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SatMagazine

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Title:
SatMagazine
Alternate title:
Sat magazine worldwide satellite magazine
Place of Publication:
Sonoma, CA
Publisher:
SatNews Publishers
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Frequency:
Monthly
regular
Language:
English
Physical Description:
volumes : illustrations ;

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Artificial satellites in telecommunication -- Periodicals ( lcsh )
Artificial satellites in telecommunication ( fast )
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serial ( sobekcm )
periodical ( marc )

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Dates or Sequential Designation:
Vol. 1, no. 1 (April 2003)-
General Note:
"Your satellite connection to the world."

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University of Florida
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University of Florida
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Copyright, SatMagazine. Permission granted to University of Florida to digitize and display this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Resource Identifier:
173221287 ( OCLC )
ocn173221287

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University of Florida
Digital Aerospace Collection

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Worldwide Satellite Magazine November 2016Africa & MENAMorrow of nbn Celli of SSL HTS Opportunities Forrester Report Satellites & Aquaculature Broadband Over Satellite African EO & Geospatial Survey Save The ChildrenAfrica Signal Interference & Carrier ID Nuances Of NAB New YorkThe Ariane 5 lift-off of the SkyMuster II and the GSAT-18 satellite by Arianespace. Photo is courtesy of nbn. SatMagazine

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Silvano Payne, Publisher + Writer Hartley G. Lesser, Editorial Director Pattie Waldt, Executive Editor Jill Durfee, Sales Director, Editorial Assistant Simon Payne, Development Director Donald McGee, Production Manager Dan Makinster, Technical Advisor Senior ContributorsTony Bardo, Hughes Richard Dutchik, Dutchik Comm. Chris Forrester, Broadgate Publications Karl Fuchs, iDirect Government Services Bob Gough, Carrick Communications Giles Peeters, Track24 Defence Koen Willems, Newtec Publishing Operations November 2016 AuthorsGerard Faria Chris Forrester Arran Frood Michele Franci Philippe Hostiou Doreet Oren Bryan Reid SatMagazine November 2016 SatMagazineSatMagazine is published 11 times a year by Satnews Publishers, 800 Siesta Way, Sonoma, CA 95476 USA. Phone: (707) 939-9306, Fax: (707) 939-9235 2016 Satnews Publishers We reserve the right to edit all submitted materials to meet publication content guidelines, as well as for grammar and spelling errors, or to move articles to an alternative issue to accommodate publication space requirements, or remove content due to space restrictions. Submission of content does not constitute acceptance of said material by SatNews Publishers. Edited materials may, or may not, be returned to author and/or company for review prior to publication. The views expressed in SatNews Publishers various publications do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of SatNews Publishers. All rights reserved. All included imagery is courtesy of, and copyright to, the respective companies and/or named individuals. 4

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Table of ContentsInfoBeam 8 to 23 Executive Spotlights 24 Bill Morrow, CEO, nbn John Celli, President, SSL High Throughput Satellites (HTS) 38 An Opportunity For Africa? by Michele Franci The Forrester Report: 42 SES Boss Refutes Damaging FT Story by Chris Forrester What Can Satellite Data Do For Aquaculture? 48 by Arran Frood and Planet Earth Editors Pursuing Affordable Access To Space: 52 A Marotta Controls Perspective by Bryan Reid Consumer Broadband Over Satellite Across Europe: 56 A Gilat Satellite Networks Focus by Doreet Oren The African EO & Geospatial Private Sector Survey 58 by AARSE & EARSC A SpeedCast International Case In Point: 72 Save The ChildrenAfrica Satellite Signal Interferences & Carrier ID 74 A TeamCast Perspective by Philippe Hostiou and Gerard Faria The Nuances Of NAB New York 78 Major Knowledge Acquisition SatMagazine November 2016 6Advertiser IndexABS (HK) Limited ........................................................................ 15 Advantech Wireless ...................................................................... 5 AMOS By Spacecom ................................................................... 31 APT Satellite Company Limited .................................................. 21 Arabsat Satellite .............................................................. cover + 3 C-COM Satellite Systems ........................................................... 27 Comtech EF Data ........................................................................ 19 CPI Satcom Products .................................................................. 23 Datum Systems ........................................................................... 11 Digital Ship .................................................................................. 71 Dubai World Trade Center ......................................................... 33 Global Link Productions .............................................................. 17 Hiltron Communications ............................................................. 29 Intelsat General Corporation ........................................................ 7 Mitec VSAT ................................................................................... 6 ND SatCom GmbH ..................................................................... 25 Newtec CY .................................................................................... 9 NorthTelecom LLC ........................................................................ 2 Pacific Telecommunications CouncilPTC ................................ 41 SatFinder ..................................................................................... 51 Satnews Digital Editions ............................................................. 73 Smallsat Symposium 2017Silicon Valley ................................... 4 SSPIFuture Leaders Dinner, New York ................................... 35 Superior Satellite Engineers ....................................................... 13 Teledyne Paradise Datacom LLC ................................................ 39

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8 Mission Maneuverings Mustered By SSL For nbn October 6th was an important day for Space Systems Loral (SSL) and nbn the SkyMuster II mission was launched after a one-day hold, due to weather conditions, and gained the assigned orbital slot Sky Muster II, which is the second high-throughput satellite (HTS) that SSL has designed and built for Australias national broadband network (nbn), has successfully performed all post-launch maneuvers according to plan. The satellites solar arrays were deployed on schedule following the launch aboard an Ariane 5 launch vehicle from the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. early in the morning in order to propel the spacecraft toward the nbn will use Sky Muster II in Sky Muster, to provide high-speed broadband service to more than nbn satellite, also built by SSL and launched last year, Sky Muster II is a Ka-band, high-throughput broadband satellite (HTS) that uses multiple spot beams in an advanced design that optimizes bandwidth for Australias widely distributed population.Together, these two satellites provide advanced services to citizens, including those in mainland Australia as well as those on offshore islands including Norfolk Island, Christmas Island, Lord Howe Island, Cocos, and Macquarie Island in the Antarctic.Sky Muster II is based on the SSL 1300 platform, which broad range of applications and advanced technologies. According to John Celli, the president of SSL, the two nbn satellites are that will bring broadband Internet to people that cant be reached by networks. SSL commended nbn on the implementation of their vision, which is to improve the quality of life for so many Australians. SkyMuster satellites will help bring essential services, such as telehealth, video-conferencing, and distance education, to people in regional and remote Australia. www.sslmda.com www.nbnco.com.au Artistic rendition of nbns SkyMuster II satellite is courtesy of SSL. nbns SkyMuster II satellite during the facility. Photo is courtesy of SSL.

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10 GSAT-18 Gains 74 Degrees East GrooveIndias latest communication satellite GSAT-18 was launched on October 6th by Ariane-5, a heavy duty Arianespace rocket, from the GSAT-18, built by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), aims at providing telecommunications services for the country by strengthening ISROs telecommunication satellites.The European launcher Ariane-5 VA-231 blasted off at around 2:00 a.m. (IST) and injected GSAT-18 shortly after orbiting co-passenger Sky Muster II satellite for Australian operator nbn (National Broadband lasted about 32 minutes. GSAT-18 aims to provide telecommunications services for the country by strengthening ISROs telecom satellites and gained a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) about 32 minutes after lift-off. GSAT-18 successfully launched by Ariane-5 onboard Flight VA-231 from Kourou, French Guiana, Bengaluruheadquartered ISRO announced after the mission. GSAT-18 is the 20th satellite from ISRO to be launched by the European space agency and the mission is the 280th for Arianespace launcher family. ISRO, which has been dependent on Ariane-5 rocket for carrying its heavier satellites, is developing their own GSLV Mk III launch vehicle for such activities. transponders to provide services in C-band and Ku-bands of the frequency spectrum. The designed on orbit operational 15 years. www.isro.gov.in/ The fully Integrated GSAT-18 Spacecraft in the clean room at ISITE Bengaluru. Photo is courtesy of ISRO. The GSAT-18 Spacecraft undergoing test at ISITE Bengaluru. Photo is courtesy of ISRO. test. Photo is courtesy of ISRO.

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12 One Year Of On Orbit Success For AstroSat The Indian multi-wavelength space astronomy observatory AstroSat completed one year on orbit as of The spacecraft has orbited the Earth Several celestial sources have been observed and studied in detail. The satellite is functioning normally and all of the payloads are operating as originally planned. AstroSat observes the universe in optical, near and far ultraviolet and X-ray regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. The interesting feature is the simultaneous multi-wavelength capability on the same satellite platform. These studies are observations using other spacecrafts and ground-based observatories. onboard calibration of payloads indicated, which has shown that all the payloads conformed to the designed parameters. were completed from April to September 2016. Some of the salient science observations include: Large Area X-ray Proportional Counter (LAXPC) has observed rapid variability of high energy (particularly >20keV) X-ray emission from a black hole system, reveals the power density spectrum for the source GRS 1915+105. As seen in time difference between the high and low energy X-rays (which is of the order of tens of milli-seconds). This provides direct clues to the geometry and dynamic behavior of the gas swirling around a spinning black hole (Ref: arXiV:1608.07023 [astro-ph.HE]). The Cadmium Zinc Telluride Imager (CZTI) normally operates in the energy range 15 100 keV. At higher energies, the Field of View of this imager becomes wide and it can detect Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs). These are transient gamma ray events that can occur at any time, in any part of the sky, and are considered to arise at cosmological GRBs. CZTI has demonstrated capability to detect polarization in GRBs. geometry contributing to the GRB 1510016A (in black) as a function of azimuthal angle. The red solid 1.5 sigma. be published shortly in the Astrophysical Journal (Ref : arXiV:1608.07388 [astro-ph.HE]. relation to the spectral evolution have potential to clearly distinguish between the various models of GRB prompt emission mechanism. undertaken for Crab and several other X-ray sources. Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) cluster NGC 188. One source which was earlier thought to be a sub-dwarf is found to be a binary with sources having temperatures around 12500K and 5750K. Scanning Sky Monitor (SSM) observed the X-ray pulsar 4U0115+63 in its outburst phase and the pulsations of 3.6 seconds were detected.

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13 Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT) detected the continuum and lines from bright Supernova Remnant such as Tycho. The advantage of having a good spectral is expected to be extremely important to study the clusters of galaxies.Regular satellite tracking and data processing is being done at ISRO. The data is distributed to the Space Science Data Center (ISSDC). ISRO, in collaboration with IUCAA, has established an AstroSat support Cell (ASC) at IUCAA (astrosat-ssc. iucaa.in/ as well as to train young scientists to for proposal submission and data analysis. Details on the science meeting organized at IUCAA to commemorate the one year completion and the posters released during the event are available at the ISRO website (isro.gov.in/ update/29-sep-2016/sciencemeet-to-commemorate-one-yearof-astrosat-orbit).

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14 An Act Of GRACE By Airbus Defence & Space The build has now been completed by Airbus Defence and Space on the GRACE-FO (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, FollowOn) satellites in Friedrichshafen, Germany, with the satellite to now be transferred to Ottobrunn near Munich for several months of operational testing in the IABG research satellites into a polar orbit at an altitude of around 500 km and at a distance of 220 km apart. This is a follow-on to the GRACE mission, which has been successfully in operation since 2002. As they travel around the Earth, these satellites constantly take separation distance, which changes depending on the Earths gravity. In this way, scientists are able to A global positioning system and a microwave ranging system enable the distance between the satellites to be measured to within one micron.The GRACE-FO satellites will feature an additional element: a new intersatellite laser ranging instrument, developed by a German/American joint venture, which will be tested for use in future generations of gravitational research satellites. Launch of the GRACE-FO twin satellites is planned for no earlier than late 2017. mission, measurements will be taken to provide an updated model of the 30 days.In addition, each of the satellites temperature distribution and watervapor content for the atmosphere and the ionosphere on a daily basis. The second GRACE-FO satellite will be ready for testing in about four weeks. GRACE-FO is a partnership between NASA and the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ). airbusdefenceandspace.com/

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16 How Serendipitous For EUMETSAT Thought lost forever, but now found, are 40-year-old satellite add to the understanding of the The data, from the European Space Agencys (ESA) prototype Meteosat-1 geostationary meteorological satellite, was found at the University of WisconsinMadisons Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC) in the United States. The imagery has now been provided to EUMETSAT, which operates and disseminates data from Meteosat-1s descendants and, crucially, has an uninterrupted record of climate data from these satellites stretching back more than 30 years. That record, although with a small gap, now To say that the discovery of this lost data was greeted with enthusiasm would be an understatement, with climate scientists describing it as like Meteosat-1 was launched on November 23, 1977, and was positioned in a geostationary orbit at 0 degrees longitude, with a constant view of most of Europe, all of Africa, the Middle East and portions of South America. From that position, this view of the full-disk was scanned every 30 minutes, with the data being provided in near-real-time to users. The satellites mission lasted until November 25 1979. At the time of Meteosat-1s on orbit present, such represented cuttingedge technology and introduced the concept of a global system of geostationary platforms capable of observing the atmospheric circulation and weather around the equator in near-real-time. meteorological satellite to have a water vapor channel, tracking the motion of moisture in the air. The data found in the US comprises 20,790 images, from December 1, On June 27, 2016, EUMETSAT held an event to celebrate the organizations 30th anniversary, in Darmstadt, Germany. Among the Scientist with the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies, part of the University of Wisconsin-Madisons Space Science and Engineering Center. A memento received by guests at that event was a memory stick with links to EUMETSATs climate data more than 32 years. It was pointed out that the data was all there, except for two days, which were missing, Dr. Menzel said. That prompted me to have a look whether we had the data for those two days. When I went back, we started looking for the data but I was told we didnt have any Meteosat data from before 1992. I knew that couldnt be right.The SSEC Data Center didnt have the data for the missing two days but did (Global Atmospheric Research was undertaken, a project reported by New Scientist at the time as the biggest cooperative international venture ever undertaken. in global weather monitoring could be seven to 10 days in advance.Meteosat-1 data was provided to the SSEC for this project. The centers founder, Verner Suomi, often referred to as the Father of Satellite Meteorology, had the foresight to recognize the importance of preserving Earth Observation (EO) data.I thought we must have the FGGE data, Dr. Menzel said. Verns mentality was, I dont want to lose any of the data.Dr. Menzels colleague, CIMSS three shifts around the clock tracking cloud features in the images from the 1,200 nine-track tapes of Meteosat-1 data that was shipped to them for the FGGE project in 1978-79. Artistic rendition of the Meteosat-1 satellite.

