Experimentation Description Mobile Modification

0012-EX-CM-2016 Text Documents

Thales Avionics Inc.

2016-09-08ELS_181757

Thales InFlyt Experience
Experimentation Description for a Ku-band Airborne Earth Station
Modular Connectivity Terminal (MCT) - Mobile Testing

Thales InFlyt Experience, with operations in Melbourne, FL and Irvine, CA is a global leader in
providing leading-edge, connected inflight entertainment systems and services, including high-
speed Internet connectivity. Thales is currently developing and testing an end-to-end, Ku-band
satellite based connectivity solution including an airborne Modular Connectivity Terminal (or
ESAA), that will serve multiple airline customers in the North American, South American,
African, European, Caribbean, and Middle East regions. When operational, this solution will
enable airline carriers to reach their full potential by offering global inflight coverage that
supports the increasing demands of passengers’ inflight connectivity needs and provides
airlines access to critical real-time inflight data.

Experimental License Modification Request
Thales InFlyt Experience seeks a modification to its FCC experimental license for a Ku-band fixed
earth station - (Call Sign WI2XIT; File Number 0306-EX-PL-2016; granted August 1, 2016) - to
operate the MCT in mobile, land-based tests using SES Ku-band capacity on the following
satellites:

- SES-1 at 101º W (for North America coverage)
- SES-4 at 22º W (for North America, South America, Africa, Europe, and Middle East
coverage)
- SES-6 at 40.5º W (for South America and Caribbean coverage)
- AMC-9 at 83º W (for North American coverage)

Thales’ static MCT testing as authorized by its experimental license referenced above, and
described in Thales’ Experimentation Description dated April 29, 2016, will not change.

Thales is requesting the license modification to conduct mobile MCT testing, on land only,
within a 60-mile radius of Kissimmee, FL as shown in Figure 1 below.

Thales InFlyt Experience
Experimentation Description for a Ku-band Airborne Earth Station
Modular Connectivity Terminal (MCT) – Mobile Testing
1

standard, and the transmitted power spectral density will be compliant as per FCC 47 CFR
25.227. Note that since Thales’ mobile testing operations will use a vehicle, the power spectral
density rules in FCC 47 CFR 25.226 for Ku-band VMES may also apply, which are equal to those
in 25.227.

The mobile testing will be conducted using a truck with the MCT mounted on a custom rig on
the truck’s flatbed. Terminal system test equipment, hardware, and software will also be
carried in the truck, and the driver/operator will be in frequent contact via cellular phone with
Thales and SES engineering and operations personnel. The driver/operator will also have the
ability to quickly mute the terminal’s transmit signal if necessary.

In the case of any inadvertent, reported interference, Thales will cease terminal transmissions
as soon as possible upon notification to Thales’ 24/7 point of contact (POC):

Martin Matura
mobile: 321-292-0878
email: martin.matura@us.thalesgroup.com

The SES controlling Ku-band earth station to be used during mobile experimental testing is:
FCC callsign E140059 – Mount Airy (Woodbine), MD 21771

The SES Network Operations Center (NOC) in Manassas, VA 24/7 phone number is:
703-330-3305 (option #1), or 1-866-244-5012 (option #1).

Mobile Testing Objectives
Parameters to be tested and verified in the mobile tests include:
- satellite link closure thresholds
- end-to-end system latency
- achievable information rates using various modulation/coding schemes
- antenna system gain and noise temperature performance versus design specification
- calibration and enhancement of the antenna pointing system’s algorithm (tracking,
pointing, and stabilization)
- end-to-end connectivity to SES’s supporting terrestrial network, including connectivity
to/from an Internet Service Provider (ISP)

Antenna Pointing and Tracking Methodology
The MCT’s antenna positioning and control subsystems provide mechanical beam steering in
azimuth and elevation using a software-based algorithm. The entire algorithm has 3 parts –
tracking, pointing, and stabilization.

Tracking essentially lobes the beam around the satellite in an elliptical pattern. With perfect
alignment the received signal strength is equal at all points on the ellipse and the centroid of
power is at the major/minor axis intersection. Any misalignment causes the ellipse to have
Thales InFlyt Experience
Experimentation Description for a Ku-band Airborne Earth Station
Modular Connectivity Terminal (MCT) – Mobile Testing
3

unequal power at different points, and the centroid of power occurs somewhere inside of the
ellipse. Where the centroid falls determines how far off-peak the antenna is, and in what
direction. Offset is then added to get back to the center of the beam. More spins around the
ellipse provide a better time average and eventually drives the offset to zero. This process is a
trade-off of scan duration, how often scans are done, and how much offset is gotten on each
pass.

When the antenna is peaked, the satellite’s location in AZ/EL space is known, and its location in
inertial space is calculated. That location is compared to data from the aircraft’s inertial
navigation system (INS) to obtain another offset.

Pointing is based on the aircraft’s INS, obtained via the ARINC 429 data bus. (Note during
mobile testing, a portable INS “black box” will be used to provide ARINC 429 data). Stabilization
is done by nulling gyro rate output. If there is no motion, gyro output rate is 0. If there is
motion, gyro output rate is non-zero, and the Az/El gimbals counter-rotate very quickly (on the
order of kHz) to null the gyro output. While the scale factor of a gyro does drift over long
periods of time, because the system is nulling the gyros to zero, this is a non-issue.

In general, the pointing and stabilization methodologies keep the antenna peaked on the
intended satellite very accurately. Pointing accuracy is further improved by adding the offsets
calculated during the tracking process. The methodologies provide sufficient observability into
pointing error, and the control logic state machine and hardware implementation will mute the
transmit signal within 100 milliseconds if pointing error exceeds 0.2°.

Proposed Transmission Plan and Worst-Case EIRP Spectral Density
The range of possible inbound carrier (terminal-to-satellite-to-gateway earth station)
modulation and coding formats (modcods) is shown in Table 1 below. Thales expects that
inbound carriers using the modcods shaded in blue, using Ku-band space segment resources on
SES-1 at 101° WL, will be tested most often during the experimental operation of the MCT.

Modulation FEC Rate Spread Factor
SS-BPSK 1/2 2
BPSK 1/2 1
BPSK 2/3 1
QPSK 1/2 1
QPSK 2/3 1
8-PSK 2/3 1

Table 1: Range of Possible MODCODs for Inbound Carriers

Thales InFlyt Experience
Experimentation Description for a Ku-band Airborne Earth Station
Modular Connectivity Terminal (MCT) – Mobile Testing
4

Document Created: 2016-09-08 16:49:01
Document Modified: 2016-09-08 16:49:01

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