The Human Factors in Mitigating SATCOM (RF) Interference: Creating More Effective Mitigation Teams

Transcription

1 The Human Factors in Mitigating SATCOM (RF) Interference: Creating More Effective Mitigation Teams MilCIS th November 2013 Canberra, Australia Dr Rob Rideout VP of Sales and Marketing SAT Corporation IMPORTANT: This document is presented to the recipients for purposes of education in relation to the current capabilities and products offered by SAT. The right to copy and use this document is limited to that necessary to fulfil this function, and this document and the information contained within must not in any case be used, copied or disseminated outside of the recipient s organisation without the prior written consent of SAT Corporation. Introduction 1. The RFI Mitigation Tool-box... Ground-station technologies aimed at mitigating the harmful effects of accidental interference and hostile jamming to SATCOMs. 2. The Human Factor... How the tool-box is best designed and exploited to maximise the efficiency and effectiveness of both man and machine. 2 1

2 Part 1 - The Issues of RFI Radio frequency INTERFERENCE continues to disrupt the satellite communications industry Operators and Industry Groups (e.g. SIRG, GVF) report that signal interference significantly impacts margins, QoS, and operational efficiency Owners and operators have seen an increase in cross-polarization interference and other interference associated with equipment problems, and install / operator errors, BUT also unauthorized carriers, including hostile denial of service. The scope of the problem continues to grow in line with demands for SATCOM bandwidth and transmitting infrastructure Military needs outstrips MILSATCOM capacity and so commercial payloads and transponders are employed to bridge the gap... As interference events continue to grow in number, military SATCOMs could potentially be both a direct and indirect victim of these deliberate attacks. Newtec, IRG - CID Industry Survey: 93% of the Industry Suffers from Satellite Interference 3 Contribution from VSATs Courtesy: Global VSAT Forum (gvf.org) Hardware costs - With VSAT terminal costs dropping well below $1000 profit margins are tight. Installer fees - Previously an engineer might spend days on site following SSOGs. Now installers are often junior technicians paid less than $50 per VSAT installation Interference events Deployments - over 100,000 VSATs deployed per year. Satellite sensitivity - Spot beams make satellites more sensitive to uplinks signals. This helps reduce VSAT size and cost, but makes transponders more sensitive to interference. 4 2

3 Types of interference Cross-pol Interference Accidental / very common Generally caused by: incompatible modulation types transmitted in the opposite polarization field to digital services on the cross-pol; poorly aligned antennas in bursting networks; and/or lack of training/experience of the uplink operators. Becoming more prevalent as installation margins are squeezed. Mitigation: monitoring, detection and geolocation tools, carrierid, training.! X Y Adjacent Satellite Interference Accidental / common Generally caused by: operator error, or poor inter-system coordination. Transmitting antenna is poorly pointed. Caused by lack of installation expertise but becoming more prevalent as two degree spacing between satellites in the geostationary arc becomes more common. Mitigation: monitoring, detection and geolocation tools, carrierid, coordination between satellite operators. Adjacent satellite signal! Adjacent Carrier Interference Accidental / minimum occurrence Generally caused by: operator error, or equipment failure (unlocked equipment). Relatively infrequent Mitigation: monitoring, detection and geolocation tools, carrierid.! 5 Types of interference Unauthorised Access Accidental & Deliberate Term given to a signal which is not resident as cross-pol or adjacent satellite or carrier. Accidental: very common Generally caused by: equipment failure, human error, improper commissioning, and terrestrial interference. Interference from proliferation of terrestrial (e.g. microwave) systems. Mitigation: monitoring, detection and geolocation tools, carrierid, training. Unfortunately terrestrial systems often have priority and so becomes dead capacity.! Deliberate: relatively rare Generally caused by: unauthorised borrowing of bandwidth for test purposes (e.g. at commissioning), piracy, and hostile attempts to deny service. Becoming more prevalent though geopolitical motivation. Mitigation: monitoring, detection and geolocation tools. While hostile jamming is generally easy to locate, it is almost impossible to remove without political intervention, which can prove difficult. 6 3

