Canada's SpacePioneers - Theinspiring story ofShirleys Bay's role inlaunching Canada'searly space program.Page 11

Canadian ForcesExperimentationCentre (CFEC), thisnew agency atShirleys Bay maychange the wayCanada manages itsarmed forces.Page 26

www.shirleysbay.comCanada $10.00

SHIRLEYS BAY REVIEW

T H E 5 0 T H AN N I V ERSA RY ED I T I O NThe economic healthof Canada's rural andremote communitiesmay depend on thesuccess of Canada'sBroad Band Initiative- Shirleys Bay isplaying a key role.Page 30

Feature story on the Canadarm 2,Canada's Primiere Robotics ProjectPage 44

CONTENTS

3

Concept DevelopmentDonald Keyes

Editor/Production ManagementPhil Carr

Art Director/DesignKatharine Grace

EntreNet SystemsProduction Assistant

Paul CarrWeb Site Developement and Hosting

EntreNet SystemsOttawa, Ontario

PrinterDollco Printing

Ottawa, OntarioProduced by Shirleys Bay Review

All rights reservedDecember 2002

Photo CreditsCorel Draw - Fibre Optic Bundle:

cover, Page 30Other images courtesy of:

Canadian Space AgencyCommunications Research Centre

Department of National DefenceDRDC-Ottawa

MacDonald Detwiller AssociatesMD Robotics

Telesat Canada

Editorial Content CopyrightShirleys Bay Review 2002

May not be reproducedwithout written permission

THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITIONHISTORY9 From Gas Masks to RADARSAT 2 in 50 Years

10 The WW II Research Labs11 Tracking Sputnik 11 Dr. John H. Chapman13 Alouette 117 Hermes18 Negotiating the Spectrum19 Seeing the Future 20 Mobile Satellite CommunicationsDEFENCE22 Over the Horizon Radar 23 SMARTT Technologies 24 Dirty Bombs 26 Canadian Forces Experimentation Centre 28 Tracking Space Junk 29 Through the Wall Radar27 Reclaiming The Earth COMMUNICATIONS30 Canada's Broadband Initiative 33 Success Breeds Success34 Test Bed Services36 Looking Before We Leap!SPACE38 SCISAT 140 Anik F2 41 Cospas-Sarsat42 RADARSAT 2 44 Canadarm 2

www.shirleysbay.com

On Friday November 4th I attended an OpenHouse at Shirleys Bay. I got a glimpse of thesix Federal labs and met a handful of the1200 Scientists and Engineers. With so muchto see, it was difficult to get a complete pic -ture of their successes or how these labswork with one another. Hopefully this pub-lication will honour their 50 years of successand demonstrate how they collaborate withindustry to serve all Canadians.

Donald Keyes

Donald Keyes(left) tours

David FloridaLab with

Marc Garneau(centre) and Rolf Mamen

DG SpaceOperations

CSA (right)

SHIRLEYS BAY REVIEW

PUBLISHER'S NOTE

4 5

Congratulations to Shirleys Bay Campus on its 50th anniversary. Thisis a historical milestone marked by tremendous achievements inCanadian technological innovation.

These achievements include the Alouette 1 satellite, which madeCanada the third country in the world to have a satellite in space.They also include the creation of more than 60 Canadian companies,through one of the most successful incubation programs in thecountry. There is also the Canadarm, which was Canada's firstinvolvement in manned space flight, and the world's first direct-to-home satellite TV broadcast of a Stanley Cup game, just to name afew.

Such innovation has been possible because of an absolutecommitment, by past and present Campus organizations, to world-class excellence in research and development through strong, collabo-rative partnerships with federal laboratories, private industry, andacademia.

The Shirleys Bay Campus engineers, scientists and researchers areCanadian pioneers. Their work is wide-ranging. From photonics tofibre optics research, from radiation biology to national security,spacecraft testing to electronic warfare support, they are dedicated tomaking Canada a better place to live and a global leader ininnovation.

The Shirleys Bay Campus is a national centre of highly skilled peoplemaking remarkable technological advances. Looking ahead, ShirleysBay Campus organizations will continue to push the frontiers ofscience and technology, securing Canada's place as one of the world'stop R&D performers, and advancing our outstanding reputation fordriving innovation.

Message fromthe Ministerof Industry

My warmest congratulations to all those who have played a role in the successof the Shirleys Bay Campus, now celebrating its 50th Anniversary. This is indeeda significant success story in the history of federal research and technologicalinnovation in Canada.

The Shirleys Bay Campus has its origins in the Canadian defence researchorganizations established during World War II; indeed, defence priorities contin -ue to play a large role at Shirleys Bay, with Defence R&D Canada – Ottawabeing the lead defence organization on campus along with two more recentarrivals, the Canadian Forces Electronic Warfare Centre and the CanadianForces Experimentation Centre.

Over the past 50 years, defence research has yielded the knowledge and technol-ogy to support the men and women of our Canadian Forces. We are lucky tohave some of the best and most dedicated researchers working for us here atShirleys Bay.

In the years ahead, Defence R&D Canada (DRDC) will pursue exciting newopportunities as it develops its centres as regional "innovation hubs" with theprivate sector and universities. These hubs will bring together the best peopleand technologies and foster dynamic new partnerships. DRDC will continue toimprove customer relations, explore new markets, and promote scientific excel -lence. Most importantly, DRDC will continue to focus on the Canadian Forcesand on the needs of its defence clients.

I congratulate DRDC Ottawa and all members of the Shirleys Bay communityon 50 years of excellence and on their past and future role in making theShirleys Bay Campus an outstanding example of the benefits of technologicalinnovation and cooperation within Canada.

Message fromthe Minister of

National Defence

Allan Rock

John McCallum

Minister of National Defence Ministre de la Défense nationale

Welcome to Shirleys Bay!It is my pleasure to introduce you toour campus and the outstanding workdone here in this 50th Anniversaryedition of the Shirleys Bay Review.Through the following pages, you willhave the opportunity to meet some ofthe country’s most talented andrespected researchers and scientists.You will see some of our unique labfacilities and find out more about thefederal organizations on campus. For over 50 years, working inde-pendently, with other governmentdepartments or with private-sectorpartners, the campus’ federal labs haveperformed world-class R&D. From

building Canada's first satellite topaving the way for rural and remotebroadband for all Canadians, thecampus labs have been national andglobal leaders in technologicalinnovation. Read on to find out howwe are contributing to developleading-edge technologies thatadvance innovation in Canada andabroad.

Gerry TurcottePresidentCommunications Research CentreCanada

Gerry Turcotte left, presentsAlouette 1 print to Marc

Garneau right

Gerry Turcotte

I am pleased to offer my congratu-lations to all those who havecontributed to making the Shirleys BayCampus one of Canada's premier sitesin high-technology research anddevelopment. For the past 50 years,the Shirleys Bay Campus has housed aworld-class concentration of Canadianscientists -- men and women, whoseenergy, devotion and ingenuity havemade Canada a leader in a broadrange of technologies. It was in fact at Shirleys Bay that theCanadian Space Program got its startthrough the design and construction ofthe Alouette 1 satellite some 40 yearsago. Alouette was the beginning ofCanada's significant achievements inspace including the ISIS, Hermes, andRADARSAT 1 satellites, as well as thespace shuttle's Canadarm and theInternational Space Station's Mobile

Servicing System. The CanadianSpace Agency shares the campusthrough its world-class David FloridaLaboratory, which qualifies hardwaredestined for space. The site is a modelfor co-operation and partnershipsamong government departments,universities, research institutes and theprivate sector. The Shirleys Bay Campus has earnedan international reputation for itsworld-class research and development,paving the way for an even morepromising future.

Marc GarneauPresidentCanadian Space Agency

Marc Garneau

Marc Garneau speakingat 50th AnniversaryCampus Celebration

Prakash Bhartia It is with great pleasure that we in DRDCOttawa join in the 50th Anniversarycelebration of the Shirleys Bay researchcampus.DRDC Ottawa is proud to be associatedwith the Shirley Bay campus. Over theyears, we have been part of the collabo-rative atmosphere and sharing of ideas thatexists here.The defense research agencies of ShirleysBay have provided technology leadershipto the Canadian Forces over the past 50years. Early on, we produced wartimeprotective equipment for Canadian andAllied soldiers in World War II and today,our advanced research is helping in theglobal fight against terrorism and insupport of Canadian Forces missionsabroad.DRDC Ottawa's recent internal reorgani-zation has helped us focus on our specialniches, and has helped arrange our teamsof talented scientists to allow them to dotheir jobs most efficiently. This renewed

vision will help us become recognizedworld wide for creativity and innovationin our chosen niches of informationoperations, synthetic environments,radar, space systems, radiation biology,among others.We in DRDC Ottawa join with ourcampus colleagues to acknowledge therich heritage in federal research here atShirleys Bay. We look forward to thechallenging road ahead and we willcontinue making research advances thatsupport the Canadian Forces in theirmission to protect Canada, andCanadian interests and values, whilecontributing to international peace andsecurity.

Prakash Bhartia,Director General DRDC-Ottawa

Prakash Bhartia,Director GeneralDRDC-Ottawa

8 9

national defensepriorities. David FloridaLaboratory is Canada'sforemost satelliteintegration and testfacility. Numerous othertechnology organizationshave also proceeded tospin off and flourishwithin the campus' richenvironment.

So WELCOME toShirleys Bay Review's

50th AnniversaryEdition. We are proud toshare with you theachievements and thespirit of the dedicatedpeople and organi -zations that have served,and will continue toserve Canada and theworld with theirimmense skill anddedication.

Parabolic MirrorSimulates NuclearBlastTemperatures - 1950's

Early Radiation FieldTrials at DRCL - 1950's

Gas Mask Research atDRCL continued into the1960's

DRTE usedBlack Brant

Rockets tostudy

ionosphere1950's

The core of Canada'scommunications

technology expertiseresides within adiverse campus,which traces itsorigins back toWorld War II.

Covering most aspects of Canada'stelecom, aerospace and militaryinterests, more than 1200 Shirleys Bayengineers and researchers provideCanada with the core expertise itneeds to remain competitive in anincreasingly technological world.

