awareness (SSA), appreciating not just interference,

but also the overall space domain and how we can exploit it. In the RAF, we have someexcellent space training and development programs, but still have some more work todo pushing advanced space knowledge into the wider military audience.

When I teach people about space, they often don’t appreciate the fundamentals andpotential vulnerabilities because they’ve got so used to space systems always beingthere. Users need to be aware that a large part of the globe can potentially causeinterference with systems in GEO and the huge technological demands that are requiredto successfully complete that 72,000km pathway!

If people don’t understand how satcom works, they can’t be aware of the susceptibilityand the lack of resilience of certain systems. It’s not just satellite communications thatare at risk, numerous other space based systems can also be affected.

Question: How effective are military education techniques in communications andinterference?Squadron Leader Chris Dunn: Overall, we have done some excellent work educatingour personnel about satcom and the effects and causes of interference. But when itcomes to educating our people about the wider space domain, we’ve still got a little wayto go pushing awareness into the wider joint audience.

Key to helping our understanding is making sure we have reliable and consistent

How does satellite interference effect the militarySatellite communications have long played a key role in the defence sector, where the ubiquitousconnectivity has enabled mission critical communications at land, air and sea. Amy Saunders metwith Squadron Leader Chris Dunn, Air Warfare School, RAF Cranwell, at the IRG’s AnnualWorkshop, to learn more about how satellite interference affects military users.

Squadron LeaderChris Dunn

Photo courtesy Sgt ElyssaQuesada and DVIDShub

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SSA, that enables our personnel to comprehend the EM environment and how it is affecting our satcom networks. This willgive us the right information to enable our key decision makers.

Question: Do you think that the satellite sector is better-versed on interference than the military?Squadron Leader Chris Dunn: I think within their own industry, to some extent, yes. Commercial entities have learnt asthey’ve gone on, and evolved to support efficient networks on broader parts of the EM spectrum. Within the military, we havebecome effective at understanding our own networks, but not necessarily the commercial sector. Here we need to work withindustry to better understand what they can provide and develop for us, as we look to utilise commercial systems for ourincreasing global demands.

Question: Which one change do you think would have the biggest impact on mitigating interference for militaryusers?Squadron Leader Chris Dunn: Wider training and education, absolutely, and that goes down to understanding thefundamentals of the space domain not just satcom. It’s not just knowing how to use the ‘kit,’ it’s also about comprehending theenvironment and why satcom systems are being utilised in supporting global conflicts. It’s recognised in the military thatreliable satcom is the one of the most important space support systems to operations; it’s a vital requirement for us.

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Question: How big an impact do you feel events like these have on the satelliteindustry, and in which ways do they help?Martin Coleman: The idea of our group is that we feed the industry with information.We’re not the controller or driver at the top. We think this model works best for industrygroups like us because it enables us to keep our distance commercially and builds trustbetween us and the operators. I for one think more groups should operate like this.

The most important thing for us is interacting with the audience, in other words, thepeople that actually matter. Panels are great, but with that type of format, there’s only somuch the audience can contribute. In most of the world, we don’t have to be reserved,we can be much more proactive than that. At our events, we don’t do panels, as thepanel is the audience. We, as an industry need to ensure we are making progress, notjust patting ourselves on the back.

Trade shows will continue to be important for networking, however events like oursserve a different purpose. In my mind, an event must be punchy, relevant, possibly a littlewacky. It’s critical that we get the message out.

At our events, it’s important to leave the day job behind, open up the mind, and whenthe delegates go back to work, the theory is, we’ve inspired them. Then they can do theirjob better, and maybe we get new tools and solutions.

Question: Collaboration is key to resolving interference; is everyone playing ball, or are there challenges to besolved?Martin Coleman: I like to use the phrase ‘working together.’ It’s softer than ‘collaboration,’ which almost feels like a controversialword.

We have the top people in satellite operations sitting in this room, and they work well together. A satellite operator cannotfix or manage their operations without knowing all the other guys in the room, and that’s where IRG events come in. It’s ashared environment, and when it’s shared, it means you must work together.

However, one of the biggest challenges we have is cultural issues. Asia is one region where traction has been difficult, butthrough events, we’re building rapport with Asia, helping them build their own groups. This has been slow, but they arestarting to work with each other now. I think it’s up to us to try to engage with operators in all regions.

