NOAA Spectrum STATUS and ISSUES Presentation to CGMS-42 WGI NOAA Satellite and Information Service National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) NOAA Spectrum STATUS and ISSUES (NOAA-WP-05) Presentation to CGMS-42 WGI May 2014; Guangzhou, China

Agenda Quick refresher Update status of FCC auction of 1695-1710 MHz spectrum (polar L-Band) Update status of Lightsquared studies for sharing 1670-1680 MHz Spectrum issue surrounding Sentinel-1 imagery Personnel decisions concerning NESDIS spectrum management

NOAA’s L-Band Environment LightSquared leases LightSquared wants 15 MHz Designated For Sharing Today POES/MetOp 2016 - 2030 MHZ TLM HRIT EMWIN JPSS LRD (1707) GOES-R Rebroadcast DCPR Radiosondes 1670 1675 1680 1685 1690 1695 1710 Post-2030 Commercial 1710 - 1755 Adjacent Bands Radiosondes POES & MetOp Radiosondes

Auction Scenario Broadband industry prefers pairing of spectral bands We Are Here 1675 1695 1710 1755 1780 Polar Ops Advanced Wireless Service -1 (already licensed) Space-Ground Link System (SGLS) ↑ Proposed pairing paired channels Likely pairing Advanced Wireless Service -1 (already licensed) slated for auction 2075 2095 2110 2155 2180 Broadcast Auxiliary Services Broadband industry prefers pairing of spectral bands One band for phone-to-tower (Uplink) One band for tower-to-phone (Downlink) Proposed paired band for 1695-1710 MHz not yet identified Band auctioned without paired band Less valuable  less revenue  110% minimum threshold lowers

Schedule and Milestones 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Middle-Class Tax Relief Act and External Milestones Expect broadband network use of the spectrum by 2016 ~ 2018 Bill Signed 1695-1710 MHZ Identified Transition Plan NET Auction Start NET Auction Winner WRC-15 Federal Begin vacating Federal users Studies NTIA planning for reallocation and reaccommodation FCC Network build-out requirements Rule Making License Applications & Auction Private Sector Studies Standardization Work Licensees Deployment According to the Act, licensing must occur by 2/22/2015. Deployment may occur any time thereafter; however, as a practical matter, it may take some time for the new licensees to build their networks including deployment of user terminals equipped to utilize the new spectrum. Assuming this takes at least one year, the earliest use of the band may be observed in early 2016. On the other hand, with an expectation that the FCC will set due-diligence buildout requirements on the order of say 3-5 years, one may expect significant deployments to occur by early 2018. 5

Updates Since December MSR Transition plan submitted Jan 22, 2014; approved Mar 4, 2014 Relocation costs approved; OMB reduced ops reimbursement from five years to three Documented GOES-R pre-auction costs previously submitted Radiosonde costs increased by $10M Initial discussions with OSGS concerning monitoring system procurement Handover in work – drafting CONOPS and acquisition strategy in early stages – will engage OSPO Departments of Interior and Defense enquired about about common procurement of monitoring systems Continuing to monitor FCC auction preparations

Key Transition Plan Caveats For NTIA Commitment of NTIA to develop coordination portal Engage FCC to ensure adequate enforcement mechanisms written into rules Facilitate successful relocation of radiosondes to 401-406 MHz NOAA may come back to NTIA in future with additional critical sites Identified high-risk and “showstopper” factors Adequate funding and proper phasing required Ability to validate commercial sharing methodologies Commercial broadband industry incentivized to make this work

Current Costs Radiosonde relocation: $80.139M (+10M) GOES-R pre-auction costs: $3.69 M (no change) NTIA-hosted design portal: $6.6M (no change) NOAA’s 1/3 cost-share only Covers ten years of operations (2015-2025) Monitoring system: $177M ($182M) Design, development, implementation OMB-directed reduction of 2 years’ operations costs ($2.5M per year) Total relocation costs include DOI and DoD costs

FCC Auction Status Draft Notice of Proposed Rulemaking circulated in April 2014 Included industry comments to earlier draft and FCC adjudication 1695-1710 MHZ will be auctioned unpaired for uplink (phone to tower) Neither industry or the FCC have identified a paired band Greatly reduces auction value (Verizon called the unpaired band “useless”) Auction divided up into “Economic Areas” – more than one company could win Auctioned in 5-10 MHz blocks – allows us to consolidate POES and MetOp Auction still scheduled for September 2014 and public law-mandated licensing date of February 2015

Lightsquared - (1670-1680 MHz) Technical analysis completed and submitted to FCC Relocation of radiosondes to 401-406 MHz is feasible Sharing 1675-1680 MHz band with GOES is feasible with very large exclusion zones Next actions Ball in FCC’s court – not obliged to do anything Lightsquared must coordinate with other federal users in 401-106 MHz before the FCC will consider any action Any proposed FCC actions will be sent to NTIA for USG comments & clearance

Sentinel-1 C-Band Radar Operates in narrow part of C-Band surrounded by commercial allocations for WiFi (think Starbucks) World Radio Conference 2015 (WRC-15) agenda item would allocate remaining band to WiFi – shared with C-Band radars Potential interference to satellites could result in urban areas NOAA provided input to State Department position that testing would be required to determine likelihood of interference EU linked agreements to share Sentinel-1 products to U.S. support

Personnel Transfer of NESDIS spectrum management responsibilities to NESDIS CIO ASAP All spectrum auction preparations Routine filings and support to programs Management of support contractors Operational spectrum management (launch notifications, UAS flights, interference CIO to recruit and hire spectrum manager to perform liaison function with NESDIS spectrum users

Questions?

Back-up

NOAA S-Band (2200-2290 MHz) Primary use New neighbors Results DMSP commanding and mission data GOES-N & GOES-R commanding New neighbors Navy UAV and NASA aircraft test flights DishNet deployment of 2180-2200 MHz nationwide broadband Increased number of Wallops space launches ISS COTS missions – orbital and reentry/recovery ops Results Disruptions to Wallops ops during UAV missions Increased number of time-critical analysis tasks ISS COTS missions bring other NOAA sites into play

NOAA X-Band (7000–8000 MHz) Primary NOAA use New neighbors – us! Downlink for SNPP and JPSS mission data GOES-N and GOES-R uplink and downlink New neighbors – us! Different rules for polar downlinks X-Band High-Rate Data (HRD) Continuous direct broadcast not permitted Requirement to shut off when not in field of view of ground station L-Band POES/MetOp HRPT – continuous direct broadcast allowed Competition with numerous other X-band spacecraft Results Resolved SNPP HRD downlink issue right before launch Analyzed and resolved potential interference issues at Fairbanks and Svalbard between Landsat-8 and SNPP

NOAA C-Band (~5300 MHz) Jason 2 & 3 Poseiden-3 altimeter transmit band New neighbors Interference potential with FAA ground control radar In-band interference potential with Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) spacecraft (RISAT and RADARSAT) Results FAA issue resolved via live testing at NASA Glenn Analysis performed to resolve SAR issues – for now

Transition Plan Elements Key Features Public document prepared before the auction Approved by technical panel: NTIA, FCC, and OMB Prerequisite for reimbursement from Spectrum Relocation Fund System goes “ live” three years after receipt of funds NOAA must-have’s: Continuity of POES and MetOp TT&C operations Continuity of radiosonde operations Protection of all identified critical sites GOES-N and GOES-R adjacent band protection Option for JPSS LRD and PFF operations in 1695-1710 MHz band Implementation & operations (Funding + three years): Coordination Portal website to facilitate continuing need to address site specific requests Spectrum Monitoring capability to provide data to enhance sharing and enforce protection