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17Then those tapes sat around for 20 years, Dr. Santek said. In 1997, we started converting data from old tape media on to more modern media. We could not dispose of those old tapes. From 2001-2004, new nine-track tape drives were acquired to extract most of the data from the tapes and, over the past 15 years, the original data were stored on disk, although without any attempt to use it. Thats why the old data were able to be found. However, stored on disk in the original tape format and needed to be decoded. Dan Forrest, SSECs Senior Systems Engineer, spent several dug up old documentation, wrote a decoder and was able to retrieve the data, but it was not quite usable. In another serendipitous twist, Dr. Santek was the person who wrote some of the original code and he provided modules for navigating and calibrating the data. EUMETSAT Climate Services Schulz said the discovery would not only provide a longer time series of climate data but would be reanalyzed and reprocessed using the latest methodology.[This data] gives us information about the state of the Earths atmosphere from a time when there was less interference from human activity, Dr. Menzel added. would help further improve understanding of the Earths climate system. One of the grand challenges in climate science is to better understand atmospheric circulation in general, Dr. Schulz said. Where is the tropical, warm, moist air going? Where is the polar, cool, dry air going? And how does this change over time? This data will be very important to support the analysis of position, strength and variability of storm tracks as well as circulationcloud interactions.The three scientists were keen to importance of the data as well as how this demonstrates the value of strong collaboration and cooperation.www.eumetsat.int

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18 Antrix Aims For A World Record Launch By early 2017possibly in Januarya single rocket is planned to launch 81 foreign and two Indian satellites, according to This would be a world record for a launch of multiple satellites via a single rocket, according to Rakesh Sasibhushan, Chairman-cum-Managing commercial arm of ISRO.According to Sasibhushan, the 83 satellites will be positioned in a switching off and on of the rocket. The major challenge for the proposed mission is to hold the rocket in the same orbit until all the satellites are ejected. rocket variant for the record launch. For ISRO, the simultaneous launch organization has managed such several times in the past. The total payload/weight carried off will be around 1,600 kg; however, due to non-disclosure agreements, client names for this event have not been released. Some of the satellites are owned by clients who have previously had ISRO launch their satellites, Sasibhushan stated. Meanwhile, ISRO is conducting high-altitude tests with their own to power the heavier rocket Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-Mk III (GSLV Mk III). The GSLV Mk III has a capacity to carry around four tons of payload. India as the country currently pays foreign space agencies for their heavier satellites.antrix.gov.in/ isro.gov.in/

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19 Harboring A European Distributorship Providing SATCOM systems for voice and data transmission, the family-run Global Telesat Communications (GTC) company has just been appointed as a European Distributor of RedPorts gateways (Voice-communication routers and satellite terminals and specializes in equipment that allows communication through satellite enabled equipment in a highly cost effective manner. Although the price of airtime has been falling steadily terrestrial alternatives.For individuals or companies operating away from cell tower or WiFi coverage, making the most of each byte of data sent via a satellite keeps the huge advantages of global reception within a pre-planned budget. and data router that provides an all-in-one solution for vessels. This intelligent router seeks out the most cost-effective connection for the task in hand, including terrestrial long-range cellular and WiFi. The router has a failover cannot be located, the router will search for compatible satellite broadband services including VSAT, Inmarsat, FleetBroadband, becomes a WiFi hotspot. with onboard email and web compression services, which the crew can access via a captive portal. GTC will be offering all of with a particular focus on WiFi and Internet connections. GTCs team is always on hand to provide any further information, including the networks, and operates from a globaltelesat.co.uk/ redportglobal.com/

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20 Masters Of EO On October 25, 2016, this years winners in the Earth Observation (EO) competition, Copernicus Masters, were recognized by highranking industry and institutional representatives before an Taking home the grand prize was the team around Grega Milcinski from Slovenias Sinergise Ltd., triumphed in the T-Systems Open Telekom Cloud Challenge before edging out the winners of the other EO satellites, including the Sentinels of Europes Copernicus program, produce tremendous amounts of data every day. This presents an and commercial applications on the ground. However, downloading, processing, and storing petabytes of data has posed major challenges for many user groups. Sentinel Hub makes it possible to browse, process, and distribute large amounts of data Hubs ability to integrate into any GIS or web application, this online service is poised to fundamentally affect the daily work routines of developers, scientists, and many other target groups.According to a recent PWC study Copernicus has become the third largest data supplier in the world. Sentinel data access is full, free and open to all users world-wide. the way users can access and process satellite data, said Dr. Josef Aschbacher, ESAs Director of awards ceremony in Madrid. With applications like these, the 2016 Copernicus Masters competition has once again clearly demonstrated its potential to drive the innovative use of EO data and make the Copernicus program accessible to new user groups. Copernicus Masters Competition Having received a total of more than 900 ideas from over 70 countries to date, the Copernicus Masters has evolved into the leading international ideas competition 2011, the program has recognized each years most promising and revolutionary innovations and business concepts. The 70 best applications produced through the Copernicus Masters are now presented in the new ESA publication Copernicus in Action, in partnership with AZO. challenges, prizes worth a total of 600,000 euros were sponsored by the Copernicus Masters prominent partners: European Space Agency (ESA) German Aerospace Center (DLR) T-Systems International GmbH Satellite Applications Catapult Ltd. German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) Stevenson Astrosat Ltd. The University Challenge, meanwhile, was geared towards students and research assistants. Along with cash prizes, consulting and data packages, and other the opportunity to ready their ideas for the marketplace at one of the 16 ESA Business Incubation Centers across Europe. With Commission, the new Copernicus take part in a tailored eight-months mentoring program that will help them advance their business ideas. The Seven Best EO Apps Of 2016 Copernicus offers to a wide array of sectors, the winners of this years seven Copernicus Masters challenges present further proof of the competitions ability to showcase market-oriented applications of EO data.University ChallengeSpaceToPlace EO to Empower UNESCO Site Managers, submitted and his team from Research Group for Earth Observation (rgeo), Department of Geography, Heidelberg University of Education & Heidelberg University, GermanyESA App Challenge SnapPlanet The Social Network for Earth Observation, submitted by Jrme Gasperi, Jeobrowser, France DLR Environment, Energy, and Health Challenge Viridian Raven Risk Analysis to by Wendy Mensink and her team, The Netherlands

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21T-Systems Open Telekom Cloud Challenge & Overall Winner Sentinel Hub A cloud-based web service for satellite imagery, submitted by Grega Milcinski and his team at Sinergise Ltd., Slovenia Sustainable Living Challenge by the Satellite Applications Catapult EnviroSAR Disturbance in Moorlands and Heathlands, submitted by Dr. Gail Millin-Chalabi and her team at the University of Manchester, Great Britain BMVI Earth Observation Challenge for Digital Transport ApplicationsRETRIEVE Sentinels for Safe Transportation and Retrieval of High-value Goods, submitted by Hartmut Runge and his team at the German Aerospace Center (DLR), GermanyAstrosat End-to-End EO ChallengeSCAMPER Billion Global Food Resource from Space, submitted by Bruce Hannah, National Space Centre Ltd., IrelandThe Satellite Masters Conference has become a must-attend event for industries, scientists, and start-ups involved in the commercial use of EO and satellite navigation. Initiated by AZO, co-organized by madri+d and Comunidad da Madrid, and with support from Deloitte, the time at Madrids Circulo de Bellas Artes, providing a festive setting for the ceremony, as well. This years winners had the chance to present their ideas to the international Earth observation and navigation scene and discuss innovations in spacebased technologies and services with those in attendance. To learn more about the Copernicus Masters and this years winners, visit the competition website at www.copernicus-masters.com. Additional information on the Copernicus program: www.esa.int/copernicus www.copernicus.eu sentinel-hub.com/

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22 SES Stress SequestrationEscape the daily hassle that surrounds the race of lifedestress, relax and enjoy naturevia neighborhood thats hosted by SES-1, -3 and AMC-18 at the center of the North American satellites transmit the Nature Vivicast Media provides multiplatform licensing of Nature North America. channel feed originates from SESs Woodbine, Maryland, mediaport, where the content is prepared and uplinked to the SES-1 satellite and distributed to cable and broadcast distribution points throughout the US and the North American region. results from a partnership between channel NatureVision TV and the highly acclaimed nature cinematographer David Huting, who The channel features more than 800 hours of beautiful, calming nature scenes, perfectly matched with soothing music designed to or sleep.The new UHD channel captures everything from majestic mountain ranges and waterfalls to incredible canyons, enchanted forests, brewing storms, wonderful wildlife and mesmerizing sunsets around the world Jon Gorchow, the CEO of unsurpassed and growing collection of video that allows viewers to escape the daily rat race of life. As is the case with the companys NatureVision TV HD channel, audiences can tune in to Nature worries with the wonders of nature calming and comforting nature vignettes after a long day. SES was selected to launch this channel as their neighborhood is well positioned to reach the biggest audiences across the region and eventually the world. ses.com vivicast.com/ naturerelaxation.com/ digital modulation technologies for Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT), Wireless Transmission and Satellite Applications around the globe, has been selected to contribute to the The Magellan project will be conducted by the French Space Agency (CNES) and involves several international companies within the satellite industry, including Thales Alenia Space. The focus of the project is the building and testing of the ground segment of an advanced broadband and broadcast access network. Using High Throughput Satellites (HTS), the project is investigating and testing very high-speed Internet access and broadcast services into areas where no high speed ADSL or TeamCast will provide the HTS well as the digital pre-corrector of the linear and non-linear elements of the complete transmission chain. capability and the DVB-S2X / will be at the heart of the direct link modulation section of the broadband access network. teamcast.com A Major Magellan Contribution By TeamCast

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23 Herzberger have been elevated by Quintech Electronics & Systemtechnik to the positions of co-Managing Director for Together, they will guide the on the administrative and sales functions and Mr. Herzberger will head up the engineering and technology responsibilities. Mr. Herzberger has been with DEV since 1998 and Mr. Lorger joined in 2009. The co-Managing Directors possess a familiar and focused understanding of the goals and direction of the company and will provide the leadership necessary to serve and grow the satellite and telecommunications industry businesses of DEV Systemtechnik. dev-systemtechnik.com/Then, enhancing Space Systems Lorals (SSL) focus on the US Government (USG) market, (SSL) has appointed Richard White as the companys role of Senior Vice Government Systems, for the the past 30 years in providing mission critical solutions will hold him in good stead in this position. He will focus on government systems for the company. Mr. White was previously the Chief privately held services provider to USG. Before that, he served in senior management roles at Harris Corporation from 1982 to 2013. Mr. White is a graduate of the University of Toledo with a bachelors degree in mechanical engineering. He earned a masters degree in mechanical engineering MBA from the Florida Institute of Technology. He resides in Reston, Virginia, and is based at the SSL Government www.ssslmda.com

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SatMagazine November 2016 24 Executive SpotlightsOn October 6th, nbns enormous SkyMuster II satellite, built by Space Systems Loral (SSL), departed Earth via a substantial push by Arianespaces Ariane 5 launch vehicle from the European Spaceport in French Guiana.All is wellthe satellites systems are functioning as planned as the satellite gains the assigned 145 degrees East slot. For launch information, please see the InfoBeam article on page 8.Bill Morrow is a turnaround specialist who is well-known with more than 30 years of experience in the telecommunications industry. He has been the CEO of public, private, and government-owned companies and has successfully boundaries, having been a CEO in four different countries. His record of success is backed by results that range from 10 percent CAGR revenue growth to 10 pp market share improvements to a 4x realized improvement in Enterprise Value. In April of 2014, the Australian Government appointed responsible for creating a leading edge, national broadband network for all Australian homes and businesses. Prior to his present role, he served as Chief Executive of 2012 with a remit to turnaround a multi-year performance degradation. After just two years, he achieved that goal, which in turn led the Australian Government to select him for his current role. Prior to his Vodafone Australia role, Bill served as Chief to March 2011. From July 2007 to September 2008, Bill Gas & Electric Co., a public utility company and subsidiary of PG&E Corp., and from August 2006 to June 2007, Bill was Vodafones Europe region through Vodafone Group PLC. From April 2005 to April 2006, Bills title was as President of Vodafone KK in Japan. From 2004 to 2005, he was the Chief he served as President of Japan Telecom Holdings Co., Inc., Bill holds an A.S. in Electrical Engineering and a B.A. in Business Administration. He presently resides in Sydney Australia and returns to his home town of San Francisco several times a year to visit family and friends.Bill Morrow, CEO, nbn John Celli, President, SSLAs President of SSL, John Celli is the companys top executive and is responsible for its strategic direction. He possesses more than 30 years of industry experience and had previously served with the company as Chief Vice President and Senior Vice President of Engineering, Manufacturing, and Test Operations. Mr. Celli was responsible for all aspects of operations, and as Executive Vice President, he led the organization responsible for the development, manufacturing, testing and procurement of all satellite units and subsystemshe also oversaw procurement, information systems, and the facilities organization. From 1996 to 2001, Mr. Celli was executive director of SSLs Intelsat IX program where he led the successful development and delivery of seven, advanced, multifrequency communication satellites. From 1981 to 1996, he held a variety of other engineering and management positions with increasing management responsibility. Prior to joining SSL in 1981, Mr. Celli held design and management positions for space products and ground systems at Alenia S.P.A. (Rome, Italy) for six years, while supporting academic developments at the Faculty of In 2016, Mr. Celli was honored by the Silicon Valley Engineering Council as an entrant into its Hall of Fame. He was also inducted into the Society of Satellite Professionals International (SSPI) Hall of Fame that same year. He is a member of the AIAA and holds a masters Rome, Italy.

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26 SatMagazine November 2016 In rapt attention watching the lift-off of Sky Muster II at the SSL Mission Control Center (MCC). Pictured, left to right: Greg Bossert, Sky Muster II Program ManagerBill Morrow, CEO, nbnJohn Celli, President, SSLBrad Whitcomb, Chief A Discussion With Bill Morrow of nbn SatMagazine (SM)First, Mr. Morrow, would you tell our readers about your background in communications?Bill MorrowI studied electrical engineering before working my way up the ranks to leadership roles for a number of global communications companies such as Vodafone, Clearwire to my seventh CEO position, at nbn in Australia. Technology is at the core of nearly every part of our lives and I love being a part of an industry which is continually evolving and helping us to improve the way we live.A Discussion With John Celli of SSL SatMagazine (SM)Thanks for engaging with us, Mr. Celli. First, your background, which covers over 30 years of industry experience could you share with us as some of your history?John Celli (JC)In the summer of 1969, I was a student at the University of Rome, and I needed to decide on my engineering specialty, such as electrical, chemical, or mechanical engineering. In the late hours of July 20, I sat on my balcony overlooking Neil Armstrong step onto the moon. At that moment, I heard a roar of cheering coming up from the city below my apartment. It was a powerful moment, an eternal moment, hearing the reactions of hundreds of thousands of people, all responding to this historic space-based event.

