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Space-Based Broad casing The Future of Worldwide Audio Broadcasting A Working Paper Thomas F. Rogers Submitted to The Technical Operations Study Committee for the Voice of America Board on Telecommunications and Computer Applications Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems National Research Council NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS Washington, D.C. 1985
NOTICE: This paper was prepared for a project approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for executing the project were chosen for their special competences and with regard for an appropriate balance of information and insight. The National Research Council was established by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy's purposes of furthering knowledge and of advising the Federal government. The Council operates in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy under the authority of its private, nonprofit, self-governing membership corporation. The Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in the conduct of their services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. It is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. The National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine were established in 1964 and 1970, respectively, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences. The project is supported by Contract No. IA-21130-23 between the United States Information Agency and the National Academy of Sciences. A limited number of copies of this paper has been printed. Board on Telecommunications and Computer Applications Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems National Research Council 2101 Constitution Avenue N.W. Washington, D.C. 20418
P_AC E This paper was prepared for submission as a source document to the study being conducted by the National Research Council's Technical Operations Study Committee for the Voice of America. The Committee was appointed in April 1984 to advise and guide the VOA on its technical planning to renovate, modernize, and expand its transmission capabi ~ ities and faci ~ ities. Although the author is a member of the Committee, this paper has not been reviewed by the Committee or the National Research Council Report Review Committee and reflects only the views of the author. Writing and publication took about one year. Much of the time was devoted to the informal but pointed analysis of a series of drafts by a substantial number of thoughtful professionals. Much time was also spent in an effort to obtain as wide a consensus as possible in the context of the observations and judgments expressed by these professionals. As the process concluded, it appeared that there was substantial general agreement as to both the paper's substance and form on today's (and tomorrow's likely) shortwave broadcasting circumstances; on the desirability of approaching the use of space for audio broadcasting via a common-user system-service; and on estimations of service characteristics, initial system concepts,~and related technological risks, schedules, and acquisition costs. In addition to the common-user concept, the paper advances other novel institutional suggestions for serious consideration: a worldwide audio broadcasting system-service provided, financed, and operated by the private sector rather than directly by governments, the broadcasting entity having some responsibility for the design and provision of the basic elements of the system's surface segment and its space segment; the private sector using the service to advertise goods and services worldwide, over a medium now essentially confined to the advertising of political views by governments; and the use of such a worldwide system-service to provide national, domestic services as well. Time did not permit a coalescence of views on these Jatter concepts. They are so novel as to require more analyses and judgements than the circumstances surrounding the issuance of the paper have allowed, even though the present formulations of all of the concepts are probably acceptable to many, perhaps to most, for further debate. The last concept--the possibility of a system providing services to meet national-domestic needs--presented the most difficulty. The difficulty is not one of substance but rather involves the form in which the paper is presented. Much of the feedback from colleagues, particularly those with greater and more recent experience than that of the author in the international political arenas that deal with telecommunications policy, pointed out that worldwide broadcasting is much more politically sensitive than nationa1-domestic broadcasting. This sensitivity springs primarily from the basic fact that · ·
today many governments are much more comfortable with their own broadcasting to the people of other countries than with their own people receiving broadcasts by other governments. Many governments apparently prefer to talk rather than listen. The feedback emphasized that the paper would elicit a more sympathetic and favorable reading abroad if it focused on the potential of using orbiting transmitters to provide national-domestic services. This approach also engages roughly as many countries and utilizes roughly the same amount of radiowave spectrum as does worldwide shortwave broadcasting. In the end, the paper's discussion of the impressive potential value of a national-domestic service was enlarged while the original presentation thrust was retained. The resulting paper focuses specifically on the national interest that created the National Research Council's Technical Operations Study Committee for the Voice of America: concern for the future broadcasting posture of the United States Information Agency/Yoice of America. Other times, other circumstances, and other authors can emphasize the national-domestic area. This paper therefore should be considered essentially as creative and instructive, not as comprehensive and detailed. As noted, this paper was not reviewed by the NRC Technical Operations Study Committee for the VOA and did not go through the NRC review process. It has greatly profited, however, from the informal comments of Edward Bedrosian, the Rand Corporation; Bert Cowlan, Consultant; Douglass D. Crombie, until recently with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration; Keith Edwards, M.B.E., until recently with the British Broadcasting Corporation; Dr. Robert B. Fenwick, BR Communications; Dr. John E. Keigler, RCA--Astro-Electronics, and Robert P. Pahmeier, GE--Space Systems, all members of the Committee. This paper also benefitted from the comments of Richard B. Marsten and Jerome D. Rosenberg of the Committee staff. Ivan Bekey, NASA Headquarters; Dr. Sidney Metzger, formerly of the Communications Satellite Corporation, and Dr. Wilbur Pritchard, Satellite Systems Engineering also provided helpful insights. The author extends particular thanks to Bert Cowlan for bringing to his attention the recent, important, Soviet paper noted here in footnote 25, and to Jerome D. Rosenberg for a great deal of professional assistance. .f-~. - - · ~ c~. ~ as F:Rogers 1V
