2018 SPECIAL
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20 years of interference prevention
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35 years
BY MARTIN COLEMAN
This year , the Satellite Interference Reduction Group ( IRG ) turns 20 . A lot has changed , both within the group and in this industry during that time . I thought , therefore , that it would be an opportune moment to reflect on the past 20 years of interference prevention and the satellite industry in general . I will also take a moment to think about what the coming 20 years may bring .
SUIRG
In 1998 , the Satellite Users Interference Reduction Group ( SUIRG — now IRG ) was born from a discussion started at the World Broadcasting Union – International Satellite Operators Group ( now the WBU-IMCG ) meeting in Geneva . At that meeting , a representative from the European Broadcasting Union ( EBU ) brought up the increasing trend of more and more interference affecting their broadcast and , as a group , it was decided something needed to be done to stop it . The broadcasters in attendance were not sure what could be done and so asked the satellite operators to act . One of the biggest outcomes of that was the formation of SUIRG that same year to enable those operators to work together towards a common goal — reducing interference for all satellite users . It began as mainly a forum , which enabled operators , users and manufacturers to come together , discuss experiences , and consider solutions to the problem . That remains one of the most important functions IRG performs . Only by getting all the engineers together in one room can you properly understand the problem and come up with the extraordinary technology to resolve it .
Understanding causes
Historically , one of the biggest challenges when it comes to interference resolution has been understanding what is causing it . Up until around 2007 , the industry believed that it was caused exclusively by deliberate attacks on satellites . This meant , of course , that all efforts and initiatives prior to that were aimed at reducing attacks or dealing with resolving interference when they happen . We know from experience that this is one of the hardest types of interference to resolve , so unsurprisingly , very little headway was made .
Therefore , having not made much headway in reducing interference in 2007 and 2008 , the then still SUIRG decided to find out exactly what was happening and collected data from satellite operators . The results were surprising . It turned out that less than 1 % of interference was deliberate . Of the remaining cases , half was caused by VSATs not working properly and the other half by equipment failure and human error . Data is vitally important to help us understand the landscape . This year , we are hoping to repeat this research to properly examine how and if that has changed , although I suspect the percentage split will be similar today .
Naturally , understanding these causes made it possible to develop a much more targeted approach to resolving interference . It brought about many initiatives that have started to have some effect on the problems . This included some from other groups , such as a
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Turning 20 this year , the Satellite Interference Reduction Group ( IRG ) is continuing its education efforts to eradicate inteference in satellite transmission .
6 An Supplement