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28 SatMagazine November 2016SMWhy did you decide to engage with the Australian government to pursue your career at nbn?Bill MorrowI have been involved in many great companies in my career but nothing comes close to this one. As an infrastructure project, the size and scope of the network is unparalleled. However, it was not simply the ambitious nature of the project building the strength of the company to match the might of the project. believe the nbn network will help to ensure no Australian gets left behind. It will mean every Australian child will be able to access educational services online, every Australian entrepreneur will have the opportunity to run their business from wherever they want in the country and of course Aussie Right then, I decided that my engineering specialty would be aerospace. I think many engineers of my generation got into aerospace for the same reason. The satellite industry, I joined SSL in 1981 and have held a number of different positions, including my role as Director of the Intelsat IX program. This seven satellite program introduced a number of advances and new technologies and was pivotal for both responsible for the development, manufacturing, testing, and procurement of all satellite units and subsystems. and a thorough understanding of the satellite manufacturing process, as well as the satellite industry as a whole. I had good mentorship at SSL, and as I moved into management roles, I found that I liked the management aspect of the job. Im not sure anything truly prepares you for this type of role, my passion for aerospace led me to my current position.SMWhat drew you to SSL from Alenia S.P.A.?JCAt Alenia I was working on components and at SSL, which was called Ford Aerospace at the time, I had the opportunity to work on satellite systems. This was much more interesting work.SMSSL has been developing and manufacturing satellites for quite some time would you tell our readers about some of the milestone missions in this area of SSLs history?JC the United Nations. We have come a long way since that time. We developed the 1300 platform, which is the worlds most popular design last year, we celebrated the 100th satellite based on this continually evolving platform. Driven by demand from the Direct-To-Home (DTH) television manufacturer to develop a 20 kW spacecraft, launching the Another milestone for the company was building the worlds to be a leader in HTS and we built the two highest capacity California, manufacturing facility. Photo is courtesy of SSL.

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30 SatMagazine November 2016parents dont have to deal with arguments on a Sunday afternoon when everyone wants to get online.SM Government, and when did SATCOM become a major component of the companys business plans? Bill MorrowThe nbn network is the largest infrastructure build in the country, possibly in the world. Its designed by the Government to provide universal access for all Australians to fast, affordable and reliable Internet and landline phone services as soon, and as cost effectively, as possible.Broadband is taking its place beside electricity and water: every home and business needs it. Thats why we are building a fast and reliable network as quickly as possible. Communities without access to fast broadband can be left behind and that can hurt families, businesses and the economy. The use of satellite technology has always been part of our plan for the network as it is the quickest and most cost effective way to deliver fast broadband to remote and regional parts of Australia who, for too long, have been left behind.SM appointment in April of 2014?Bill MorrowIm incredibly proud of the achievements which the nbn team have made over the past few years. Our team has successfully trialed and deployed a number of new technologies which are helping us to deliver access to fast broadband to Australians right across the country in an infrastructure. Today, there are more than a quarter, or three million homes and businesses, that are able to order an nbn service compared with a few hundred thousand only Board has set for nine consecutive quarters. Of course, the launch of our two satellites and delivery of their services to Australians who need access to fast broadband the most has been one of the biggest highlights of my time. deliver a world-class network for all Australians.SM On October 1, 2015, SkyMuster I was launched by Arianespace from French Guiana. Why was this such an communications goals demanded by the company? broadband satellites on orbit today, which both provide service in North America. However, SSL is about more than just building commercial LEO satellites for both Earth Observation (EO) and communications in production. We are working with NASA on a program to actually assemble spacecraft on orbit. of space systems including the development of persistent platforms in space and vehicles that will travel to the moon, SMWhy was the SkyMuster II satellite such an important project for SSL?JC actually our 100th 1300, are sophisticated HTS that bring high speed broadband to people in Australia who cannot be to SSL because this demonstrates our capability to deliver a More important than the technical achievement is knowing that this satellite will improve life for hundreds of thousands of Australians. This is important to us as a company to know that a satellite we built will help children in remote areas have more interactive schooling, that the satellite will save lives through emergency telemedicine, and that SkyMuster II will improve economic opportunity for the many Australians living in the bush. That is most gratifying.SMWere there any special areas of development for SkyMuster II during the satellites manufacturing process that highlight SSLs expertise?JCThere were numerous technology advances on the Sky Muster satellites, many of which were implemented to reduce mass and improve performance.The satellites use multiple spot beams in an advanced design that optimizes bandwidth for Australias widely distributed population. Due to the size of Australia, eight antennas, four of which measure 2.9 meters in diameter, were required. that they did not interfere with the satellites four, smaller vehicle fairing. The smaller antennas shape the large spotbeams that serve the less populated areas and the larger antennas form the powerful small spotbeams that serve regions of Australia just outside major metropolitan areas that are more densely populated.

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32 SatMagazine November 2016Bill MorrowThe launch of Sky Muster I was a culmination of many years planning and hard work, allowing us to start delivering quality fast-broadband services to some of the most remotely located areas in Australia, many of these people had very slow or no Internet access at all, so the launch of the satellite was a huge achievement for nbn. After months of testing Sky Muster I, we successfully launched the service in April 2016. Since that date, we have connected more than 36,000 customers, enabling them better access to online education, improved social connectivity, specialist telehealth applications in the home and new opportunities for businesses.SM Please explain the technologies that will be at work with SkyMuster II and if there is any differentiation between this satellite and SkyMuster I?Bill MorrowSky Muster II is the second satellite to be sent into orbit. Technologically, there is no difference between the two satellites. They are designed to deliver the same service in the same way. network footprint and the two Sky Muster satellites will ensure enough capacity to provide good services to likely connect.SM If SkyMuster I was so successful, why was there a need for SkyMuster II? What are SkyMuster IIs goals as opposed to those of SkyMuster I?Bill MorrowSky Muster II was initially developed to be used as redundancy in case there were any issues with Sky Muster I.After evaluating commercial viability of the satellite rollout and the increased broadband usage in the country, we decided that it made more sense to use Sky Muster II to offer increased data capacity to Australian users instead.SM Would you tell us about that special competition that revolved around imagery for the nose cone of the launch vehicle?Bill Morrownbn ran a nationwide photo competition to give Aussies the unique opportunity to be included in a mosaic artwork, which was placed on the nose cone of the Sky Muster II rocket.Representing the millions of connections made through the nbn network, the winners faces make up a national portrait of our country in a mosaic-style artwork, printed on SSL is a leader in HTS that provide broadband Internet to remote areas. We have built the two highest capacity satellites providing service on orbit today. These are being used for consumer broadband in North America. We also years ago, which is being used by Thaicom to provide the SM national priorities can be rather daunting how well did SSL JCIt was a pleasure to work with nbn and our teams became very close. The nbn program manager and her team came phases of the program. They worked closely with the SSL engineering team to monitor all the assembly and testing we performed and they were able to respond quickly to issues when decisions had to be made. I think nbn enjoyed SSLs openness and transparency. We are most impressed with the capability of the nbn team, which had to build an entire system for high speed broadband connectivity. The satellites are an important part of this amazing system. What they have created is a distinctly impressive achievement. We respect and admire the skill, ingenuity and effort that nbn brought to building out this network. Its true that we work with satellite operators all around the globe and sometimes that means not getting as much the satellite industry is something that attracts and inspires cultures and customs and having the opportunity to travel all over the world.SMSSL has worked with Arianespace on many prior launches. Could you tell us about your development work and what decision must be made from the SSL side for a successful launch?JCSky Muster II was our 57th satellite that was launched by the Arianespace team, so we are old friends. Arianespace has an down to an art. Typically, the SSL team travels with the satellite to the launch base and we oversee all the preparations which include

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34 SatMagazine November 2016the nosecone of the rocket that launched the Sky Muster II satellite into space.SM Australias satellite history actually started in 1967 with a launch from Woomera, South Australia, in 1967, followed by two Space Shuttle launches of two additional Australian satellites, Aussat A1 and Aussat A2. How important is SATCOM and MILSATCOM to the Australian economy and to the nations citizens and why?Bill MorrowSatellite services play an important role in delivering technology to Australians, especially those located in remote parts of Australia whose access to decent Internet has been limited.Regional Australia contributes 15 percent of the countrys economy and it is a relatively untapped market in terms of innovation, so the potential is huge with the right tools and support. While city dwellers may take Internet access for granted, there are people across rural and remote Australia who have not previously been able to access equivalent to dial-up Internet. Investing in our Sky Muster Satellite service is crucial to ensure all Australians have access to fast broadband.SM How was Arianespace selected as the launch provider for the SkyMuster II?encapsulating the satellite into the launch vehicle fairing and fueling the satellite. We continue monitoring the satellite closely right up until lift-off and then we quickly obtain a signal from the satellite once it separates from the launch vehicle. SMThere are a number of new technologies coming into play regarding satellite smallsats. How is SSL accommodating new science and incorporating such into your projects? What new technologies are of most interest to you? Are there smallsat projects in SSLs future?JCWe are continually developing new technologies and more reliable. We have used 3D printing for some time and it is enabling us to reduce ways now. We began building innovative small LEO satellites for couple of other small satellite programs for both EO and of bus and payload technologies. A different mindset is required to build small LEO satellites as compared to for more than 15 years on orbit. We have a great team of bright, young engineers who continually bring new ideas to the table. On the communications side, we are focused on smaller satellites, and satellites that offer capacity never dreamed of before. We partner with our customers to bring new capabilities to market and have been working with new communications as well as photonics. On the spacecraft side, we are leaders in solar electric propulsion and are developing increasingly higher power capability. We also provide a new way for small satellites 100 kg satellite can hitch a ride with one of our GEOs and then it is released from the satellite in either GEO orbit or GEO transfer orbit. Through our heritage with MDA, we are the only satellite manufacturer with the ability to build on the robotics technologies proven on the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station, and Mars landers and rovers. We are further developing these technologies for satellite assembly on orbit and technologies and systems for a future ecosystem that Artistic rendition of the SkyMuster II satellite, courtesy of SSL.

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36 SatMagazine November 2016SMHow does SSL manage the cost structure and build time expectations that are major concerns for satellite operators?JCLower cost and shorter time to orbit are key issues for our customers and both are a strong focus for our development activities. For us, the biggest game changer in terms of lowering cost comes from standardization and from optimized testing and reporting requirements.For satellite operators that can work within our standardized We have delivered several satellites ahead of schedule this for a bank was delivered in just 23 months. Intelsat 36, which Automating documentation streamlines review processes and satellite operators that embrace advances such as the use of electronic systems to record production quality schedules and reduced cost. for large constellations. Frequent launches and replacements question is whether the cost of launch can be driven down enough for this to be a successful business case. SMIs SSL playing a role in assisting with the development of future launch vehicle engine projects? JCThat is not something we are focused on but we do work closely with launch vehicle providers to optimize compatibility with our spacecraft.SMAn area of interest to our audience is the training of those who are to become tomorrows engineers and technical specialists within the SATCOM and MILSATCOM arenas. How is SSL supporting STEM training at the secondary, high school and college level?JCSSL is very active in encouraging children to pursue STEM careers. We have a large team of volunteers who give presentations at local schools and colleges and Techbridge to bring young people to visit our facility.Bill Morrow design, build and launch our satellites. nbn went through a competitive review process and selected Arianespace, one of the worlds leading satellite launch companies with a proven track record of successful launches. SM Australians? Will there be a SkyMuster III? Are any additional expansion plans to other areas in APAC under consideration?Bill MorrowWe have a plan to make fast broadband available to all Australians by 2020. It is not unforeseeable, but we must closely monitor demand and capacity, before a third satellite, or alternate technology solutions, are considered. www.nbnco.com.au/Have you ever wondered how children living in remote Australia complete their schooling when they dont leave their family behind, traveling far away to attend boarding school? For many, its School of the Air. there are seven schools of distance education operating across the state: Mount Isa, Cairns, Charleville, Capricornia, Longreach, Charters Towers and Brisbane. Road Muster recently dropped in to visit the Mount Isa School of the Air (MISOTA). MISOTA schools about 180 children from around 120 families, from E-Kindy to year 10, across an 800,000 square kilometer catchment area. If there was presentations are of the PowerPoint variety, no skype or video capability. If there is more than one child in the family, the home tutor needs to juggle the lesson timings to make sure everyone gets a go at using that one phone line to their house. The home tutor is responsible for the daily delivery of the education program, supervision and guidance of students. Lessons and PowerPoint presentations are accessed via an online education portal, which is in the process of moving to a new system, as the current system requires monthly Java updates.

