Attachment Exhibit A

This document pretains to SES-STA-20150501-00286 for Special Temporal Authority on a Satellite Earth Station filing.

IBFS_SESSTA2015050100286_1087161

                                                                             Deere & Company
                                          Receive-Only Mobile Earth Station Application for STA
                                                                                      Exhibit A

              EXHIBIT A – REASON FOR SPECIAL TEMPORARY AUTHORITY


       Deere & Company (“Deere”), pursuant to Section 25.120(b)(3) of the Commission’s
Rules, 47 C.F.R. § 25.120(b)(3), hereby requests special temporary authority (“STA”) for a
follow-on period of 60 days to operate receive-only, non-common carrier, mobile earth stations
operating in the L-band to downlink transmissions from Inmarsat geostationary satellites at 15.5°
and 54° west longitude and 178º east longitude (collectively “Inmarsat Satellites”).1 The
Commission granted Deere STA for an initial 60 day period on November 7, 2014 (File No.
SES-STA-20141030-00836), and extended STA for a 60-day period on January 7, 2015 (SES-
STA-20141217-00909). A follow-on application for STA was filed on February 27, 2015,
requesting STA for a subsequent 60-day period beginning no later than March 8, 2015 (SES-
STA-20150227-00104). Deere requests the instant follow-on authority to begin no later than
May 7, 2015. Specifically, Deere requests STA for its existing network of mobile earth terminals
(“METs”) operating under Call Sign E010011 to receive 2.5 kHz space-to-earth emissions
(designator 2K50D1D) from the Inmarsat Satellites at the following center frequencies.2

Table 1.0 - Amended StarFire L-band Frequencies
Geostationary Arc Position            Center Frequency (MHz/Space-to-Earth)
54 west longitude                     1545.9775
15.5 west longitude                   1545.9875
178 east longitude                    1545.9875


        Since 2001, Deere has been enabling domestic agricultural equipment with its StarFire
precision farming system. The StarFire system employs receive-only vehicle mounted mobile
earth stations. These earth stations receive L-band space-to-earth emissions from Inmarsat
geostationary satellites that provide correctional data. This data augments the navigational
information the StarFire terminals receive simultaneously from Global Positioning System
(“GPS”) satellites. This augmented system enables the operators of domestic farming equipment
to pinpoint their location to within +/- 2.5 centimeters.3 This precise positioning capability
developed originally to assist farmers in comparing the crop yields from various fields to
determine, among other things, the amount of fertilizer and seed appropriate for a particular field
and crop, has now found additional important uses to improve farming efficiency, including
enabling farmers to manually record observations such as weed patches, crop appearance, and
other field variables with remarkable precision. In addition, among other benefits, when coupled
to the vehicle steering system through the Deere AutoTrack system it aids the operator to steer a

1
      All involved Inmarsat spacecraft have been approved to serve the United States, and are
      reflected on the Commission ISAT list.
2
      No changes have been made to the frequencies or technical parameters already approved in
      SES-STA-20141030-00836.
3
      Navigational accuracy depends on several variables, including visibility to overhead
      satellites and other supplemental transmitters providing correctional data.


DB3/200178907.1


                                                                             Deere & Company
                                          Receive-Only Mobile Earth Station Application for STA
                                                                                      Exhibit A

more precise path when making repeated passes over the same track, thus greatly reducing crop
and soil damage.

       Follow-on STA is needed because Deere was recently notified by Inmarsat that StarFire
L-band downlink signals in North America would transition to frequencies identified above in
Table 1.0.4 Grant of STA will serve the public interest by ensuring continuity of service for
thousands of existing Deere StarFire customers during the pendency of Deere’s concurrently
filed permanent application to modify Call Sign E010011 to receive the above-referenced
frequencies.5 Pursuant to Section 25.120(b)(3) of the rules, Deere requests a 60-day STA
without the need for prior public notice. As discussed above, grant of authority is requested on
or before close of business on May 7, 2015 so that Deere can continue to provide service to
customers without any loss of service.




4
      Vizada, Inc. (“Vizada”) uplinks correctional data on Deere’s behalf from earth stations
      located in Santa Paula, California and Southbury, Connecticut. After the frequency
      transition, Vizada will continue to provide the same uplink services.
5
      Application Submission ID: IB2014002165.


DB3/200178907.1



Document Created: 2015-05-01 16:25:49
Document Modified: 2015-05-01 16:25:49

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