WHAT IF T&E HAD INFINITE SPECTRUM?

Abstract

The availability of spectrum has been decreasing while requirements have been increasing. One way of answering the question of how much impact this has is to ask how much spectrum would be used in an ideal situation. A way of getting a handle on this question is to look at how much data is recorded onboard test vehicles. We can assume that, if we could, we would transmit everything we currently record. This would be ideal since we could then consider the onboard recorders as backup and we would have all data available in case of catastrophe. This paper looks at onboard recording and telemetry trends to see what percentage of data has been and will be telemetered. This analysis involves several levels in that telemetry requirements are not limited to transmission over a single frequency. It is common to have more than one vehicle involved in an operation. Thus, different scenarios are evaluated from single vehicle operations to larger scale test and training operations. When considered from this point of view, the impact becomes quite clear: the T&E community is making significant compromises on telemetering data. Therefore, current efforts to obtain more spectrum for telemetry use through the World Radio Conference are well justified.