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Team Achieves Worldwide Consensus on Protecting Spectrum for Testing New Aircraft May 2008
You may not realize how much radio-frequency spectrum means to you, but since it's the stuff on which every cell phone, wireless Internet connection, satellite transmission—even every electronic garage door opener—depends, its importance cannot be underestimated. This is true for many of MITRE's sponsors, from the Department of Defense to the Federal Aviation Administration. So when the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) meets every four years to debate the international Radio Regulations (see sidebar), MITRE is there. This past October at the quadrennial WRC in Geneva, Switzerland, international delegations spent a month weighing the pros and cons of 30 agenda items dealing with terrestrial and space radio services and applications. After the debate, they voted on a new treaty. MITRE's Darrell Ernst and his team—staffing exhibit booth #1 at Geneva's International Convention Center—waited anxiously to see if the message they'd helped to deliver around the world for the past 10 years had made an impression. They were soon celebrating, along with our sponsors. The Importance of Agenda Item 1.5 The MITRE group's central concern at the WRC 2007 was Agenda Item 1.5, which proposes to safeguard and ensure "a sufficiency of radio spectrum for aeronautical telemetry and telecommand." Aeronautical telemetry, called ATM, is used on test flights to transmit real-time data on both pilot and aircraft performance to ground stations for analysis. No new aircraft goes into service without a passing grade on hundreds of stringent tests. As aircraft and their manufacturers get more sophisticated, test equipment and tests get more sophisticated as well. Consequently, more and more bandwidth is needed to meet the increases in real-time data flow and to get aircraft approved for commercial and government use. Ernst, a principal defense space systems engineer, is quick to point out that "22 percent of the bandwidth that was available for telemetry in 1980 has already been reallocated to consumer applications." Also at risk was radio spectrum necessary to meet the U.S. military's future ATM needs, including testing of sophisticated projects such as the Joint Strike Fighter. MITRE expertise in spectrum technology goes back decades. We've watched the competition for spectrum grow along with the worldwide boom in cell phones and wireless technologies. Starting in 1997, the non-profit International Consortium for Telemetry Spectrum (ICTS), with assistance from MITRE, major allies such as Boeing and Airbus, and the U.S. government, worked to protect spectrum for aviation and defense in the face of stiff competition from the wireless communications industry. Early on, MITRE provided the government with detailed studies on future technical requirements for spectrum. A team comprising Ernst and MITRE engineers Brian Ramsay and David Portigal applied its experience in spectrum allocation to help our sponsors, including the DoD's Test Resource Management Center, guide the telemetry proposal through the ITU process. The Road to Geneva The MITRE team helped our sponsors impress upon the international community the vital importance of spectrum for ATM. It was often a tough argument to make because few nations have an aircraft or avionics industry, but they all have cell phones. At the WRC 2003, the U.S. delegation received Conference approval for a draft of Agenda Item 1.5 for the next WRC for 2007. The race had begun.
A MITRE report from December 2003 helped countries to see ATM in a new way. "Economic Impact of Telemetry and Its Essential Role in the Aerospace Industry" was authored by Ernst and MITRE economic analyst Carolyn Kahn. Kahn put real-world numbers on how having a robust national air carrier financially affects passenger air travel, getting goods to market, opening new markets, accessing new technology—even boosting national pride. Aeronautical telemetry, she pointed out, was central to a country's future success because it was central to the advancement of the aircraft industry. The bottom line: a vote to protect spectrum for ATM is a vote for your own country. In February 2007, Ernst, Kahn, and Portigal produced another seminal report, "The Economic Importance of Adequate Aeronautical Telemetry Spectrum." On behalf of their sponsors, Ernst and Kahn traveled hundreds of thousands of miles taking the message to China, India, Japan, the Ukraine, Malaysia, South Africa, Thailand, and Australia, as well as to European Union countries and Canada. In the end, however, everything would depend on the vote in Geneva. Teamwork at Exhibit Booth #1 Early on, Ernst learned from the U.S. delegation that "90 percent of the delegates who attend the quadrennial radio conference learn about the various issues from visiting the exhibit booths." Ernst and his team set about building a compelling and attractive space where delegates and representatives from MITRE and the ICTS could meet face-to-face to discuss all the facts and reasons for a favorable vote. From October 22 to November 16, the ICTS exhibit booth hummed with activity. Ernst calculates that, "based on the business cards left at the booth, approximately 2,000 of the nearly 3,000 attendees visited the booth." Included in that group were 100 to 150 heads of delegations, including the WRC's U.S. Ambassador Richard Russell. After the vote, MITRE and its sponsors celebrated the result. ATM gained access to 1.4 GHz of spectrum and senior U.S. officials told Ernst "that the booth was the single most important factor in helping them to carry the day." But of course, that was the culmination of years of work. Ernst credits "building alliances, gaining support from key international leaders, and getting engaged at every meeting, working group, conference, and media opportunity." Thanks to MITRE's initiative and work for its sponsors, an international community gained appreciation for the role that aeronautical telemetry plays not only in ensuring the safety of all aircraft but also in creating prosperity, jobs, and even national pride.
—by Tom Green Related Information Articles and News
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