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Meeting engineers face-to-face and seeing the satellites that we have under construction in our hi-bay really inspires young people. We are also members of Change the Equation, which is a coalition of corporate members leading a movement to ensure that every young person in the US is spark a lifelong love of learning.SMAre there any special projects or missions that have played JCThe Intelsat IX program was one of the highlights of my satellite operator. I was responsible for managing European and Japanese suppliers of key subsystems which had to be integrated into our 1300 platform. This was a highly In the 2005 to 2006 timeframe, we worked diligently to become the worlds leading manufacturer of commercial geostationary satellites. We had to quickly ramp up that has continued to this day. However, the thing that has been most satisfying to me over satellite operators that rely on SSL for replenishing and customers that come back to us repeatedly, and every year we also add new customers who are working with us for the I have developed so many friendships over the years with the highly competent and hard-working people who are responsible for providing the important services that help make the world a better place. www.sslmda.comNow, this might not be a big deal to people in the city as it only uses about 50 megabytes for each update, but for remote families the update can take up to an hour, assuming they get no Internet drop-outs. Can you believe at the moment that children at MISOTA are being taught the violin via the telephone? Kids also have the opportunity to learn a variety of languages, including French, Italian and Japanese. The local Scouts even come in once a week after 3pm to conduct their Scouts of the Air session. Imagine trying to work towards scouting badges via telephone! The online education component has, until now, had to balance the fact that most families only had access to 20 gigabytes of data per month to run, for example, the farm, the schooling, and any personal online interactions, with download speeds often under 1Mbps. The school itself was running on a download speed of 3Mbps until about lessons are predominantly delivered on audiothe 10/10mbps speeds are Luke and his family live about four hours out of Mount Isa and they have better than it was before.* many families and will help allow those educating these isolated children to do much more to not only teach them, but draw them together into a service, MISOTA can move to audio and video online, and with nbn offering up to three additional dedicated 50G education ports per family there should no longer be a need to prioritize lessons based on only having one telephone line. nbn would like to thank MISOTA for showing us through their amazing facilities and for their commitment to educating remote Queensland regional families can access education. For more information, go to mtisasde.eq.edu.au. nbn Sky Muster video: Connecting Country Kids with Learning Opportunities 37 SatMagazine November 2016

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High Throughput Satellites (HTS)... An Opportunity For Africa?fricas digital revolution is rapidly moving forwardmobile and Internet access enable companies and individuals to grow their business, facilitate transactions Many African countries have recognized the crucial importance of a reliable mobile infrastructure to national economies. They know that better connectivity offers unique opportunities for future growth. Information and communication technology (ICT) has become a driver for many businesses. There is a growing appetite for satellite communications, since space-based solutions play a can be delivered to any location in Africa as well as anywhere else in the world and would still be reliably available in the event of a breakdown in a terrestrial network.Africa needs a more powerful, reliable and robust approach to the delivery of high-speed communications; one that deploys a hybrid solution consisting of both terrestrial and through-put satellites. These are capable of providing the The Connectivity LandscapeWhile southern Africa has nowhere near the Internet access levels available in many other parts of the world, this gap is Internet access was only 3.9 times higher than Africa. Some African countries are faring far better than others in terms of connectivity. Kenya, for instance, ranks just behind South Africa Kenyans fully engage with the online banking to digital media. Its only a matter of time before data-heavy content and applications in nations such parallel their counterparts on other continents. For many other nations across Africa, however, the penetration of Internet access, let alone high-speed broadband, remains troublingly low, with a consequent impact on economic development opportunities and the availability of digital services ranging from e-health to e-learning. out of 10 of the worlds least connected countries reside in Africa. Somalia and Niger have penetration rates of 1.51 0.91 percent access to Internet. The cost of building new terrestrial networks remains a underwater cables now connecting it to other continents. However, the dramatic progress somewhat belies the stark, A SatMagazine November 2016 38

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straddles eastern and western coastal urban areas, where only 27 percent of Africas 1.16 billion people reside. of view, providing Internet access to many remote regions density and, on top of that, the climate is unforgiving, resulting in high maintenance costs. of which 6 percent of the people are forecast to have access of sub-Saharan Africa already has access to services such as SMS, voice, and basic data packages. While GSM remains pervasive, there is a caveat. GSM is not always available and, in remote areas, the service can be patchy and quite unreliable. A hybrid solution using satellite communications and mobile remains the ultimate answer in providing reliable, universal connectivity in remote regions.The growth in consumption of bandwidth hungry applications and services demands high-speed, high-capacity, delivered seamlessly across many parts of Africa where satellite communications are deployed as a backup to terrestrial services and, in many instances, where satellite connectivity is the primary and only option. The Evolution To HTS to service-providers. While they enjoyed a substantial share in the television home broadcast market, only relatively recently have they entered the high-speed data arena. This is because in recent years, the requirement for high quality broadband connectivity has moved from desirable to essential and is a service governments, businesses and consumers require whenever and wherever needed. Just because the economic case for building a terrestrial land or mobile network may not make sense in a region with low population density, such does not mean there isnt demand. digital gap; offering solutions where the business case for Satellite technology is far easier to use now than previously set up by a skilled technician before employees could use that equipment on the road. Now, satellite terminals are becoming as easy to set up as any other mobile device and offer the user a much better, friendlier interface. 39 SatMagazine November 2016

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Using global satellite communication networks, businesses are able invest in equipment that can be deployed anywhere optic networks, satellite bandwidth can be delivered to any location in Africa, allowing rural areas to compete with urban centers that might already have some access to broadband. Naturally, HTS offers obvious advantages over earlier generations of SATCOM services. In terms of architecture, capacity at a reduced cost per megabyte and the current levels of competition in the market ensures that costs are as competitive as possible. Ka-band HTS use multiple spot beams that allow frequency capacity. The use of these multiple spot beams allows for increased power and a higher rate of data transmission and also enables reuse of the same frequency, thereby boosting offered capacity. platform for enterprise and government users across Africa. High through-put connectivity enables corporations and consumers to harness better quality broadband, even in places where there is no terrestrial network to power Internet access. is a Global Xpress trial in Mozambique for an Oil and Gas 862 km, across a region where terrestrial telecommunications driving this project is using thousands of devices that require Internet access for email and other business applications. connection as the primary source of connectivity, Inmarsats needed for their communications, coupled with the reliability and availability that Inmarsat is known for providing, were combined into a successful reality.Affordability: A Key Constraint A high through-put system is, however, not without issues. The initial capital costs of the equipment are relatively high in comparison to mass-market equipment that is designed to access terrestrial communication networks; although, keep in mind that the bandwidth offered by HTS offsets the initial capital costs in the medium-to-longer term. While satellite communications and wireless networks offer a more superior solution to connectivity, for a business in an HTS offers huge potential to deliver Internet to the underserved as well as augment Internet connectivity for business. Bridging the connectivity divide in Africa goes far beyond network availability. Wider issues, such as education, awareness, overall costs and regulations, must all be To believe a continent as diverse as Africa, with its multilingualism, broad range of cultures and attitudes, and uneven regional development and infrastructure, can ever Instead, a tailored solution that offers resilient satellite, cellular and terrestrial capabilities must be considered and implemented to assure complete communications coverage.Michele Franci, CTO, is responsible for driving and delivering engineering excellence and innovation, both within Inmarsat and their community of development partners, to deliver and manage a technology and services toolkit and accompanying partner engagement processes that support the Inmarsat business and ecosystem in its transformation towards open innovation, thus enabling Inmarsat to further its position as the market leader in the industry. The CTO organization underpins long term stability and space and ground technology development, spectrum and regulatory strategy, and supports shortand longterm revenue generation through delivery of market driven product and service developments, in support of teams across their businesses. Before joining Inmarsat, Michele worked at SES from 2006 to 2012, as the Senior Vice President for Planning and Procurement. He was part of the Engineering management mission design and development, satellite and launcher procurement and risk management. Michele also worked at Arianespace, were he held the responsibility for initial mission management (including 12 launch campaigns). He rose to become the Vice President including commercial strategy and proposals, long-term strategic development and sales oversight. Between 2000 and 2005, he was a member of European multinational robotic arm development for use on the ISS. He also spent one year at ESTECs advanced studies and simulation department. SatMagazine November 2016 40

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Financial Times published a piece (Trouble on the Horizon) thatin so many wordsspelled doom and gloom for the satellite industry as a whole and suggested that the golden age for satellite Falcon 9 as heightening a sense of dread across the industry and that the satellite industry was in a similar position to that of the infamous dot-com bubble of the late 1990s. said, There is a massive glut [of capacity]. Investors are very concerned about what that means. Normally that is an environment where an industry would consolidate. That article propelled an immediate slump in the share prices of most of the major industry players. Karim Michel Sabbagh, the CEO at SES, issued a strong counterargument on September 27th as to what he described as an oversupply of [industry over-capacity] stories and argued, Maybe it is time to step back and think through some important questions.He bluntly stated, Our industry can evolve for the better, not because of oversupply and not because of deep pockets. The industry can evolve because some of the players will adapt their business to the fascinating new markets that are emerging, transforming and innovating along the way, and they will play the long game far away from the headline-grabbing megaconstellation announcements and oversupply confusions.Sabbagh said that some commercial satellite operators have framed their business in terms of new satellites they build and deploy over regions for too long. This enables stakeholders to view the business through the simple lens of connectivity, and to focus solely on capacity demand and supply along with the associated price points, he commented. This may have worked for some time, but this lens is ill-suited to the multiple applications, technologies, and business models that are shaping the present and future markets. Failing to fathom these dynamic and highly adaptive market developments has led the public discourse in our industry to zoom in on an over-simplistic explanation of oversupply in capacity and increasing price competition.Sabbagh admits that some of the overall confusion is There is simply no place or rationale in the aforementioned logic for grandiose plans about new constellations. Each new development project, and SES has had a fair share of those, must start with a statement of the markets we both want to and can best enable, the differentiated capabilities we can build to do so and the evolutionary and scalable path we can embark on. Short of these three ingredients, a development project will run into a combination of three problems: underestimating overall timelines, underestimating resourcing required and underestimating the evolution of markets and alternative offerings.in our industry can have a transformative effect. By Chris Forrester, Senior Contributor The Forrester Report: SES Boss Refutes Damaging FT Satellite Story O 42 SatMagazine November 2016

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43 SatMagazine November 2016However, to do that, the model has to be adaptive and scalable, both technologically and operationally, focused on market enablement, and patiently managed. There are simply no shortcuts. There will be a growing pull to aggregate capabilities at a global level either through tie-ups, acquisitions or mergers. market segments, building capability based systems around them and throughout the value chain, either through tie-ups with industrial partners or the development of downstream competencies. This position dates back to 2014 when logic from the one presented in recent months around the consolidation of generic infrastructure plays which will only perpetuate the oversupply discourse. Sabbagh happily mentions the SES absorption of the O3b the industry. What is often forgotten is that behind the SES decision to acquire O3b earlier this year was six-and-a-half-years of seeding this business, working with a uniquely talented management team and a great group of shareholders. While SES decided to keep its stake in the business under 50 percent during these years, we diligently worked towards setting the company up for success. Gladwells formula of 10,000 hours of practice and hard work to achieve greatness would pale compared to what went into our development of O3b. I can personally attest that there were no shortcuts, he said.SES ExaminedSabbaghs comments coincided with a report from equity analysts at investment bank Citibank, which compared and largest operator (and Number 3 in the global rankings). SES comes out well. Citibank stated, SES screens as better of the two, either due to superior execution or due to differentiation in its offerings. The bank upgraded SES to BUY, although the company Citis analysts were impressed and encouraged by the addition of O3b into the SES portfolio. We believe a combination of resilience in the standalone business and rapid ramp-up at O3b sets up the Group for a period of strong growth in the coming years, the investment bank reported. Coupled with a 2016E dividend yield of more underpinned our upgrade of the stock to Buy. Citi says that some investors have questioned SESs in operation, Citi believes there is a higher degree of upgraded service commitments; (iv) O3bs lower latency percent of all data applications are latency-sensitive; and (v) A full managed service provider, O3bs particular success with telcos is due to the companys ability to offer end-to-end Eutelsat does not come out as well and the banks view is that HTS overcapacity, HOTBIRD re-optimization, and KA-SAT congestion. With the Group prioritizing cash preservation over growth over the medium term, we see limited scope for a re-rating, said Citibank. We do not expect Eutelsat to return to top-line organic growth before FY-2019. An analysis of Eutelsats various frontsin video, we do not expect any of the recent satellite launches to materially offset the ~30 million euros headwind Of the recent launches with video payloads, only Eutelsat36C (serving Russia and sub-Saharan Africa) and Eutelsat-9B (serving Europe) have exposure to attractive video markets, and here, too, the latter is mostly carrying replacement its spare capacity on long-dated contracts, i.e., prioritizing revenue visibility at the expense of pricing. In Value Added Services, KA-SAT is unlikely to turnaround ViaSat might have to go through a learning curve. The loss of the AMOS-6 broadband payload is another setback. In task order cycle coming to an end in the fall of 2016, there are expectations of an improvement in demand. However, this a renewal cycle, and is at best likely to be low growth off a depressed base scenario.Senior Contributor Chris Forrester is a well-known broadcast journalist and industry consultant. He reports on all aspects of broadcasting with special emphasis on content, the business of television and emerging applications. He founded Rapid TV News and has edited Interspace and its successor, Inside Satellite TV since 1996. Advanced-Television.com. In November of 1998, Chris was appointed an Associate (professor) of the prestigious Adham Center for Television Journalism, part of extensive coverage of the Arab media market.