4 Hostile Jamming Case Studies Captain Midnight strikes out at HBO! On 26th April 1986 John MacDougall (a 25 year old satellite TV system shop owner) put a transmission over the top of the evenings HBO broadcast on the Galaxy 1 satellite transponder 23 for four and a half minutes with a complaint about the recent pay for view service that was hurting his business. The message read GOOD EVENING HBO, FROM CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT, $12.95/MONTH? NO WAY! (SHOWTIME/MOVIE CHANNEL BEWARE) It took 4 months for the FCC to track down MacDougall who was prosecuted and received one years probation and a $5000 fine. 7 The Toolbox DETECT.LOCATE.RESOLVE 8 4

5 DETECT.LOCATE.RESOLVE RF Monitoring and Interference Detection: The first step towards mitigating against the disruptive effects of SATELLITE INTERFERENCE is rapid DETECTION and CHARACTERISATION through effective MONITORING. Includes extraction of the Carrier ID where available. 9 DETECT.LOCATE.RESOLVE... and then Geolocation... either two-sat Primary (affected) satellite Different satellite velocities gives Differential Frequency Offset (DFO) Secondary (adjacent) satellite Different path lengths give Differential Time Offset (DTO) Signal spills over into adjacent satellite Interference/jammer Geolocation system Monitoring sites Reference signal Geolocation result 10 5

6 DETECT.LOCATE.RESOLVE... or single-sat... Primary (affected) satellite Target Monitoring sites Shape of curve is position dependant 11 DETECT.LOCATE.RESOLVE 12 6

7 DETECT.LOCATE.RESOLVE Two-satellite Geolocation: Constant development continues to push the boundaries Primary (affected) satellite Monitoring sites Secondary (adjacent) satellite Signal spills over into adjacent satellite Target Accuracy Algorithm development and compensation techniques give < 3km today. Future aims (< 2 years) are for sub-km accuracy. Speed High accuracy achieved in seconds Ease of Use Map-centric software Integrated monitoring, detection, characterisation and geolocation. Managed services 13 DETECT.LOCATE.RESOLVE Ground-based interference suppression... Primary (affected) satellite Target Monitoring sites Location ellipse 14 7

8 Overview The tool-box to mitigate harmful interference is extensive: Training Coordination Monitoring Detection and Characterisation Carrier ID Geolocation Suppression No one tool is 100% successful in isolation, but together they provide operators and regulators with powerful means to RESOLVE the vast majority of cases of harmful interference. 15 SAT Products. & Services Monics Monitoring of QoS 24/7 Detect and characterize issues before impact Integrated Carrier ID recovery Geolocate Fast, accurate identification of ground source using geolocation techniques and coordination Monitoring - of RF Quality of Service Link Performance - Power/bandwidth utilization - Link quality (C/No, Eb/No & BER) Detection & Characterization - FEC, modulation, & coding - Detect and characterize RFI before the user sees a problem Coordination - Extensive satellite operator network - Can see adjacent satellites Carrier ID - Extraction of carrier ID being integrated with CSM systems /SERVICES Geolocation - Pinpoint the uplink ground position Suppression 16 8

9 Part 2 - Human Factors While it is sometimes convenient to think of problems like SATCOM Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) by simply reducing it to its basic technical form for the satellite operator it s far more than a mere phenomenon of physics, it s a human-centered challenge : to be solved as quickly and inexpensively as possible with the least amount of disruption to customers and services 17 The Questions What resources are we lacking? fully self-healing networks magic push button technology that solves all issues What resources do we currently have? the tool-box combined with... the often unheralded operator the human factor How can we unleash the full potential of operators to take on more of today s complex interference scenarios? 18 9

10 How to Improve We look at three of the most practical and impactful areas for improving the human performance of RFI mitigation professionals These include: 1. Realistic training to better prepare operators for today s wide variety of RFI scenarios 2. Workflows to create a unified view of the monitoring to mitigation problem 3. User friendly tools designed to match how operators think and accelerate response times 19 The Goals Together, strengthening these three areas enables Level 1 operators to tackle interference challenges more efficiently and effectively producing: Better resource and talent utilization internally Better response times and customer service externally 20 10

