|OPERATIONS of Psat IN THE AMATEUR SATELLITE SERVICE        26 July 2010
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|                                                                 WB4APR
|
|This paper addresses the licensing of Psat in the Amateur Satellite
|Service.  It extracts the pertinent sections of the IARU (International
|Amateur Radio Union) guildelines for INFORMATION FOR PROSPECTIVE OWNERS
|AND OPERATORS OF SATELLITES UTILIZING FREQUENCIES ALLOCATED TO THE
|AMATEUR-SATELLITE SERVICE  which helps assure compliance with the ITU
|rules.   This document may be viewed in its entirety at:
|http://www.iaru.org/satellite/prospective.html
|
|RULES:
|  "Amateur-Satellite Service: A radiocommunication service using space
|  stations on earth satellites for the same purposes as those of the 
|  amateur service." [RR S1.57]
|
|  "Amateur Service: A radiocommunication service for the purpose of 
|   self-training, intercommunication and technical investigations 
|   carried out by amateurs, that is, by duly authorised persons 
|   interested in radio technique solely with a personal aim and without 
|   pecuniary interest." [RR S1.56]
|
|Psat COMMENT:
|
|Sponsoring Organization:     US Naval Academy
|Operating Organization:      US Naval Academy Amateur Radio Club W3ADO
|Station Trustee:             Bob Bruninga, WB4APR
|Satellite Station Licensee:  Ryan Johnson, K3FOR
|
|Bob Bruninga is the senior research engineer in the Naval Academy 
|Student project lab who gives engineering guidance to student 
|satellite projects.
|
|Ryan (Skip) Johnson is an active friend of the Academy, a past 
|president and Officer Representative of the Amateur Radio Club, who 
|still meets with it regularly.  He is an unpaid Naval Reservest with 
|NO PECUNIARY association with the US Naval Academy, NRL, NASA nor 
|any other Organization involved in this project.
|
|RULES:
|
|  "VI. OPERATIONAL GUIDELINES. The following operational guidelines, 
|  based on interpretations by IARU of the Radio Regulations and good 
|  amateur practice, are intended to help in planning the missions, 
|  management, and control of satellites planned to operate in the 
|  amateur-satellite service.
|
|  Organisations building satellites should compare their mission 
|  plans to the requirements of the amateur-satellite service. Then, 
|  they should determine if it is possible to comply with the 
|  requirements of the amateur-satellite service or if licensing and 
|  operation should be in some other radio service which is more 
|  consistent with the nature and requirements of the mission.
|
|RULE:  A. Positive Transmitter Control.
|
|  You must be able to turn off the space station transmitter 
|  immediately in case of interference. [RR25.11 & RR 22.1]
|
|  In practice the meaning of "immediate" probably varies a little, 
|  depending on the situation.  If interference is caused to a SAFETY 
|  SERVICE, immediately means NOW:  no more than minutes or a few 
|  tens of minutes. Interference to other services should be terminate 
|  in no more than a few hours.
|
|  Positive transmitter turn-off signals shouild use an independent 
|  telecommand receiver on the space station.  Telecommand on a user 
|  input frequency means that another transmitter can interfere easily 
|  with your telecommand signalso so as to obstrut control.
|
|  An adequate network of well placed earth statinos capable of 
|  sending control signals to the satellite reduces the time required 
|  to issue the turn off command.  Other mechanisms might be (1) a 
|  transmitter time-out timer independent of the houskeeping or 
|  control computer; or (2) limiting the space statio's power budget
|  so that it will run out of energy and sop operating in a reasonably
|  short time.
|
|Psat Comment:  Psat's packet transmitter operates in a time-division
|multiplex environment where it operates in a low-TX-duty-cycle
|mode, designed to share the channel with users, and other satelites
|and systems.  Psat's transmitter can be shut down within the
|requirement of this rule:
|
|1) Psat has an independent packet-length watch dog timer that limits
|packet length to 1.5 seconds maximum.