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44 organize a summit focused on the African satellite sector, the company was unsure if this was the correct would an event be organized around a technology that many people see as the old solution to Africas connectivity needs? Surely, in todays advanced connectivity agenda, satellite is only used to reach the parts other technologies cannot reach. the population of sub-Saharan Africa still live at least 25 km coordinating the agenda for this summit, all came to realize that the satellite sector has many tricks up its sleeve to ensure the technology remains as essential to supporting the future of Africas connectivity agenda as in the past. SMART Cities, Connected Communities, Digital Governments and Millennium Development Goals are all key drivers for improved connectivity. Ironically, rural communities, humanitarian agencies, health workers, schools and remote workers are among those for whom improved connectivity people who are not being reached. The reality is there will never be a single solution to Africas success is to ensure redundancy is in place to prevent breakage. Satellite is a perfect solution. in Africa, true, uninterrupted mobility is disrupted by geographical black spots and restricted network coverage. In these instances, satellite can support terrestrial networks provide the only solution to providing affordable access solutions to sparsely populated areas. The integration of technologies and the development of heterogeneous networks which incorporate the best solution for the best situation is essential in providing reliable, robust and affordable services. Over the three days of the Future-Sat Summit, we heard from the leaders of the global satellite sector that connectivity needs can be resolved, not just with satellite, but at least by incorporating satellite elements to wider connectivity needs. Satellite is not the only nor the best solution to solve the puzzle of Africas connectivity agenda; however, satellite is the best solution in the correct environment.A World Of Opportunity, A Region Of Change across 28 countries (of which 17 were African nations) gathered in Addis Ababa for the inaugural Future-Sat conference. They engaged in three days of discussion and collaboration on Africas satellite industry, the impacts and future directions. The countries represented included: Angola, Belgium, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, India, Italy, Israel, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sudan, Tanzania, UAE, Uganda, UK, USA, Zambia Insights from 70 speakers delivered 21 sessions that included two workshops and a Round Table session. Case studies were presented from across the region: iMlango school project in Kenya UNSAF project for schools in Tanzania National Library Project in South Africa Media Library Network of Angola AIESEC youth leadership (Ethiopia) Senegal, Mali). Future-Sat AFRICA... To Connect All W

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45 SatMagazine November 2016 satellites slotted for full service in 2020. Following are 10 important takeaways and calls to action from the conference track of Future-Sat 2016; they will also be addressed in future editions of this conference. In of the conference to address topics such as hybrid networks, Smart Africa, USOF, converged business models, deepdive case studies of satellite in multiple sectors, licensing agreements, industry forecasts and market rules.1. Technology Evolution and industry can partner to deliver services. Tech sectors are evolving rapidly in parallel, as well as converging and colliding with other sectors. This makes satellite defensive in some areas of disruption (e.g., spectrum allocation for mobile), as well as an industry leader in others (e.g., disaster response solutions, geographical mapping, deep space communications). Understanding that ICTs (Information and Communication Technolgies) offer complementary capabilities is important and governments need to adapt their plans to ecosystemthinking. There will always be multiple connectivity options for affordability and access.2. ImpactsICTs have improved business and education in Africa and, through transparency, can help tackle corruption. There needs to be more education on the role of satellite in connecting the unconnected, e.g., RascomStar in DRC. Satellite helps cover areas that are hard-to-access via terrestrial methods, such as remote deserts and mountainous regions. In humanitarian emergencies, communications provide information, connection and life. Satellite emergency communications transform the delivery of crucial aid and save more lives, such as during the Ebola crisis. The UN Crisis Connectivity Charter has been established by nine satellite companies and there are clear points of contact for each satellite operator (see www. ETCluster.org). Signatories now include GVF, SES, IntelSat, ArabSat, HispaSat, Thuraya, YahSat, Eutelsat and Inmarsat. improve logistics during disaster responses. The satellite sector is ahead of any other private sector in achieving a formal charter with the UN and NGOs for disasters. 3. Spectrum protectionMobile operator spectrum is important but should not be allotted at the cost of vital satellite services. The GVF and SSI initiatives are protecting the interests of the satellite sector and end-users in this regard (see www.satellitespectruminitiative.com). There are numerous real cases of interference from deployment of wireless systems in C-band. The relationship between satellite and terrestrial wireless should be collaborative, not antagonistic.

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SatMagazine November 2016 464. Security & ResilienceThe new Africa is witnessing rapid mobile growth. However, cybercrime is rising faster here than anywhere else in the world. Companies and countries need to draw up their telecom threat map and devise appropriate response strategies.Categories of cybersecurity preparedness include legal, tech, organization, capacity building, and cooperation. Capacity building in security includes IT security, digital forensics, university courses, and industry-academic cooperation.Satellites provide cyber-resilience and data connectivity backup to millions of users. Unfortunately, satellites have also become a battleground as countries jam each others signals.5. Business models wireless communications: for the operator, government and communities. More crosscutting cooperation is needed All available technologies need to be roped in to offer complementary services, but more creativity is needed regulators and the industry need to be aware of the entire ecosystem of communications and collaborate on new frameworks; the old methods of industry activity are not working. 6. Customer NeedsIndustry and government need to focus on what the B2C and B2B customers want from their communication services. These service parameters include availability (any time), accessibility (any place/device), and affordability (price). people in Sub-Saharan Africa need to travel 50 kilometers to access the Internet. Satellite can help bridge this gap and offer relevant services improved safety.7. Academic Research & Capacity BuildingMore satellite data needs to be shared with academics and NGOs to come up with case studies and stories of satellite use, e.g. need to be harmonized; this calls for better collaboration between government, industry and academia. of Africas engineers and policy makers in this converged digital world. Local research and curriculum will help identify Africa has a huge youth dividend; government and generation of youth leaders should be world citizens, selfaware, empowering others, and solution oriented. 8. Enterprise ComputingThe SMAC stack (social, mobile, analytics and cloud) is transforming enterprise computing and business services delivery. The corporate and government CTO needs to include satellite as a resilience strategy.More and more enterprises will move to cloud. There are 50 different cloud regulations in countries around communication needs.9. Metrics for Return On Investment (ROI) calculation and forecasting: banking metrics (improved money access, higher revenues, FDI), education metrics (increased literacy, higher incomes), broadcasting metrics (advertising revenues, social cohesion, more channels) and humanitarian metrics (faster/better response to re-build damaged communities, control of refugee crisis, social development). RoI should focus along the entire value chain and contact network: users, operators, distributors, and government. Satellite investments are huge, hence, some RoI measures value to investors and stakeholders. It is estimated that a 10 percent increase in broadband penetration correlates to Social capital metrics are also important. These would such as telemedicine and cataract detection. 10. National AgendasCase studies were presented at this Summit of national ICT initiatives such as EthERNet (Ethiopia Education and Research Network) and Entoto Observatory. Such initiatives need to be interlinked and scaled up, e.g., EthERNet is peering with SudREN, KENET, and SolmaliREN.The Ethiopian Space Science Society is promoting space science/tech in Ethiopia and east Africa. Space science can help Ethiopia in land resource monitoring, precision agriculture, watershed management, regional planning and development.

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The Road Ahead continents vastness, resources and sector strengths. Africa percent by 2020; satellite will help mobile operators reach this goal. An estimated 89 percent of African households are still not connected to Internet; low-cost site economics is key to connecting them. Digital service development is taking place in the total satellite industry value chain. for a billion dollars. However, it is no longer true that content and application development only takes place elsewhere outside Africa; there is a lot of regional content creation as well.Emerging trends include HTS (High Throughput Satellites), digital divide between West and Africa, but not between Governments need to master the new telco ecosystem, which is quite different from everything before. As per ITU (International Telecommunication Union) recommendations, African governments need to ensure transparent and predictable regulatory regimes, safeguard development, Emerging policy best practices are blanket licensing for VSATs, frequency co-ordination and harmonized standards. Governments should adopt and adapt best practices, but National agendas and plans can provide targets and stimulus for the industry, such as broadband penetration and the impacts on various sectors. help create real-time global consciousness. Satellite is big In sum, the satellite industry has tremendous opportunity 21st century communications landscape.There were a number of Future-Sat AFRICA presentations, such as the one offered by GVF... here is a list of presentations available for download. Future Sat Africa AFRINIC Overview Future Sat Africa Gondwana Affordable Mobility Future Sat Africa GVF Return on Investment Future Sat Africa The Egyptian Satellite Company Future Sat Africa The Role of Satellite in Connecting the Unconnected Future Sat Africa Ethio Telecom Future Sat Africa SES Effective Policy and Regulation for Satellite Future Sat Africa Skyvision Maximizing Return on Investment Future Sat Africa Thuraya Affordable Mobility Future Sat African Space Applications for Sustainable Development of Africa Future Sat Africa OneWeb overview Future Sat Africa NuRAW Wireless Business Case for 2G in Rural Africa Future Sat Africa Satellite Licensing and Regulatory Expertise Future Sat Africa Satellite Network Reliability Future Sat Africa Effective Policy and Regulations for Satellite Future Sat Africa Crisis Connectivity CharterFuture Sat Africa Emergency Telecommunications Clusterextensia-events.com/ 47 SatMagazine November 2016

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What Can Satellite Data Do For Aquaculture? ERC, the Natural Environment Research Council, is a leading funder of independent research, training and innovation in The organization invests public money in science, designed resources, predict and respond to natural hazards and understand environmental change. NERC works closely with policymakers and the industry to ensure attained knowledge can support sustainable economic growth and well being in the UK and around the world. The organization is mainly supported by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), but NERCs activities and funding decisions are independent of any The Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and NERC-funded ShellEye project seeks to help and E. coli bacteria. Were shut because of a harmful algal bloom in the waters at the moment. Being shut costs us ,000 to ,000 a week, and last year we were shut for four months. Gary is remarkably sanguine for a man whose business stands to lose more money in a week than most people earn in a year. Hes the owner of West Country Mussels of Fowey that provides high quality mussels by the tonne for the seafood industry, which end up in restaurants all over the UK. proliferations of mostly phytoplankton species that can thrive in the (relatively) warm and nutrient-rich Gulf Stream entire business can be effectively put on hold. Some of these the farm to close. If were shut we cant harvest or sell the mussels. Eventually, they get too heavy for the lines and we lose them, he said. We have to wait until the algae die and then the farm can re-open. Hes already moved his farm offshore from an estuary which By Arran Frood & Planet Earth Editors N SatMagazine November 2016 48

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had episodes of poor water quality. That, and losing almost a quarter of a million pounds last year in lost business, has motivated him to work with BBSRC and NERC-funded other industry partners on the ShellEye project. To me, its the future, said Rawle. For the last two years we carried the cost during the closure, but how long we can continue with that is debatable. The multi-partner ShellEye project brings together industry, Science (Cefas), and the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS).The project aims to develop a satellite-based forecasting of the algal blooms to protect public health, reduce food waste and contribute to the resilience of the UK food system and bioeconomy. touted as one of the most sustainable forms of protein: they iron, zinc, copper, vitamin B12 and omega-3 fatty acids, On a bright sunny day, its hard to believe that these arent perfect mussel harvesting conditions, but its only because our eyes cant see the hordes of plankton in the clear mussels unsaleable. the potential of satellite data to track algal blooms in real-time, and how these data can then be analyzed, the area. We can use very detailed satellite images of the ocean color to pick out certain algal species, allowing us to differentiate between the harmful and harmless algae, Scotland with SAMS that helped Scottish salmon farms manage their risks from HABs and he wanted to see if NERC farming is worth around million to the UK economy (see Aquaculture on the next page). for growth in the UK. But there are environmental factors that are holding back this expansion, he said. If we can minimize risk factors from HABs and E. coli bacteria and provide an early warning system, there will be fewer . A key part of this protection will come from orbiting satellites that can see through the blue hue of the sea and provide detailed information on the dynamic processes happening at surface waters, such as the ESAs newest Earth observation satellite, the Sentinel 3A. Heading back to shore, Miller looked up and drew an arc across the sky. About now, the European satellite is taking pictures of this very spot. These pictures will be combined with data from in situ surveys, meteorological data and historical data to provide an early-warning forecast of the potential risks. Her specialty on the project is managing the conversion of the satellite data into something useful and beautiful.Were bringing in lots of different types of data from way up in spaceWe process the data here at PML, and have specialized software to manage the corrections needed to get rid of noise in the data, from sources like the atmosphere for example. Dr. Peter Miller (left) and Gary Rawle. SatMagazine November 2016 49

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A multitude of mathematical models are employed that match algal blooms seen in the satellite images with in situ data collected from boats at sea. We can then make heightened risk of HABs or bacterial species near to your farm. Then we can make a forecast based on the images, and what we know about how water moves in the area and how often we expect these events to occur, she said. and other stakeholders are currently in pilot format, but We should have a fully tested and evaluated approach by the end of the project. It wont be operational, as this is a continuing to develop our forecasts and we will know more at the end of the season. If I could get an early warning system like a good headsup, it would certainly be useful to me and my customers because we could manage harvesting operations differently and avoid product recalls. The ShellEye project is one of 21 research projects support from BBSRC and NERC) to improve understanding of the factors affecting sustainable aquaculture, and help build a multidisciplinary community. Register to receive email by visiting the ShellEye project contact infopage at http://www.shelleye.org/indexAquaculture: In The Numbers... The entire UK aquaculture industry contributes million to the UK bioeconomy: http://www.bbsrc. ac.uk/research/food-security/aquaculture/ 5 percent per year[1]. will grow from 44 percent, on average, in 2013-15 to in Italy about 110,000 years ago than 65 liters of water a day Various projections to 2020 suggest that per capita from the high of 20 kg in 2014[2] In the UK, the government forecasts a 33 percent Production of aquatic animals from aquaculture in 2014 amounted to 73m tons with an estimated www.nerc.ac.uk/ www.shelleye.org/References Worlds aquaculture production by species groups: ftp://ftp. fao.org/FI/STAT/summary/b-1.pdf State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2016: http://www. fao.org/3/a-i5798e.pdf development of sustainable aquaculture: https://www.gov. uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/ Subtitles (closed captions) are available once the video is playing. Satellite image of algal blooms in sea off the Cornish coast. 50 SatMagazine November 2016

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Pursuing Affordable Access To Space: A Marotta Controls Perspective by the quest for more affordable launch capabilities for the military, government and commercial environsreusability is a potent means to reduce costs as well as to and systems since the days of Apollo are now playing a pivotal role in enabling the new space economy.Heritage ImpactHeritage technology originally carried achievement, of course, but even more remarkable when one considers that certain design tools and optimization technologies were not yet available for use. Saturn V, Apollos launch vehicle, would no doubt be lighter and more powerful if the rocket had been produced using robust design as the mechanism to protect human life and hardware investments. T shaped satellite has none of the moving parts often seen in other spacecraft. The satellite, together with the instrumentation, actually forms a single, composite ,gravity-measuring device. Artistic rendition of GOCE is courtesy of ESA. SatMagazine November 2016 52

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53 SatMagazine November 2016Today, the high reliability associated with these man-rated designs aligns perfectly with current goals for long lifecycle reusability. Developed for robust performance in the earliest days of the space program, these proven components are inadvertently ready for todays new space innovators. They are inherently more reliable and reusable because they are not necessarily operating at the limits of their capacity. Enabling Perspectives On Reusability Saturn and even milestones such as breaking the sound technology that can shape their competitive goals. kinds of proven systems and technologies available) are coming onboard new space programs and creating a path Whether or not reusable technology is determined to be impact on the affordability equation. The same reliability them some creativity in how to approach their individual reusability strategies. multi-use, combining the high reliability associated with man-rated technology with the conservatism of design and robustness inherent to the early days of space system development. Onboard systems and components can be used with performance operating up to critical limits, or therefore reusability. Bridging New Cultures and even cultures for relative newcomers to capitalize on what has already been developed and proven without spending billions on engineering new technologies from the ground up. Artistic rendition of the Aeolus Wind Mission. Image is courtesy of ESA.

