FAA ACTIONS re; COMMUNICATION SATELLITE FOR AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL • EXTENSIVE IN-HOUSE FEASIBILITY STUDY • CLOSE ASSOCIATION WITH NASA EFFORT DEC '65 DISCUSSION WITH COMSAT CORP RE POSSIBILITY LEASED SERVICE • INTRODUCTION OF US. VIEWS INTO ICAO FORUM AT EUR-MED MTG/FEB '66 STATUS OF COMSAT EFFORT U.S. POSITION FOR ICAO COMOPS MEETING • COORDINATION WITH U.S. AIR CARRIERS COORDINATION WITH FOREIGN AIR • PROBLEMS OF INTERNATIONAL • FUNDING • FREQUENCIES • OPERATIONAL CONCEPTS Colonel MAY. We have no question about the feasibility of airground satellite use. In fact, we have been studying it since 1963 in the agency and have no doubt about its feasibility at all. We have been working very closely with NASA and I think you are familiar with the ATS-B program which will give us some technical answers on ground-air communications at VHF frequencies. You are familiar, I think, also, Mr. Roback, with our December 1965 discussion with Comsat in which we asked Comsat to give us their best idea of what could be furnished in the immediate future as a ground-air VHF satellite system across the Atlantic initially and worldwide later. At the European-Mediterranean ICAO meeting in February 1966, we introduced for the first time Mr. ROBACK. ICAO-what is that? Colonel MAY. International Civil Aviation Organization, with headquarters in Montreal. Mr. ROBACK. What is the purpose of that organization? Colonel MAY. It coordinates international air traffic control and many other flying matters with all participating nations. I can't think of a notable exception. At the European-Mediterranean regional meeting of the group in February of this year we introduced a positive U.S. position with respect to the need for satellite communications in the North Atlantic, and it was favorably received, although, of course, they had questions. Now, skipping back to Comsat, Comsat went out to industry-and, incidentally, I think they are prepared to tell you the whole story when they come before you, sir-they went out to industry with a rather tight specification for an air-ground satellite system to operate at VHF frequencies. In this request for proposal they got return of only one proposal, that of the Hughes Corp., which I understand was both priced too high and had some technical inadequacies which could not be resolved. Comsat came back to us a few weeks ago-2 months ago—and told us that they were going to do some more in-house study and in about 4 months would go to industry again with a request for proposal, this time with a somewhat altered specification. It is their expectation to come to us in about 5 months, sir, with a firm proposal for a course of action including firm funding; that is, how much it will cost, which has been another question in our minds. So that is the status of our current negotiations with Comsat. Mr. ROBACK. You won't be able to take any new information to this meeting in September-October 1966 of the ICAO? Colonel MAY. Well, not really with respect to the Comsat proposals, nor had we intended to, sir. Mr. ROBACK. What is the order of cost, what would the FAA have to pay Comsat for a system or one satellite and some kind of operation; do you have any idea, any estimate? Colonel MAY. Yes. Comsat quoted us a ball park figure for annual leased costs some several months ago. It was for the Atlantic coverage. Mr. ROBACK. This would be your first area to experiment with? Mr. ROBACK. Where your heaviest traffic is? Colonel MAY. For Atlantic coverage only they had quoted us and this was as of December 1965, $5.2 million annually for a two-channel satellite, $8.6 million, these are all annual totals now, $8.6 million for two satellites to cover both the Atlantic and Pacific and for the whole world, three satellites, $12 million. Mr. ROBACK. How many, at any given time? How many ships could be communicating over those satellites, say you had two. Colonel MAY. We allot 5 minutes per air-ground contact and this is quite generous. Actually, the average contact is about 3 minutes or less. Mr. ROBACK. What are your channel requirements in your initial system? Colonel MAY. We feel that two will provide our communications requirements until about 1969-70, Mr. Roback. Mr. ROBACK. Two full duplex voice channels? Colonel MAY. Five minutes per contact comes out to 12 contacts hourly and, obviously, 288 contacts per day. Mr. ROBACK. That is, all ships could get access to it? Colonel MAY. Yes; they are not calling at the same time, of course, which would be most unusual. At 3 minutes per contact the figure goes way up to 480 contacts per day possible. This is on a single channel, multiply that by two and you have a feel of the volume possible. There has been both pessimism and optimism expressed on this particular point but we honestly think the two satellite channels will hold us until 1969. Mr. ROBACK. Comsat, having given you a ball park figure based on their in-house studies and maybe preliminary discussions with the trade, then found that the single offer they got was beyond those estimates, or at least they were not in