Receivability & Completeness for Non-GSO Coordination Requests – Full Workflow Notes

1. Context & Scope

• Training session for engineers in the Space Services Department (SSD/BR) on Receivability & Completeness (R&C) checks for non-GSO coordination requests (CRC category).
• First ​lesson = high-level overview; later sessions will deep-dive into SpaceCap, SNS-prod, GIMS-prod, real cases, etc.

2. Core Definitions

• Receivability – a filing is considered “received” only when it is:
– Submitted through the official e-Submission system under the correct category (CRC).
– Accompanied by SNS & GIMS MDB files with correct internal structure.
– Contains every mandatory Appendix-4 data item (or a valid explanation).
– Includes extra items for mod filings: Action Codes and Target IDs.
• Completeness – all required information is present, consistent and usable by BR software.
• If these conditions fail ➜ filing is incomplete / non-receivable and formal Date of Receipt (DoR) is not set.

3. Regulatory References

• Rules of Procedure (RoP):
– §3.3 → missing mandatory info + no explanation ⇒ filing = incomplete (fatal validation errors).
– §3.5 / §3.6 / §3.8 → clarification cycle: 30 days for reply; if silence ⇒ new DoR when info arrives. Multiple rounds allowed (30 → 15 → 7 days) to avoid endless loops.
– §3.7 → If admin reply introduces new technical data (e.g., extra bands) ➜ establish new DoR after admin confirmation.

4. Mandatory Appendix-4 Items (Non-GSO CRC)

• Use Appendix-4 table; filter “CRC non-GSO” column.
• Key blocks: satellite & earth-station data, frequencies, service areas, EPFD data, antenna patterns, PFD masks, coordination trigger flags, etc.
• From 01-Jan-2025:
– Space/Earth station antenna patterns must be digitised (no .png only).
– Acceleration data optional till 01-Jan-2025 but afterwards mandatory.

5. Graphical (GIMS) Information

• Diagrams may be supplied via GIMS, file attachments, or Notes.
• Some filings (Intersatellite links, Active/Passive sensors) do not need service-area polygons; can live entirely inside SNS MDB.
• Accepted graphics:
– Service Areas (mandatory for ordinary CRC).
– Affected Regions.
– Spectrum Masks.
– Digitised Antenna patterns.

6. Submission → Pre-Validation Workflow

6.1 e-Submission interface

• Steps executed by pre-validator (Elena):

1. Create Notice ID (first 3 digits = filing year).

2. Apply/insert satellite & earth-station names into reference table.

3. Create SITRACK entry (basic meta-data).

4. Generate reports: summary, ext./int. validation, PFD report, EPFD mass-validate.

5. Auto-create work-folder under: M:\data\space\RES908\Electronic_Coordination\....

6. Accept & Publish “As Received” (visible to all admins) – unless the upload is merely a reply to a BR letter; such replies are moved to “Others” category and not published.

6.2 Generated artefacts

• Summary .txt
• Validation reports (admin vs BR)
• SpaceVal report (fresh rules)
• EPFD mass files
• Worker reports (pink/green/blue split sheet, area numbers table)
• Foreseen Checklist.xlsx – 1-page yes/no grid of Appendix-4 items & common pitfalls.

7. Situation Table (Google Sheet)

• Tracks every CRC filing: admin, network, DoR, PFD flag, #configs, current status, letters, reminders, engineer, etc.
• Updated twice: when work-folder created & when case leaves engineer (status 43).

8. Creating Regulatory Dates in SpaceCap

• Use: Right-click → Create Regulatory Dates
– $Date_received$ = formal DoR.
– $Date_received_start$ = start of 7-year regulatory period.
• $\text{for “ADD”} \; Date_received_start = Date_received$
• $\text{for “MOD”}$ use earliest historical DoR of the same band.
– $Date_reg_limit = Date_received_start + 7\,\text{years}$
• Also execute Paginate Groups (internal “tracking-group-ID” field).

9. Detailed Validation (Engineer Stage)

• Open BR validation report: any Fatal error ⇒ non-receivable.
• Walk through checklist:
– Frequency & modulation coherence;
– Orbit vs Beam mapping;
– RCN, LAN, service-area, PFD masks;
– 9.11A / 9.21A trigger flags;
– EPFD/ESG masks (Ku/Ka NGSO);
– Attachments completeness (sensor data, accelerations, earth-station lists, etc.).
• Produce correspondence letter using common text library (\training\receivability\Standard-Texts.docx).
– 30-day deadline (+15 +7 possible).
– Warn that missing info ⇒ new DoR.