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new competitive edge, although institutional developers must think beyond the scope of a commodities broker. to decide whether they can and want to thrive in new space projects. This includes all facets of operations, from design and manufacturing to sourcing and pricing components.One company, Marotta Controls of Montville, New Jersey, is ideally positioned to service both new space and management structure.Industry-wide, these capabilities largely depend on the culture and personality of the company, as well as budget constraints.SpaceX and Blue Origin have already successfully landed and New Shepard sub-orbital vehicle has relaunched several times with only minor refurbishment between launches. First stage reuse likely offers the most return on investment, with second stage reuse considered worthwhile. While all reusable technology should create a program advantage through hardware savings, viewpoints differ on just how much of a cost reduction is possible in the future. reusable technology will amplify and accelerate the pace. For to be more competitive with Falcon 9. With a reusable option, Falcon 9s costs will also drop; published estimates suggest a 30 percent reduction in its launch costs. the market is responding strongly to the prospect of more affordable launch vehicles. Leaders in the constellation from cost reductions enabled by reusable technology. Smaller constellation providers will no longer have to wait for a ride as a piggyback on a larger rocket, putting a include not only reduced launch costs, but also a faster route A launch from Kennedy Space Center. Photo is courtesy of NASA. Virgin Galactic. SatMagazine November 2016 54

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Reliability Advances Reusability More affordable space launches are critical to revitalizing the space industry, increasing availability of military and commercial constellation deployments, long-term of space tourism.Just as important is the need to capitalize on the role of designs that got us to the moon and back offer intrinsic reliability, the key factor in launching hardware into space more affordably. Today, the space industrys predecessors robustly designed reusability. They also validate the need to mesh heritage and new space cultures as a new model for space design and development.marotta.com/Bryan Reid has more than 30 years of experience in the and commercial roles and is instrumental in developing content on major platforms. Hes been involved in a wide range of launch vehicle and satellite programs, including the and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer) satellite, and most recently, the Spacebus Neo and MetOp-SG platforms. Contact Bryan at breid@marotta.com. An artistic rendition of NASA's ST5 smallsats, launched to test and validate new technologies for future science missions. Image is courtesy of NASA. A Focus On Marotta ControlsAligning heritage technology with the agility required for new space innovation is an ideal, yet surprisingly unique, strategy for established technology developers. Marotta Controls is one of heritage technology and the new space economy, building on proven, applicable technologies and an agile and responsive culture to enable a new generation of innovators. While the companys expertise has steadily been built on institutional programs dating back to Apollo, Saturn V and the Lunar Module, Marottas technology is also part of space programs like Atlas, Delta, Taurus, New Shepard, Falcon 9 and SpaceShip Two. Marottas patented valves were used on the Gemini spacecraft and Titan launch vehicle programs to control the fuel and pressurization systems during critical fueling and launch countdown sequences. The companys solenoid valves were used in Saturn Vs environmental control system, cooling electrical equipment required to guide, navigate, and command and control the Saturn launch vehicle from liftoff to Apollo/Saturn vehicle separation. Marotta was also on board the Space Shuttle, providing technology as part of the programs Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) system, helping the Orbiter escape Earths gravity using a system designed for recovery and reuse in future missions. systems and technologies that are inherently reusable, developed from early design protocols requiring robustness suitable for manned space based on advanced simulations and computer models that didnt exist in the early space era. The result is greater room to incorporate performance and safety margins suited for the rigors of repeat missions, delivered as customized, and reusability requirements. 55 SatMagazine November 2016

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major challenge that continues to hold the SATCOM industrys attention today is services to underserved areas of Europe at speeds that are such business needs. SES Techcom Services selected Gilat Satellite Networks to develop and provide a cost-effective system that could operate large-scale, high-performance networks. In addition, the solution would need to support a variety of service plans and allow for self-installation. To accommodate SES Techcom Services needs, Gilats ability to deliver a high-performance broadband network for large-scale consumer use, over SES Ka-band satellites, with high performance, self-installed, VSAT systems, sealed the deal. The SolutionMeeting head-on the challenge of delivering the necessary performance at the desired price, Gilats Sky Edge II-c chassis was successfully implemented for SES Techcom Services, offering a specially designed satellite terminal and an easyto-install antenna unit. Recently, the Astra Connect network which is powered by X-Architecture. This inclusion will allow full antenna assembly, modem, transceiver, RF cables and instruction manual. This self-install option has been selected for implementation by many end-users. SES Techcom Services chose the SkyEdge II-c highperformance, compact chassis as the system can operate large networks and is fully optimized for Ka-band multi-spot beam Consumer Broadband Over Satellite Across Europe A Gilat Satellite Networks Focus ASatMagazine November 2016 56

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triple-play services, like high-speed This chassis is ideal for Astra Connect are allowed to have full control over their service parameters, such as terminal speeds, usage quotas, over-subscription Today, Gilats highspeed modem reaches speeds in broadband performance to the home over satellite. reliable antenna self-installation with simple audio feedback, helping the tune the reception without any additional equipment or professional installation. Gilat also designed a combined transceiver and low noise Once the outdoor equipment is in place, a web based and authentication process. management system, TotalNMS, which provides serviceoriented network management for the entire network that can support large-scale deployments greater than one million subscribers. This solution suited SES Techcom Services perfectly, as independently. SES Techcom Services also uses TotalNMS Through a single interface point, TotalNMS also allows: Detailed reporting on network performance and usage per CPE Enhanced troubleshooting and diagnostics tools Fast and reliable resource allocation Detailed reporting on network performance and usage per ISP The high performance broadband network for consumer use Astra 2F, was launched, using spot beams to cover areas throughout Europe. Since the start of the service, Gilat www.gilat.com Marketing for Gilat Satellite Networks. In this role, Oren is and go to market strategies and is responsible for market research as well as analyst relations. Oren has more than 20 years of industry experience management and product marketing for international hightech companies. In this capacity, she contributed to nexgen companys vision to the media and analyst community. Oren has published thought leadership articles in renowned international journals and has spoken at numerous industry conferences worldwide. Oren received a BSc in 57 SatMagazine November 2016

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By the African Association of Remote Sensing of the Environment (AARSE), and, European Assocation of Remote Sensing Companies (EARSC) The African EO & Geospatial Private Sector SurveyARSE, the African Association of Remote Sensing of the Environment, in cooperation with EARSC, has published an inventory of the African private Earth Observation (EO) and Geospatial industry. General inventories of organizations involved in remote sensing applications are available for some countries in sub-Saharan Africa. A survey targeting the African private however, has never before been completed. in understanding how companies in Africa operate, capture their expertise and assess their state and health.AARSE and EARSC analyzed the data of the survey, which was collected and compiled between February and April 2016.Note: All of the text, charts and layouts within this article are courtesy of AARSE and EARSC.The survey covers the private EO services industry across products or services which contain some data coming from EO satellites. The EO industry comprises satellite operators, data suppliers, value-adding companies or Geo-Information (GI) companies using derived products where the satellite data are not always visible.A total of 229 companies were contacted, with useful responses coming from 78 of them via an online questionnaire. These respondent companies represent 21 out of 54 countries in Africa. The bilingual questionnaire (English and French) was focused on basic company information, numerical data and estimates as well as some issues of strategic relevance. The number of questions was kept to a reasonable range to avoid saturating responders. The results show an industry in development. There has been growth in revenues in the past few years, accompanied by a good growth of employment in the sector, resulting in an optimistic outlook, albeit cautious, of the near future. The sector has seen a lot of change in recent years, e. g., the launch of a number of new commercial satellite systems as of Google Earth and the advent of cloud computing. These and other technologies, such as Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) systems, are arriving on the horizon and perhaps other technologies will emerge in the not too distant future. A SatMagazine November 2016 58 Central Algeria captured by Copernicus, Copernicus Sentinel data (2015)/ESA Text, charts and layout: AARSE & EARSC.

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59 SatMagazine November 2016 satellites have heralded the arrival of vast amounts of new data with full, free and open access. Also in the political arena, major developments have also occurred, such as the adoption of the African Space Policy and Strategy, and the Global Monitoring for Environment & Security and Africa initiative, GMES & Africa in short, that promises to deliver new services for African policy makers and may offer new opportunities for the African EO industry. the impact these factors may have had on the African EO services industry and to map the growth and trends that are shaping it. In the meantime, the results for 2016 follow.The views in this document are those of AARSE and EARSC and are not necessarily approved or endorsed by the European Commission (EC).Strategic ContextThe years from 2000 to the present are crucial for the development of EO in Africa. Advancements in Information Systems/Information Technology (IS/IT) have made it possible to access information that was once unthinkable to acquire. A huge amount of geographical data was made available, attributable to the growing of a number of related public and private institutions in many parts of the continent. Several technological innovations have contributed to this: The increase in spectral and spatial resolution of data delivered by newly developed Earth orbiting sensors in Europe, the US and other countries provides more cost-effective access to framework data and mapping bases. Increased affordability of personal computers and microelectronic equipment as well as telecommunication services giving access to the Internet at least in some parts of Africa, have paved and are paving the way for an avalanche of information in and for planning and policy purposes. Google Earth coming from the US, Europe, Japan and other major EO players have stimulated needs for proactive capacity development in EO and geospatial technologies in Africa. In the last 10 years, four African countries (Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa) have built smallsats, moving the continent out of the class of being sensed to sensing. At the same time, a continent-wide, EO infrastructure has been developed. Across Africa there are now more than 20 national space agencies (also referred to as national remote sensing agencies), as well as regional centers and over 45 universities dedicated to building expertise in EO technologies.With technological advancement on the continent being steady, a growing EO market, an increasing EO user and a dynamic science network (that AARSE has helped to foster) can be seen. It was believed that these developments have created space and impetus for the growth of the African private EO sector. systematic survey of private sector companies engaged in EO and geospatial information sciences, in order to... Compile an inventory of existing African companies Gather knowledge on employment creation and markets Gain more knowledge of the sector in the light of new programs and initiatives Facilitate associated representation of the private sector This tied in well with the activities concurrently undertaken by survey to Africa. Copernicus, the implementation of the GMES and Africa initiative calls for the application of approaches developed in Copernicus, notably by adopting a free and open data policy, by focusing on operational services and by involving the private sector in the services development. AARSE and EARSC have closely cooperated in conducting this survey and presenting its results and will strive to facilitate connectivity by identifying potential areas of cooperation between African and European EO companies, creating the required synergy.

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60 SatMagazine November 2016Industrial LandscapeThe survey questionnaire was sent to 229 companies, were received, representing 21 countries. The chart below shows the countries from which company responses were received. from four countries, namely South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Ethiopia. The study team assumed the following reasons could have played a role for the establishment of private companies in these countries: Thriving of private sector is encouraged at government level A rapidly increasing EO user community, and a new breed of remote sensing experts trained locally and abroad, who see opportunities for going private Local presence of several UN-bodies, international service providing organizations such as ESRI, EO related international companies (e.g., in photogrammetry, remote sensing, image processing, etc.) including foreign based hardware and software expertise to expand in the African market Capacity building centers and facilities of which private companies can make use When grouped according to regions, it can be seen that West Africa is most strongly represented, followed by East and Southern Africa. Looking at the formation of new companies over the last 25 years and their development, the study team noted that the African private sector has continuously grown. The fall away in the last two to three years may most likely be attributed to new companies not yet becoming visible and this should not be considered as evidence for any slowed growth. the strongest over the last 15 years. Number of companies contactednumber of companies that responded. Number of companies formed per year. Geographical distribution of respondent companies. Number of companies per African sub-region.

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61 SatMagazine November 2016More than 90 percent of companies are privately owned, which support the view, coupled with the large proportion of small and microenterprises, that these are start-ups in a sector that is relatively new and immature. are assumed to be larger companies with subsidiaries in an to the questionnaire. acquisition of remote sensing data, maintenance and archiving, dissemination and distribution, analysis and interpretation, integration of interpreted data with other spatial data and models, as well as training in all of these aspects.The study team believes the picture presented to the left is representative for the current African EO services industry. In the absence of responses, there were no means present renamed or have perhaps merged with other companies in the same country, meaning no secured data was available. The questionnaire had asked respondent companies to provide contact details of other companies that would qualify that this sector is rather fragmented. Despite several channels used to publish the survey and stimulate participation, responses from companies in several Mozambique in Southern Africa, Ivory Coast and Guinea in West Africa as well as Egypt and the Maghreb. Concerning the latter, no response was received from companies in Algeria, a country known to be a major player in space technology in Africa. Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia and Sierra are local EO/ Geospatial services companies engaged in industries in these countries. services to international players in the mining sector (e.g., China, Japan, Russia and Australia). However, no reliable quantitative data can be currently presented. Last, but not least, several countries from which no responses could be obtained currently suffer from political crises and tech private business.EmploymentTaking out the anomalous 750 staff employed by one publicly traded company in the data sample (but accomplishing rather little EO business), one arrives at an overall number an average of 18 employees per company. The study team considered this as representative and realistic. Broken down per country, the table is derived and shown at the top of the following page. Development of private sector companies. Company ownership.

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62 SatMagazine November 2016 Africa, Nigeria, Madagascar and Botswana, employ more than from the two companies in Madagascar suggest, however, that these are private enterprises within a public institution.The study team had no means to ascertain whether the numbers accounted for in this case are private or public employees. Looking at the regional breakdown for employment and the breakdown to EO related employees the following details become evident. More than a third of people employed by responding companies are engaged in EO related activities as employees. The average number per company is seven people engaged in EO related activities, while the average of total employment per company is 18 people.To get a feel for the continuity of business, companies were asked to indicate whether the number of EO related employees changed much in the last few years. As shown that the number of their EO related employees stayed the same, 33 percent indicated that number had increased somewhat and 20 percent reported that their numbers had This seems to signal, quite reassuringly, that companies have stayed in business for a number of recent years; a third have been able to employ more people during that time period, When asked to give a forecast on the number of their EO slight increase in the number of EO related employees; 15 percent of companies were very optimistic about being able respondents out of 70 fear they might have to reduce staff in the coming months. Table of the total number of employees, total EO related employees and the number of surveyed companies per region. Employment per country. Employment change. Employment expectations over next 12 months (2016)

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63 SatMagazine November 2016Overall, these results suggest the sector has grown and is likely to continue such growth in the near future.Revenues team had cautiously asked companies about their revenues. were asked to only summarily indicate the range of their last years revenue (i.e. how revenues developed in recent years and what trend As shown in the chart below, 56 percent of all companies (70 percent of respondent companies indicated a revenue band To obtain an overview of where the largest players in the sector are located, a regional break down is provided in the chart below. revenues in the last few years, 55 percent of companies claim that their revenues increased somewhat, 18.57 percent claim revenues increased by more than 30 percent and 11 percent stated revenues stayed the same or somewhat that their revenues had fallen by more than 30 percent. As with employment evolution, the study team also noted from revenue developments that the industry has steadily grown, with some companies having done quite well in increasing their earnings in the last few years. The following chart offers a picture from where, geographically, revenues are obtained. Given that most surveyed companies are micro-sized or small enterprises, the fact that revenues accrue primarily in companies home countries (countries where they are legally registered) should not be surprising. primarily on a national level. Some 15 percent of companies also realize income beyond national borders, i.e., in their sub-regional neighborhood. The number of companies that have business on a continental scale, or receive international revenues, is relatively small at around 10 percent. Revenue bands in 2015. Regional revenue bands from EO related business in 2015. Revenue change. Geographic origin of revenues.

