European Defence Agency validates a new SW tool for Crisis Response Planning

As illustrated in a recent news report, a new planning tool is going to be used in the support of European Crisis Response planning. The tool, named Intra-theatre Mobility Capability (ITMC), is a decision-support tool at Political-Military level (Ministries of Defence, European External Action Service, for instance) to evaluate deployment options and produce timelines, cost and other management information that could help inform to formulate a course of action for either military operation or civilian mission.

The ITMC tool, that was developed through EDA’s operational budget, went recently through a validation session to assess its capacity and suitability in the support of EU decision-making process. The session was attended by the representatives from EU Military Staff (EUMS) and Member States, and chaired by the EDA. Different deployment options and scenarios were run throughout the validation session (with fictitious areas of deployment) so as to thoroughly exploit the capacity of the tool and analyse the results.

Compatibility with the NATO's LOGFAS tool was tested by exporting data from and importing it into the ITMC tool. The interaction between ITMC and LOGFAS tool was successfully completed. ITMC is complementary to NATO’s LOGFAS tool as both are playing roles at different stage of the planning process. The ITMC comes to advise on which resources (financial, transportation assets, infrastructure) are needed to deploy the troops to a certain area, whereas LOGFAS software is designated to create detail deployment plan and to deconflict the deployment with Troop Contributing Nations.

References: European Defence Agency (1)

Harris' Momentum radios support U.S. Public Safety and Municipal Agengies to meet the FCC's narrowbanding deadline

News Report

As reported in a recent press release, Harris recently announced the availability of Momentum, a complete communications solution for the growing North American Digital Mobile Radio (DMR) user community. Momentum is a scalable digital solution based over an open technology platform which allows public safety, public service, municipal, utility and transportation agencies to meet the FCC's narrowbanding deadline (on January 1, 2013, all public safety and business industrial land mobile radio systems operating in the 150-512 MHz radio bands must cease operating using 25 kHz efficiency technology, and begin operating using at least 12.5 kHz efficiency technology. Migration to 12.5 kHz efficiency technologywill allow the creation of additional channel capacity within the same radio spectrum, and support more users).

The Technology

Momentum is as a standards-based digital communications solution designed to deliver maximum performance within the constraints of tight operating budgets. This solution fully complies with DMR standards and leverages proven digital technology to provide cost-effective, highly-reliable communications. Momentum family of radios includes powerful standards-based TDMA products that are compatible with DMR Tier II (conventional) and Tier III (trunked) compliant systems. It also provides IP connectivity to wide area networks, integrated GPS for fleet management applications, and an intuitive, user-centric interface in a lightweight, durable package.

Momentum line of products includes:

• HDP150, a software defined DMR Multimode man-portable radio that integrates GPS.
• HDP100, a light-weight DMR Multimode man-portable radio which provides a simplified user interface offering easy to use analog or digital Push-To-Talk communications.
• HDM150, a software defined Multimode DMR mobile Radio which meets Military Standards for rain, sand and dust, shock and vibration and, When configured with an optional desktop microphone and power supply, operates as a desktop control station.
• HDR100, a multimode DMR conventional repeater which operates in compliance with the FCC 2013 Narrowband mandate

Comments

"Momentum significantly extends the Harris portfolio of reliable communications solutions to an expanding community of users," said Steve Marschilok, president Harris Public Safety and Professional Communications. "Momentum delivers what public agencies and private organizations require — an affordable, user-friendly and resource-efficient DMR-based voice and data solution, backed by Harris, a recognized global leader in mission critical communications."

References: Harris (1,2)

GEOS-15 satellite is ready to provide improved weather forecasts and environmental intelligence

News Report

As announced in a recent press release from ITT Exelis, the new generation of weather and environmental satellites, GOES-15, officially became operational as GOES-West on Dec. 13, 2011. As a result, communities across the Western United States and Pacific region will begin to benefit from improved weather forecasts and environmental intelligence.

ITT Exelis Geospatial Systems, an operating division of ITT Exelis , designed and built the imager and sounder instruments flying on board GOES-15 for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in cooperation with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.  In addition to producing the familiar weather pictures on U.S. newscasts, these instruments will enable GOES-15 to provide early warnings of severe weather conditions like tornadoes, flash floods, hurricanes and hail storms.

