RFIMS-SE-DOC-19-IRD_0.5.pdf

Radio Frequency Interference Monitoring System (RFIMS)

RFIMS to Wireless Carrier Interface Requirements Document (IRD)

Version 0.5

February 2017

U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS)

RFIMS to Wireless Carrier IRD RFIMS-SE-DOC-19 Version 0.4 ii

RFIMS to Wireless Carrier IRD

Prepared By: ____________________________

Julie Tomlinson RFIMS Systems Engineer, Office of Satellite Ground Services (OSGS)

Approved By: ____________________________

Steven Grippando

RFIMS Project Manager, OSGS Systems Engineering Deputy Division Chief iii

CHANGE RECORD

DOCUMENT TITLE: RFIMS to Wireless Carrier IRD

VERSION DATE PAGES AFFECTED DESCRIPTION

0.1 November 1, 2016 All

First release of document for peer review.

0.2 November 18, 2016 All

Updates from RFIMS team;

updates in response to NOAA-

Carrier Workshop on 11/3/16.

0.3 December 19, 2016 All

Incorporated feedback from

NorthStar Wireless.

0.3c January 12, 2017 All Provided responses to feedback for discussion.

0.4 January 25, 2017 All

Incorporated discussion from

1/24/17 meeting with Wireless

Carriers.

0.5 February 23, 2017 All

Incorporated comments from

RFIMS team members and

Wireless Carriers.

The document version number identifies whether the document is a working copy, final, revision, or update, defined as follows:

• Working copy or Draft: a document not yet finalized or ready for distribution; sometimes called a draft. Use 0.1A, 0.1B, etc. for unpublished documents.

• Final: the first definitive edition of the document. The final is always identified as Version 1.0.

• Revision: an edition with minor changes from the previous edition, defined as changes affecting less than one-third of the pages in the document. The version numbers for revisions 1.1 through 1.9, 2.1 through 2.9, and so forth. After nine revisions, any other changes to the document are considered an update. A revision in draft, i.e. before being re-baselined, should be numbered as 1.1A, 1.1B, etc.

• Update: an edition with major changes from the previous edition, defined as changes affecting more than one-third of the pages in the document. The version number for an update is always a whole number (Version 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, and so forth).

iv

ITEMS TO BE RESOLVED

Items that are unknown or not specified at this time are marked in the document as “TBD”, or To Be

Determined. This table tracks the items, owner, and resolution due dates.

TBD ID Action Required Responsibility Due Date

TBD-2 Add other relevant information about Wireless Carrier Systems.

Wireless Carriers

TBD-3 Provide the detailed description (use tables, figures, or drawings), responsibilities (for boundary), coordinate systems, and numerical requirements (measurement units, tolerances) as they relate to the interface.

NOAA, Wireless Carriers

TBD-4 Add Interface requirements. NOAA

TBD-5 Refine Operator interface description as applicable. NOAA, Wireless Carriers

TBD-6 Add other requested real-time data from RFIMS. Wireless Carriers

TBD-7 Add other requested data for historic reports from

RFIMS.

Wireless Carriers

TBD-8 Provide more details on proposed alarms from

RFIMS.

NOAA

TBD-9 Add other requested data for alarms. Wireless Carriers

TBD-10 Add other acknowledgement information. Wireless Carriers

TBD-11 Add additional security constraints. NOAA v

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

1.1. Purpose and Scope

1.2. Assumptions

2. Applicable and Reference Documents

3. System Descriptions

3.1. RFIMS System Overview

3.2. Wireless Carrier System Overview

3.3. Data Flow Description

4. Interface Requirements ......................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

5. Interface Descriptions ............................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.

5.1. RFIMS_Wireless_Operator_Interface

5.2. RFIMS_Wireless_Data_Interface

5.2.1. Real-time Data

5.2.2. Historic Reports

5.2.3. Alarms

5.2.4. Acknowledgements

5.2.5. Security and Privacy Constraints

Appendix A: Acronym List

Appendix B: Sample ICD Contents

Data Element Assembly Characteristics

Data Element Characteristics

Communication Methods Characteristics

Protocols

Table of Figures

Figure 1: NOAA Downlink Frequencies in the 1675-1710 MHz Band

Figure 2: Notional Block Diagram of RFIMS

Figure 3: Notional High-Level RFIMS Architecture

Figure 4: Strawman Graphical Display

Figure 5: Notional Geographic Information System (GIS) Display

Figure 6: Primary Data Flow between RFIMS and Wireless Carriers

1. Introduction

1.1. Purpose and Scope

The purpose of this document is to describe and specify the functional and performance requirements interface to be used for the transfer of data from the NOAA’s RFIMS to the Wireless Carrier system(s).