11 1. Improving RFI Mitigation Training Challenges that Level 1 operators face when identifying, locating and resolving interference today: Satellite congestion Exponential increase of VSATs Installation and commissioning errors from added services Lack of maintenance Hostile jamming By implementing repeatable, on the job training against a wide spectrum of signal misbehaviors rooted in realistic situations, Level 1 operators are better prepared for more complex scenarios Improving RFI Mitigation Training Training with a combination of a Carrier System Monitoring and Signal Generation: Highly effective and efficient training Low cost approach Simulate harmful events This architecture allows a payload operations manager to: Create different modulated waveform Insert the modulated waveform into any of the downlink monitoring paths without disturbing the traffic on the satellite Generate a CSM alarm for operators to respond Initiate harmful event troubleshooting protocol and procedure 22 11

12 1. Improving RFI Mitigation Training Training with a combination of a Geolocation System and Scenario Simulator: Eliminates traffic disruption Increases training time Enables on-site training Dramatically reduces training costs This architecture allows a payload operations manager to: Create a specific geolocation scenario controlling ALL elements Inject signals through the ground station (within the geolocation system itself) Practice against interference that might occur due to equipment failure, operator error, intentional jamming, or unauthorized use Improving RFI Mitigation Training The Scenario Simulator can also be used as: A geolocation self-test solution, for assuring peak performance of vital link protection systems A pre-mission simulator to anticipate, plan and design against interference scenarios A post-mission investigation to verify failed scenarios The trainer can select satellites, orbital charateristics, frequency, ground locations for transmission and reception sites, antenna pattern information, power levels and generate interference and reference signals

13 Geolocation Scenario Simulator Secondary Satellite Primary Satellite GeoSim Control PC Primary Chassis Secondary Chassis Geolocation system Monitoring sites Reference Signal Interference Source Improved Workflow and Efficiency Level 1 operators can now address more of the full monitoring to mitigation cycle, rather than passing along the problem using: Integrated tools that bridge the workflow between monitoring and geolocation Pulling important data from monitoring, such as detailed signal-undersignal characterizations among others Using a graphically-oriented monitoring interface, more complete scenario analysis can be performed: By lower level operators With faster response times With greater accuracy and confidence 26 13

14 2. Improved Workflow and Efficiency Integrating the new toolsets, the detection-to-geolocation process becomes more seamless, making the Level 1 operator far more productive to: Boost the bench strength of front line talent Increase the potential of faster, less costly interference resolution. Considering that Level 1 operators are the 24x7 staff who are most plentiful, this is critical when more specialized expertise or Level 2 operators are scarce, off-shift or unavailable when interference strikes Improved Workflow and Efficiency The importance of contingency planning, when Level 1 or Level 2 expertise is needed, but unavailable: Globally managed RFI mitigation services with 24x7 operations center staffed by experts are available to perform interference detection and geolocation in a matter of minutes These outside resources are also an economical option for cases where: Switched on/off as required The amount of geolocation scenarios are too few to warrant purchase of the tool-box or a full-time Level 2 operator Third party validation of results is needed 28 14

15 3. Supporting How Humans Think Today s satellite scenarios are more complex, involving: Multi-beams satellites On-board switching Wider transponders and signals The text-based data in tools today present operators with: Unnecessarily complex forms Restrict how they can interpret and interact with the information It s much easier to: Pictorially understand these satellite states and configurations through map visualization, rather than text or tables Use a graphically rich and intuitive displays as we use today Supporting How Humans Think Geographic context is central to understanding and optimizing the geolocation process. Starting with a visually detailed map at the center of the interface (rendered directly from Google Maps), an operator can overlay: Satellite information Scenario details Spectrum analyzer displays Any other useful elements to perform geolocation within the map This scenario visualization allows the tool to suit the user, not the other way around, providing a more efficient way of generating geolocation results and expediting mitigation

