[SatNews] The results of Carrier ID (CID) transmission tests have been presented at a workshop of the Satellite Interference Reduction Group (IRG) at Eutelsat’s headquarters in Paris.
 

Carrier ID is a unique identifier inserted into a carrier to accelerate identification of satellite interference. The tests were intended to check both the modulation and demodulation capabilities in a number of real life scenarios, ensuring products, technology and processes available are capable of transmitting, detecting, and resolving interference.
 

The tests were carried out on June 17th and 18th by IRG member, WORK Microwave and Eutelsat. The uplink was provided by IABG in Munich. The CID transmission tests were run using WORK Microwave’s DVB-S2 modulator, which includes DVB-CID technology. Eutelsat made capacity available to WORK Microwave on the EUTELSAT  21B satellite, whose pan-European coverage ensured that other members could participate, including satellite operators (Arabsat, Es’hailsat, Intelsat), carrier monitoring system manufacturers (Comtech EF Data, Kratos—SAT Corporation, Siemens Convergence Creators, Zodiac Aerospace) and the monitoring Earth station in Aflenz, Austria.
 
The tests were conducted using three scenarios in order to fully test the CID demodulation capability.

• Scenario 1 tested robustness to constellation variation by using different modulation techniques of the DVB carrier. The participating companies identified no difference in processing capabilities between the different techniques.
• Scenario 2 involved lowering the transmission power to simulate ASI or XPOL interference. When the power was down to 4dB of SNR, the detection time remained unchanged. At 1dB SNR, this was affected by around 60 seconds.
• Scenario 3 tested a real interference case, where both carriers had ID and the companies participating were able to detect the Carrier ID of both the main carrier and the interfering carrier.

Executive Comments

Andreas Voigt, Communication Systems Manager, Eutelsat, said, “CID is an efficient method for fast interference resolution, and tests are vital to ensure we can achieve optimum results.”
 
“We were keen to conduct these tests together with Eutelsat, as ensuring that our products work in a real-life scenario is extremely important,” said Tobias Rutz, Senior Engineer, Digital Technologies, WORK Microwave. “The tests were overwhelmingly successful.”
 
“CID is one of the most effective ways of combating satellite interference,” said Martin Coleman, Executive Director, the Satellite Interference Reduction Group. ”These tests are vital to ensuring that both the technology and processes work as they should, and giving those companies confidence to effectively transmit and detect CID information. We are extremely grateful to Eutelsat, IABG, and WORK Microwave for making these tests possible.”