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64 SatMagazine November 2016 to stagnate, with around 5 percent of the respondents (four By and large, companies seem to be trusting in continued growth, both in revenues and employment.Activities out what companies actually do, who their customers are and in what segments of the market they operate. Companies were asked to indicate where the focus of their companies in Africa are active across the entire value chain (illustrated) and the chart below shows the relative size of each part of that value chain. As shown in the chart above, the service type of companies EO related business is clearly in downstream/GIS services not value-added services and other support activities; and services using satellite data to create products. Thirty-seven percent of companies resell satellite or other hard products or software. Only 10 percent of responding companies worked with command space infrastructure or as satellite operators. Not entirely clear at this stage is what kind of space infrastructure and/or satellite operations are referred to by these respondents. Five percent of companies (four responses) receive and distribute data, meaning they are owners or operators of a ground station.CustomersTying in with other observations from the survey that companies primarily operate locally and their services are driven by local information needs, it clearly emerges that the public sector is the principal customer for respondent companies (53 out of 70 responses). But private companies it is assumed that these private clients would probably be mining companies, agricultural consortia, forest plantations or construction companies (roads, etc.). Only some 15 percent of respondents have clients in international organizations and non-governmental sponsors and academic institutions only play a minor role for the business of private companies. Spread of EO related business. Services covered by the AARSE/EARSC survey. Percentage of business per customer category.

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65 SatMagazine November 2016 providing training. Only about 11 percent (8 companies out of 70 responding) do no training whatsoever. Out of the 62 companies that carry out regular training activities, 58 percent of companies do so for the company employees as well as potential customers, while 25 percent of companies target potential clients only and 16 percent only for company employees.The type of training that companies engage in is shown on the training. This is not surprising, given that the main business activity of surveyed companies is in downstream services.However, 62 percent of respondents also do training in remote sensing, 57 percent in data integration as well as in image processing and 53 percent in application oriented percent of respondents. Twenty-one percent of training actions by respondent companies concern other subjects. Among these are photogrammetry, UAV training, geospatial web-application development, geo-software development, applications hydrography, data acquisition, numerical cartography, hydrography and disaster risk management, as indicated by the comments from respondents. command, companies were asked about their working companies collaborate foremost with other companies in African countries (other than the country of the companys have working relations with companies in other African percent with companies in North America (US, Canada). A quarter of all respondent companies had working relationships with Asian companies. Not surprisingly, working relations with companies in Australia and Latin America are mentioned by only a few companies in the survey sample. Training subjects. corresponds to the total number of responding companies.

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66 SatMagazine November 2016Thematic AreasCompanies were asked to indicate in which major market segments they do business. Responses from surveyed companies suggest that business is primarily done in the three following segments of the market: Local and regional planning (66 percent of respondents) Environmental, pollution, climate (59 percent) Agriculture (51.43 percent) Other important segments comprise the utilities sector (water, electricity, waste), indicated by 37 percent of companies, the mining sector (21 percent), and transportation (15 percent). Ten percent of companies do business in Forestry, and in the area of Humanitarian operations / Health, respectively. Eight percent of companies engage in business in the Oil/ Gas arena, while 7 percent of respondents are active in the security sector. Few companies (four responses) in the sample do business in more special areas, such as Maritime choose other but did not elaborate. The large picture of market shares on the previous page ties mainly service information needs for planning purposes and utilities provision as well as for environmental monitoring and agricultural development.EO Data and open Sentinel data, obtaining information on which of the free satellite data sources companies currently use, what data they purchase and how much money they have to spend on the acquisition of commercial data. surprisingly, 67 percent of all respondents (70 companies) are using free data from multiple sources. Comments on data from multiple sources indicate, that of respondents are not currently using any free data. Asked whether they currently buy data from commercial suppliers and from where, companies responded as follows: Forty-eight percent of respondents do not currently buy data from commercial suppliers at all. Forty percent do buy data, namely from US as well as from European satellites. Indian satellites (IRS) or other operators. Three respondents buy data from African satellite operators (see graph below). The latter suggests that African satellite data do not currently satellites, namely the NIGERIASAT family, ALSAT family, vast majority of company respondents do know of these data suppliers (78 percent). However, 21 percent of respondents, (that is, 15 out of 70 respondent companies) are not aware that some African nations have their own smallsats. Those respondents that buy data from commercial suppliers amount they spend on satellite data. The respective sample here was obtained from 38 companies. Business relationships with other companies. Use of free satellite data. Use of commercial satellite data.

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67 SatMagazine November 2016 more per year. As will be seen in the following section, cost of EO data growth of the industry by many respondents. Costs of data needed to be reviewed, as they were prohibitive for the average user. Availability and accessibility of free data was regarded as the one factor that could strengthen business in the sector. Looking at the data used by companies and the segments in which they do business, the conclusion is that they are talking of high resolution datasets. In addition, data quality and standards for each end use application was also mentioned as a critical issue.Strategic IssuesTo understand how the African private EO industry is currently doing, respondents views on obstacles to growth and on challenges faced, were solicited. As shown in the chart below, a majority of respondents (70 answers) perceive to growth: 80 percent) Lack of development funding (by 65 percent) Cost of EO data (by 58 percent) Contract compliance and contract acquisition are also respectively. Thirty-four percent do not see that there is enough market and user acceptance. Thirty-two percent see a problem in the lack of operational data supply. Comments given on the latter issue concern cost of high some EO data being too costly for small developmental In terms of governmental and private sector support, the most severe factors hampering growth are seen in: Unfavorable policy and legal provisions (by 37 percent) Lack of development funding (by 65 percent) Lack of venture capital (by 65 percent) The percentage citing unfavorable policy and legal provisions is even greater in the French speaking sample of EO related industry than in the somewhat more liberal subregions of Southern and Eastern Africa as well as in Nigeria. This might tie in with the facts that a) the study team was able to identify a comparatively higher number of companies in English speaking Southern and Eastern Africa as well as Nigeria than in West and North Africa, and that b) in general, companies from the former regions more readily responded to the survey questionnaire than those from the North and West of Africa. Overall, companies valuation of problems depending on policy and legal provisions is clearly addressed to national African governments, sub-regional African governing authorities and to the AUC (such as completing their commitments for the implementation of the African Space geospatial sector, GMES & Africa, etc.). companies, the supposition being that such would be comprise of both African R&D programs as well as ODA Annual expenditure on satellite data.

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68 SatMagazine November 2016funding by international entities, including greater support from EC programs.Companies cite the lack of a stable revenue stream as being a particular issue. The project-based nature of the business today is certainly a key factor. This may change in the future as a swing away from bespoke products (project-based contracts) to off-the-shelf products (service-based contracts) continues to develop. Lack of venture capital seems to be a common complaint, both in Europe and in Africa. A stable business environment with potential for growth is a pre-requisite and this is questionable for different reasons on both continents. One of the main reasons is probably the highly technical nature of the business where traditional investors are not comfortable to provide capital. This is not the case in the US, where evidence can be seen of technical savvy investors backing new often blue-skies ventures. However, this class of investor seems to be missing in Europe and Africa and further effort will be needed by companies and governments alike to help free up investment capital. One key step is for governments to acknowledge their role as purchasers of services and in doing so to provide an underpinning market and revenue source for companies. This is a key step which is complicated by the presence of many government research bodies which provide services to their governments. After all, in Africa, some 63 percent that observed in Europe. Governments are customers for EO products as well as seeking to sponsor the sector as a perceived high-tech growth area. Competition coming from other EO suppliers is considered a threat to their own companys growth by 27 percent of respondents. In comments on this issue, competition from government funded National Space Agencies was pointed out, as well as competition from European companies, particularly in connection with European-funded projects, in which companies from Europe were given preference over those from Africa. Ten percent also considered competition from non-EO sources. Here, losing business to surveying and mapping issue, suggesting that trained professional staff can be found on the market. However, several respondents did remark professionals and limited capacity in business management.On the assumption that there might be a need for the African private sector to get better organized and have the continents needs and interests better voiced and heard, companies were asked about their opinion on a trade association. Negative impacts on industry growth.

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69 SatMagazine November 2016 trade association at national (58 percent) and / or continental levels (60 percent). Interest for an association at sub-regional level is a little less (52 percent), and some 7 percent of respondents are not interested at all in such an endeavor. interest in engaging more closely with AARSE, currently geospatial research and services communities in Africa, as well as in closer collaboration with European counterparts as represented by EARSC. Responses on the question, what further steps companies would like to see AARSE and EARSC take for strengthening the EO industry in Africa and facilitating collaboration, are revealed in the chart below. Eighty-four percent of respondents suggested joint projects. Training in topics such as project planning, processing of conference) would be also highly welcome (73 percent of respondents). Almost the same number of respondents would go for partnerships (71 percent). Several respondents gave detailed suggestions of what would be useful, thereby giving AARSE and EARSC more dedicated actions to consider.Copernicus, GMES & AfricaCommon research interests by the parties involved in the companies knew about Copernicus, the satellite data already provided and planned under the European Earth Observation program, and the Europe-Africa cooperation in revealed that: Fifty-one percent of respondent companies indicate to have never heard about Copernicus. Fifty-eight percent of all respondents (70 companies) are not aware that data from the European Sentinel satellites are free and open. Thirty-eight percent are aware and plan to use Sentinels data. Two respondents claim to be aware but have no plans to use these data Sixty-seven percent of all respondents indicated that they are not aware of GMES & Africa. Only a rough third of all respondents seems to know about this initiative of Europe-Africa cooperation in Earth observation. However, companies show great interest in the envisaged services of the initiative. Six thematic areas of GMES & Africa are considered relevant for their current business by more than 50 percent of respondents. This ties in with the market segments companies are primarily operating in. The spectrum of responses is given in the chart below. of the envisaged themes in the GMES & Africa initiative interesting and/or consider them important aspects in the in the GMES & Africa initiative. In summary, a clear message can be derived from the program, as well as the GMES & Africa initiative, are not too well known across the African private sector. Action seems to be needed to achieve greater awareness and better involvement for the private sector. As one of the Company expectations from AARSE and EARSC. Relevance of GMES & Africa services to companies current business.

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global players in space, the European Commission would have to strengthen their outreach and dissemination efforts on Copernicus services and Sentinel data.There seems to be a particular need for the African Union Commission to assume a coordinating role and to better inform the African private sector about major political developments on the continent, namely the African Space Concerning global efforts by the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) and, more particularly, the African initiative of AfriGEOSS that aims at the enhancement of Africas capacity for producing, managing and using Earth observations, company answers offer a clear picture: Obviously, companies consider themes highly relevant that somehow if they relate to the market segments many of them Development, Management of Natural Resources, Food Security & Rural Development, Water resources management and Impacts of Climate Variability and Change. business in other responses are also considered relevant, such as Disaster Risk Reduction and Health Management. Seventy percent of responding companies are not aware seem to have even heard about those endeavors. Apparently, GEO/ AfriGEOSS is not understood by the African private sector. Companies might assume that AfriGEOSS is mostly about policy issues, even if they know about these initiatives. Thus, there seems to be a need for AfriGEOSS to step up activities to better inform the private sector about AfriGEOSS coordinating role and demonstrate what companies could gain from it. Likewise, private their need for enabling policies.The FutureIn conclusion, this industry survey has provided a rich source of data on the EO services industry in Southern, West, East and North Africa, which has been used to generate the analysis and the charts in this article. The anticipation is that the dataset will serve to support further analysis against AARSE and EARSC wish to use this survey as the start of a regular analysis of the African EO industry with a target to generate a report once every two years to determine how this market segment has changed. In order to be able to do that, the organizations count on the respondents to this survey and all of those many companies that did not, broaden the database of companies, particularly in some African countries and regions which have not been fully engaged in this survey. All African companies that have not responded, or that we may have overlooked, to send their contact information to these organizations. collaborating with AARSE. AARSE will step up activities to better involve the private sector, provide relevant information and facilitate connectivity between the African private sector and international actors. Though primarily operating on national level, many sub-regional trade association. AARSE and EARSC will help the private EO sector in Europe. with European companies. EARSC members are interested in developing links with potential partners in Africa, and subsequent actions to this survey, such as a trade association representing African companies, would help in this. Further including measures connected to Copernicus and GEO.This survey has covered the industrial EO services sector in several African countries but has missed some important elements that should be covered in future surveys. with those of public sector bodies using EO data. The the survey has deliberately only looked at the private side as a clear priority. of Africa, particularly to some countries and regions that are not well represented this time round. Third, concerning the private sector, the study has only looked at those companies which are supplying services to others. There are many organizations which are using EO data as the basis for analysis within their own organization i.e., as internal service departments. africanremotesensing.orgwww.earsc.org www.earsc-portal.euSatMagazine November 2016 70