Standing outside the campus gate itwould be easy to conclude thatShirleys Bay is the FederalGovernment equivalent of an R&Doffice park. Although the campushouses six separate technology relatedorganizations, funded by three federalgovernment departments … it is infact a highly integrated capabilitywhich plays a large role inmaintaining Canada's place among theleading industrialized nations.

Created from the nucleus of Canada'sWWII R&D efforts, these organi -zations have evolved together over thepast 50 years. They form one ofCanada's most comprehensive interde-pendent technology research anddevelopment capabilities.

The roots of today's organizationsreach back to pre-World War II, whenCanada was tasked by Britain toprovide gas masks in anticipation ofchemical weapons use in a possibleEuropean conflict, and then taskedagain by Britain to design andmanufacture radar equipment inCanada.

By 1946, operating under the NRC,Canada had created world-classdefence research capabilities in theareas of radar, electronics, batteries,

gas mask technology,and chemical systemsincluding flamethrowers and batteries.In 1947 those NRC labsinvolved in defense tech-nologies were transferedto operate under thenewly created DefenceResearch Board (DRB).The Defense ResearchTelecommunicationsEstablishment (DRTE)and the DefenceResearch ChemicalLaboratories (DRCL)shortly after theircreation became theinaugural members ofthe Shirleys Bay campusstarting in 1952.

These original organi-zations went on todiversify and intensifytheir research into areasthat have been importantto Canada's well being.Gas mask technologycontinued to evolve andimprove; flame throwerfuel studies wereconducted; nuclearhealth effect studieswere initiated; radiopropagation studieswere conducted; and ofcourse, the Alouette 1was conceived, designedand ultimatelyconstructed during theperiod preceeding itslaunch in 1962.

Today's labs reflect muchof the same technologicalfocus and culture as thefounding organizations.The Alouette 1 projectlead directly to thecreation of the CRC as acivilian communicationsresearch organization.DRDC-Ottawa continuesto pursue communi-cations, electronics andprotective sciencesresearch related to our

HISTORY

DRCL Flame ThrowerResearch - 1950's

From Gas Masks to RADARSAT2 in 50 Years

10

Everyone who participated in the earlydays of the space race will tell youabout the excitement they felt.

Defence Research TelecommunicationsEstablishment (DRTE) staff at ShirleysBay were in the enviable position ofbeing prepared to contribute in ameaningful way, even as Sputnik 1 waslaunched. This historical excerpt givesus a feeling for what it might havebeen like to be part of Shirleys Bayduring those exciting times.

"We had for several months beenexpecting the launching of theAmerican satellite, but its orbit was tobe at low latitudes so that we wouldnot be able to make any use of it.Suddenly, in October 1957, Sputnik waslaunched. Not only was it passingregularly over Canada, but it carried aradio beacon that was intended toassist in the tracking process. Since thelaunch was unexpected, there werefew, if any laboratories outside theUSSR set up for the determination ofthe satellite orbit at many places in theworld. This was important, and theearlier the better because this determi-nation would give new informationabout the earth's gravitational field andabout its atmosphere.

Because the launch was unexpected, allthe radio observatories and labora-tories in the Western World werestarting even in a light-hearted "race"to see who could first determine anddescribe the satellite orbit.

I remember hearing the firstannouncement of the satellite and itsradio beacons on the CBC News.Within minutes, Clare Collins hadagreed to meet me at the lab and,within hours, we had picked up theSputnik signal and were devisingmethods to determine the preciselocation of the satellite each time itapproached Ottawa. As they showedup to work on Monday morning,others, including Colin Hines, wererecruited. As word spread of our initialprogress, offers of assistance came infrom the National Research Council'sRadio and Electrical EngineeringDivision and from the Department ofTransport's monitoring station. Allsuch offers were gratefully accepted,because we were learning as we went.Most of us hadn't thought about orbitalmotion since undergraduate days, butwe relearned what was needed in afew days, or at least what we thoughtwas needed. Later, Nature (and theRussians) trapped us neatly. Sputnik 2

was launched into an orbit for whichmany of the approximations that wehad made for Sputnik 1 proved to beinvalid. Fortunately, since we were stilldoing all our calculations by hand, werealized something was wrong. Someof the other groups who were usingcomputers kept churning out quiteridiculous orbital parameters for sometime. But for Sputnik 1, all wentsmoothly. After three nearly sleeplessdays and nights of observations andcalculations, we had narrowed thepossible orbits down to two and herethe NRC people were able to give us asingle observation that eliminated theambiguity. We had the orbit andhappily sent it off by telegram to theWorld Data Center in Washington.Later it was confirmed that this was thefirst valid orbital determination madeand reported, at least in the WesternHemisphere and probably one of thefirst, if not the first, in the WesternWorld."

- Peter Forsyth, Superintendent, RadioPhysics Lab, DRTE

Reprinted with permission fromFriends of CRChttp://friendsofcrc.ca

SHIRLEYS BAY:DELIVERY ROOM

PARTICIPANT TO THE SPACE AGE

Tracking Sputnik

"John Chapman's vision and determi-nation were central to the success ofthe space program" says Bert Blevis,former DG Space Technology, for theCanadian Department ofCommunications, as he described theman often referred to as the father ofthe Canadian space program.

John Chapman's career with theCanadian Government spanned from1948, when he started with the RadioPropagation Lab as a young Ph.D.graduate, to 1979 when he met anuntimely death at the age of 58 while

serving as Assistant Deputy Ministerof Space Technology for theDepartment of Communications.

A visionary and an excellent commu-nicator, Chapman provided the linkbetween the scientific capabilities atShirleys Bay and the governmentdecision-makers that needed histechnical understanding and judgmentto provide direction to the emergingCanadian space program.

His major accomplishments were tofacilitate such programs as the

John H.Chapman

The Architect and his SatelliteContinued...

ARCHITECT OFCANADA'S EARLYSPACE PROGRAM

The culture of excellence that led tothe remarkable performance of theAlouette 1 did not materialize sponta -neously in 1958. Excellence and world-class performance were habits of theShirleys Bay organizations long beforethe Alouette 1 was conceived.

As early as 1935, in anticipation of aEuropean war, Canada was tasked byBritain to manufacture gas masks.After a less than successful start, it wasdetermined that in order tomanufacture quality gas masks,Canada required more depth in it'stechnical expertise. Dr. E. A. Flood ofthe National Research Counciltraveled to Britain to review Britishresearch capabilities and brought backwith him the knowledge required toestablish Canada's own R&D facilities.Rather than simply meet Britishstandards, Dr. Flood created a team toimprove the technology, workingwithin the Chemical WarfareLaboratories on John Street in Ottawa.Their developments extended to thepoint that Canadian gas masks becamerecognized as the most advanced inthe world.

Similarly, in 1940, Britian again taskedthe Canadian Government, this time tomanufacture radar equipment inCanada. As part of that initiative, theNational Research Council opened theRadio Branch in Leitrim near Ottawa,to manufacture and test experimentalradar equipment. This facility was thefocal point of Canada's contribution tothe development of radar technologyduring WW II. By 1945 this branch

had developed about 12 types of radarthat were put into mass production.Approximately 20 other types wereproduced in smaller quantities forspecific services requirements. Theseradars set a world standard forperformance, playing a key role inestablishing the outcome of the war.

By the war's end in 1945, Canada hadcreated world-class defence researchcapabilities in numerous technologyareas including gas masks; radardesign; radio propagation;flamethrowers; and batteries. In 1947the Department of National Defence(DND) proceeded to form a number ofdefence oriented research estab -lishments all reporting to the newlycreated DND agency called theDefence Research Board (DRB).

Three of these organizations, whichoriginally fell under the DRB, were theDefence Chemical ResearchLaboratory (DRCL), the DefenceResearch Electronics Laboratory(DREL), and the Radio PropagationLaboratory (RPL). The RPL and DRELwere subsequently merged under theDefence Research TelecommunicationsLab (DRTE). The DRTE and the DRCLbeing the two organizations that cametogether as the inaugural members ofthe new research campus at ShirleysBay in 1952.

TheWW II

ResearchLabs

Photo's

John Street Laboratories, home toChemical Warfare Laboratory (CWL)

Chemist working in John Street Labs.

PLANTING THE SEEDS OF

EXCELLENCE

1 1

Alouette1 THE PROJECT THATLAUNCHED THE CANADIAN SPACEINDUSTRY

"… there was this all-pervadingconfidence in the ability of the labcollectively to solve new problems,to come up with new approaches toold problems and at the same timeto compete technologically withsome of the best labs in the world"- Peter Forsyth, Superintendent,Radio Physics Lab, DRTE

It required real audacity to believethat a small group of scientists with noprevious experience in spacetechnology could design and build asuccessful space satellite. Yet this isexactly what the Defence ResearchTelecommunication Establishment

(DRTE), at Shirleys Bay undertookstarting in 1958.

We know now that the Alouetteproject was an enormous success.Launched on September 29 1962, fromVandenberg Air Force Base, California,aboard a Thor Agena B rocket, it madeCanada the third nation in space. Itoperated flawlessly, collecting andtransmitting data for 10 years,delivering more than a million imagesof the ionosphere, after which it wasturned off. On January 22, 1987, theEngineering Centennial Board Inc.recognized Alouette as one of the tenmost outstanding achievements ofCanadian engineering undertakenduring the previous 100 years.

By 1957, both the United States andthe Soviet Union had announced plansto launch earth-orbiting satellites. Itcame as a shock to the U.S. and itsallies, on October 4, 1957, when theSoviet satellite Sputnik 1 was launchedfirst. The U.S. satellite, Explorer 1, waslaunched shortly after on January 31,1958. The Americans, slightly shaken,invited proposals from allied countriesto share in joint space programs.Canada was one of the first torespond.

In 1958, John Chapman and EldonWarren of the DRTE approached thenewly formed U.S. organization,NASA, and negotiated an arrangementwhere, NASA would launch aCanadian satellite intended to study

continued...

Launch of Alouette 1 on September 29, 1962. A Thor-Agena rocketlaunched Alouette 1 at Vandenburg Air Force Base in California.

The Alouette/ISIS tracking antenna at Shirleys Bay

Alouette/ISIS scientific satelliteprogram, the Anik communicationsatellite program including thecreation of the CommunicationsResearch Centre Canada and TelesatCanada, and the Hermes CTS demon-stration satellite.

