| Satellite Users Interference Reduction Group | Vol. 3, July 2007 |
 Robert Ames
President & CEO
SUIRG
We have been busy since the publication of the last edition! SUIRG presented at key industry conferences such as the National Spectrum Managers Association and SATELLITE 2007, both in Washington, DC. On the calendar for the remainder of the year are sponsorships and attendance at SATCON 2007 and ISIS-NYC '07, both in New York City, as well as the WBU/ISOG meeting in Dubrovnik, Croatia. We are also looking forward to hosting SUIRG's annual conference, November 27-29 in Hong Kong. Click here for more details and registration information.
SUIRG has been very active in taking on the threat to C-band spectrum by Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) services such as WiMax (more about that below). In conjunction with other satellite industry associations and companies, we've written letters and editorials expressing our deep concern about this issue. These concerns have been directly conveyed to major international administrations such as the European Commission (EC), Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU), and the Conference of Postal and Telecommunications (CEPT). We have appealed to them to vote against approving the use of C-Band spectrum by BWA systems at the October 2007 World Radiocommunications Conference ("WRC-07") of the ITU.
Our feature story in this issue focuses on the impact of BWA services within the C-Band spectrum. SUIRG is organizing a field test to be conducted in the July/August timeframe that will provide additional quantifiable data to assess the level of interference from WiMax Hub and subscriber units. SUIRG members who are interested in participating in the field test should contact me via email at or by phone at +1-941-575-1277.
On the membership front, we are delighted to welcome two new companies to the SUIRG family:
- was established in July 1996 to operate DTH broadcasting satellites and up-linking facilities in Egypt. Nilesat has launched 2 satellites in the orbital position 7ºW longitude (Nilesat 101 and Nilesat 102). Additional space segment is applied on a third satellite "Nilesat 103" (Atlantic Bird 4 which was shifted to the same orbital location). Nilesat is now broadcasting 385 digital TV channels in the Ku-band, and 98 digital radio channels, in addition to providing data transmission and internet services.
- stands for "Associacao Brasileira de Radioamadores de Satelite" a Brazilian association devoted to ham radio satellite communications. The company was founded in 2005.
Thank you for reading our newsletter. We welcome comments and suggestions for topics you would like to read about in upcoming newsletters.
May your operations be interference free.
 R. James Budden
President
Satellite Communications Operations Consulting
Over the past 12 months SUIRG has been active with a number of groups, and on several fronts, dealing with the major interference issues facing all satellite operators and users today. The burning issue is the potentially devastating battle between WiMax and IMT for use of the FSS C-band spectrum.
The prospect of opening up the lower C band frequencies to a relatively uncoordinated system of frequency allocation is fraught with danger and difficulties for FSS users and operators alike. The problem can be categorized by relatively high power signal input into high sensitivity receivers which will result in some form of interference and loss or degradation of traffic for the user, and long and costly interference locations for satellite operations centers. In more severe cases, the result could effectively close down a receive station.
SUIRG has joined its efforts with those being made by users, user groups and operators, to work with the WRC and the ITU to mitigate or eliminate the problem. We have developed a test plan, in cooperation with a large number of operators, users and user groups that will fully identify all issues surrounding the co-existence of the two types of services. SUIRG is also trying to obtain the cooperation of the WiMax and IMT equipment manufacturers in the testing so that an unbiased report can be issued for presentation to the relevant licensing bodies. I will keep you apprised of the progress of this project.
One of the initial and defining objectives for SUIRG is: "Stop interference before it begins". To this end, SUIRG, in cooperation with a number of user bodies, has developed a standard for training courses. There are now four SUIRG-certified courses for satellite ground station operators offered by ZGVF, Global VSAT Forum/SatProf, SlingPath, and Prominent Video. SUIRG is now developing a database of companies and personnel who have been certified through these courses. This database will allow satellite operators to scan the database when a "new" ground station operator (i.e., one that has not been on their system before) wishes to access their system. It will give the satellite operator a high level of confidence in the new user's skill set.
On a final note, the annual SUIRG Conference will be taking place November 27-29 in Hong Kong. We are delighted that it is being co-hosted by AsiaSat. The conference provides a central meeting place for the satellite industry to tackle interference issues and for SUIRG members to refine our goals for the forthcoming year. The meeting is open to everyone in the satellite industry concerned about radio interference within the satellite spectrums. There is a small attendance fee for non-members to attend. can be found on our website.
I hope to see many of our members and industry colleagues at the SUIRG Conference. The more attendees we have, the better chance we have as an industry to make a difference.
| INTERFERENCE ISSUE SPOTLIGHT |
With the deployment of broadband wireless access (BWA) services such as WiMax gaining momentum in several countries, the potential for severe interference problems with satellite communications operating within the "extended C-band" frequency is increasing exponentially.
BWA equipment will operate within the 3.4-3.7GHz range of the FSS extended C-band frequency, which can present problems to satellite systems with overlapping bands, susceptible to out-of-band emissions and LNA/LNB saturation. Industry analyses and early tests of potential BWA interference all point to a significant threat to satellite services operating in C-band. By way of illustration, a BWA field trial in Hong Kong inadvertently knocked off the TV-signal feeds to an estimated 300,000 households throughout Asia.