This Interface Requirements Document (IRD):

Identifies a data set that is expected to be collected and transferred from the RFIMS to the

Wireless Carriers.

Establishes functional and performance requirements related to these interfaces.

An Interface Control Document (ICD) will then be developed by the RFIMS Development Vendor, which will describe the comprehensive details of the interface design.

1.2. Assumptions

Each Wireless Carrier that is authorized to operate in the 1695-1710 Megahertz (MHz) frequency band shall have the same level of access to the RFIMS web portal and the underlying data sets.

Access to the RFIMS shall be through a secure Internet connection. The website, its content and format shall be identical for the Wireless Carriers and the NOAA Operators.

2. Applicable and Reference Documents The following reference documents were used to draft this IRD. They contain additional clarifying information and details.

Document Number Document

U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Title 47, Chapter I, Subchapter B, Part 27, http://www.ecfr.gov

DA-14-1023 Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA):

Coordination Procedures in the 1695-1710 MHz and 1755-1780 MHz Bands, Public Notice; 18 July, 2014, https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-14-1023A1.pdf

DOC NOAA, Transition Plan for the 1695-1710 MHz Band, 12 August, 2014 https://www.ntia.doc.gov/files/ntia/publications/doc_noaa_web-ready_1jul14_final_rev7_admin_chng.pdf

3. System Descriptions

3.1. NOAA’s Satellite System Overview

NOAA manages and operates the Nation's operational environmental satellites through its NESDIS office.

NESDIS provides timely access to global environmental data from satellites to promote, protect and enhance the Nation's economy, security, environment, and quality of life. NESDIS operates a variety of satellite constellations in the L-Band, S-Band, and X-Band frequencies from multiple Federal earth stations across the United States. These frequencies are used to command satellites as well as to receive state of health and mission data from the satellites.

https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-14-1023A1.pdf https://www.ntia.doc.gov/files/ntia/publications/doc_noaa_web-ready_1jul14_final_rev7_admin_chng.pdf https://www.ntia.doc.gov/files/ntia/publications/doc_noaa_web-ready_1jul14_final_rev7_admin_chng.pdf

The spectrum sharing arrangement between the Federal Government and commercial users is unique from other previous arrangement given its temporal permanence. The FCC licensee, or Wireless Carrier, may use the 1695-1710 MHz band for uplink communications only from the user equipment (UE), or handset, to its network base station provided they do not cause a designated level of interference. If UE uplinks are active while a NOAA earth station is receiving a satellite downlink signal from its meteorological satellites, the UE signal(s) may cause a designated level of interference degrading NOAA downlink signal.

The DOC Transition Plan lists each of the 17 NOAA Federal earth stations, the signals being protected, and indicates that the transition timeline for spectrum sharing is 39 months after Auction 97 ended in January

2015.

NOAA uses meteorological satellite (METSAT) data from both polar orbiting and geostationary satellites.

The polar orbiting satellites, which include Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) and

Meteorological Operational (MetOp) satellites, are in highly inclined low earth orbits (LEO), or “polar” orbits. The downlink frequencies used by POES and MetOp are in the shared 1695-1710 MHz band.

The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) is in a geostationary earth orbit (GEO). The

GOES downlink frequencies are adjacent to the shared band in the 1675-1695 MHz band, but are still protected from the designated level of interference from AWS-3 commercial operations.

The NOAA downlink frequencies for POES, MetOp, GOES, and future GOES-R satellites are shown below in Figure 1.