"Chapman was a natural leader," saysDoris Jelly a DRTE physicist whoworked for Chapman in the early1950s. "Even though Chapman wasalways in a hurry, he had a twinkle inhis eye and a spark of fun ... Iremember the time we found himdemonstrating his version of the twistdance craze in the DRTE machineshop, during the annual Christmasparty."

"Chapman, was a very quick andintelligent person, with little time forsmall talk" says former colleague Dr.LeRoy Nelms, "Chapman would haveliked to have become the first head ofa Canadian space agency, but unfortu-nately he didn't live to see thathappen."

Milestones in Chapman's careerincluded:

• Joining the Radio Propagation Laboratory as a Ph.D. summer student in 1948;

• His successful submission with Dr. Eldon Warren, of the Alouette 1 proposal to NASA in 1958;

• Co-authoring in 1967 of what becameknown as the Chapman Report, or "Upper Atmosphere and Space Programs in Canada", where he recommended the cancellation of ISIS C in favor of the Hermes satellite and pointed the direction of focus for the eventual space program;

• Leading the task force in 1968, whichproduced a White Paper on "A Domestic Satellite Communications System for Canada", this was the basis for the establishment of Telesat Canada and the formation of a Canadian Department of Communications in 1969;

• Being the primary force behind Canada's co-operative programwith NASA and the European Space Agency to design, build and demonstrate the Hermes Communications Technology Satellite, which would demonstratethe capabity to provide Canadians with direct-to-home television by satellite.

Chapman did not work alone; hewas part of an enormously talentedtechnical team. He was, however,personally able to gain the supportand confidence of the CanadianGovernment and their partners tomake the investments that led toCanada's position of leadership in theaerospace and communicationstechnology industries.

Chapman in front of Thor Agena Brocket Launch Rocket of the Alouette 1

Chapman and Leroy Nelms toast thesuccess of the Alouette 1

A visionary and an excellentcommunicator, he provided the

link between the scientific capa-bilities at Shirleys Bay and the

government decision-makersthat needed his technical

understandingand judgment

John H. Chapman Continued from page 11

12 13

the ionosphere . The NASA partnerswere concerned that the DRTE planwas too ambitious since it included thedesign and construction of the world'sfirst space based radar and includedadvanced "frequency sweeping" aswell. NASA proposed to build andlaunch a simpler fixed frequencyversion first, with the more complexCanadian version to follow as asecond-generation satellite. It wouldunfold that Canada's more advancedsecond-generation satellite would becompleted and launched first, despiteskepticism within Canada andelsewhere.

Dr. LeRoy Nelms, former DRTEscientist, recalls the Alouette 1 project:"The Alouette 1 was probably the mostcomplicated satellite that had beenbuilt up to that time. The person whoreally pushed Alouette 1 was EldonWarren. Eldon had great confidence inthe abilities of our scientists and knewthat we could deliver the complex

solution we proposed. Colin Franklinled the electrical team and John Marrled the mechanical team.

Colin may have been the biggest singlefactor in our success. He used our in-house scanning electron microscope toperform QA on our supplier'selectronic components and decidedthat commercial transistors were of toolow quality for space applications. Weended up paying the manufacturer toset up a dedicated production line inorder to produce transistors, whichmet Colin's quality standards. Thismay have been the birth of the spacecomponents industry. It was certainlythe reason that the Alouette 1 lastedten years, rather than the industrystandard lifetime of several weeks thatwe had experienced up to then."

Then, as now, Canada's defence labo-ratories carried out R&D for thepurpose of keeping the departmentabreast of current technology andensuring that Canadian forces were

adequately equipped for their role.Much of the research at the DRTE wasdirected at improving communicationsvia various radio bands. During thispre-satellite era, High Frequency (HF)or short wave radio was the mainmode of communication over longdistances.

HF radio signals reflect off of theEarth's upper atmosphere, orionosphere. During the pre-satelliteera, this characteristic made HF radiovery attractive as one of the fewoptions available for transmittingradio signals beyond the horizon. Itwas consequently important for DRTEto understand the physics of how theionosphere behaved and how it couldbe used to facilitate reliable longdistance military communications.Theoretical and field studies were bothcarried out. However, both werelimited by the availability ofionospheric data.

The Alouette 1 spacecraft fulfilled thegoal of achieving extensive topsideionospheric data for DRTE's clientdepartment and it fulfilled its goal ofestablishing Canada's world-classcapability in satellite construction,space borne radar and in space bornesignal acquisition and processing.

It was the success of the Alouetteprogram that established for Canadathe feasibility of building andoperating satellites. This led directlyto the Anik communications satelliteprogram; the establishment of TelesatCanada; the civilian agency known asthe Communications Research Centreand eventually to the establishment ofthe David Florida Laboratory and theCanadian Space Agency. All of thesefacilities can trace their roots back toDRTE's dream: the Alouette 1,Canada's first satellite.

Alouette 1continued from page13

1961: Alouette engineering model with C.A. Franklin, manager of electrical systems,R.K. Brown, manager of the spacecraft team, and J. Barry.

14

New technical approaches wererequired to achieve the goals:Large flexible panels of solar cellsgenerated the high power (1200W)required for the transmitter (panelsprovided by ESA). The power ofearlier satellites was limited by thenumber of solar cells that could beplaced on the surface of the spacecraft.

A system to stabilize the satellite bodyin three axis enabled the solar panelsto face the sun at all times and ensuredthat the narrow transmit beams couldbe kept accurately pointed towards theearth. Earlier satellites were "spinners".The whole body spun to stabilize thesatellite.

The high power transmitter wasequipped with a new design travelingwave tube (TWT) that generated 200watts of power (NASA provided theTWT).

A new, higher frequency band (14/12GHz) did not interfere withmicrowave systems on earth andhence earth stations could be used inurban environments.

On April 20, 1971, CanadianDepartment of Communications(DOC) and NASA announced a jointmission to build an experimentalsatellite - the CommunicationsTechnology Satellite (CTS).Communications Research CentreCanada (CRC) would build thesatellite and NASA would launch it.CTS was successfully launched onJanuary 17, 1976 from Cape Canaveral.On May 21, 1976, it was officiallyinaugurated and named Hermes byMadame Jeanne Sauvé, then Ministerof the Canadian Department ofCommunications. Designed for a two-year life, it was used for an extensiveprogram of experiments untilNovember 1979.

DOC was responsible for the overallmanagement of the project. It designedand built the spacecraft at CRC. Eightypercent of the industrial contracts, byvalue, went to Canadian industry. TheDavid Florida Laboratory was built

with facilities to integrate and test thesatellite. NASA provided an experi-mental, high-powered (200-watt) trans-mitting tube, conducted pre-launchtesting and launched the satellite fromCape Canaveral. The European SpaceAgency also provided the low noisereceiver and the 20 watt Ku-bandtraveling wave tubes.

When Hermes was launched, it wasthe most powerful communicationssatellite in the world with a 200 watttransmitter. It was also the first tooperate in the Ku band. Hermes wasintended to be a geostationary satellite,meaning that its position was fixedrelative to the surface of the rotatingearth. After reaching the 116Wlongitude, spacecraft control wastransferred to DOC. The transitionbetween the spin mode and three-axismode of control was complex andconstituted a significant missionhazard particularly since thismaneuver had not yet beensuccessfully demonstrated for ageosynchronous satellite. Thenecessary technology for thisoperation was developed withinCanada. The CTS/Hermes satelliteoccupies an important place in theevolution towards high-powersatellites, because it permitted futurecommunications systems to realize theresulting benefits of small, low costground stations and incidentallyopening the way to a variety of directbroadcasting applications.

The transponder design allowedseveral types of experiments to becarried out, including:

•TV broadcast to small communities in remote areas;

•Social services including tele-health, tele-education, and teleconferencing;

•Broadcast of radio program material to small earth stations;

•Telephone service including voice, facsimile and data, to and between small transportable earth stations;

•Digital data transmission and exchange;

• Investigation of high-speed satellite data transmission;

• Investigation of time division multiple access (TDMA) techniques.

In 1987, an Emmy was awarded to theDepartment of Communications andNASA recognizing their joint role indeveloping the Ku band satellitetechnology through the Hermesprogram. Communications MinisterFlora MacDonald referred to theHermes satellite as "one of the mostimportant milestones in Canadianspace history" when she presented theaward for engineering achievement tothe National Museum of Science andTechnology. Hermes was the firstsatellite to operate in remote areas bypeople with no technical training. In1976, John Day designed a way toconnect telephones via Hermes.

After the success of Hermes, TelesatCanada acquired the world's firsthybrid satellite, Anik B, to provideservice in both 14/12 GHz and 6/4 GHzbands. Telesat has continued toprovide service in both bands. Fieldtrials of social services initiated withHermes were continued with Anik B.Several of these trials were continuedas operational services. These includededucation networks in Ontario (TVO),BC (Knowledge Network), Alberta andSaskatchewan.

Reprinted with permission ofFriends of CRC,http://friendsofcrc.ca/

A DEMONSTRATIONSATELLITE THAT OPENEDTHE DOOR TO NEWSERVICES THATNOW BENEFIT CANADAAND THE WORLD

Canada's entry into space with theAlouette satellites was at a time whenHF radio was the only means ofcommunication for people in manyremote locations. With the Alouetteand ISIS satellites, scientists learnedmuch about the upper atmosphere,and the engineers learned how tobuild satellites. In the meantime,engineers in the USA were developingsatellite communications. In 1967, JohnChapman conducted a study todetermine the direction Canadianspace research should take. Therecommendations, published in areport, "Upper Atmosphere and SpacePrograms in Canada", were thatCanada should solve its communi-cations problems by developing itsown satellite network, research shouldfocus on communications satellitesand the last scientific satellite, ISIS C,should be cancelled.

Hermes was an experimental satellitebuilt to test a new concept for commu-nications satellites; that is, high powerin the satellite and small dishes onearth. Early communications satellitesadapted technology already in use formicrowave systems (at 6/4 GHz) andhence were limited to transmitting atlow power to avoid interfering withthe terrestrial systems already in place.As a result very large dish antennaswere required on the ground to pickup the weak signals. Hermestransmitted with high power so thatTV broadcasts could be received bylow-cost earth stations small enough tobe used at individual homes. Thisconcept, called a Direct BroadcastSatellite (DBS), was championed byJohn Chapman as a means ofdelivering high quality TV trans -missions to Canadians outside urbancentres.

