talk Satellite

15 February, 2010

SES, one of the premier satellite service providers of fixed satellite services, and the Global VSAT forum (GVF) announced today that SES has adopted GVF training in order to help prevent RF interference.

In late 2008, SES sought to refocus the industry’s approach to managing and preventing RF Interference (RFI) by engaging with other operators on a series of specific initiatives. One of those initiatives has been to further promote the use of best practices and training by all satellite operators, installers and customers. The foundation for this initiative has been SES’s and other operators’ many years of involvement in industry bodies such as GVF, SUIRG and WBU-ISOG in developing and promoting standardized satellite access procedures, as well as involvement in the development of training such as that provided by GVF.

The satellite operator initiatives were formally kicked-off with inter-operator meetings during SATELLITE 2009. Regular working meetings have been held since then, as well as presentations and speeches at numerous venues by the participating operators, in order to promote support for the initiatives. To date, there are 15 satellite operators actively participating in these initiatives and, in less than a year since the initial meetings, there have been a number of significant achievements:

Endorsement of GVF’s new Basic Certification level and its associated online training course, GVF510, specifically targeted at delivering the core skills needed by terminal installers and operators in order to avoid creating VSAT-generated RFI;

Formation of the Space Data Association, a non-profit entity which will house a ‘Data Center’ for secure, efficient and reliable sharing of data between satellite operators. This data will be used for mitigation of RFI, including geolocation measurements and for satellite conjunction analysis;

Development of the Carrier ID concept for the unique identification of the source digital carriers. A concept that has been pursued by SUIRG and WBU-ISOG for some years is now attracting expanded industry attention including working groups exploring its practical implementation and satellite operators' written commitment provided to equipment manufacturers.

GVF’s development of the interactive, simulator-driven GVF510 course was in direct response to detailed discussions with the satellite operators on how to increase the adoption of best practices by the whole of the industry, thereby reducing the instances of two of the biggest causes of RFI: human error and equipment malfunction.

“The GVF510 course is a key complement to GVF’s extensive training courses on VSAT installation and operation.” said Stewart Sanders, SVP Customer Service Delivery at SES. “As a Founding Member of GVF, SES applauds GVF’s efforts in responding to our and our industry’s requests in producing a suite of high quality and accessible training on VSATs and, the GVF’s unstinting efforts to preach the religion of best practice satellite operations.”

"The growth of the VSAT market has been astonishing and tools of this quality are essential to its integrity. SES has expended considerable time and effort over many years, and particularly the last year, in working with the industry on managing and preventing RFI. At SATELLITE 2009, we made a public statement of our endorsement of the GVF’s programs and this is the practical application of that endorsement. Our commitment shows this is not lip service; leveraging these kinds of tools is essential to the integrity of the industry going forward. Our current commitment to GVF training will be used in a number of ways, partially internally but primarily externally to provide training to customers and installers in key VSAT operations regions,” said Sanders.