Spectrum Management

Frequency coordination is, preceding its use, the technical coordination of frequencies (including geostationary orbits) conducted by the authorities who are planning the radiocommunication network, on the basis of the Radio Regulation(RR) enacted by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), in order to prevent the frequencies radiocommunication networks from causing harmful interference to the networks of foreign counties.

ITU Radiocommunication Service

A radiocommunication service is – according to Article 1.19 of the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) Radio Regulations (RR) – defined as «A service…involving the transmission, emission and/or reception of radio waves for specific telecommunication purposes.»

Satellite Service

Satellite services means communications capabilities that utilize an on-orbit satellite for transmitting the signal from one location to another. Those are the services that are of interest to the SatNOGS project.

The following are all the possible different satellite services:

ITU RR Article	Description	Short	Links	In SatNOGS DB
1.21	Fixed-satellite service	FSS	Main article: Fixed-satellite service	YES
1.22	Inter-satellite service	ISS	Main article: Inter-satellite service	YES
1.23	Space operation service	SOS	Main article: Space operation service	YES
1.25	Mobile-satellite service	MSS	Main article: Mobile-satellite service	YES
1.29	Maritime mobile-satellite service	MMSS	Main article: Maritime mobile-satellite service	YES
1.35	Aeronautical mobile-satellite service	AMSS	Main article: Aeronautical mobile-satellite service	YES
1.39	Broadcasting-satellite service	BSS	Main article: Broadcasting-satellite service	YES
1.43	Radionavigation-satellite service	RNSS	Main article: Radionavigation-satellite service	YES
1.49	Radiolocation-satellite service	RLSS	Main article: Radiolocation-satellite service	YES
1.51	Earth exploration-satellite service	EESS	Main article: Earth exploration-satellite service	YES
1.52	Meteorological-satellite service		Main article: Meteorological-satellite service	YES
1.54	Standard frequency and time signal-satellite service	SFTSS	Main article: Standard frequency and time signal-satellite service	YES
1.55	Space research service	SRS	Main article: Space research service	YES
1.57	Amateur-satellite service	Amateur-satellite	Main article: Amateur-satellite service	YES

SatNOGS Policy

Frequency Misuse Decision Diagram

In Libre Space Foundation we take frequency coordination, spectrum management and violations very seriously. Radio spectrum is a finite resource and we need to follow international regulations and practices to ensure fair access and usage of frequencies as services.

We use the following diagram to determine if a satellite should be marked for frequency misuse:

Frequency Misuse Limitation

After long discussions among the SatNOGS Community and Libre Space Foundation(LSF), we have decided to apply limitations to satellites/missions that misuse frequencies or violate regulations.

These limitations, presented in the next sections, take into consideration some technical limitations and these factors:

As SatNOGS Community, we want satellites/missions to follow regulations and we want to press the teams towards this direction
As SatNOGS Community, we want to be able to record and document for posterity, satellites/missions that misuse frequencies or violate regulations
As SatNOGS Community, we want to be able to observe satellites/missions that misuse frequencies or violate regulations for contributing to Space Situational Awareness(SSA)
As SatNOGS Network station owners, we want to be able to choose if our stations will be used to observe satellites/missions that misuse frequencies or violate regulations.
As Libre Space Foundation (LSF), we want to limit our resources usage for satellites/missions that misuse frequencies or violate regulations.

SatNOGS Network

The group Operators has been created to schedule satellites/missions that misuse frequencies or violate regulations only for recording and SSA purposes
SatNOGS station owners can choose in station settings, who is able to schedule satellites/missions that misuse frequencies or violate regulations. The available options are No one (defaults choice), Only Operators for SSA and recording purposes only, Everyone but with the rest of the described limitations
Limitation of two (2) observations per day per satellite/mission that misuses frequencies or violates regulations. This limitation doesn't apply for Operators group scheduling

The Operators group is open to everyone, if you want to join the group and help with scheduling, SSA and other operations of SatNOGS Network, please get in contact with the community

SatNOGS DB

Removal of "exporting data" functionality
Expose and mark satellites/missions that misuse frequencies or violate regulations in Transmitters and Satellites APIs
Limitation of one (1) request to Telemetry API per day per satellite/mission that misuses frequencies or violates regulations.

SatNOGS Network and 3rd party clients will be able to send data to SatNOGS DB for satellites/missions that misuse frequencies or violate regulations via SiDS protocol without any limitations

SatNOGS Decoders and Dashboards

Decoders and Dashboards can be implemented for satellites/missions that misuse frequencies or violate regulations with the limitation of decoding data and show them in dashboards with a delay of fourteen (14) days.

All the above limitations are re-evaluated periodically and may change in the future