Figure 1: NOAA Downlink Frequencies in the 1675-1710 MHz Band

3.2. RFIMS System Overview

The purpose of the RF Interference Monitoring System (RFIMS) is to support the sharing of spectrum between NOAA and commercial wireless licensees in the band. The RFIMS shall be used to monitor the frequency environment in and around 1695 – 1710 MHz to ensure there is no intrusion into the designated level of interference to NOAA operations.

The RFIMS must monitor the integrity of the signal of interest at the NOAA receiver, as well as the overall spectrum environment at the NOAA receive locations (Coordination and Protection Zones). In order to do this, the RFIMS shall perform four basic functions: detect, classify, and identify the source at the designated level of interference, as well as, notify the Wireless Carriers of said designated level of interference if they are the source. RFIMS shall also be used by NOAA to verify that the Wireless Carriers have mitigated or otherwise addressed the source at the designated level of interference their network operations have generated.

The description of four functions are summarized below:

Detect - The system should detect, in real-time, “interference events” in which the interference level lies at or above the designated level ofinterference during NOAA’s earth station active downlink reception. Not that the system will be continuously monitoring the RF environment and the designated level of interference will be used to generate an initial notification of the potential onset of interference regardless of whether NOAA operations have been affected.

Classify - The system should classify the types of RF interference it detects at the designated level of interference power spectral density or higher in real-time. Where “classify” is the discrimination between interference caused by 1695 – 1710 MHz LTE UEs or other co-channel RF transmissions and all other radio frequency interference (RFI) such as out-of-band and spurious emissions.

Identify - The system should determine if the RFI, at designated level of interference or higher, is resulting from 1695 – 1710 MHz LTE UE uplink wireless transmission or other sources of interference. The system should then identify the wireless carrier(s) responsible for operating the tower(s)/sector(s) that are communicating with the UE(s) causing the interference in real-time.

Notify - The system should notify NOAA operators, and potentially the wireless carriers, that wireless carriers are creating interference to NOAA. The “Notify” function is to provide the wireless carriers with access to the monitoring system data so they can mitigate interference as soon as it occurs, and then acknowledge completion of interference mitigation. There will be multiple levels of notifications depending on the level of interference and the system margin.

RFIMS will consist of a monitoring capability at each of the identified 17 NOAA Federal earth stations. Each monitoring system shall be responsible for monitoring the radio frequency environment and detecting interference to the NOAA downlink signal at an earth station located within the Coordination Zone. The monitoring system will likely include receive equipment connected directly to the NOAA downlink feed, as well as a receiver connected to an external monitoring antenna or antenna array. A block diagram of the monitoring system as integrated into a federal earth station system is shown in TBR Figure 2.

Figure 2: TBR Notional Block Diagram of RFIMS

3.3. Wireless Carrier System Overview

Wireless Carriers provide communication services to its users. As AWS-3 Licensees, they are authorized to use the 1695-1710 MHz band only for uplink communications from the UE to its network base stations, as a co-equal primary users of the band. Each Wireless Carrier has several wireless technologies to choose from for deployment of their mobile services. For example, LTE-Advanced or 5G might be used for mobile service, while NB-IoT/eMTC or LoRA may be used to provide IoT service. In order to identify and classify interference, the Wireless Carriers should provide signal characteristics that the RFIMS system should use to classify and identify when a the designated level of interference is detected in the relevant bands. The information provided by the Wireless Carriers for their proposed operations in the band is:

o Spectral mask for the UEs o Frequency Response Curve for the UE operations o Power limitations on the UEs o Discussion of the random nature of UE deployment and operation

3.4. Data Flow Description

RFIMS at the NOAA earth stations forwards information in real-time to a NOAA central node which will likely be co-located at one of the Federal earth stations. The centralized monitoring facility is responsible for monitoring the data collected at each of the 17 locations, and reports status and interference information to Wireless Carriers and NOAA offices responsible for enforcing the spectrum sharing agreement. Figure 3 depicts a notional high-level RFIMS architecture.

Figure 3: Notional High-Level RFIMS Architecture

As a normal part of operations, the Monitoring System data will be made available to the Wireless Carriers for analysis in order to mitigate any imminent (as agreed to in the Operator to Operator Coordination

Agreement) or actual interference to NOAA operations.

