Some Space Trends Raise Spectrum Sharing Concerns
The satellite megaconstellation boom and growing use of small satellites won't present undue spectrum coordination challenges, though other emerging space applications could pose bigger potential problems, said Alexandre Vallet, ITU Radiocommunication Bureau's Space Services Department chief. “We may have to see how to make some room” for geostationary satellites increasingly being envisioned by nations that want to kick-start their own domestic space industry, he told a Silicon Flatirons conference Thursday.
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Vallet said commercial space exploration further in the future might create spectrum access issues if it flourishes. He said that not all megaconstellations being envisioned will come to fruition will help keep them from being a sizable spectrum sharing problem. He said the megaconstellation boom is necessitating more-sophisticated spectrum sharing tools. He said use of smallsats is rocketing, but lots of bands are available, and smallsats often need relatively small bandwidth since they typically aren't used for communications.
Resolving conflicts between space and terrestrial interests vying for spectrum needs to involve trustworthy technical information that can also be understandable to nontechnical political interests, said Peter Tenhula, retired NTIA Office of Spectrum Management deputy associate administrator. The clearing of the 3.7-4.2 GHz band worked out relatively well, with meetings of the minds on technical issues, unlike the ongoing L-band fight between Ligado and GPS interests, he said.
Satellite operators often see benefit in not sharing spectrum to keep out competitors, so incentivize negotiations among operators and technologies that allow coordination in new ways, said SpaceX Satellite Policy Director David Goldman. “There's enough spectrum for everybody -- if we all get along.” He said an operator's complaints about an inability to share spectrum might be based more on technology than on physics. Goldman sees similar incentive issues for orbital debris mitigation. “Time in orbit really, really matters,” he said, saying there’s a general agreement the 25-year norm for satellites in orbit is too long.
Before SpaceX began operating, it arranged with radio astronomers to create a 250 MHz guard band to protect observations in adjacent bands, Goldman said. He said SpaceX “got surprised” about reflectivity concerns raised by optical astronomy interests and has acted to mitigate the effects. “Nobody knew this was coming,” he said.
Rapid growth of commercial space activity isn't necessarily all negative on scientific use of spectrum because research is often trying to glean information that could benefit the private sector, said Bevin Ashley VanderLey, National Science Foundation senior adviser. There's no common view in the scientific community of what bands are important since that depends on what's being studied, she said.
The technology sector is increasingly concerned about “tech imperialism” of countries trying to exercise international dominance through tech leadership, said Nokia Vice President-Legislative Affairs Grace Koh. She said governments increasingly try to influence their tech industries such as through increased antitrust scrutiny and looking into supply chain. Spectrum policy and its focus on “highest and best use” is the closest the U.S. has come to having industrial policy, she said.