10. Worker-Based Splitting

• Regulatory Worker → Split GIMS/SNS DB
– Pink = bands needing split (subject/non-subject zones).
– Green = partially subject assignments (manual clone-split).
– Blue = totally non-subject bands (letter + afterwards delete).
• Always re-run Worker after first split; some bands (e.g. $608 \text{–} 890\,\text{MHz}$ MSS) may need multiple iterations or manual SpaceCap edits.
• Alternate utility: VS-SplitGroup tool (emissions, frequencies, classes-of-station) – limited, no GIMS support yet.

11. SNS-Prod Processing Path

Status flow (viewable in SpaceCap toolbar):

1  – Entry          (editable)
5  – Ready for CFIX
7  – Ready for Validation
8  – Validation OK (no warnings)
10 – Ready for PCAM
43 – Ready for Technical Examination
31 – Validation/CFIX problems (loop back)

11.1 Export & Move

• Export local MDB → SNS-prod (Status 1).
• SMOVE to 5 ➜ run CFIX.

11.2 CFIX (Add cases)

• Primarily sets Find/Required & Cost-Recovery flags.
• For ADD filings → mostly automatic.

11.3 CFIX (MOD cases)

• Action-codes logic (Orb-Beam-Group hierarchy):
– A (Add) bubble-stops at the level it appears.
– M (Mod) cascades downward; lower levels need codes.
– S (Suppress) means children absent.
• CFIX merges MOD + target (Status 50) ➜ creates MERGE (NoticeID + 200 000 000, Status 7).
• Validate MERGE only; MOD copy parked in Status 6 for reference, auto-deleted on publication.

11.4 Validation & PCAM

• VersusValidation in Status 7:
– fatal ⇒ 31, fix & loop;
– warnings only ⇒ engineer may SMOVE → 8.
• PCAM (BRC-Software menu): checks GIMS status, CFIX success, then 10 → 43 and resets NoticeID to target for MODs.

12. GIMS-Prod Processing

Statuses: 1 (editable) → 10 (review) → 50 (final, read-only).
• All graphical data must be at 50 before SNS publication.
• For MOD: target + mod diagrams are auto-merged during SNS publication step.
• Validate axes, gains, colour bars; >$1\,\text{dB}$ mismatch vs SNS ⇒ clarification letter.

13. Communication & Letters

• Template library covers: missing β/σ angles, wrong orbit data, feeder-link mix-ups, unacceptable picture quality, etc.
• Always mention potential date-of-receipt impact.
• For deletions (blue/green bands) send courtesy warning before removal.

14. Situation Table Close-out

• After Status 43:
– Fill Date_out, Completed_by, CostRecoveryUnits (from SpaceCap cost-rec software: 1 line per configuration).
– Mark “Ready for Tech Exam”.

15. Common Numbers & Timelines

• Normal reply window: 30 days (RoP §3.5).
• 2nd reminder: 15 days; 3rd: 7 days (internal practice).
• Regulatory limit: 7 years after $Date_received_start$.
• GIMS digitised-pattern deadline: 01-Jan-2025.

16. Frequent Issues

• Filings sent by e-mail instead of e-Submission.
• Wrong CRC category (e.g., “Others”).
• SNS MDB with multiple networks inside one file.
• Administration forgets action-codes or lists only orbit but not beams.
• Antenna pattern supplied as 3-colour .jpg, no axes ➜ unusable.
• 608-890 MHz MSS: mixed regional limits; Worker mis-splits.

17. Tools Recap

• e-Submission portal
• SpaceCap (local + SNS-prod)
• Regulatory Worker (split, cost-rec)
• CFIX, PCAM
• VS-SplitGroup, EPFD-MassValidate, SpaceVal
• Situation Table (Google)

18. Planned Improvements

• Automate simple CFIX sanity-check tool (action-code consistency).
• Enhance VS-SplitGroup (service-area, class-of-station granularity).
• Replace antiquated “Page Number” with permanent SourceGroupID in SNS v11.
• Continuous template expansion: add cases + metaphors discovered by engineers.

19. Next Training Sessions

• Deep dive into SpaceCap editing, GIMS diagram QC, hands-on MOD example.
• Real case walk-through: from e-Submission to Status 43.
• Separate module on publication & cost-recovery.

End of Summary