Compatibility testing to date has been performed without the cooperation of the WiMax Forum. As a result, SUIRG has taken the initiative to perform WiMax testing adjacent to an FSS receive antenna to further quantify the compatibility issues. The test, planned for this summer, will be conducted with the assistance of AvL Antenna, Intelsat, SES Americom, SES NewSkies, AsiaSat, and the US Navy.
The following is an example of the test setup for the WiMax testing:
To preserve the viability of global satellite communications, SUIRG urges the international community to maintain the current ITU allocation status on C-band, and strongly recommends the examination of alternative frequency bands for broadband wireless services. We entreat all national administrations to make a concerted effort to achieve this result. SUIRG also reiterates the requirement that all FSS earth station antennas, including receive only, be registered prior to WiMax deployment to minimize ported by the WiMax Forum, which stated in a recent position paper addressing sharing of the FSS frequency spectrum: "The general conclusion drawn is that the ease of deployment of WiMAX systems in the 3.3-3.8GHz band is very much dependent on the extent to which satellite earth stations are already deployed in the country concerned, and the amount of spectrum that the FSS is allocated in each country."
A recent spate of articles has been published on this topic. Below is a sampling:
- , June 2007, SATMAGAZINE.COM. David Hartshorn, Secretary General, GVF, pens an article for SATMAGAZINE.com outlining recent events in the fight for C-band satellite services and encouraging the industry to rally the industry behind the campaign.
- , June 2007. Supported by the European Satellite Operator's Association ("ESOA"), the Satellite Action Plan Regulatory Group ("SAP REG"), the Global VSAT Forum ("GVF"), the Satellite Industry Association ("SIA"), the Satellite Users Interference Reduction Group ("SUIRG"), the Mobile Satellite Users Association (MSUA), the World Teleport Association ("WTA"), the Asia-Pacific Satellite Communications Committee ("APSCC") and the European Integral Satcom Initiative ("ISI").
- to Satellite Applications adopted by International Associations of the Satellite Communications Industry (CASBAA, GVF, SUIRG, APSCC)
- at APG20007-5, dated 17 May 2007 where they urge their members at the 5th Meeting of the APT Conference Preparatory Group for WRC-07 (APG2007-5) to be held 16-21 July 2007 in Busan, Republic of Korea. The Meeting will finalize Preliminary APT Common Proposals on WRC-07 agenda items which include proposals to WRC-07 under agenda item 1.4 to include frequencies in the FSS C-band (both extended C-band (3 400 - 3 700 MHz) and standard C-band (3 700 - 4 200 MHz).
- that sets out a range of issues that may arise through sharing some spectrum with satellite services in two key candidate bands for WiMAX™ technology: 2.3-2.7 GHz and 3.3-3.8 GHz. The general conclusion drawn is that the ease of deployment of WiMAX systems in these bands is very much dependent on the extent to which satellite earth stations are already deployed in the country concerned and the amount of spectrum that they occupy and the situation in each country needs to be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
- , March/April 2007, . This article by Barry Turner, General Manager Engineering at Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company Limited (AsiaSat), offers an interesting insight into the issue of BWA, WiMax, IMT and the grab for satellite spectrum.
- urging them to intervene without delay with European Union national administrations to reverse the planned proposal to promote a position of "No Change" to the ITU Radio Regulations for the entire C-Band. Letter was co-signed by heads of the following satellite organizations: ESOA, GVF, SIA, SAP RWG, SUIRG, WTA, MSUA, ISI, and APSCC.
was once again voted as the "Best Asian Satellite Carrier" in the 2007 Telecom Asia Awards, presented by Telecom Asia Group at a ceremony held in Hainan Island, China on 16th April. General Electric Company (GE) has become a major shareholder in AsiaSat, holding 34.1% of the issued share capital of the Company subsequent to the completion of the Exchange Transaction and transfer of shares between GE and SES on 29 March.
, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Integral Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ-ISYS), released two new software options to their industry-leading Monics and DSA product lines that extend their already unique ability to detect and finger print interfering signals. Furthermore, SAT Corporation will be delivering its SAT-DSA (Digital Spectrum Analyzer) to IAI/MBT for its Europe based Teleport.
Asia Pacific Broadcasting has recently published two articles highlighting SUIRG's work.
, March 2007 - ""
, June 2007 - ""
, 22 & 23 May, 2007, Arlington, Virginia, USA
, 9 October 2007, The Princeton Club, 15 West 43rd Street, New York, NY
, 10-11 October, 2007, Javits Convention Center in New York City, USA
, 18-20 September 2007, in Millennium Hilton Bangkok, Thailand
WBU-ISOG Forum, 22-23 October, 2007, Dubrovnik, Croatia
, 27-29 November 2007, in Cosmopolitan Hotel in Hong Kong
, 5 -7 December 2007 in Suntec, Singapore
| ADVANCING SOLUTIONS TO REDUCE SATELLITE INTERFERENCE |
 For more information, call 1-941-575-1277 or visit
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