Please explain in the area below why an STA is necessary:
Volunteers for Technical Assistance ('VITA') is herein requesting Special Temporary Authority ('STA') under Part 5 of the Commission's rules for a period of six (6) months to operate a Portable Ground Station ('PGS') it is developing with Wavix, Inc., for use with the VITASAT-1R and VITASAT-2 satellites.[1]
VITA's request for STA is supported by good cause. VITA is in the process of testing the PGS unit and anticipates that the results from continued development of the unit at its Arlington location will result in a final version that, within one year's time, could be brought to the commercial market. The PGS unit that VITA is developing will provide the cornerstone for affordable, easy-to-manage ground communications with the VITASAT satellites and other similarly-configured low earth orbit satellites.
Further, by granting the request, the Commission will enable VITA to begin operations aboard the VITASAT-1R and VITASAT-2 satellites, furthering its humanitarian mission of providing essential educational, health, environmental, disaster relief, and technical communication services in developing nations. The Commission has repeatedly recognized that VITA's efforts throughout the developing world advance the public interest.[2] VITA also believes it is operating under a strict deadline imposed by the ITU to bring its first round satellite (VITASAT-1R) into operation prior to February 4, 2001. The requested STA will assist greatly in meeting that deadline.
Accordingly, and for good cause shown, VITA respectfully requests an experimental STA for up to 6 months, commencing on January 1, 2001, to begin operating its PGS unit in Arlington, Virginia, in the manner specified in this exhibit and in the associated technical exhibits.
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[1] VITA is operating VITASAT-1 (HealthSat-2) and VITASAT-2 (UoSAT-12) pursuant to Special Temporary Authority, granted November 24 and November 30, 2000, respectively. See letters from Thomas S. Tycz, Chief, Satellite and Radiocommunication Division to Joseph A. Godles, Esq.
[2] E.g., Volunteers in Technical Assistance, 13 FCC Rcd at 10845.
The PGS is a complete self contained portable ground-station including omni-directional antennas and software, which has been successfully demonstrated at the satellite department at University of Surrey (UK), and the Informatics Development Institute (IDI), a Dublin based organization financed by the European Union Commission. It has been deployed on a beta-test basis in West and East Africa. The equipment is fully automatic and designed to be used by those with no radio knowledge, and a minimum of computing experience. The PGS, while unattended, is capable of uploading and downloading several email messages per day as the satellite passes overhead. E-mail from the satellite is then downloaded by VITA and the IDI onto the terrestrial email network. The PGS unit weighs less than 6kg, is very robust, waterproof to 20 ft and will be small enough to carry as hand luggage on a plane. The unit can also be kept fully charged using a small 12 volt 1 amp solar panel.
Prototype PGS units have been in use abroad communicating with the PoSAT satellite for 12 months in Europe and Africa. VITA seeks to employ another unit within the United States at its headquarters in Arlington, Virginia for additional testing and development of the PGS to enable tracking and automatic operation with the VITASAT-1R and VITASAT-2 satellites. VITA would rely heavily on this experimental operation of the PGS unit at its headquarters to continue the research that is already underway and to improve the responsiveness of the PGS unit before committing additional resources to the full-scale commercial production of improved terminals based on PGS technology. Several other organizations affiliated with VITA have also indicated interest in applying for separate STA's to operate PGS units temporarily within the U.S.
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