Technical Committee (TC) Satellite Earth Stations and Systems (SES) Activity Report 2023

Chair: Daniel Tesfagaber, Inmarsat

Responsible for standardization relating to satellite communication systems, services and applications including fixed, mobile and broadcasting; satellite navigation systems and services. Covering all types of earth stations and earth station equipment, especially the radio interfaces and network and/or user interfaces; and protocols implemented in earth stations and satellite systems. 

The applications of satellite communications technology range from direct-to-home TV, location services and high-speed Internet access to fixed and mobile user equipment, especially for rural and outlying regions or onboard aircraft, ships or land transportation.

Our Satellite Earth Stations and Systems technical committee (TC SES) is the technical body within ETSI that is responsible for creating standards for satellite terminals (earth stations) and systems. This work notably includes the development and revision of Harmonised Standards covering all aspects of satellite earth station fixed terminals or terminals on the move, whether in an aircraft, on board a ship or mounted on a vehicle.

We also continue to ensure compliance of our Harmonised Standards with the Radio Equipment Directive as part of the ongoing consultation process with the EC. This work involves regular interaction with the HAS consultant of the European Commission on several ENs to receive comments on compliance with RED requirements, and addressing them to ensure our Harmonised Standards meet requirements to pass the ENAP procedure and achieve listing in the Official Journal of the EU.

The committee’s main areas of competence include:

  • Satellite communication systems, services and applications including fixed, mobile and broadcasting.
  • Satellite navigation systems and services.
  • All types of earth stations and earth station equipment, especially the radio frequency interfaces and network and/or user interfaces.
  • Protocols implemented in earth stations and satellite systems.
  • The committee’s ongoing activities accordingly include development and revision of standards and specifications covering: Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) based location systems; integration of NTN (Non Terrestrial Network) into 5G; satellite broadcast reception equipment; Mobile Earth Stations (MES); Receive-Only Mobile Earth Stations (ROMES); Fixed and in-motion Wide Band Earth Stations communicating with non-geostationary satellite systems (WBES); Aircraft Earth Stations (AESs); fixed and in-motion Earth Stations communicating with non-geostationary satellite systems (NEST); Land Mobile satellite Earth Stations (LMES); Maritime Mobile satellite Earth Stations (MMES); Earth Stations on Mobile Platforms (ESOMP) communicating with geostationary satellites; Satellite Earth Stations on board Vessels (ESVs); Vehicle-Mounted Earth Stations (VMES); Tracking Earth Stations on Trains (ESTs); and Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) satellite earth stations.

Throughout 2023 TC SES pursued the update of our Harmonised Standards (ENs) for compliance with the Radio Equipment Directive, as part of the ongoing consultation process with the EC. The committee’s work thus saw regular interaction with the HAS consultant on several ENs to clarify the standards’ requirements and their compliance with RED requirements, and addressing them to ensure our Harmonised Standards meet the conditions to pass the ENAP procedure and achieve listing in the Official Journal of the EU.

In October revised versions of two Harmonised Standards for access to radio spectrum – published in 2022 – achieved citation in the OJ:

  • EN 303 981 V1.3.1 - Fixed and in-motion Wide Band Earth Stations communicating with non-geostationary satellite systems (WBES) in the 11 GHz to 14 GHz frequency bands [Ku-band];
  • EN 303 980 V1.3.1 - Fixed and in-motion Earth Stations communicating with non-geostationary satellite systems (NEST) in the 11 GHz to 14 GHz frequency bands [Ku-band].

In July the committee published Technical Report TR 103 896 V1.1.1 - Considerations on off-axis EIRP density mask applicability for Ka band GSO ESOMPs in relation to potential revision to ETSI EN 303 978 (V2.1.2).

Meanwhile an updated version of Technical Specification TS 103 179 V1.2.1 on the Return Link Encapsulation (RLE) protocol was issued in June.

During the year work progressed on the revision of further Harmonised Standards. These include a new Work Item – adopted in January 2023 – to revise the Harmonised Standard for Earth Stations on Mobile Platforms (ESOMP) transmitting towards satellites in non-geostationary orbit operating in the 27,5 - 29,1 GHz and 29,5 - 30,0 GHz bands. Similar work is also progressing on further updates of Harmonised Standard for Fixed earth stations communicating with non‑geostationary satellite systems in the 20 GHz and 30 GHz FSS bands with specific studies on the ways to specify unwanted emissions.

Work on Satellite-Quantum Key Distribution (S-QKD) Satellite Systems & Associated Optical Earth Stations (OES) has been initiated.

Meanwhile work was launched on a new Technical Report regarding small transmit-only IoT satellite terminals operating in the C‑band and Ku‑band.

The committee also continued its technical comparison of DVB-S2x/RCS2 and 3GPP NR (New Radio) NTN (Non terrestrial networks) based systems for broadband satellite communication systems operating above 10 GHz via geostationary satellites.

See the full list of TC SES Work Items currently in progress here.