According to panelists at the recent Content and Communications World conference held in New York City, satellite services are currently facing an increase in interference caused by human error, the inability to track faulty systems and intentional jamming by unfriendly governments.
Citing the exponential growth of the business over the last 15 years, David Hartshorn, secretary general of Global VSAT Forum explained that “the satellite business is, in effect, the victim of its own success.”
In an effort to combat the increase in service interference, industry members are pushing for the establishment of an industry-wide carrier ID system to allow satellite operators to more efficiently read data and determine the source of a problem.
According to Mark Rawlins, head of payload engineering and operations for European satellite service provider Eutelsat, the new industry-wide carrier ID system “[won’t] solve everything, but in most cases [will allow] us to get to the source of the problem faster.”
He adds that even if the source of interference cannot be located, “we can find out where the signal is coming from.”
Industry leaders have also rallied several worldwide governments to help combat “intentional jamming.” Intentional interference, particularly by Syria and Iraq, rose in October 2012 to account for 18 percent of interference; intentional interference accounted for only 10 percent in January to September 2012.
Basic and advanced certification programs for technicians, as well as specialized courses for particular service providers, are being developed to reduce interference caused by human error. Technician error has accounted for 60 percent of service problems to date this year.