Flora MacDonald accepts Emmy onbehalf of the Canadian Department of

Communications

16 17

Hermes

1979: Canadian and Peruvian officials in thegarden of a Canadian diplomat in Lima, Peruwatch a Stanley Cup playoff game thanks toHermes. This was the first demonstration ofthe feasibility of direct-to-home broadcasting.The Earth station is on display at the NationalMuseum of Science and Technology, Ottawa.

national and international regulatoryresponsibilities."Dr. Blevis represented Canada in 1977on a delegation to the InternationalTelecommunications Union (ITU)'sWorld Administrative RadioConference on Satellite Broadcastingin Geneva, where he was appointedChairman of the Planning Committeefor the Americas. He explained that"because of Hermes, Canada was oneof the few countries at the time withactual experience and technicalexpertise in direct satellite broad-casting. This put us into a verypowerful position in putting forth ourinterests at the international telecom-munications Union (ITU)".The ITU, a specialized agency of theUnited Nations, is the internationalbody that regulates telecommuni -cations standards and the use of radiofrequencies by member countries. Itwas very important for Canada toinfluence decisions at the ITU in orderthat Canadian standards and specialneeds be accommodated in theresulting agreements. The ITU nowdivides the world into three regions,each of which adopted slightlydifferent plans for the introduction ofsatellite broadcasting. It would havemade a great deal more sense to agreeon a uniform plan throughout theworld, but getting such widespreadagreement among a diversity ofpolitical and commercial interests isalmost impossible.Blevis also led Canada's negotiatingteam for international agreementsrelating to SARSAT and its then Sovietcounterpart COSPAS, the enormouslysuccessful Search and Rescue Satellitesystem that Canada conceived alongwith the U.S., and helped design andimplement in partnership with theU.S., France and the Soviet Union. Asa result, Canadian industry was ableto capture major contracts to build thesatellite on-board transponders anduser ground terminals.Multilateral international agreementsimplemented through internationalagencies and standardization organi-zations such as the ITU continue to becritical to Canada's competitiveness. Itis by maintaining our scientific andtechnical expertise, as we continue todo within Shirleys Bay that we areable to participate in negotiatingeffectively and successfully andthereby bring economic benefits toCanada."

Seeing the FutureHOW THE INTERNET CAME FIRST TO SHIRLEYS BAY

Thom Whalen recently organizedand moderated a session entitled"Next Big Things That Weren’t" at aninternational conference. The papersin the session showed how ourfailures pave the way for oursuccesses; one example used was therole that Telidon played for theInternet at Communications ResearchCentre Canada (CRC), where Whalenworks, and across Canada."Telidon may have come before itstime", says Whalen, "but like today'sInternet, it promised to provide userswith access to large amounts ofmultimedia information throughcomputer networks. CRC'sexperience with Telidon prepared usto recognize and utilize the value ofthe Internet as soon as it emerged." The precursor to the Internet was asystem called DARPANET, DARPAstanding for Defence AdvancedResearch Projects Administration.National Defence funded this projectas early as 1969. DARPANET grewsteadily, being used by NationalDefence, CRC and associated organi -zations, until the late 1980s whenmost universities were connected. Thom Whalen works in CRC'sNetworked Media Laboratory. Sincejoining Shirleys Bay in 1979, his jobhas involved exploring the rela-tionship between people andcomputers. It was during the late1980s that his group recognized thatthe Internet was beginning to reachcritical mass. Whalen says, "One of the services weinvestigated first was USENET; werecognized that it allowed people tofind strangers located anywhere inthe world, who shared their interests.This function was not previouslypossible. This was not just a new way

to do old things, but rather anew way to do new things. ...That is the definition of acultural revolution!"When Gopher, a text-basedversion of today's World WideWeb, came along in 1991, CRCrecognized immediately itspotential for publishingdocuments.

Whalen explained, "We set up ourGopher server and obtainednumerous documents from DSS thatwe could publish on line. One ofthese documents was theCharlottetown Accord. We wereamazed to hear appreciative feedbackfrom overseas Canadians who had noother way to access these documents.We knew then that the Internet wassomething that would go beyond thetechnical community and penetrateinto the general market.After achieving what we believe to bethe first official large-scalepublication of documents on theInternet by any government, wedecided to approach the CBC withthe idea of publishing audio files onthe Internet. By that time, in 1993, theWorld Wide Web was just emerging.Rather than use Gopher again, wecreated a Web site for the CBC andincluded downloadable audio files.At that time, there were only 650Web sites in the world and we wereone of them. We are fairly certain thatour's was either the first or secondCanadian government Web site andcertainly the first radio broadcasterWeb site with downloadable audiofiles."Today, the Networked MediaLaboratory is studying topics thatinclude natural language recognition,virtual reality business meetings andonline teaching portfolios. As always,they are searching out methods fordoing new things in new ways.

Screen shot of the first CBC Radioweb site developed by CRC'sNetworked Media Laboratory

Negotiating the SpectrumBERT BLEVIS RECALLS THE STORY OF HERMES, THE ITU, SARSAT AND THE EMMY!

Bert Blevis, former Director General,Space Technology and Applications atthe Communications Research CentreCanada (CRC) and one-time Assistant

Deputy Minister, Research and SpaceProgram at the Department ofCommunications (DOC) lived andworked through some of Shirley Bay'smost exciting times.Blevis is pictured above holding theEmmy that was awarded jointly toNASA and CRC for the advancementin broadcasting technology achievedthrough the Hermes program. Bertwas in New York in 1987 to accept theEmmy on behalf of the team at CRCthat worked on the program. Heplayed a key role, first as the Directorresponsible for the Hermes communi-cations program, and then as theDirector General at CRC accountablefor all of its space programs. He wasalso a major player in the negotiations,which established the internationalstandards for the use of satellites forbroadcasting.

Starting in 1956 at Shirleys Bay withthe Defence Research Board, he wasthere to witness the beginnings ofCanada's space program. He went onto play a senior role in satellitecommunications research and inseveral international negotiations thatreinforced Canada's position as arespected member of the internationalscience and technology community.Dr. Blevis points out that, "Technicalachievements such as the Alouette/ISISprogram, the ANIK satellites, Hermesand SARSAT are remarkable andimportant in themselves. However,just as important are the power andinfluence that they provide to arelatively small country like Canadaduring international negotiations.CRC's pre-eminent research andtechnical expertise is an essentialelement in supporting Canada's

Dr. Bert Blevis holds the Hermes Emmy

19

Mobile SatelliteCommunicationsWHY SHIPS AND

PLANES ARE NEVER OUT OF TOUCH

CMC-Electronics CMA-2102 high gain satellite communications (Satcom) antenna isan example of the kind of leading edge technology that is leveraged by Shirleys Bayexpertise and facilities.

Anyone who travels by plane or shipwill appreciate the benefits ofINMARSAT, the worldwide satellitenetwork that allows mobile aircraftand ships to communicate with theworld regardless of where they arelocated.

The Communications Research CentreCanada (CRC) has played a major rolein developing the concepts, protocolsand technologies that led to today'sINMARSAT air service. SeveralCanadian companies have used theirrelationship with CRC to find ongoingbusiness opportunities related to theINMARSAT service.

CRC's role in mobile aeronauticalcommunications began in the 1970s.Jack Rigley, CRC's Vice-President,Satellite Communications and RadioPropagation recalls that "In the early70s CRC was involved in AEROSAT,an International Program to launch anaeronautical satellite. We were doingthe research on antenna design inconjunction with DND. Through thisprogram CMC Electronics developeda linear array antenna operating at L-Band. This antenna has flown formany years on a governmentexecutive jet."

Although the AEROSAT program wasabandoned in the late 1970s, CRC'sinvolvement with the concept wasrevitalized in the 1980s by a programto develop technology that wouldallow aircraft to communicate throughthe established INMARSAT marinecommunications service. Specializedantennas, protocols, ground stationsand airborne communications tech-nologies all had to be developed. Thecommunications signal designdeveloped by CRC with the

International Civil AviationOrganization ICAO were ultimatelyadopted for use by INMARSAT itself.

Bruce Bailey of CMC Electronicscredits CRC with providing valuabletechnical support in their successfuleffort to develop antenna technologycompatible with INMARSAT. Baileyreports that "CMC now has a majorshare of the world market for aero -nautical INMARSAT antennas. Thesehighly complex directional antennasmeet rigorous performance standardsset by INMARSAT and ICAO forreliability and coverage."

CRC's activities with INMARSAT havegenerated business opportunities fortheir sister organization the DavidFlorida Laboratory. DFL has beendesignated by INMARSAT as the oneagency certified to do performance

testing of communication equipmentthat uses CRC/INMARSAT communi-cations signal design.

Other companies which have benefitedfrom the CRC mobile satellite initiativeinclude EMS Technologies, which hascommercialized the modulationencoding technology used on boardthe aircraft; and Square PegCommunications, which has commer-cialized the test equipment used toensure ground station compatibilityand performance compliance withaeronautical terminals.

The communications signaldesign developed by CRC withthe International Civil AviationOrganization ICAO wereultimately adopted for use byINMARSAT itself.

20

place a very cost-effective wide-areacoastal surveillanceradar network based onthis technology. Thiscoastal surveillanceradar network canmonitor the 200 nauticalmile EconomicExclusion Zone (EEZ)continually.DRDC’s commercialpartner in this project,Raytheon Canada, isinvesting cooperativelywith DRDC and has therights to sell thetechnology worldwide.Dr. Chan says, “There is

excellent commercialpotential in thistechnology. Competingtechnologies such as skywave radar and aircraftsurveillance are muchmore expensive, lackingsome of the potentialadvantages that weoffer". DRDC continuesdeveloping thistechnology. Areas ofstudy include thereduction of interferingnoise caused by radarreflecting off of theionosphere and the use

of data fusion with othersensors to increase theinformation that can begained from the data.