position to maintain that kind of a cost estimate to you, is that right? Colonel MAY. That is correct. Mr. ROBACK. So they want to make another effort? Colonel MAY. That is correct. Mr. ROBACK. Is there any reason-do you get the understanding that the research and development still needs to be done, that this is a little bit new! Colonel MAY. Well, I defer to our research and development man on that. Mr. CONERLY. I think there is definitely some technical trade-off that has to be made between the satellite and aircraft capability. A lot of these questions have not been answered as of yet, but they don't look insurmountable by any means. Mr. ROBACK. What is the cost estimate of the black boxes that would have to go into the aircraft? Colonel MAY. If we were to adopt the Comsat proposal for a FM system the design of the boxes is immediately available, Mr. Roback. Mr. ROBACK. How much would they cost for installation, total cost including installation? Colonel MAY. I don't recall the last Bendix price, Bendix has the equipment and I understand that Collins is also interested. Mr. ROBACK. What would it be, $25,000? Colonel MAY. No, it is much less than that, it is about half that amount for the equipment. Mr. ROBACK. About $12,000. Is the research and development problem in the frequency? Mr. CONERLY. There is a research and development problem in the frequency. Right now we have pretty good usage of our complete VHF band. We are doing experimentation to determine if we can get this satellite communication link in without interference, this is our main problem. Mr. ROBACK. Why do you use VHF rather than UHF? Mr. CONERLY. This is where most of our civil traffic, of course, has their equipment, and we would like to use Mr. ROBACK. There is off-the-shelf equipment for VHF ? Mr. CONERLY. Yes. Colonel MAY. All their planes are equipped. Mr. LEAGUE. They are equipped for VHF and not UHF. They would have to reequip. Mr. ROBACK. Is that any advantage in UHF? Colonel MAY. Not at the UHF band, perhaps, you are thinking about; that is, the military UHF band of 200 to 400. Mr. ROBACK. They are not the same? Colonel MAY. You have to go way, way up from that, in other words, to get any technical advantages. Mr. CONERLY. The next band available is in the L-band 1.4 gigacycles, I think. Mr. ROBACK. This would be a dedicated satellite. Mr. ROBACK. To be used only for that purpose? Mr. ROBACK. Would it be available for long-haul commuincations? Colonel MAY. Only to the extent that the up-link and down-link on either side do provide a channel through it, kind of an order wire like in most of the satellites. Mr. ROBACK. Would there be any bonus value in long-haul communications from such a system? Colonel MAY. Yes; it would mean if it were available without undue costs we would use this instead of our ground coordination channels. Mr. ROBACK. Who is going to pay for this system? You said FAA would have to reimburse or pay Comsat for its satellites for so many channels of service-this would be 24-hour service, I assume. Colonel MAY. Yes. Mr. LEAGUE. Yes. Mr. ROBACK. What is the relationship, the present arrangement, whereby the airlines support their own service? In other words, this would be a shift in cost obligations from the industry to the Government, is that right? Colonel MAY. That is right. Mr. ROBACK. Offhand why won't the industry do this? Why don't you tell the industry, "Since you are paying for the service now, why don't you continue paying for it in a new more important way?" I am just asking the question. Mr. LEAGUE. Mr. Roback, the funding, the financing for this has not been worked out so I can't answer your question. We haven't progressed that far. Mr. ROBACK. It is not inconceivable that industry would be a contributor? Mr. LEAGUE. This is possible. Mr. ROBACK. You are not proposing to give the industry something free which they haven't had before? Mr. LEAGUE. At this stage we haven't gotten into it that far. We are not proposing at this point to do that; no, sir. Mr. ROBACK. If you were making a contribution to the industry, you would have to defend the budget item for that purpose. Mr. LEAGUE. This is true. Mr. ROBACK. And so the cost of the service as conveyed by Comsat is relevant to what you consider the budget possibilities are? Mr. LEAGUE. This is true. Mr. ROBACK. If it is too high, it doesn't look like you might be able to get it through. Mr. LEAGUE. Yes, sir; this is right. That is why we have to wait for this figure before we can proceed with our planning for funding. Mr. ROBACK. What are the possibilities, because after all, you are talking about getting-you talked with Comsat over a period of time about getting some hardware, and-if you haven't worked out who is going to pay for it, are you going on the assumption the Government would pay for it? Mr. LEAGUE. Well, this would probably be a cost-sharing type of thing, perhaps with other countries even. Mr. ROBACK. It is conceivable that even though you would be the prime contractor, so to speak from the standpoint of all the users, that they would all be contributors to the cost. |