I think that, overall, people are working together well. There’s definitely a will to do so, at least among the engineers,which makes up most of our group. What is missing is the C-level people; because we engineers cost money rather thanmake it. It would really help if the C-level executives spent time supporting the thing they must have; operational satellites.We’re trying to keep costs down and develop new tools; and sometimes it is hard to be know if they have a clear picture ofwhat we are working to achieve.

Unfortunately, I think some are suffering financially and perhaps can’t afford the right tools, and it’s going to bury them if

The Satellite Interference Reduction Group (IRG) has worked tirelessly for almost 20 years tomitigate the effects of intentional and accidental interference. Amy Saunders sat down with MartinColeman, Executive Director of the IRG, to discuss how far we’ve come as an industry, andwhere things stand today.

Feeding the industry with information

Martin Coleman, ExecutiveDirector, IRG

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they don’t. It’s tricky, and the small operators are probably the most vulnerable. That’s why both IRG and the Space DataAssociation (SDA) are always trying to reach out to bring them into the room to keep spectrum clean and space safe.

Question: What are the next steps for Carrier ID (CID)? Let’s talk about the deadlines and concerns.Martin Coleman: CID is ready, and now it’s up to industry. Believe it or not, it’s the one subject that keeps cropping up. I’vegot emails coming in every day about it.

In my mind, the ideal scenario is still to not only do CID, but to get a chipset with CID, which can then be applied tonumerous products cheaply. We are not quite there yet; however, I have been discussing with manufacturers and I think wewill get there…eventually. Essentially, we have to get to the stage where it is simpler to implement on a chip so that it ischeap for companies to implement on existing equipment. If we had that chip today, CID would be everywhere.

However, whilst this is the ideal scenario, there remain a few stumbling blocks. For one thing, it may be a long time comingand the end result may not be as resilient as equipment with CID integrated. The majority of satellite encoders and modulatorsnow come with CID, so anyone looking to replace equipment anyway should ensure it has CID. Any company in a position toreplace legacy equipment, I would urge them to do so sooner rather than later, as truly having CID in place now can begin tomake a difference, both for that individual company and the industry as a whole.

Question: What’s your take on the news form Intel and Intelsat and their plans for spectrum sharing?Martin Coleman: Hooray – People working together!There are bound to be issues, we never progress without issues. This is a problem, not a war as people are making out. And,ultimately, the terrestrial guys probably will get a proportion of it anyway.

Overall, wouldn’t it be better to work together? If you go to the Society of Broadcast Engineering (SBE), they’re workingin the USA with the DoD to share the 2GHz of spectrum because they have a 2GHz microwave system for their radios, andthe DoD need it in places. The DoD has mapped everywhere they can work it without upsetting other users, and then workedwith the broadcasters and planned how to get the frequency they need, so that A switches off and B switches on. It’s not verytechnical, but two people got together and said: “We’d really like to do this,” but the immediate reaction is “you can’t do that.”Or can we?

I see the Intel/Intelsat news is exactly like the SBE/DoD. There are bound to be some hiccups. Why would anything beperfect? But I think it’s a plan, getting people around the table. Our industry needs investment from mobile, so we should takesome of that and reinvest in the things we really need.

So, my response is: Bring them in, and let’s work it out. Intelsat is only talking about their own patch as well, it’s not all C-band everywhere, it’s only their bit in North America. That’s where they’re concentrating for now. In Asia, C-band may have tostay king because of the way it’s used and with the rainfall, but we don’t have to have the same solution everywhere.

Question: How big an impact do you feel events like these have on the satelliteindustry, and in which ways do they help?Martin Jarrold: Our industry thrives on a constant flow and interchange of views, freshinformation, and new perspectives, because the whole satellite environment is extremelydynamic right now.

We are constantly being presented with new challenges to address, the latest ofwhich is the issue of satellite and 5G integration, which potentially has a bearing on theinterference-related environment. This environment continues to be a very varied one,and the industry is using a number of solutions to tackle the various originating causesof interference.

Events bring people together. Whether it’s a relatively small event like this, or a muchlarger industry gathering, dialogue and networking are very important. IRG is a sisterassociation to GVF. Its specific focus on interference has been very successful, notablyin the development of Carrier ID, which solves a lot of interference problems.