Surface Wave RadarMonitors Canada's 200mile Economic ExclusionZone

Defence R&D Canada (DRDC) -Ottawa supports Shirleys Bay defence-related initiatives working closelywith other Shirleys Bay agencies thatlend their expertise to Canada'sDepartment of National Defence.Areas of DRDC expertise and activityinclude:

Electronic WarfareSurface Radar Aerospace RadarSpace Technology Defence Communications Information Operations Radiation TechnologyRadiation Biology Navigation

DRDC-Ottawa's mandate is toemphasize dual use technologiesleading to civilian and militarydemands for their products andservices. This is achieved in part byworking in close cooperation withother Shirleys Bay organizations,which support defence relatedprojects.• The Communications Research

Centre addresses the exploitation and adaptation of civilian standards and technologies for military use;

• Canadian Forces Experimentation Centre utilizes modeling and simulation tools to provide decision makers with recommendations concerning future defence tech-nologies and strategies.

• Canadian Forces Electronic Warfare Centre supports DND operational forces electronic warfare initiative drawing on DRDC expertise in support of their operational programs and initiatives.

• David Florida Laboratory provides practical design and test support services in support of defence-related satellite programs.

We are pleased to share with you heresummaries of just a few of Shirleys Baydefence-related projects and achievements.

DEFENCENational DefenceA Focus on Dual Use

Strategy AllowsCanadians to Benefit

Twice from their Investment in

Defence Technology

Canada has one of theworld's longestcoastlines, representingenormous challenges tothose agenciesresponsible forsurveillance againstillegal imports,immigration and threatsto our fish stocks andnational security.Airborne surveillanceusing Canada’s fleet ofAurora Aircraft iseffective but expensive.Operating costs of theAurora are reported tobe in the order of tens ofthousands of dollars perhour.

A team of DRDCScientists led by Drs.Hing Chan and HaroldWilson work on a projectat Shirleys Bay, that isaimed at reducing thesecosts and improvingCanada’s effectiveness inmonitoring maritimetraffic along ourcoastline. Thefundamental problemwith using radar tomonitor offshoremaritime traffic is thatcommon radar signals,like beams of light travelin a straight line.Consequently, targetsbelow the horizon are

not detectable usingground-based radars.The DRDC radar takesadvantage of a particularpropagation charac-teristic of electro -magnetic signals, calledsurface wave, to operatein a frequency regimewhere the radar signalactually follows theearth's curvature. As aresult, surface vesselsand low-altitude aircraftbelow the radar horizoncan now be detectedusing this shore-basedradar. Canada will soonhave the ability to put in

DEFENSE INNOVATION HELPS PROTECT OUR BORDERS

2322

Over the Horizon Radar

standards that are specified by organizations such as theCanadian Nuclear Safety Commission."

”We use computer codes to predict how the radioactivityspreads and to determine the ramifications for people in theaffected area. Due to the increased threat of terrorism thispast year we are using the codes more often in predicting theconsequence of radioactive dispersal to civilian personneland infrastructure."

Other work that Haslip's group does is applicable toconsequence management. They develop new techniques forradiation detection, evaluate techniques for decontamination,and perform field measurements and sample analysis insupport of deployed forces.

They have also been contributing to the civil defence effortby supporting presentations made by Canada's Office forCritical Infrastructure Protection and EmergencyPreparedness OCIPEP in delivering radiological terrorismawareness sessions to groups of civil first respondersincluding firemen, police and emergency medical staff.

Dean Haslip and a co-worker making contamination measure-ments on a Light Armoured Vehicle during decontamination trialsin Sweden in March/02.

"With the end of the Cold War, the threat of nuclearwar is much lower, or at least much different."

DRDC Defence Scientist Rick Brownspends his days playing video games.Well almost ... Despite the fact thatmillions of parents decry the wasteof hours and days that their teenagesons spend in front of militarysimulation video games like CounterStrike, the technology behind thesegames is making a contribution toour defence efforts.

Dr. Brown explains:"The simulated environments whichwe use to test battlefield scenariosare very similar to entertainmentproducts in that they contain threetypes of simulation models: • Graphic models which control the

3-D look of people, objects, and the world in which they exist;

• Dynamic models which control the way in which the people and equipment move due to their weight and size within the simulations; and

• Behaviour models which controlthe way people and systems react to stimuli within the simulated environment.

Besides being useful for training,these types of models can be used totest equipment design concepts. Forinstance, we could hypothesize twotypes of control systems forcontrolling a tank, then predictwhich one will produce better resultsin the battle field by testing bothcases using a synthetic environment.

Although entertainment games andmilitary simulations share these

types of models, there are significantdifferences. In an entertainmentproduct, the dynamic model of howa tank moves only needs to berealistic enough to entertain the user.In a defence simulated environment,we use much more sophisticatedmodels that will allow us to predicthow the tank will perform in actualbattle scenarios. Similarly, in an entertainmentproduct, you often have computer-controlled characters that make greatadversaries to play against; however,their behaviour is rarely realistic. Inour simulated environments, we areable to program more complexautomatic responses of people andobjects to the actions of the human-controlled characters and equipment.Synthetic environments like thesehave the potential to revolutionizeboth the way we design equipmentand the way we purchase it. Forinstance, if we create a simulatedenvironment in which to test theperformance of unmanned aerialvehicles then input parametersdescribing the performance ofproducts provided by differentmanufacturers, we can determine themost cost-effective performer. All thiscan be done without purchasingactual products and can greatlyreduce the number of options to betested during real world field trials.""A commercial video game can have$5M sunk into its development," saysBrown. "By making use of the spin-off technologies such as gamingengines and graphical models, theDefence department can create somevery sophisticated synthetic envi -ronments at moderate cost".

SMARTTTechnologies"TRY BEFORE YOU BUY" GOES HI TECH

Dirty BombsDEFENDING OUR CITIESAGAINST A NEW KIND OF THREATDean Haslip works with a group ofdefence scientists studying theeffects of a potential threat that theworld has yet to encounter.Dirty bombs or Radiological DispersalDevices, RDD's as they are called, areunlike conventional bombs that aredesigned to destroy buildings andpeople through the explosion. RDDsare weapons of terror that rely on theradioactive contamination that theydisperse.

DRDC's main interest in RDDs is toassist DND preparations for theeventuality of Canadian Forces facingthis kind of threat during peace-keeping or other activities. Knowledgeof RDDs and how to respond to themcould be equally important for civildefence as RDDs are a potentialterrorist weapon.

Haslip observed that, "With the end ofthe Cold War, the threat of nuclearwar is much lower, or at least muchdifferent. However, the possibility thatCanadian Forces could be attacked byRadiological Dispersal Devices orDirty Bombs is one of the new possi -bilities that we've been considering.The radioactive source could be amedical source, an industrial source,or spent radioactive fuel. It could bedispersed explosively or otherwise.The attackers would be trying tocontaminate people and equipment. Itturns out that the same kinds ofthreats can be used against a civilianpopulation. The civilian populationwouldn't be as prepared. It could bean economic weapon as well.Buildings could become unusable orneed to be demolished. Radiologicalcontamination is quite difficult toextract. Decontamination is veryexpensive and time consuming, andmay not even be able to meet the

Rick Brown and Major Chris Pogueof the Canadian Forces ExperimentationCentre discuss the behaviour of anUnmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) duringa simulation.

24

"Landmines kill andmutilate over 8,000children every year. Theworst thing about themis that they continue tokill innocent peoplelong after the war isover."...Larry Bagnell - M.P.for the YukonAccording to DefenceR&D Canada (DRDC)Scientist HowieMende, at the present

rate of removal we will rid ourselvesof the world's last land mine in 1,000years. Clearly this is a problem thatgoes beyond simply military consider-ations.DRDC-Ottawa, along with DRDC-Suffield, has developed a completesystem for detecting and neutralizinglandmines. The DRDC-Ottawacomponents are developed usingShirleys Bay's unique facilities andexpertise.

Tom Cousins, Leader of the RadiationEffects Group at Shirleys Bayexplained that his group's expertise inneutron and gamma-ray transport anddetection, and in electronic fast pulsecounting, has allowed them to developa device that can make the finaljudgment about a suspect location."Using our knowledge of thermalneutron activation we are able toassess whether or not the hiddenobject contains nitrogen, a commonelement in most explosives", saysCousins.

Howie Mende, who works in theMicrowave Analysis andCountermeasures (MAC) Group,makes use of Shirleys Bay's expertisein microwave propagation anddielectric heating. Mende explained,"Our device is a high-powermicrowave system that we use to heatthe ground around the landmine untilit detonates, usually around 100 °C.Another possibility is to use the deviceto fine tune the detection process. Thelandmine has different microwave

absorption properties than itssurroundings, so we can see from theheating pattern exactly where the mineis located. It's a lot like doing passiveIR detection using solar heating, butwe bring our own heat source. Thebiggest advantage to our approach isthat it does not require a person tocome in close proximity to the minebefore detonation."Together with the componentsdeveloped by DRDC-Suffield theyhave created a complete landminedetection and elimination solution.Anti-landmine technology is only oneapplication of the expertise held by theRadiation Effects Group. Othersinclude radiation testing of space-bound electronics, calibration ofnuclear detection devices and thedetection of radioactive particles at adistance. The Microwave Analysis andCountermeasures Group has extensiveexperience in electromagneticmodeling, radar cross-sectionmodeling and electronic signalintegrity measurements.