The System

GOES systems (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites) provide meteorologists with nearly continuous images as well as temperature and moisture data, enabling more accurate weather forecasts. GOES data is also used for climate-weather prediction models; ocean temperature; charting ice; snow and glacier mapping; land temperature measurement; and monitoring agricultural crop conditions.

GOES has become the backbone for the U.S. civil early warning weather system. With ITT's Imager's multi-spectral design and increased sensitivity it can detect temperature fluctuations; variation in low-level moisture; track hurricanes from their inception as tropical storms; track tornadoes and other severe storms; and alert residents as high-velocity winds approach land. In compiling such data, meteorologists are able to issue warnings and advisories long before they take their effect.

The Context

For 12 years, GOES-11, one of NOAA's geostationary satellites, tracked weather and severe storms that impacted the U.S. West Coast, Hawaii and the Pacific region.  On last December 6th, NOAA began the process to deactivate the satellite, which is approaching the end of its useful life, and replace it with a new, more advanced spacecraft. Launched May 3rd, 2000, GOES-11 was originally planned for a five-year mission, but lasted nearly seven years longer.

The new geostationary satellite, GOES-15, has taken the place of GOES-11 and now becomes NOAA’s GOES West spacecraft in a fixed orbit over the Pacific Ocean, midway between Hawaii and the West Coast and 22,300 miles above the equator. GOES-15 provides more data, with better resolution and image stability than GOES-11. GOES-15 joins NOAA’s other operational geostationary satellite, GOES-13, which serves as the GOES East spacecraft. The GOES are not only used for weather applications, but also track space weather, oceanographic changes, forest fires and other hazards and provide scientific data collection and information for search and rescue operations.

GOES-15 was launched March 4, 2010. After reaching geostationary orbit 22,300 miles above the U.S. and prior to being activated, the satellite underwent six months of extensive post-launch testing before being parked in on-orbit storage.

NOAA is planning the next generation of geostationary satellites, called GOES-R, with the first set to launch in 2015. GOES-R is expected to more than double the clarity of today’s GOES imagery and provide more atmospheric observations than current capabilities with more frequent images. In addition, data from GOES-R instruments will be used to create many different products NOAA meteorologists and others will use to monitor the atmosphere, land, ocean and the sun.

This next-generation environmental satellite will include the most advanced meteorological imaging instrument ever built for operational weather forecasting, the ITT's Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI). ABI will monitor three times the number of atmospheric conditions currently measured and will produce images that can discern objects as small as one-half a kilometer. ABI is also much faster, updating data every 30 seconds versus the current rate of 7.5 minutes. At that speed, ABI can create a full-earth image in five minutes versus 30 minutes for the current imagers. ABI also will zoom in and track a single storm while simultaneously collecting continent-wide data and imagery. All these improvements add up to faster and more accurate forecasts, improved hazardous- weather tracking and increased capability to study and monitor climate change.

Comments

“Providing timely access to environmental intelligence is critical to protecting lives, property and infrastructure,” said Rob Mitrevski, vice president, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance programs at ITT Exelis Geospatial Systems. “The satellite instruments built by ITT Exelis continue to be an integral part of our nation’s weather forecast ability, enabling our country to see and solve some of the toughest environmental challenges.”

References: ITT Exelis (1,2), NOAA (3)

European Union allocates 7 B€ for completing its satellite navigation infrastructure

News Report

As reported by AvioNews and other news sources, the European Commission has recently proposed the new framework for the financing and governance of the two European satellite navigation programmes, i.e. Galileo and EGNOS, for the period 2014-2020. The Commission proposes to earmark €7.0 billions to guarantee the completion of the EU satellite navigation infrastructure and to ensure the exploitation of the systems until 2020, such as the operations of the space and terrestrial infrastructures, the necessary replenishment/replacement activities, certification procedures, and notably the provision of services.

The proposal also recalls that the Union remains the owner of the systems. Therefore the management of the programmes' exploitation should be delegated to the European GNSS Agency while management of the programmes' deployment should be delegated to the European Space Agency.

