INDIA HOSTS SECOND MEETING OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NEW DELHI 004343 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR OES/PCI, OES/SAT, AND SCA/INS STATE FOR STAS STATE PASS TO NSF FOR INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: TSPA KSCA IN SUBJECT: INDIA HOSTS SECOND MEETING OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE ON GLOBAL NAVIGATION SATELLITE SYSTEMS (ICG-2) NEW DELHI 00004343 001.2 OF 002 ¶1. Summary: India successfully hosted ICG-2 in Bangalore, India September 4 - 7, 2007. The meeting convened under the auspices of the India Space Research Organization and the UN Office of Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and brought together regional and global navigation satellite system (GNSS) providers and users to discuss current planning for future systems as well as key compatibility and interoperability issues. Close to 140 experts attended the meeting. There was an industry exhibit which showcased Indian GNSS technologies and applications. Significant results were achieved in the Providers Forum and the ICG that far exceeded expectations. The United State will host the third ICG meeting (ICG-3) in Pasadena, California in December 2008. End Summary. -------------- THE PROVIDERS FORUM -------------- ¶2. A significant achievement of ICG-2 was formally establishing a Providers Forum within the committee consisting of member states who currently operate or who plan to launch satellite navigation systems. The Providers Forum includes China, the European Union, India, Japan, the Russian Federation, and the United States. The first meeting of the Providers Forum took place on September 4 and was co-chaired by India and the United States. ¶3. The Providers Forum grappled with difficult issues surrounding the concepts of compatibility and interoperability of systems, protection of GNSS spectrum; orbital debris/orbit de-confliction and other matters related to the work of the ICG. The participants reached agreement not only on the definitions of compatibility - the ability of space-based positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) services to be used separately or together without interfering with each individual GNSS service or signal - and interoperability - the ability of the same services to be used together to provide better capabilities at the user level than would be achieved by relying solely on one service or signal - but also reached agreement that at a minimum, all GNSS services and signals must be compatible, and to the maximum extent possible, should also be interoperable. Comment: The above agreements apply only to open signals �00A;transmitted by PNT systems and not to military/authorized signals. End Comment. Members also agreed that transparency in the provision of open services is desirable, and requires the open publication and dissemination of signal and system characteristics to allow manufacturers to design and develop GNSS receivers on a non-discriminatory basis. ¶4. In addition, each member of the Providers Forum gave updates as to the status of their satellite systems including: China's Compass/Beidou GNSS system; the EU's EGNOS regional navigation satellite system (RNSS) and Galileo GNSS; India's GAGAN which is a space-based augmentation system (SBAS) to the U.S. GPS system and the planned Indian RNSS; Japan's QZSS and MSAS SBAS; Russia's GLONASS GNSS and Wide-area system of differential corrections and monitoring; and the U.S. GPS and Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS). PowerPoint presentations on each of the systems will be made available on the UNOOSA website at www.unoosa.org. -------------- MEETING OF GNSS EXPERTS -------------- ¶5. The second day of the ICG was devoted to presentations by over twenty GNSS experts who demonstrated the vast potential of GNSS applications which include: air, sea, and land transport; search and rescue; land management; geodesy, and precision timekeeping; all of which have a significant impact on efficient economic and sustainable development. The experts meeting also revealed serious challenges in integrating international standards for terrestrial reference frames, orbit de-confliction and orbital debris management, as well as the need for a new standard for international atomic time. -------------- RESULTS OF THE WORKING GROUPS -------------- ¶6. The ICG addressed its workplan adopted at ICG-1 in Vienna, Austria through working groups focused on compatibility and interoperability, enhancement of performance of GNSS services, NEW DELHI 00004343 002.2 OF 002 information dissemination, and interaction with national and regional authorities and relevant international organizations. The workgroups produced solid results, particularly in information dissemination with the creation of an ICG information portal, but recognized the need for further work on coordinating the highly complex issues facing a world with multiple GNSS systems in orbit. -------------- ICG EXPANDS WITH NEW MEMBERS -------------- ¶7. The ICG welcomed Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates to the committee at ICG-2 by vote of the existing members. The delegation from Malaysia announced plans to field an SBAS during the next five years to augment GPS for the South-East Asia region. The UAE indicated it planned to play a coordination role for GNSS in the Persian Gulf by establishing regulations and training modules for the Gulf States. -------------- CONCLUSION -------------- ¶8. ICG-2 concluded with an agreement to have the United States host ICG-3 in Pasadena, California in December 2008. On the agenda will be the adoption of procedural structures to guide the committee as well as further reporting from the working groups who agreed to continue their work throughout the year. WHITE