Reclaiming the EarthCanadian ForcesExperimentationCentre

There is a new establishment beingcreated within the Shirley’s Baycampus called the “Canadian ForcesExperimentation Centre” or CFEC.Initiated in late 2001 with only 12people, the establishment staff shouldgrow to 50 and will be housed in anew $4M building by the end of 2004.We had the good fortune to speak withthe commanding officer Col. MarkAruja. Aruja explained that the officialmission statement for the new centrewas “To lead the exploration ofemerging concepts to determine thecapabilities required by DND and theCanadian Forces of the future”. Arujawent on to describe some examples ofhow this could be done, and the kindsof projects in which they are alreadyinvolved.“One of the key capabilities which thedepartment has mandated us todevelop is a modeling and simulation-based capability to explore ideas fromtheir initial conception, experimentwith the good ideas in a rigorousexperimentation environment, andthen transition those ideas into theCanadian Forces for operational use.We are fundamentally in the businessof challenging the way we currentlydo business with new ideas. Privatebusiness has dramatically changedtheir cycle time from concept tomarket; it makes sense that weexamine ways to do the same. Afterall, in the Cold War, we knew who ouradversary was, and who our allies

were. Not so any more: we have tohave the capability to deal withuncertain adversaries in concert withad hoc coalitions. Currently we spendyears getting a requirement approved,and then turn to industry to deliver acapability, which fifteen years later isfielded to the force. We then repeatthat cycle with a mid-life upgrade.What is a mid-life of a weapon systemwhen the life of digital processingtechnology is measured in months?The B-52 is still in front-line combatwith the US Forces after 40 years, yetdesktop computers are disposed ofafter four years; is there something tobe learned from this?Building models that, irrespective ofwhere they may reside, are able tointeract with other models to depict aparticular environment will allow usto examine an idea in a digitalenvironment. Industry is engagedearly on to provide their ideas, whichcan be evaluated in that syntheticenvironment and when proven andaccepted, linked to the tools industryand used to actually produce theproduct. That synthetic environmentis then used to allow for continuousimprovement, perhaps finding a newuse not previously conceived for thatsystem, or even early disposal.Unmanned systems are a particularapplication for these new tools. Wehave already conducted live-fly trialsof a number of unmanned aerialvehicles to gain insights from which tobaseline our simulation efforts. Atspecific points we will again conductlive experiments of increasingcomplexity to validate if what we areseeing in the simulations is in fact true.Unmanned systems are a means for usto ask many questions. For example,when does a piece of equipmentbecome disposable? If software isdisposable, notwithstanding theinvestment, why not hardware? Canwe change the software in anunmanned system at the same time asthe hardware becomes available tosupport new capability… like everyyear, as opposed to the 15 years I

mentioned earlier? Sending TVimages from unmanned systems usesup a lot of bandwidth, and isexpensive. Can we use artificial intel-ligence to allow us to look for certainthings, and only send the information,which is of use? What level ofautonomy should we expect to achievewith artificial intelligence. At whatlevel, can an autonomous “vehicle”interact with other unmannedsystems? Would these become self-organizing systems, and if so, howmight they behave? Would thatbehaviour be acceptable? Can weapply alternative fuel technologies tounmanned systems as a quick meansto reduce the demand on moving fuelsand batteries to deployed operationsaround the globe? How shouldmanned and unmanned systemsinteract to achieve an effect withmaximum synergy?We do our work not in isolation, but incollaboration with many organizationsand people both here in Canada andinternationally. The Canadian Forces,when deployed overseas willinevitably work with other countries,so we must take interoperability intoconsideration from the outset. We areworking closely with our allies to lookat better ways of conducting coalitionoperations, and are doing so withdistributed simulations across a newnetwork dedicated to experimentation.Concept development and experimen -tation requires an environment, whichstimulates thinking, promotes askingthe unquestionable, and accepts thenotion that learning from failure is agood thing. We have a mix of scientistswho make sure we are bringing theright science to the problem, we haveanalysts who ensure that we applysound methodologies and rigor to thework we do, and we have militaryofficers who make sure that thequestions we are asking are relevantand that we think through how we aregoing to move a good idea whichstands the test of experimentation intothe hands of those who can capitalizeon that good idea"

FINDING SMART WAYS TOTRANSFORM OUR MILITARY:

CFEC IS PART OF A BROADDEFENCE INITIATIVE

Colonel Aruja explains the the use ofunmanned aerial vehicles UAV's

26

In a recent experiment at a U.S. government test facility, ahuman being was detected through 3 metres of rubble bysensing their breathing and small body motions using radar. Ifthis capability had been available immediately after theSeptember 11 2000 WTC tragedy, it may have substantiallyimproved the results of recovery efforts.

These test results also have significant implications to militaryand anti-terrorist teams who need to know about humanactivity within rooms and buildings before they enter.

Defence R&D Canada (DRDC) scientist Sylvain Gauthier is onthe Canadian team of researchers who are adapting andadvancing this technology for use by the Canadian Forces.

Gauthier explains," Using a radar unit loaned from TimeDomain Corporation in the U.S. we have been able toreproduce many of the American results. We are setting aboutto adapt the system to the needs of our forces. Specifically, wesee an opportunity to utilize DRDC's expertise in SAR(Synthetic Aperture Radar) to enhance the resolution of theradar imagery so that detailed 'behind the wall information'can be obtained from a distance, instead of having to hold theradar very near to the wall."

When asked about the technologies and expertise that otherShirleys Bay labs brings to bear on the problem he explainedfurther,

"SAR processing is a software technique used to create visualimages from radar signals by adding up reflected radarreturns. Shirleys Bay labs have done a lot of work in this area,creating images of the earth from radars mounted on aircraftand satellites: RADARSAT 1 and soon RADARSAT 2, forinstance.

Our electronics and control systems expertise will contribute tothe development of the robotic platform. and of course ourexpertise in radar and microwave technology is fundamental toalmost everything that goes on, on campus."

Through theWall Radar NO MORE SURPRISES! HELPING OURDEFENDERS PREPARE BEFORE THEY RISKTHEIR LIVES FOR US.

Illustration of the use of Throughthe WallRadar courtesyof TimeDomainCorporation.

In 1997 Telstar-401 – a communicationssatellite in geostationary orbit – failed.It now drifts uncontrolled 35,000 kmabove North America, threateningcollision with at least 22 activesatellites that provide critical commu-nications capabilities to Canada andthe US.

The risk of collision between twoobjects in orbit around the earth isreal. In 1996 a discarded rocket boosterimpacted the stabilization boom of aFrench satellite, causing it to tumbleuncontrolled until ground controllerswere able to upload new stabilizationsoftware to the satellite. They werelucky – a few more meters to the sideand the satellite would have beendestroyed.

It does not take something big todamage a satellite. In a recent incident,a fleck of paint impacted the spaceshuttle windshield leaving a 4mmcrater. The paint chip was probablytraveling at about 5 km/sec relative tothe shuttle when it struck. The shuttleis built to withstand this sort of impact– many satellites are not. And with thenumber of satellites and associateddebris in earth orbit increasing, thepotential for serious collisions is alsoincreasing.

Brad Wallace is a Defence R&DCanada (DRDC) scientist working onCanada's contribution to internationalsurveillance efforts designed to turnspace into a safer place. His team iscurrently deploying a network of threeremotely controlled ground telescopesthat will monitor some of the earth'slarger orbiting objects. The telescopes

are to be located across Canada butthey will transmit their imagery toShirleys Bay for data collection andanalysis.

"One of our goals" says Dr. Wallace, "isto demonstrate our ability to collectuseful data as a starting point fromwhich to begin work with theAmericans as a part of their largersurveillance system."

Dr. Wallace explained further, "TheU.S. Department of Defence currentlyoperates the Space SurveillanceNetwork (SSN). Their goal is to keeptrack of all orbiting objects larger than10-30 cm. Where possible, the SSN

attempts to identify the object, and inthe case of operating satellites, theircapabilities. Current estimates are thatthere are about 9000 orbiting objects ofthis size. The Department of NationalDefence is currently in the process ofprocuring a space surveillance satellitecalled Sapphire. This will link with theU.S. Space Surveillance System andsignificantly enhance Canada’s role asa partner in this critical mission. Thework we are doing at DRDC isproviding the foundation for theinclusion of both our network andSapphire into the SSN."

TrackingSpaceJunk

Brad Wallace shown with one of three optical telescopes that he is using to track spacedebris.

SPACE IS A BUSY PLACE;DIRECTING TRAFFIC IS

AN IMPORTANT JOB

28

an international issue",says Chouinard, "It isalmost a race betweencountries to see who canget the best access thesoonest.” The U.S., likeCanada, sees broadbandaccess as a means toimproving the quality oflife of their citizens. Itbrings with it healththrough telemedicine,knowledge throughonline schooling andinformation exchange,improved business to

business commerce, andfacilitates business toindividual commerce. CRC is trying to developtechnologies that wouldmake it easier andcheaper to get highspeed Internet to thehome in rural andremote communities.The broadband initiativeis intended to bring thequality of Internet accessin rural and remote

One of the CEB'sAnechoic Chambers

First Plane Rescued bySARSAT

MSATAntenna under testin the DavidFlorida Lab

Gerry Turcotte president ofCRC presents Alouette 140th anniversary print toMarc Garneau president ofthe Canadian SpaceAgency

Canada to the same levelas in urban Canada.

"In my opinion, CRCneeds to focus on the lastmile solution and bringit in at the lowestpossible cost." saysChouinard. " Here atCRC we currently haveContinued...

There was a time inCanada when being leftoff of the Central PacificRailroad or the Trans-Canada Highway meantslow death to a smallcommunity. That samephenomenon may behappening again today,as high speed Internetbecomes an essentialcomponent ofcommercial activity andpersonal communi-

cations. Our smaller,more remotecommunities are notcurrently receiving thelevel of Internet servicesthat they need toprosper. Gérald Chouinard, CRCprogram manager forRural and RemoteBroadband Access, is incharge of CRC's effortsto make sure that thisproblem is addressed.

His job is to orchestratethe work in various R&Dprojects at CRC towardsdeveloping technologiesand systems in supportof Canada's broadbandaccess challenge. Working with one foot intechnology developmentand the other in thepolicy/regulatory arenais nothing new forShirleys Bay programmanagers. "BroadbandAccess has really become

COMMUNICATIONSShirleys Bay expertise is central toCanada's capabilities in the followingareas: the creation of a stableregulatory environment; thenegotiation of advantageous interna-tional agreements; and in theadaptation of commercial technologiesto meet the unique and special needsposed by our country's expansivegeography.Multiple agencies within the campuscontribute to these capabilities.Communications Research Centre(CRC) is Canada's centre of excellencefor communications R&D and anindependent source of advice forpublic policy purposes. Defence Research and DevelopmentCanada (DRDC)-Ottawa is Canada'scentre of excellence in exploiting thespectrum for defence purposes, thisincludes both radar and communi-cations technologies. Certification and Engineering Bureau(CEB) is the provider of equipmentcertification services for the telecom -munications industry. National Capital Institute ofTelecommunications (NCIT) fundspre-competitive research in the areasof telecom and IT innovation. The CRC Innovation Centre assistsyoung Canadian communicationoriented companies to develop theirpotential through on-site technologyincubation and priority access toShirleys Bay expertise and organi -zations. The communications capabilities in allof these organizations have evolvedprimarily from the DefenceTelecommunications ResearchEstablishment (DRTE), one of thecampus's two pioneering agencies. Itis with pride that they carry on theShirleys Bay tradition of innovationand technological excellence.