The Programme (Galileo)

Galileo is Europe’s own global navigation satellite system, providing a highly accurate, guaranteed global positioning service under civilian control. It is inter-operable with GPS and Glonass, the two other global satellite navigation systems. The origins of the programme were in an agreement between the European Union and the European Space Agency (ESA) to equip Europe with a satellite navigation system independent of the U.S. GPS system, which would be able to meet the needs of a large number of sectors, from transport (air, rail, road, sea) and telecommunications to homeland security.

The fully deployed Galileo system consists of 30 satellites (27 operational + 3 active spares), positioned in three circular Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) planes at 23 222 km altitude above the Earth, and at an inclination of the orbital planes of 56 degrees to the equator.

On October 2011 came the first two of four operational satellites designed to validate the Galileo concept in both space and on Earth. Two more will follow in 2012. Once this In-Orbit Validation (IOV) phase has been completed, additional satellites will be launched to reach Initial Operational Capability (IOC) around mid-decade. A range of services will be extended as the system is built up from IOC to reach the Full Operational Capability (FOC) by this decade’s end.

By offering dual frequencies as standard, Galileo will deliver real-time positioning accuracy down to the metre range. It will guarantee availability of the service under all but the most extreme circumstances and will inform users within seconds of any satellite failure, making it suitable for safety-critical applications such as guiding cars, running trains and landing aircraft.

Among all the different services that will be provided by Galileo, one particular interesting is the support to civil protection and surveillance applications. In disaster situations, transport and communications infrastructures may become unavailable. However, relief operations need to rely on precise information as regards the location of rescue teams, as well as topography or hazard maps. The high reliability of Galileo even in difficult conditions is of particular interest for civil protection. Combined with the European initiative GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security), it can be used to track fire brigades engaged in forest fires, or to optimise rescue team vehicles deployment. The European Commission will seek to raise awareness and coordinate Member States in their activities in this field.

The Galileo global navigation satellite programme will also be of utmost importance for security-related missions, in particular through its Public Regulated Service (PRS). Indeed, this navigation service will be set up for better management of critical transport and emergency services, better law enforcement (police), improved internal security (border control) and safer peace-keeping missions.

The Programme (EGNOS)

The European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) is Europe's first venture into satellite navigation. It was developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) under a tripartite agreement between the European Commission (EC), the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation (Eurocontrol) and ESA. Several air traffic service providers are supporting the development programme with their own investments. In April 2009, the ownership of the EGNOS assets have been transferred from the European Space Agency to the European Commission which now manages and finances the entry of EGNOS into the Service Provision phase

EGNOS is the European Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS) that complements the GPS system. It disseminates, on the GPS L1 frequency, integrity signals in real-time, providing information on the health of the GPS constellation. In addition, correction data improves the accuracy of the current GPS services from about 10 m to about 2 m. The EGNOS Service Area includes all European states and has the system-inherent capability to be extended to other regions, such as EU neighbouring countries, North Africa and more generally regions within the coverage of three geostationary satellites being used to transmit the EGNOS signal

Comments

Vice President Antonio Tajani, responsible for industry and entrepreneurship said: “A lot has been achieved by both Galileo and EGNOS. Looking to the bright future ahead the key message of financial stability for these flagship programmes is of paramount importance so that European industry and citizens can reap all their benefits. Both Galileo and EGNOS are strongly contributing to our industrial competiveness and innovation in key sectors with great economic potential. The increase of our know-how satellite navigation technology and service will significantly support European industry in these difficult times.”

References: AvioNews (1), ESA (2), European Commission (3), ESSP (4)

AT&T and Harris to form an alliance for next-gen LTE wireless solutions

News Report

As announced in a recent press release, AT&T and Harris are forming an alliance to develop and deliver next generation LTE wireless solutions for agencies and first responders whose lifesaving efforts depend on timely access to critical information. Together, AT&T and Harris are exploring opportunities to provide first responders with broadband and mission critical communications systems that will enable high-speed video and data solutions. Users would benefit from network agility that delivers highly-secure, highly-reliable connectivity where and when they need it.

AT&T and Harris would bring extensive experience supporting public safety and government customers, as well as expertise in broadband and mission critical network construction and integration, interoperable device manufacturing, and network service management. As a result of this alliance, public safety agencies would benefit from a unified experience driven by integration of broadband and narrowband Land Mobile Radio (LMR) networks, multiple business models to fit agencies' needs and resources, seamless roaming and nationwide interoperability using AT&T's 4G network (when outside the public safety LTE network coverage area), and a broader portfolio of wireless devices and applications designed for both commercial and public safety broadband networks.