16 3. Supporting How Humans Think Trying to resolve intermittent interference, the type that appears for a short time, goes away, and returns again, demonstrates the cumulative power of combined training, integrated tools an graphical GUI. Level 1 operators can now be made aware of the interference, replicating the event in the training tools to practice against the scenario. When the interference event does re-occur, the Level 1 operator is notified immediately via the monitoring tool, and within the same environment activates the geolocation scenario to more quickly locate the source and expedite the interference resolution. 31 A Future of Promise With 50% more satellites being built for launch from than the previous decade, the satellite industry is positioned for exceptional growth. more capacity, more users and more services will present the industry with more interference challenges but satellite companies now have a roadmap to very efficiently and cost effectively prepare and equip their human talent for the road ahead by empowering its front line Level 1 operators to do more and solve more, the organization s return on their human investment dramatically increases, as will customer service, profitability and satisfaction 32 16

17 End-to-End RFI Mitigation Solutions SAT, a Kratos company, provides a comprehensive suite of solutions that address Radio Frequency Interference challenges, including products and services used by 90% of major satellite operators to help quickly identify and mitigate costly RF interference events. Now that Level 1 operators are more thoroughly trained and prepared, it makes sense to extend geolocation capabilities to other monitoring sites to protect more beams and spectrum. By adding/upgrading geolocation software to distributed sites where (PCbased) hardware is already used for monitoring, you gain dual-use, dual benefits from invested equipment for not much more expense. 33 Improve Workflow & Efficiency in RFI Mitigation SAT enables operators to be more efficient and effective with integrated RFI mitigation products such as, Monics and satid, that improve the ability to monitor and geolocate costly RFI. SAT s products provide RF signal monitoring as well as an accurate, fast, all-in-one solution for locating and identifying sources of interference due to equipment failure, operator error, intentional jamming, or unauthorized users. Using the map-driven user interface in satid, SAT s powerful geolocation product, provides operators with the ability to perform geolocation scenarios more efficiently and effectively

18 Improve Workflow & Efficiency in RFI Mitigation Integration with Monics, the industry s leading carrier monitoring solution, provides an advanced spectrum measurement and interference analysis. Important data from Monics, such as detailed signal-undersignal characterizations, is pulled into satid s graphical interface to provide an even more complete scenario analysis and greater geolocation confidence. With satid and Monics integrated together, the full spectrum of detection, characterization, identification and location of RFI becomes a seamless process for operators. 35 Cost Conscious Test and Training Solutions Executing RF interference mitigation training can become expensive and time consuming when you have to use live satellite bandwidth. The satid-geosim tool, the industry s first geolocation simulator, is also available from Kratos. GeoSim can increase effectiveness of satid users by creating exact, realworld, complex RF signal conditions that will exist when a geosynchronous satellite encounters interference. GeoSim, allows for simulation of a wide range of nominal and worst case RF signal scenarios to increase the readiness of operators to help ensure high data and communication system uptime

19 In summary RF interference of SATCOM continues to be an issue. The tool-box to mitigate harmful interference is extensive, but no one tool is 100% successful in isolation. Consider instead the tool-box of capability. Technology is great... but must be designed and used with the human factor in mind to maximise effectiveness. The state of the art approach to RFI mitigation gives due consideration to: User-friendly tools Effective training Workflow efficiency Available now as both products and services 37 RF Interference Mitigation Leadership by the Numbers 38 19

20 Thank You For Your Time... and please come to the Clearbox Systems booth outside for more information SAT Corporation (SAT) has prepared this document for use by its personnel, licensees, and potential licensees. SAT reserves the right to change any products described in this document as well as information included herein without prior notice. The information contained herein is presented for educational purposes only and the right to copy and use this document is limited to that necessary to fulfill this function. The recipient agrees that they will not, nor will they cause others to, copy or reproduce this information, either in whole or in part, or manufacture, produce, sell or lease any product copied from or essentially based upon the information contained herein without prior written approval of SAT. RT Logic Proprietary Registered trademarks of SAT Corporation include, but are not limited to, Monics, SAT-DSA, satid and SigMon. Copyright 2013 SAT Corporation All rights 39 reserved. 20