Attachment Reason for STA

This document pretains to SES-STA-20160317-00261 for Special Temporal Authority on a Satellite Earth Station filing.

IBFS_SESSTA2016031700261_1130284

                                                                              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
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 98° west
longitude and 143.5º east longitude (collectively “Inmarsat Satellites”).1 Deere requests the
instant authority to begin no later than March 22, 2016. 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)
98 west longitude                             1545.9675
143.5 east longitude                          1545.9775


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


1
    All involved Inmarsat spacecraft have been approved to serve the United States, and are reflected on
    the Commission ISAT list.
2
    Deere was previously granted authority to receive space-to-earth emissions from additional Inmarsat
    satellites. See IBFS File No. SES-MOD-20141030-00835 (granted Jan. 29, 2016). Deere has filed an
    application to modify Call Sign E010011 to receive the additional frequencies referenced in Table
    1.0. See IBFS File No. SES-MOD-20160226-00184 (filed Mar. 1, 2016).
3
    Navigational accuracy depends on several variables, including visibility to overhead satellites and
    other supplemental transmitters providing correctional data.


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

        Grant of STA will serve the public interest by ensuring continuity of service for 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.4 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 March 22, 2016 so that Deere can continue to provide service to customers without any loss
of service.




4
    See IBFS File No. SES-MOD-20160226-00184.



Document Created: 2016-03-17 17:30:28
Document Modified: 2016-03-17 17:30:28

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