|
|2) Psat's Comm control system has a watchdog timer on the comm
|system that detects loss of control once a minute and re-boots the 
|comm processor which would also reset any stuck transmitter.
|
|3) Psat's command and control processor also has a watchdog timer
|that reboots the command and control system to defaults if the 
|process or locks up.
|
|4) Psat's 4 watt transmitter power (8 watts DC input) exceeds the
|spacecraft's power budget by a factor of 5 or more, and will
|deplete the system power in under an hour of stuck transmitter.
|
|5) Psat uses FM for the command link, and so even in the presence
|of a jamming signal, a command signal only 10 dB stronger than
|the jammer is needed to execute the transmitter off command.  This
|10 dB command ratio is easily assured:
| 
|   a) Through the use of multiple ground command stations through
|   out the world separated in time by 10's of minutes in different 
|   footprints that can avoid any single jammer.
|
|   b) The geometry of any single pass over a command station and
|   jammer varries by at least 6 to 8 dB simply due to the range
|   equation, plus 4 to 8 dB due to the variation in antenna
|   pattern.  Combined, these allow a variation between 10 to 32 dB
|   between the jammer and the command station, giving assurance
|   that the one-second shut-down command can be received.
| 
|RULE: B. The purposes of an amateur satellite should be to:
|
|      (1) Provide communication resources for the general amateur 
|          radio community and/or
|      (2) Self training and technical investigations relating to 
|          raido technique. [See RR S1.56 and RR S1.57.]
|
|   "Radio technique," means having a reasonable possibility of 
|   application to radio communication systems.  [RR S1.56 and 
|   RR 11.57 and RR 25.2]
|
|   Examples relating to radio technique include but are not limited 
|   to communiction protocols, attitude determination methods, command
|   and control procedures, receivers, transmitters, and transponders.
|   Also antennas, sensors to study spacecraft performance, telemetry
|   protocols, power supplies and controls for use in space. In 
|   addition, spacecraft computers, memory operating systems, programs
|   and related items; radiation effects on electronic components;
|   radio wave propogation, meteor trail reflection, and measurements 
|   of orbital environment.
|
|   While many other types of technical investigations are conceivable, 
|   those not having a reasonable possibility of application to radio 
|   communication systems are probably not in accordance with the 
|   treaty requirements. An administration can reject whatever it 
|   decides is inappropriate use of the amateur-satellite service or 
|   questions may be raised by other administrations.
|
|Psat COMMENT:   Psat is fully in compliance with the purposes above.
|
|1) The Psat communication system is designed as a two-way trans-
|ponder in support of amateur radio communications, particularly remote
|data relay, text messaging, and situational awareness. 
|
|2) The auxilliary communications transponder operates as a two-way
|PSK-31 transponder in full support of amateur users.
|
|3) The extremely low-cost solar panels on Psat provide space
|heritage for other small amateur satellite builders.
|
|RULES: C. Station Control.  Who may operate a transmitter
|
|   All stations operating in the amateur service and the amateur- 
|   satellite service, including space and Earth stations, must be 
|   controlled by "duly authorised persons," that is, individual 
|   licensed amateur radio operators who must be acting "solely with 
|   a personal aim and without pecuniary interest." [S1.56 & S1.57.]
|
|   Even with these limitations, organisations and amateurs have 
|   common interests and work together for their mutual benefit. 
|   (For this discussion, an organisation can be a university, 
|   research institute, for-profit or not-for-profit corporation, 
|   association, club, or other similar entity.)
|
|   AMSAT-NA, for example, is an organisation which owns and builds 
|   space stations to operate in the amateur-satellite service. But, 
|   because it is an organisation and not an individually licensed 
|   radio amateur, it may not control an amateur station. Licenses 
|   under which AMSAT-NA owned amateur stations are operated may be 
|   issued in the name of an individually licensed amateur radio 
|   operator.  They may also be issued in th ename of an amateur radio 
|   club (in this case, AMSAT-NA itself) where a licensed amateur 
|   radio operator is named on the license as trustee (the person 
|   responsible)  for the club station.
