With exponential growth forecast worldwide for Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA), the commercial satellite industry convinced delegates to the recent World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-15) that more spectrum was needed in this vital area.
The delegates to the November conference in Geneva commissioned the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to develop Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) for the use of Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) links for flight control of RPAs. They also identified additional FSS spectrum between 10 and 17 GHz to correct the imbalance between uplink and downlink Ku-band allocations that will provide more spectrum for general non-flight control related communications. RPAs generally operate in the Ku-band for commanding and the transmission of mission data. Commercial satellites provide much of the Ku-band capacity that the U.S. Military requires for RPA operations in hot spots around the world.
Delegates at WRC-15 determined that allowing unmanned aircraft systems to use Ku- and Ka-band spectrum for flight control on long-haul trips could work with the appropriate standards and recommended practices (SARPs) in place. This has important long-term implications because civil aviation authorities are considering rules that would allow unmanned aircraft to operate in civil air space.
Agenda items adopted for the next two WRC conferences, in 2019 and 2023, will consider additional FSS spectrum needs, a sign that member delegates understand that government requirements for commercial satellite communications (“satcom”) is going to grow.
The spectrum in which FSS operates also has been eyed by mobile communications operators in their expansion into 5G capability. Their arguments that 20 mobile broadband subscriptions are activated every second collided with satcom industry research that shows that growth in the use of High Altitude, Long Endurance (HALE) and Medium-Altitude (MALE) unmanned aerial system air frames is expected to double between now and 2023.
The conference, which is held every 3-4 years under the auspices of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), also dealt with incursion into the C-band spectrum by terrestrial mobile operators. C-band carries televisions broadcasts but also supports government needs such as emergency and humanitarian services, weather forecasting, and maritime operations.
Source: IntelSat