Question: What do you think is the biggest challenge in solving interference today?Martin Jarrold: Satellite interference is complex as there are several constituent andcontributory causes, but we must keep it in perspective. When you look at the overallamount of satellite traffic going around the world between Earth and space on a day-by-

Satellite Interference: Keep it in perspectiveThe GVF has played a major role in the interference sphere for more than a decade now,specialising in VSAT interference and related challenges. At the IRG’s Annual Workshop, AmySaunders spoke with Martin Jarrold, Chief of International Programme Development at the GVF,to find out more about his thoughts on current interference challenges.

Martin Jarrold, GVF

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day basis, only a small fraction is affected by interference.However, one of the key things to always consider about

satellite is the extent to which it comprises the mission criticalcommunications infrastructure of so many vitally and centrallyimportant types of organisational mission. There’s the commercialsphere, the enterprise sphere, the UN agencies, governmentcommunications, broadcasting, etc. – a wealth of satellite usercommunities; all of which conduct mission critical operationswholly dependent on satellite. Aviation and maritime, for example,are completely dependent upon satellite by the very nature oftheir being mobile. In addition, the industry is also going intonew areas, whether it be 5G or, indeed, the connected car. Wemust make sure that all the various facets of interference arebeing constantly addressed to ensure that those satellite usershave good and reliable quality of service. A tiny fraction of onepercent, the true amount of satellite traffic that is affected byinterference, is very small, but it’s vital that every customerremains connected and free of interference – they are paying forsatellite services because they absolutely mission-critical tothem.

There are of course several causes of interference. Someunintended, some deliberate, but when you look at intendedinterference or jamming, that’s a tiny proportion of what is alreadya tiny proportion of all satellite communications. But, even oneinstance, whatever the cause, is problematic, because thatcustomer is not getting the connectivity they need to carry outtheir mission critical operations. In addressing unintendedinterference, we will continue to look at the way in which we deal with it; the human factor, which is related to training, as wellas technological factors, where we can use technology to actually overcome various types of interference issues.

One of the things on the industry’s agenda right now is the extent to which some people are concerned that, as we moveinto an expanding NGSO era, there might be interference-related issues between satellites in NGSO and those in GEO. Thisissue is being addressed as part of NGSO business models and, of course, the matter is being deliberated at the ITU. Wecan look forward, I think, to a new era of satellite where we have the complimentary contributions of GEO and NGSO.

Question: What can you tell us about VSAT interference; what progress is being made?Martin Jarrold: When you look at the huge range of VSAT terminals, they are part of communications networks in verydisparate parts of the world. Some are addressing communications requirements in quite concentrated urban environmentswhere there are a lot of remedies available to quickly deal with any interference-related issues, but others are installed inparts of the world where the users are leveraging off of the essential ubiquity and reliability of satellite-based connectivity,and in those instances, depending on the type, origin and source of the interference, it can be that little bit more difficult toaddress interference-related issues.

As far as the human factor goes, we still need to continue to train the community of individuals that are involved in theinstallation of VSAT terminals, and that’s been a major mission objective of the GVF for well over a decade now. We have hadsome 14,000 people though our training programmes. Those training programmes relate to a whole range of different userverticals, and different satellite technologies, as well as a whole range of different geographies around the world, including,for example, with reference to the military. We were recently involved in a major Asia-Pacific event called Pacific Endeavour,and every time it’s held, we provide installer and operator training for members of the military from Pacific Rim nations. Forthe latest Pacific Endeavour in 2017, we worked with 16 Pacific Rim nation militaries.

There are also continuing technological developments that are tackling interference-related issues. It’s all a question ofidentifying the individual and different causes and origins of interference, and then bringing the appropriate solution to bareon the problem. The industry has been very proactive and very successful in bringing various solutions to bare as appropriate.

Question: The satellite sector is pretty well-briefed on interference by this stage. What’s the next step?Martin Jarrold: It’s as a result of having events such as this and facilitating dialogue within the industry that the industry iswell-briefed in terms of interference origins, causes, and the nature of the solutions. And, of course, GVF – and its sisterassociations like IRG – have been vocal of the issue for many years. That doesn’t mean to say that we don’t need to continuegetting the message across.

I think the next steps are going to be necessitated by the challenges that are going to be introduced in relation to theintroduction of new services in new parts of the world, and as we move towards a 5G world, in which satellite is going to befirmly integrated. I think we’ll have to be open and geared towards identifying, and then bringing solutions to bare, on thecauses of interference as they are identified.

Our industry thrives on a constant flow andinterchange of views. Photo courtesy Shutterstock

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