|
|   In every case, one individual, a licensed amateur radio operator, 
|   who is neither employed nor paid by AMSAT-NA, is legally 
|   responsible for the operation of each amateur station or amateur-
|   satellite station.
|
|   Commonly, the licensee is an unpaid member of the organisation 
|   owning the amateur station equipment or is a volunteer acting 
|   in close association with it. In these cases, the owner's interest 
|   and the licensee's "personal interest" are usually the same.
|
|   Of course, it is theoretically possible (although to the best of 
|   our knowledge, it has never occurred in practice) that the 
|   licensee or trustee of an amateur station or amateur-satellite 
|   station may determine that something he or she has been requested 
|   to do is not in accordance with the rules and regulations of the 
|   licensing administration. If this happens, the licensee would 
|   inform the organisation and, if possible, they would work out a 
|   solution that satisfies and protects both.
|
|   Thus, the individual responsibility of each licensed amateur 
|   radio operator, imposed by the Radio Regulations, works as a 
|   legal safety check for the organisation and the amateur to 
|   protect both of their interests and those of the amateur 
|   satellite service as well.
|
|Psat COMMENT:  Psat's organizational structure and operators are
|compliant with these rules.  The operating organization is the school's 
|Amateur Radio Club with WB4APR as the licensed trustee of the station 
|and the licensed control operator for the satellite will be Skip Johnson,
|K3FOR as noted above.  The interest of these individuals is in the
|operation of the satellite for personal training and intercommunications 
|with other satellite experimenters in the amateur satellite service and 
|without pecuniary remuneration for such interest.  Bob Bruninga has a 20
|year non-pecuniary history with the Amateur Satellite Service, the author 
|of dozens of related papers in AMSAT and other Amateur Radio publications,
|and the instigator of Packet Radio APRS position reporting via SAREX, MIR, 
|ARISS, SUNSAT, SAPPHIRE, PCSAT1 and 2, ANDE and RAFT for purely personal
|aims of promoting the Amateur Satellite Service.
|
|
|RULE:  E. Permissible communications:
|   The amateur-satellite service, by its nature, involves stations of 
|   more than one country. Transmissions between amateur stations of 
|   different countries must be limited to communications consistent with
|   the purpose of the amateur service [RR 1.56] and to remarks of a
|   personal character [RR25.2].
|
|   Transmissions between amateur stations on different conutries may not
|   be obscured.  THis means that (1) technical descriptions of all
|   emissions, codes, and formats must be made publicly and widely 
|   available and that (2) technical descriptions must be sufficient to 
|   enable any technically competent licensed amateur radio operator to
|   use the system.  You may do nothing intended to conceal the meaning
|   of a tranmission, except in the case of space telecommand 
|   transmissions for critical spaeccraft functions [RR 25.2A]
|
|Psat COMMENT:  The design, telemetry, data and all aspects of Psat are
|in plain language (AX.25 protocol) and all details are published and 
|maintained current on the following WEB page:
|http://www.aprs.org/Psat.html
|
|RULE:  F. Open Access. 
|   All telecommunication facilities, except telecommand, operating in amateur-satellite service allocations should be open for use
|   by amateur radio operators world-wide. All experiments utilising
|   frequencies allocated to the amateur-satellite service should be freely
|   available for use by radio amateurs world-wide and incidentally for 
|   reception by students and educators.
|
|Psat COMMENT:  All communications modes except telecommand and all
|telemetry will be available to all amateur radio operators worldwide in 
|accordance with the published user operating recommendations.    There is 
|no other usage of these communications transponders, nor circuits beyond 
|what has been described here for use in the Amateur Satellite Service.  
|Psat's transponders are available to radio amateurs worldwide who adhere 
|to the published recommended user station requirements and uplink 
|parameters.
|
|Bob Bruninga, WB4APR
|Trustee,
|US Naval Academy Amateur Radio Club
|410-293-6417