The RFIMS data shall be made available to the Wireless Carriers electronically and in digital, machine readable format. At a minimum, NOAA shall manage and operate an RFIMS Internet website and web portal providing simultaneous access to the data for both NOAA Operators and the Wireless Carriers’ designated representatives. Real-time is defined as simultaneous availability of decisional information to both the NOAA Operators and the Wireless Carriers. In addition, NOAA shall also provide access to real-time and historic data that the RFIMS has collected in machine readable language (as agreed to in the

Operator to Operator Coordination Agreement) in order for the Wireless Carriers to analyze and use in planning their network operations in the band. The RFIMS web portal shall have the capability to supply real-time data, historic reports, and alarms for the Wireless Carriers. In turn, the RFIMS shall have the capability to allow the Wireless Carriers to provide acknowledgements of actionable alarms and notifications as agreed to in the Operator to Operator Agreement.

An initial notional mockup of the high-level website screen is shown in Figure 4 and Figure 5 .

Figure 4: Notional (TBR) Graphical Display

Figure 5: Notional (TBR) Geographic Information System (GIS) Display

Figure 6: Primary Data Flow between RFIMS and Wireless Carriers

[TBD-3 NOAA: Provide the detailed description (use tables, figures, or drawings), responsibilities (for boundary), coordinate systems, and numerical requirements (measurement units, tolerances) as they relate to the interface].

RFIMS

Central Site –

Web Portal

Wireless

Carriers

Real-time Data

Historic Reports

Alarms

Acknowledgements

Secure IP Pipe

3.5. Interface Requirements

The RFIMS Project Team is currently documenting the functionality for the design, development, and deployment of the RFIMS. These might cover various data standards, message timing, protocols, error detection/correction, functions, initialization, and status.

The RFIMS system will be capable of providing interference information from the 17 (up to 32) remote monitoring stations to a centralized management location. The Centralized management location is the site responsible for communicating with Wireless Carriers in real-time and during engineering activity for:

a) Implementing communication interfaces to access collected data regularly or as needed when triggered by specified alarm conditions in real-time. Communication interfaces should leverage existing Internet connectivity at federal earth stations.

b) Communications between remote monitoring stations and the centralized management location, through a secure approach, that includes at a minimum, authentication and authorization.

c) Information such as frequency domain spectrum analysis measurements and tabular interference data.

d) Access for up to 100 simultaneous users.

e) Enabling single user authentication.

f) Restricted access to authorized and authenticated users.

g) Access to long-term and short-term data.

h) Short-term data would include RFI detection, classification, and identification information the remote monitoring subsystems collect.

i) Long-term data would include information NOAA could use to analyze interference trends such as the types of RFI that occur most frequently, per earth station location, and the responsible wireless carriers.

j) Ability to configure monitoring systems at federal earth stations from the centralized management location remotely.

k) A centralized management location with the ability to backup system-wide RFI summary data archived at the facility. Earth station monitoring subsystems capable of local control by government operators and remote control from the centralized management location.

4. Interface Description

4.1. RFIMS_Wireless_Operator_Interface

The RFIMS_Wireless_Operator_Interface is used by an Operator from the Wireless Carriers to establish or cancel subscriptions. The interface is an administrative process which follows the following general outline:

• The Wireless Carrier Operator contacts the NOAA RFIMS service desk TBD.

• To establish a subscription, the Wireless Carrier Operator states what type of data access is requested.

• To cancel a subscription, the Wireless Carrier Operator states what type of ancillary data is no longer required.

• The request is reviewed through NOAA internal management processes.

• If the request is granted, the NOAA Operator configures subscriptions to provide the data to the Wireless Carrier.

• The time for review and response is no longer than five (5) working days.