CommunicationsOne of Shirleys Bay's

important roles isto understand and

help manage thetechnologies thatallow Canadiansto communicate

with one anotherand the world.

Telidon prepared us to rec -ognize and utilize the valueof the Internet as soon as itemerged" ... Thom Whalen

Canada'sBroadband Initiative

ECONOMICPROSPERITY

THROUGHUNIVERSAL

INTERNETACCESS

30

If there is one lesson to be learnedfrom the history of the Shirleys BayCampus, it is that success breedssuccess. Canada's technologysuccesses of World War II led toAlouette 1, which in turn, led to thecampus's current leading-edgeprojects. It is clear that having accessto specialized expertise and contactwith a culture of excellence leads tofurther success.With a mandate to help build astrong Canadian economy,Communications Research CentreCanada (CRC) started operating itsInnovation Centre in 1994. TheCentre is designed to incubate start-up technology companies, as well asthe new R&D initiatives of moreestablished businesses.The CRC Innovation Centre consistsof about 20,000 square feet of office

and lab space spread over six buildings on the Shirleys BayCampus. The Centre's goal is to match qualified business start-ups with CRC research mentors willing to sponsor thesecompanies by sharing their expertise.In order to qualify, a candidate company must have a businessplan and a technology idea that parallels CRC's R&D interests.There must also be a capacity at CRC in the form of availableoffice space and a researcher willing to act as a technologyadvisor.

CRC also offers access to its top-notch support services,including marketing information and contacts; a scientificlibrary; meeting rooms; an in-house graphic arts facility; and aunique machine shop/prototype development facility tooledspecifically to develop one-off electronics and communicationsproducts.Office space and services are offered at market rates, andcompanies are willing to pay, since comparable services are notoften available anywhere else. The prestige that comes withbeing located at CRC and having access to valuable networkingopportunities are also strong selling points.Innovation Centre Manager Marie Lussier is the President of theCanadian Association of Business Incubators and is a strongproponent of the incubator concept. She is very proud of themore than 30 companies that have come through the CRCInnovation Centre – including names such as SkyWave MobileCommunications, Square Peg Communications and SpotwaveWireless, to name a few. Lussier says the CRC incubator is tailored to create a synergybetween the private and public sectors in Canada.

Success Breeds SuccessSHIRLEYS BAY ORGANIZATIONS BELIEVE THAT SUCCESS IS CONTAGIOUS

"Incubators have mademany companiessuccessful."

...Marie Lussier,Manager ofCommunicationsResearch Centre Canada'sInnovation Centre

"Companies benefit from CRC expertise, and access toworld-class test beds and technologies," she says. "AndCRC benefits from sharing knowledge and technology withthe private sector."Lussier adds that CRC's experience, coupled with that ofother business incubators, show that incubators create jobsand contribute to an innovative economy. "They lead to higher business success rates and facilitatestrategic alliances between start-ups and larger public andprivate organizations in Canada and abroad," says Lussier.The National Business Incubator Association in the U.S.estimates that there are about 4,000 incubators worldwide,with about 1,000 in the U.S. and 150 in Canada.

For more information about the CRC Innovation Centre, pleasevisit www.crc.ca.

Canada's Boadband InitiativeContinued from page 31.

Our smaller, more remotecommunities are not currentlyreceiving the level of Internet

services that they needto prosper.

14 separate R&D initiatives underway,each selected for its potential to helpachieve the broadband equal accessgoal."

"Finding a technology solution to thisproblem will allow Canada to avoidseeking solutions through difficultregulatory and cross-subsidizationmeans." says Chouinard, "Once thistechnology is transferred to Canadianindustry, it will provide anopportunity for companies to takepart in the broadband implementationin Canada and also export equipmentto larger developing countries likeBrazil and India who have similaraccess problems."

Communication infrastructureprograms are a complex combinationof market awareness, technology,regulation and international standardsnegotiations. The broadband programis no different.

CRC has the needed expertise in areassuch as RF transmission both,terrestrial and satellite; modulationand channel coding for high speed orlarge bandwidth systems; broadbandcommunication protocols; audiocompression; video compression; andnetwork interfaces to name a few.CRC also possesses the skills andexperience needed to ensurethat its solutions will becommunicated effectively togovernment and internationalregulatory bodies as well assuccessfully transferred toCanadian industry.

Developingcommunication

technologies forCanada's remote

communities is one of the

CommunicationsResearch Centre's

important mandates32

•LMCS, MMCS, and Free space optics links

•OFDM simulator •CDMA 1xRTT, GPRS and IS-95

access •Handheld/Wireless tablets,

Pocket PC, Palm •WAP, SMS, MMS, BREW, J2ME,

etc. Mr. Boucher says, "We'reoverwhelmed with requests for ourservices from inside and outsideCRC. We're looking forward tobuilding a larger team of partners, toinclude industry and universities, tohelp us better address Canada'swireless broadband requirements."

Integrating and evaluating commer-cial products is one of WISELAB'simportant capabilities

TopWISELAB's mobile

Measurement Lab

Test BedServices PROVIDING CANADA

WITH A VERSATILEWIRELESS

EXPERIMENTATIONENVIRONMENT

The world of wireless technologymoves at a blinding pace. Newproducts and services areannounced almost daily, and anyone of these may impact the futuredirection of a communicationsproject or the strategic direction of agovernment initiative. You could say that it is a researchtopic unto itself: to study the currentstate of wireless technologies, alongwith the impact of their combinedeffect when they are used to createsolutions for problems in business,education or government.In fact that is what the CRCWISELAB has been created to do.Their mandate is to study compre-hensive solutions to specificproblems. Luc Boucher, theWISELAB's manager explains,"We're looking at whole systems andhow they can be used, not just at onespecific technical aspect. Our groupneeds to understand how eachindividual component can beapplied, together with other tech-nologies, to create whole solutions.""A key skill we have in theWISELAB is the ability to learnquickly, in order to respond rapidly

to the requests of our clients", saysMr. Boucher. "We must acquireknowledge quickly in order tounderstand the required field in avery short time so that we can comeup with the answers very quickly.The fact that we are collocated atShirleys Bay with all of theirtechnology specialists is a veryimportant part of our ability to getour job done."As with other labs, infrastructureand facilities is key. By providing aversatile testing environment, theCRC WISELAB can supportadvanced development andevaluation of terrestrial wirelesstechnologies for industries,governments and universities. Theinfrastructure in place includesbroadband wireless links, wide areanetworks access, personal areanetworks, and multimediaplatforms. Some of the facilities thatthe lab maintains for test servicesinclude:•802.11a/b/g WLANs, Mesh

networks and Bluetooth •Broadband point-to-point and

point-to- multipoint links

WISELAB staff member making fieldmeasurements

34 35

The Canadian public owns a valuableresource that they cannot see, hear,smell or touch, but is worth billions ofdollars to our economy ... Thatresource is the electromagnetic spec -trum.

The uses for the spectrum are ubiqui-tous: radio and television transmis -sions, cell phones, ham radio, policeradar and radios, wireless Internet,remote garage door openers, and thelist goes on and on.

Data transfer over radio link is wellunderstood and very useful, butbefore we can launch any new servicewe first must allocate a frequencyband where this service can operateeffectively and without undue interfer-ence from or to other services.

That being said, all frequencies werenot created equal. David Rogers, pro-gram manager at CRC's RadioPropagation Laboratory explains:

"As new services come online there isa shortage of spectrum, particularly atlower frequencies. One of the reasonsthat lower frequencies are attractive isthat the technology is relatively inex-pensive.

For example, cellular telephones oper-ate at fairly low frequencies and theequipment used is fairly inexpensive.However, there is not enough room inthat part of the spectrum for all of thenew applications that are comingonline. Broadband access, for instance,is just one application that mayrequire service providers to move tohigher frequencies, to take advantageof the greater bandwidths allocated inhigher bands.

In this higher frequency portion of thespectrum, propagation characteristicsare less well characterized. It is ourresponsibility to try to understand thephysics of any transmission using this

part of the spectrum, including powerrequirements; the effects of precipita -tion; signal blockage and scatter frombuildings and other structures, and thepotential for interference problemswith other services. Many millions ofdollars may be at stake when launch-ing new services. Our expertisereduces the risks of poor performanceand interference with existing servicesbefore these investments are made.

New concepts are constantly beingbrought forward, and they have to beevaluated. For instance, we are cur-rently looking at MIMO, or multiple-input/multiple-output systems. This isa new concept for which the achiev-able performance is currentlyunknown. So we could not make a fre-quency allocation and demand a cer-tain capacity utilization from a serviceprovider, if we don’t know if it can bemet.

One other reason that CRC propaga-tion expertise is so important toCanada is that we are such a large andsomewhat sparsely populated country.We need to provide reliable communi-cations to remote areas and to the mili -tary in the far north, for example.Canada's climate and environmentsare extremely diverse and this makes adifference to communication perform-ance and the effects must be under-stood. Provision of service in a moun-tainous area can be very difficult dueto blockage and diffraction by the hillsand so on and so forth. If you want toprovide reliable services in areaswhere there can be huge variation inlocal conditions, you need to be verysophisticated in your understanding ofpropagation issues."

A Fish Eye view of CommunicationResearch Centre Canada's main buildingillustrates one technique for the measure -ment of local signal blockage.

Propagation Engineer measures signalstrengths near foliage.

PROPAGATION SCIENCEEXPERTS MEASURE THE

REAL WORLD BEFORECOMMUNICATIONS

PROJECTS ARE LAUNCHED

36

LookingBefore

We Leap!

Radarsat 1 being loweredinto the David Florida Labtest chamber

CANADA'S FIRST SCIENCE SATELLITE IN 30 YEARSdistance communi-cations. Today, the goalof SCISAT 1 is to help usbetter understand theozone layer above theearth so that we can bemore effective in ourefforts to protect ourenvironment. Marc Garneau, presidentof the Canadian SpaceAgency, which owns and

operates the DavidFlorida Lab, says that"We will help not tocorrect the problemswith the environmentbut to better understandthem". SCISAT 1 is scheduled tobe air-launched on aPegasus XL rocket byNASA in early 2003. Thesatellite will study global

ozone depletion. Theonboard experiment iscalled AtmosphericChemistry Experiment(ACE).Bristol AerospaceLimited has beenselected by the CanadianSpace Agency to buildthe all-Canadian sciencesatellite, SCISAT 1.Bristol has begun work continued...

