It is not clear when the consolidation of
the commercial communications satellite
industry will end, but what is clear is that
large operators now count their space- Quite often, the satellite that was
craft by the dozen instead of in single dig- expected to go a way in several years
its. The size and complexities of the newly lives far beyond end-of-life predictions
merged fleets are byfarthelargest market and the operator has to deal with an
driver for TT&C systems, and the senior aging computer platform.
management teams of these companies “In the old days, satellite manufac-
are looking to drive results to the bottom turers sold their own ground control
line. Advanced TT&C systems will be at systems,” says Mark Schmitt, director
thefore, reducingoperational manpower of business development at Lanham,
and increasing profits. The benefits of new Md.-based Integral Systems, a provider
features developed for larger operators of TT&C systems with 2007 revenues
will ultimately trickle down to smaller projected to exceed $100 million. “Now
operators, thereby enhancing their per- operators want a TT&C system that will
formance as well. support any of their satellites.” Founded
in 1982, Integral historically has offered
command and control software under its
Epoch IPS software suite that can con-
trol every type of satellite platform in
the industry.
Fast forward 20 years and those
objectives are becoming reality. The rapid
consolidation of the satellite industry has
resulted in fewer operators flying larger
fleets comprised of an assorted mix of
spacecraft vintages and manufacturers.
Advanced telemetry, tracking and control
(TT&C) systems are helping satellite
operators do more with less people and
are improving both the bottom line and
operational efficiencies.
PhOtOs COurtesy OF Intelsat — KevIn GIllesPIe and MIrO svetInsKy
“Large operators want to consolidate
their software packages down to one or
two to control satellites of different models and vendors,” says Paul Blanchard,
product manager for L- 3 Telemetry-West
of San Diego, which offers its InControl
TT&C systems and also provides systems
to the U.S. military. “Our clients want the
ground system for every satellite to look
alike and act alike. There are business
and operational reasons for doing so. …
In the past, the traditional paradigm has
been one operator assigned to one satellite,” says Blanchard. “That has changed
and it made possible for operators to fly
more than one bird at a time. Inmarsat is
a good example. During the evening shift,
one of their operators is responsible for
11 satellites.”
Blanchard points out that Inmarsat does not do station keeping or any
intelsat’s long Beach satellite Operations intelsat’s long Beach satellite Operations
Center is the ‘hot back-up’ to the operator’s
east Coast satellite Operations Center in
Washington, D.C. Both centers have fully
redundant capabilities.
Multiple Options
Satellite operations managers face a
complicated world of TT&C choices
today, with hardware and software
vendors as well as system integrators
offering various types of systems.
In addition, satellite manufacturers
routinely bundle a ground control
system with a new satellite. While it
may seem relatively simple to operate
a satellite with today’s powerful
computer systems, everything is not
as straightforward as it may appear.
As soon as a payload is launched,
it is frozen in time. That may mean
interfacing with computer hardware
designed in the 1980s. The computers
and operating software at the ground
station often are stuck in a time warp
as well since many operators are
reluctant to upgrade computing platforms. They tend to find reasons not to
upgrade, such as: “This satellite only
has two more years of useful life so
we aren’t going to upgrade anything.”
other complicated procedures during
times with limited staff, but “operational
staffing costs are huge,” he says. “
Consider the savings if you could reduce
three employees per shift plus the extra
operators needed for weekend coverage. Who wouldn’t want to take that
number to the bottom line? There is no
way our clients could have done this in
the old days. An operator would have
simply been overwhelmed trying to do
too many tasks. Automation allows us
to be a force multiplier.”
The reason for this ease of transition
with legacy systems or having a single
operating system control spacecraft
manufactured by multiple operators
is that software integration is becoming much more prevalent in the TT&C
world; much like hardware integration
was twenty years ago, says Schmitt. “The
different subsystems are being integrated
so everyone on an operations team better
understands what is happening. Integration speeds problem resolution.”
With all of the attention to software,
operators are flexing their muscles
when it comes to TT&C systems, says
Blanchard. Operators like to limit their
reliance on the number of third-party
software vendors involved, preferring
instead to buy a single license that covers all aspects of the ground system.
The operators also are requiring plat-