The companies will work together to deliver a set of solutions that include:

• Handheld, vehicle-mounted and peripheral LTE-compatible devices
• Mission-critical broadband applications
• Seamless access to both private and public networks for public safety agencies
• Network management, applications and support systems
• Integrated Broadband/Project 25 infrastructure and devices

The Technology

LTE (Long Term Evolution) is a wireless broadband technology designed to support mobile Internet access via cell phones and handheld devices. LTE is sometimes called 4G, or fourth generation, technology.

Although there are major step changes between LTE and its 3G predecessors, it is nevertheless looked upon as an evolution of the UMTS / 3GPP 3G standards. Although it uses a different form of radio interface, using OFDMA / SC-FDMA instead of CDMA, there are many similarities with the earlier forms of 3G architecture and there is scope for much re-use.

LTE can be seen for provide a further evolution of functionality, increased speeds and general improved performance.

LTE is the fourth-generation mobile wireless technology favored by public safety. Perhaps more important to public safety is that LTE’s uplink data rates will be between 2 Mb/s and 5 Mb/s, which typically is enough bandwidth to allow the transmission of video from an incident scene. This capability will present a substantial improvement over the current land mobile radio (LMR) networks, designed primarily for voice communications, which can't meet today's need for high-speed mobile data services.

The Context

Initiated in 2004, the Long Term Evolution (LTE) project focused on enhancing the Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA) and optimizing 3GPP’s radio access architecture. Targets were to have average user throughput of three- to four-times the Release 6 HSDPA levels in the Downlink (100Mbps), and two to three times the HSUPA levels in the Uplink (50Mbps).

In 2007, the LTE of the 3rd generation radio access technology – "E UTRA" – progressed from the feasibility study stage to the first issue of approved Technical Specifications.

By the end of 2008, the specifications were sufficiently stable for commercial implementation.
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) was selected for the Downlink and Single Carrier-Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) for the Uplink.

Many operators have not yet upgraded their basic 3G networks, and 3GPP LTE is seen as the next logical step for many operators, who will leapfrog straight from basic 3G straight to LTE as this will avoid providing several stages of upgrade. The use of LTE will also provide the data capabilities that will be required for many years and until the full launch of the full 4G standards known as LTE Advanced.

US nation's public-safety groups have recently agreed to use LTE in the 700MHz band to deliver mobile broadband applications used by police, fire and emergency medical services. By doing so, they'll be able to take advantage of wireless broadband-which is essential for support of mission-critical services that accelerate response times, improve situational awareness-to increase the safety of the public and all personnel.

Specifically, on January 2011 the U.S. Federal Communications Commission has set LTE as the data standard for a nationwide mobile broadband network for public safety agencies that's been on the table for nearly a decade. The FCC, in a unanimous vote, adopted LTE as the common interface for the network, which will use a portion of the 700MHz spectrum. U.S. lawmakers and FCC members have been calling for a nationwide mobile broadband network for police and fire departments since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the US. Many of the police and fire departments responding to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. couldn't talk to each other because they weren't using the same radio equipment on the same spectrum bands.

The FCC doesn't typically pick technology standards, but in this case it was needed, said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. "In order to ensure nationwide interoperability for public safety communications there's widespread agreement that a common air interface is desirable and necessary to enable nationwide interoperability," he said.

Comments

"This alliance is a first step toward making next-generation technology and services available to agencies who seek competitive options," said Chris Hill, AT&T Vice President of Advanced Business Solutions. "It's the beginning of a public safety ecosystem of open devices and applications interoperable with private broadband networks, as they become available."

"Harris has extensive experience in mission-critical communications, and a legacy of bringing new technology, such as LTE to public safety and government customers," said Steve Marschilok, President of Harris Public Safety and Professional Communications. "This alliance will look to expand the choices for a growing set of solutions that can be deployed to create an advanced, mission-critical broadband experience for public safety."

References: Harris (1), AT&T (2), RadioElectronics.com (3), 3GPP (4,5), FierceWireless (6), NetworkWorld (7)