BOARD ON TELECOMMUNICATIONS - COMPUTER APPLICATIONS TECHNICAL OPERATIONS STUDY COMMITTEE FOR THE VOICE OF AMERICA Chairman ERIC E. SUMNER, Vice President, Operations, Systems and Network Planning, AT&T Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, New Jersey Members EDWARD BEDROSlAN, Engineering and Applied Sciences Department, The Rand Corporation, Santa Monica, California LEWIS S. BILLIG, Director for Communications and Theater Systems, MITRE Corporation, Bedford, Massachusetts BERT COWLAN, Telecommunications Consultant, New York, New York DOUGLASS D. CROMBlE, Senior Engineering Specialist, Aerospace Corporation, Los Angeles, California d. KEITH EDWARDS, M.B.E., (Retired) Assistant Chief Engineer External Broadcasting, British Broadcasting Company, Chesham Bucks, England ROBERT B. FENWICK, Chairman, BR Communications, Sunnyvale, California JOHN E. KEIGLER, Manager, Communications Satellite Systems, RCA Astro-Electronics, Princeton, New Jersey ROBERT P. PAHMElER, Manager of Communications Systems Engineering for Spacecraft Operation, Genera] Electric Valley Forge Space Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ROBERT P. RAFUSE, Senior Staff, Lincoln Laboratory-MIT, Lexington, Massachusetts THOMAS F. ROGERS, Consultant, McLean, Virginia ROGER d. RUSCH, Manager of Systems Engineering, Federal Systems Division, TRW Space and Technology Group DANIEL d. FINK, (Ex-Officio), President, Did. Fink Associates, Inc., Arlington, Virginia JOHN A. ARMSTRONG, (GETS LIAISON MEMBER), Vice President for Logic and Memory, IBM Corporation, Yorktown Heights, New York JAMES L FLANAGAN, (CETS LIAISON MEMBER), Head, Acoustics Research Department, AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey Staff RICHARD B. MARSTEN, Executive Director JEROME D. ROSENBERG, Study Director LOIS A. LEAK, Administrative Secretary v
All states should proclaim policies under which the free flow of information within countries and across frontiers will be protected. The right to seek and transmit information should be insured in order to enable the public to ascertain facts and appraise events.... "The United Nations Declaration on Freedom of Information," Resolution 59 Alp, The U.N. General Assembly (1946) Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression, this right includes freedom to hold opinions...and to seek, receive and import information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. "The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights," Article 19, The U.N. General Assembly (1948) It is our conviction that the most effective way to reduce the current ~communications] imbalance is not by inhibiting the communications capacity of some, but by increasing the communications capacity of all.... Statement of U.S. Ambassador John Reinhardt to the UNESCO General Conference, Nairobi, 1976, Quoted in "The United States and the Debate on the 'World Information Order,"' Academy for International Development, Inc., Washington, D.C., page 6 As the world's leading technological innovator, lithe United States of] America has a special responsibility to strive for equitable international...arrangements for new communications technology. "The United States and the Debate on the 'World Information Order,"' page ll9 · ~ V1 1
Section 102 (a) The Congress hereby declares that it is the policy of the United States that activities in space should be devoted to peaceful purposes for the benefit of all mankind. Section 102 (c) The...space activities of the United States shall be conducted so as to contribute materially to.... (5) The preservation of the role of the United States as a leader in...space...technology and in the application thereof to the conduct of peaceful activities within and outside the atmosphere.... (7) Cooperation by the United States tin such activities] with other nations and groups of nations.... National Aeronautics and Space Act of ~ 958, as amended The member states tof the United Nations] shall use spacecraft in...the interests of maintaining peace...and for the development of international cooperation and mutual understanding. From a new space treaty draft proposed by the U.S.S.R. and transmitted to the U.N. in mid-198l, quoted in "Nature," 292, August 20, 1981; page 262 ...Americans cannot realize the impact of...radio broadcasts "throughout the world] since they never lack multiple sources of news tand] few Americans realize that radio, not television or the printed media, is the main means of communications abroad. tFor instance] Despite the gap in standards of living, there are ten times more shortwave radio sets in the U.S.S.R. than in the United States.... "Speaking of America: Public Policy In Our Times," Kenneth L. Adelman, Foreign Affairs, Spring, 1981; pages 913-936, esp. page 914 Extensive, timely and candid information is an indication of trust in people and of respect for their intelligence, feelings and ability to comprehend various events on their own. Mikhai] S. Gorbachev General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, quoted from a December lO, 1984, speech as reported in the New York Times, March 13, 1985; page D-2 · · vat ~ ~
CONTENTS PREFACE ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION SECTION 1 Genera] Service and Systems Considerations SECTION 2 Specific Consideration of a UHF DBS-A System-Service SECTION 3 The Space Segment (Transmitter) - Surface Segment (Receiver) Power Budget for a UHF DBS-A System-Service SECTION 4 The Acquisition Cost of a UHF DBS-A System-Service SECTION 5 The UHF Space Segment and Surface Feeder Ownership and Operation and Maintenance Costs SECTION 6 The Space Segment (Transmitter) - Surface Segment (Receiver) Power Budget for an HE DBS-A System-Service SECTION 7 The Acquisition Cost of an HE DBS-A System-Service SECTION 8 Paying for a DBS-A System-Service SECTION 9 Implications of a DBS-A System Service for the United States and the United States Information Agency-Voice of America CONCLUSIONS SUMMARY POSTSCRIPT 1X Page ii l 2 11 17 23 36 41 45 54 57 63 67 68 73
...a vision should not be expected to be as precise as an equation. Noel Annan i n hi s Introduction to "Personal Impressions," by Isaiah Ber] in The Vi k i ng Pres s, New York; 1980 x