Additionally, a manual process is used to handle the extended designated level of interference cases that are persistent but not subject to classification and identification. The NOAA will only use manual process for challenging cases that it cannot resolve/classify on its own. NOAA will provide information needed to

Wireless Carriers to help resolve the issue. This includes information on:

• Likely source of designated level of interference

• Time of designated level of interference events, duration, classification and identification and impact

• Location or direction of the designated level of interference events, if known

• Transmission site associated with interfering uplink signals, if known

• Evidence of severity of the effects on NOAA’s operations, if available

• Any other information as defined in carrier notes to TBD-3

Data Element and Assembly characteristics, communications methods, protocols, and priorities are N/A.

4.2. RFIMS_Data_Interface to Wireless Carriers

The RFIMS_ Data_Interface is a bi-directional interface. RFIMS transfers notification data and alarms from the RFIMS to the Wireless Carriers via a web interface. The Wireless Carriers will send receipts to acknowledge alarms to the RFIMS.

The content of the data on the web interface will be of three types: Real-time data, historic reports and alarms. The following sections provide more detail on the data exchanged. Comprehensive details used for the design of the interface are specified in the ICD developed by the Vendors. Sample content is provided in Appendix B.

The final data and file formats will need to be discussed between NOAA and the Wireless Carriers as various carrier facilities may require different data or file formats.

Any additional data displayed graphically in the web portal should also be available (numeric form).

4.2.1. Real-time Data

The website will display real-time RF spectrum data for each of the receivers’ bandwidth in the form of graphical displays for each of the 17 satellite earth station locations as measured by the RFIMS.

It will also display real-time satellite receiver statistical data in engineering units for each of the 17 satellite earth stations and shall, at a minimum, include:

• Receiver noise floor

RF and Interference Environmental Data

For each satellite pass and satellite data reception at each of the earth station receivers:

Source Satellite

Date (DD/MM/YYYY)

Time Stamp – Local and UTC (24 hour clock)

Center frequency of transmission (MHz)

Duration of reception (Sec)

Lowest and highest link margin during reception(dB)

Highest and Lowest INR measured during reception(dB)

Highest and Lowest bit error rate (BER) measured during reception

Success or failure of reception(Yes/NO)

Identifiable Non-NOAA generated signal level (dBm) within the transmission bandwidth

Earth station Receiver Antenna Orientation (start and end of the reception)

RFIMS Actionable Real-Time Data

Data Set: The real-time data (Interval TBD) provided by the RFIMS to the licensees shall have at the minimum, thefollowing information:

NOAA Rx identification – Identification from readily available Database

RFIMS Device Unique Identifier- Monitoring Device Number

Location

Rx covered

Date (DD/MM/YYYY)

Time Stamp – Local and UTC (24-hour clock)

Frequency Number (The monitored frequency range should be divided into blocks of fixed size

(TBD) and each Frequency blocks has been given a unique number by a mutually agreed upon sequence (MHz)

Detection - Identified the interference signal at the designated level of interference Min, Max and

Avg - averaged over the reporting time for (TBD))

Classification and Identification – At thedesignated level of Interference the signal can be identified and categorized as Wireless Carrier Signal or as out-of-band and spurious emissions.

Basis for Classification

1. Maps to Signal Type provided by Wireless Carriers

2. Power level of interference Min, Max and Avg - averaged over the reporting time (dBm)

3. Signal 3dB beamwidth (MHz)

4. Confidence Level that the detected interference belongs to Wireless

Carriers

5. Other Non-AWS-3 Signals identified and eliminated by type or level (using historical noise environment data)

Direction of Identified Interference -Wireless Carrier interference signal (Reference

True North, Clockwise)

Source of Interference

Active Satellite Pass (Y/N) and related data set:

Satellite Name

Satellite Transmission Frequency and Bandwidth

Earth Station Receiver Received Signal Strength (dBm)

Earth Station Receiver BLER/SNR (metrics used to determine Satellite Signal Quality)

Data Integrity and Quality Assurance

Status and availability of RFIMS Equipment

Status and availability Earth station Rx

4.2.2. Historic Reports

Using the website, the Wireless Carriers can generate a report of historical statistical information for each earth station receiver. This could include noise floor or link margin and could be collected over a configurable amount of time, such as hourly, daily, or monthly.