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A SpeedCast International Case In Point: Save The Children Africahe Save The Children Organization, an international Non-Government Organization (NGO) with their central connectivity network for 35 sites across Africa The rollout of this new service by SpeedCast for the Save The migration process required work across multiple countries a tight deadline to complete the roll-out before the previous SpeedCasts network design team worked directly with requirements. The new service was set up for the customer as a Virtual Network Operator (VNO).The VNO allows SCI to allocate pooled bandwidth To ensure that staff could communicate effectively, SCI prioritized Skype and Lync. Augmenting this, the SpeedCast useful and informative tools, allowing SCI to monitor the VNO performance at anytime from anywhere.Members of the SCI staff were trained as VSAT installers at SpeedCasts teleport in Germany. This was a highly worthwhile investment, as one of the team members was able to quickly apply the training and completed the installation of a number of VSAT units in Sierra Leone during the Ebola Emergency.SpeedCast also supported SCI in Somalia, where the organizations staff re-pointed all of the VSAT systems to was particularly helpful to SCI, as Somalia can be a highly challenging area within which to locate satellite engineers. During the migration process, SpeedCasts technical support team also proved to be of critical assistance, helping to rapidly mitigate problems that SCI encountered. During major deployments, such as SCIs, the support staff have are essential to successful roll-outs. SCI engineers stated they appreciated the direct access to SpeedCast technicians via SMS as well as via voice. The NGOs engineers mentioned that the SpeedCast support encountered with other VSAT providers. The new satellite service now provides connectivity to a network of 35 C-band VSAT systems across 35 sites in Africa. All sites were successfully deployed ahead of deadline and, as a result, there was no disruption of service for the for a full cost recovery as the SpeedCast service delivers greater performance at a lower price point. The SpeedCast implementation has now allowed SCI to have been matched by the old system, where each site had individual contracts with a range of different suppliers. connected to the SpeedCast service, and the connection quality was better than some places in Europe, said Mark Hawkins, Global Field Technology Manager at SCI. I was able to participate in conference calls with other parts of the world and some people were surprised that I was communicating over a VSAT link. Following the success of migrating our core C-band network, this year we have worked with SpeedCast to expand the network to 51 sites. By replacing Ku-band equipment with C-band systems, we for a lower monthly cost. speedcast.com savethechildren.org.uk T 72 SatMagazine November 2016

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By Philippe Hostiou and Gerard Faria, TeamCast Satellite Signal Interference & Carrier ID... A TeamCast Perspectiveadio Frequency (RF) Interference is the main issue that impacts Quality of Service Occasional-use (OU) satellite transmissions and temporary feeder links are particularly impacted, as compared with full time DTH services where the owners and locations of respective signalization (DVB-SI) data included in the While temporary link errors and interference can come rogue pirate carriers. This unintentional interference is often caused by failed equipment or by systems improperly Various actions are being taken by operators, customers, vendors and industry groups to tackle interference, including: training for installers and operators; data sharing to improve operational processes; and new innovations such 1 ETSI 103 129, and validated in 2013. The Carrier ID implementation is done at different levels: At the physical level, inside the satellite modulator. Currently, most of the modulators available on the market support Carrier ID insertion; however, most of time this means a hardware upgrade is required, especially for older devices. TeamCast introduced this feature three years ago in their in a big database shared between all satellite operators. of managing this database. TeamCast introduced a CID Receiver during the recent Washington DC trade show to facilitate DVB-CID reading. the DVB-CID standard at the system level. After a brief technical introduction of the DVB-CID process, the main differences between two ways to identify a carrier will be The focus is on the CID receiver, which can reliably read the DVB-CID data included with the satellite carrier. Finally, a technology overview of the TeamCast solution for the DVBCID is presented. for the transmission world; it is with pleasure that TeamCast shares with you its vision of the markets and the technologies associated with the evolution/revolution required by the satellite environment. There are a variety of causes of satellite interference: For the majority of cases, interference is due to human and technical errors, which can be explained by the increasing number of satellites and users sharing a limited spectrum resource Poor quality, aging (DVB-S started 25 years ago) systems which generate frequency shifts; or poor spectrum quality, plus cabling faults (e.g., FM radio can be picked up at 70/140MHz), and other unwanted contributions Intentional/unintentional transmission interference which is now becoming more and more important When interference occurs, various actions can be taken: Analyzing, if possible, the interference signal SI Geo-localization of the interference (requiring powerful calculation) Keeping the service active by adjusting the sensitivity, the power level to compensate for the interference solution (especially for intentional/Pirate interference)However, there is still something missing: an element that is similar to watermarking for each satellite carrier. This is the goal of the ETSI standard: DVB-CID, which is called Carrier ID. R Figure 1. Causes of satellite interference2SatMagazine November 2016 74

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SatMagazine November 2016 75Carrier ID is used to identify the signal broadcasted via a transponder, a watermark on every carrier in a transponder. The basic idea is to highlight the owner of the RF signal so that to ensure that he/she respects the contract with the within a determined schedule. The technical process implemented is an old one: spread spectrum technology as used historically for military robust modulation: even with a C/N at -10dB, the useful standard describes the implementation, and at the output of a modulator the following spectrum can be visible: The Carrier ID signal added to the useful signal is set at -27.5dB to this useful signal power level, with a bandwidth either at 112KHz when the Symbol Rate 250khz is less than 112khz In Figure 2, the yellow curve, is the main signal (S/ S2/S2X/) at 0.225MBaud. The blue curve is the DVBCID signal set at: 27.5dB under the main signal with 112KHz of bandwidth.NB: In North America, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) mandated the use of Carrier ID by September of 2017.TechnologiesTwo technologies are proposed to generate a Carrier NIT Carrier ID the RF signal. This information may be added at the encoder or the modulator. As mentioned previously, this process is already in use for DTH transmission. DVB (RF) Carrier ID at the RF level, where a very small RF S2X), to broadcast the information of the emission point of the RF signal. The DVB Carrier ID process is done at the modulator where the CID is added to each carrier. Figure 3 modulators are broadcasting at the same time, on the same frequency, on the same transponder, with two different content streams. In this case, no IRD (integrated receiver/decoder) can demodulate the signals because each RF signal is an interfering noise signal to the other. That means the impossible to identify who is broadcasting at the same time just by analyzing the RF signal on the transponder. Using the DVB Carrier ID (Figure 4, next page), however, robust RF signal added to the useful RF signal. A dedicated demodulator of this additional very small RF DVB-S, DVB-S2 or DVB-S2X signal cannot be demodulated. This process can be integrated into the monitoring system of much interference or strong interference onto the useful signal. Only the DVB Carrier ID can be recovered in 100 percent of the situations. Currently, about 70 percent of modulators are DVB CID ready; whereas about 80 percent of encoders are NIT CID ready.NIT Carrier IDDetailsGeneration at the modulator/encoder site Figure 2. Carried ID signal. Figure 3. NIT Carrier ID.

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SatMagazine November 2016 76 which broadcasts the content as RF signal. The Carrier ID information table should be located in descriptor tag 196 table-inject to the original NIT. Monitoring at the receiver site The NIT Carrier ID is more or less easy to monitor because Therefore, both DSNG players and Satellite operators can manage the NIT Carrier ID. However, as mentioned earlier, it is only possible if the received satellite RF signal is not disrupted too much by the interference.DVB Carrier IDDetailsGeneration at the modulator/encoder site shift keying) spread spectrum RF signal generated and superimposed on the main carrier by the modulator. There is no effect on the useful signal. The standard allows up to 0.28dB degradation of the C/N margin; typically it is less than 0.1dB. Monitoring at the receiver site For the DVB Carrier ID, a dedicated RF demodulator is required, as depicted in Figure 4 above. Until now, only some satellite operators have upgraded their monitoring solution to support the DVB carrier ID by adding a Carrier ID receiver in parallel to the DVB-S/S2/S2X demodulator. Even if the DVBS/S2/ S2X signal cannot be demodulated, the DVB Carrier ID can by its Carrier ID signal. This is the initial goal also of the CID receiver designed by TeamCast.What Is A CID Receiver?The CID Receiver is used to check each carrier to ensure the DVB-CID signal is present and can be analyzed. TeamCasts new CID Receiver DVB-S/S2 satellite signals. Applications DVB-CID implementation a modulator adheres to the DVB-CID standard. DVB-CID monitoring: CID Receiver scans all carriers to check the presence or absence of a DVB-CID signal. In case ensure that it is the correct modulator which generated the for preventive maintenance.With the TeamCast solution, it is possible to replace an of-art DVB-S/S2 demodulator (including the DVB-S2X low roll-off management), with high accuracy probes.TeamCast CID Receivers can work either in stand-alone mode or integrated within a global monitoring system After locking onto a DVB-S or DVB-S2 signal in each satellite broadcast signal, verifying that the CID is compliant and that the received signal has been generated by the correct modulator. Figure 4. DVB Carrier ID with a separate CID demodulator.

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SatMagazine November 2016 77The CID Receiver then demodulates the DVB-S and DVB-S2 the CID Receiver monitors the following DVB modulation parameters: RF level, C/N, C/N margin, EVM, BER (before/ after FEC), CRC BB header for DVB-S2, and the packet error rate for DVB-S. This is, therefore, the easiest way (in terms of time-to-market requirements regarding DVB-CID in 2017. In summary, the TeamCast CID Receiver is a versatile tool: To detect which carrier is not DVB-CID compliant To create your own database by identifying each modulator used To survey the redundancy situation: a modulator To be used as a double check with an NMS (network management system).DVB-CID TeamCast Proposal TeamCast has been involved in DVB-CID implementations during the IBC 2013 Show, with DVB-CID implemented on As of this writing, DVB-CID is not mandatory, so the user can decide whether to initiate the process at the modulator or not. With reference to Figure 5, the Global from the Ethernet MAC address of the modulator. The other parameters are optional. Depending on the market evolution of the DVB-CID requirements, the modulator For reception, with the CID Receiver, the DVB-CID can satellite carrier signal conforms adequately to the DVB-CID requirements (see Figure 6): all satellite signal interference problems, but it will be a of interference and reducing their negative impact on operators, customers, and the satellite industry as a whole. Carrier ID will enable the operators and users to: those interferences, thus reducing the duration of such events. interference events and release bandwidth being used to overcome current and ongoing events, in the long term.Creating and sharing the Carrier ID database is a key success factor for reducing the interference impact in term of quality of service and of course money. Typically, if interference reduces the quality of service on one transponder, another transponder must be used... and revenue and customers are lost.www.teamcast.com committees, and is also a member of the Satellite Interference Reduction Group. The company has developed state-of(Vyper and Tyger, as well as OEM modules), and has recently ecosystem worldwide, with innovative technology offerings TV transmission. Created in 2003, and based at Rennes in France, TeamCast TeamCast is a vital member of the Satellite Interference Reduction Group (SiRG: www.satirg.org) and actively group as well as in various key industry events. References12Figure 5. DVB Carrier ID GUI on the modulator side Figure 6. DVB Carrier ID GUI on the receiver side

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The Nuances Of NAB New York... Major Knowledge Acquisitionerging the advanced technologies and the expertise that comprise the content and communications world together at the Javits Convention Center in New York City is the goal of the NAB Show New York and from all of the pre-show information received, this appears to beonce againanother major event that should be of intense interest to SatMagazineThis major show will occur from November 9th through the 10th and includes SATCON and Media in Action events and is co-located with infoCommConnections. (NAB) acquired the CCW trade show and then reintroduced this even as the NAB Show New York. This event brings a far more connected community of broadcasters and storytellers into the spotlight, along with the brands, agencies and digital partners who are moving the contentcentric landscape to new heights especially in regard to those areas involved in satellite broadcastingor what we like refer to as SatBroadcasting. Attendees will access the knowledge required to grow their businesses and produce epic projects. A crucial concern to business success for satellite owners and content providers is the undeniable fact that the architecture, the backbone of the broadcast and media industries, is moving rapidly. could well pass interested parties by without their awareness of such necessary informatiion. NAB Show New York will provide attendees the opportunities entire global enterprise of content creation and delivery to new realms. Some of the attractions and pavilions for this 2016 event include:This venue offers an unparalleled opportunity to explore and compare solutions for satelliteenabled communications, terrestrial wireless, mobile and hybrid technologies for global communications, content delivery and distribution. Exhibiting companies will be showcasing everything from satellite management hardware and software, RF over microwave, switches and test equipment to ENG/SNG, engineering services, IP Network Solutions, military SATCOM applications, mobile data, satellite services and more. ABSBooth 808 Accelerated Media TechnologiesBooth 601 Advantech WirelessBooth 807 Applied InstrumentsBooth 510 Beijing CircLoop Digital Image Tech. Co., Ltd.Booth 816 CabletimeMediaStarBooth 602 CPI ASC Signal DivisionBooth 914 DH AntennaBooth 500 DTV InnovationsBooth 821 EchoStar Satellite Services L.L.C.Booth 609 EutelsatBooth 507 GeoSync Microwave Inc.Booth 409 HaivisionBooth 502 M SatMagazine November 2016 78

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Hunter Communications, Inc.Booth 923 Intelsat CorporationBooth 707 KenCast, Inc.Booth 815 L-3 Narda-MITEQBooth 621 LBiSatBooth 615 Logus MicrowaveBooth 604 Media LinksBooth 921 Net Insight/ScheduALLBooth 818 Network InnovationsBooth 920 + Truck_1 PACSATBooth 411 R.P. Luce & CompanyBooth 403 Satellite Engineering Group, a Division of WESCO Booth 503 Satellite Markets & ResearchBooth 600 SatNews PublishersBooth 719 SESBooth 2D06, 903, outdoor SES Stream Station, Inc. Booth 501 STS GlobalBooth 814 XMW, Inc.Booth 603 Xytech Systems CorporationBooth 916Information regarding the SATCON registration packages is available at nabshowny.com/ Connected Media | IP businesses need the answers to the hot questions that competitive and on the cutting edge.Drone Pavillion in a fully enclosed drone cage and learn about how to use the cameras and the components employed by UAV/UAS/ regarding this hottest of capture technologies.Innovation Lab springboard for innovators unleashing real solutions. These entrepreneurs are one step ahead of evolving market needs and VR VillageHere, one can try out the latest headsets and learn how to shoot with a 360 camera. See how this emerging technology software and equipment space leading the charge in this storytelling, cameras, lighting, sound, production, special effects (VFX), editing, distribution, coding and consumption.Post | Production CampusContent creators who wish to get acquire quick tips and Thought Leaders presenting during NAB New York include How Satellite Communications Will Transform the Broadcast Industry, by Shahnaz Mahmud When you think of satellite communications, the romance of Earth and space and NASA often come to mind. However, satellites have come down to Earth, so to speak, with new technologies being created to cater to all forms of content delivery. Why Live Streaming Is the Future of Online Content, by Barry Eitel become one of the major digital trends of 2016, attention of brands everywhere. The Future of Drone-Enabled Filming in New York, by John Egan thanks to drones. How VR is Set to Disrupt Advertising, by Barry Eitel After years of bubbling just under the surface of mainstream awareness, the era of virtual reality is upon us, and poised to be the watch the latest Olympics in Rio via VR, and tech leaders such as Facebook and Google are by 2020, and the nations leading content creators in advertising have been diving into the new space.To register for the show and to obtain housing for your visit, please visit registration.experientevent.com/ShowNAB168/. 79 SatMagazine November 2016