All Data should be archived and available for download by Wireless Carriers at the minimum (all data listed in above I and II categories) for the past (TBD) days within RFIMS server sampled at interval of (TBD) seconds. Data should be archived based on Date and Time per NOAA Rx.

Archived data should contain all information elements include both the Real-Time Environmental and

Actionable Data.

4.2.3. Alarms

The website will post alarms for interference events.

Alarms (Event driven) - In the event that actionable Real-Time Data is generated, the RFIMS shall provide visual and audible alarms to Wireless Carriers and note the Alarm and received acknowledgement as discussed below. This would include data items such as:

• Alarm type – At the designated level of interference events, imminent interference event or long-term trend of receiver noise floor increase.

• Alarm level:

o YELLOW events are detected at the designated level of interference events classified as

AWS-3 interference.

o PURPLE alarms and notifications are RFIMS trends showing a material increase in the noise floor (although below the threshold) due to AWS-3 signals at a monitoring site.

o RED alarms are at or above the designated level of interference events that are classified as AWS-3 events and the identity of the interferer has been determined.

o GREEN events are when the RF environment has returned to a non-interfering state.

• RFIMS Equipment status

• Earth station identifier

• Timestamp of the report

• The antenna aperture the interference was received

• The frequency range in which the interference was received

• Start and stop time of interference

• Average, Median, Peak and Minimum values of measurements

• Measured direction of interference

• Interference RF energy level

• Confirmation of interference type classification (e.g. AWS-3 LTE or non-AWS-3 LTE)

• Confirmation of the identity of interference source, if available, where source will be the interfering location with detailed site(s) and/or sector(s) data associated with the interfering

UE(s)

4.2.4. Acknowledgements

The Wireless Carriers will acknowledge notification and receipt of alarms. This area requires discussion between NOAA and the Carriers and is assumed to relate only to Alarms. Amongst other items it would depend on the type of alarm and the requested/required Carrier action(s).

This acknowledgement contains:

• Timestamp

4.2.5. Security and Privacy Constraints

The key security and privacy constraints applicable to this interface for authentication, integrity, and confidentiality include the following:

• Prior to establishing a logical connection, authentication is required to verify the identity of the participating entities.

• Authentication credentials are never to be transmitted across the interface in clear text.

• The interface will support the capability to verify the integrity of data in-transit.

• [TBD-11 NOAA to add security constraints]

• Required secure authentication of user for entry.

• Data encryption (TBD)

Appendix A: Acronym List

AWS-3 Advanced Wireless Service-3

CFR Code of Federal Regulations

DOC Department of Commerce

FCC Federal Communications Commission

GEO Geostationary Earth Orbit

GIS Geographic Information System

GOES Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite

ICD Interface Control Document

IRD Interface Requirements Document

INR Interference-to-Noise Ratio

LEO Low Earth Orbits

LTE Long-Term Evolution

MHz Megahertz

MetOp Meteorological Operational

NESDIS National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service

NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

NTIA National Telecommunications and Information Administration

OSGS Office of Satellite Ground Services

POES Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites

RFI Radio Frequency Interference

RFIMS Radio Frequency Interference Monitoring System

TBD To Be Determined

UE User Equipment

Appendix B: Sample ICD Contents

Data Element Assembly Characteristics The data will include:

• Source/Recipient

• Data type

• Size and format

• Priority, timing, frequency, volume, sequencing

• Original/RFIMS file name

• Checksum (if applicable)

• File renaming (if applicable)

Data Element Characteristics The data characteristics are:

File content

Format

Units of measurement

Range of enumeration

Accuracy and precision

Mechanisms for checking compliance of data files

Example:

variable long name dimensions type Units fill value valid_min valid_max

Communication Methods Characteristics The RFIMS_Wireless_Data_Interface is via the Internet.

Names/identifiers, communication links, message formatting, flow control, data transfer rate, routing, addressing, and naming conventions, transmission services, safety/security/privacy considerations are consistent with the SSH protocols.

Protocols

• Project Identifier

• Priority/layer of the protocol

• Packeting including fragmentation and reassembly, routing and addressing

• Legality checks, error control, recovery procedures

• Synchronization

• Status or other reporting features

• Data encryption

Glossary