In 1962 Shirleys Bay agency, DefenceResearch and TelecommunicationsEstablishment (DRTE) distinguisheditself and Canada by successfullycompleting Alouette 1 making Canadathe third country in space.

The success of the Alouette programled, in 1969, to the creation of TelesatCanada and the conversion of theDRTE into a civilian organizationcalled the Communications ResearchCentre (CRC). The CRC's role, in part,was to provide technical support andsupervision to Telesat Canada for thedeployment and management ofCanada's Anik series of commercialtelecommunications satellites.

This challenge was followed by a jointprogram with NASA to build andlaunch the Hermes satellite, theworld's first "direct to home"television broadcast satellite. This wasthe project that initiated the creationof Shirleys Bay's David FloridaLaboratory to manage the integrationand testing phases of the Hermessatellite construction.

Today we know that:

• The Alouette program went on to be designated as one of the 10 most outstanding achievements in the first100 years of engineering in Canada;

• The CRC (with NASA) were awarded an Emmy for their joint role in developing the Ku-band satellite technology through the Hermes program; and

• The David Florida Laboratory has evolved into Canada's national facility for spacecraft assembly, integration and test;

The David Florida Lab(DFL) holds the interna-tional reputation as aunique pre-launchsatellite test facility;

SPACEExperience,Determination and

Synergy MakeShirleys Bay a Key

Partner in Canadianand International

Space Programs

SCISAT 1 the first newCanadian scientificsatellite since the ISIS 2mission in 1971 iscurrently undergoingconstruction and testingat Shirleys Bay DavidFlorida Lab. Thirty yearsago our goal was tobetter understand theionosphere in order toimprove our long

•Defence R&D Canada (DRDC) - Ottawa maintains expertise in the areas of: radar data exploitation; ground station technology; data fusion; antenna research and space based mission simulations;

•CRC manages the implementation of the major portion of the satellite communications componentof the Canadian Space Plan. It serves as the contract and technical authority on multimillion-dollar industrial development contracts. CRC also collaborates with satellite service providers and users by developing and demonstrating appli-cations such as telemedicine and tele-education.

Together, DFL, CRC, and DRDC-Ottawa offer one ofthe world's most comprehensive satellitedevelopment and testing capabilities.

SCISAT1

38 3 9

Photo of a Cospas-SarsatSatellite The Space Station Remote

Manipulator System

Marc Garneau, works the controls for remote manipulator systemwhich was assembled and tested at theDavid Florida Laboratory

Space

Alouette 1 shown in testing with its antennasextended

Artists conception ofCanada's next scientificsatellite mission SCISAT 1

If you were lost in the wilderness, onfoot, in a downed aircraft, or strandedat sea, you would want to know thatsomeone was looking for you. Youwould also want to know that theywould be able to find you withinhours rather than days.

Fortunately, there is a free servicewhich will allow you to call for helpusing a radio beacon valued at lessthan C$1,000. Once turned on, the bea-con will transmit your distress signalto a monitoring station via satellite.The service known as Cospas-Sarsathas been credited with saving morethan 14,000 people since its creation 20years ago.

Jim King , Director, Major SatelliteCommunications Programs at CRCtook a few minutes to explain what thesystem is and the role that CRC playedand still plays in its development.

"Cospas-Sarsat is aninternational,humanitarian searchand rescue system.It consists of threemain components:satellites to detectand locate emer-gency beacons car-ried by ships, air-craft, or individuals;the emergency bea-cons themselves;and a network ofground stations thatdetect the emer -gency signals.

When an emergencybeacon is activated,

the signal is relayed via a satellite tothe nearest available ground stationwhere it triggers a search and rescueaction on the part of the responsibleagency. Cospas-Sarsat is now a wellestablished international service withmany participating countries.

Today all Canadian Cospas-Sarsatground stations and the Canadian mis -sion control centre are operated byCRC. However, like so many commu-nication technology innovations, CRChas played a role in both its conceptionand its ongoing development.

Some of the earliest experiments weredone at Shirleys Bay in the mid 1970s.CRC first carried out a proof of con-cept experiment. They modified anexisting distress beacon to work at afrequency that allowed it to transmitthrough an amateur radio satellite. Bydoing a series of calculations CRCshowed that a dedicated search andrescue satellite system could operateeffectively using the beacons that werethen in use for the existing aircraftbased search-and-rescue service.

The original SARSAT program startedas an experiment between Canada,USA and France, and soon Russiajoined and developed and launched itsown COSPAS satellites, which were

compatible with ours, so it became afour-country program. Today, some 35countries share in the operation of thesystem and the administrative costs,and many provide their own groundstations.

The initial Cospas-Sarsat system, usedwhat is called LEOSAR or Low EarthOrbit SAR. These satellites monitor acontinent wide swath during eachpolar orbit they make around theearth. One satellite provides coveragefor the entire earth in 12 hours. Byusing the constellation of four or moresatellites that we have today, there isusually no more than a two-hour win-dow without at least some coverage.

By the mid 1980s the internationalteam began launching what we callGEOSAR satellites. "GEO" standing forGEOstationary. This has given us con-stant coverage in the areas that thesystem reaches. Since GEOSAR doesn'tcover the polar regions and it can missbeacons hidden behind a mountain, orbehind the superstructure of a ship,we still need LEOSAR as part of thecomplete solution.

Today CRC and the internationalCospas-Sarsat team are looking at newareas of development including:

MEOSAR, or Medium Earth Orbit SARis a system where repeater payloadswould be placed on board GPS andother multipurpose satellites, with 25to 30 satellites in a constellation therewould be almost constant coverageAND the satellites would not sufferfrom shadow effects to the extent thatGEOSAR does, since they would be inconstant motion.

CRC is also looking at improved detec-tion and verification using signal pro-cessing techniques to distinguish andfilter out interfering signals that arenot originated by distress beacons."

COSPAS SARSAT14000 LIVES SAVEDAND COUNTING

The first ofmany thousandsof rescue siteslocated usingCospas-Sarsat

on the design and manufacture of theCanadian science satellite. Bristol's engineering team is currentlyworking on site with the David FloridaLab to make the final preparations forthe satellite's launch. Othercontributors include the Ottawa firmRoutes AstroEngineering. Routesengineer Shawn Mason says "Ourcompany has just done one piece ofthe satellite and we've had an averageof 5 people working on our componentfor the past three years".

The major scientific goal of theAtmospheric Chemistry Experiment(ACE) mission is to measure andunderstand the chemical processesthat control the distribution of ozonein the Earth's atmosphere, especially athigh altitudes. The data that will berecorded as SCISAT 1 orbits the Earthwill help Canadian scientists andpolicy-makers assess existing environ -mental policy, and develop protectivemeasures for improving the health ofour atmosphere and preventingfurther ozone depletion. The ACE

mission is designed to last for at leasttwo years. Advances in our under -standing of the mechanismsresponsible for ozone losses will tell uswhether an ozone “hole,” such as theone found in Antarctica, is likely tooccur above Canada in the future.More importantly, continued research,such as that which will be carried outon the ACE mission, will also help usidentify how the ozone layer can berestored and preserved, thusprotecting the health and well-being ofall Canadians.

SCISAT 1Continued from page 39

When Telesat's Anik F2 satellite soarsskyward in 2003, the CommunicationsResearch Centre (CRC) will toast thespacecraft's ascent with good cause.Working on behalf of the CanadianSpace Agency, CRC is overseeing thedevelopment of advanced made-in-Canada technology that will debut onAnik F2.In addition to carrying traditional C-band and Ku-band payloads, Anik F2will be the first North Americansatellite to incorporate an advanced,spot beam Ka-band payload. This featwill enable Telesat to provide high-speed broadband services to customersthroughout Canada and the continentalU.S.Thanks to the CRC and the CanadianSpace Agency, Anik F2 will fully

capitalize on its Ka-band capabilities.The satellite will carry two Canadian-built Ka-band innovations, one fromEMS Technologies and another fromCOM DEV International.

EMS Technologies is developing anexperimental onboard processor thatwill enable two remote earth stations tocommunicate directly with each otherusing Anik F2's Ka-band spot beams.The other Canadian technology to flyon Anik F2 comes from COM DEVInternational. This company is buildinga system to funnel traffic from variousremotes to a given Ka-band gateway.Dubbed BEAM*LINK, this multi -plexing system will be part of Anik F2'scommercial payload."Putting these two Ka-band systems onAnik F2 will allow Telesat, the manu-facturers, and the satellite industry toassess the equipment's in-flightperformance," says Ken Gordon,Director, Broadband TechnologyDevelopment with Telesat. "By coordi-nating the projects, CRC is playing animportant role in the development ofCanadian satellite technology."Ka-band offers Telesat some importantadvantages. First, it allows thecompany to cover the serving areausing some 45 spot beams thatconcentrate satellite power on relativelysmall zones. This concentration enablescustomers to use compact, low-costsatellite terminals, and it equips Telesatto offer bandwidth-hungry applications

such as videoconferencing and high-speed Internet access.Second, Telesat can reuse a given Ka-band frequency five or six times-a char -acteristic that keeps transmission priceslow. This efficiency occurs because abeam serving, say, the British Columbialower mainland won't interfere withone of the same frequency serving, say,the Winnipeg area.The CRC has been instrumental notonly in coordinating the two Canadiantechnology projects, but also indeveloping the types of advancedbroadband applications that Anik F2will support. Telesat and CRC haveworked together closely for severalyears to bring medical, educational,judicial, Internet, and other services toremote Canadian communities viasatellite."CRC has been outstanding," says Mr.Gordon. "They're extremely responsiveand professional-an ideal partner inevery sense. They do an excellent jobhelping remote communities usesatellite to get access to advancedbroadband applications."

Who knows what satellite advancesawait down the road? Anik A1'sdesigners would have marveled at AnikF2's power, size, and capabilities.Wherever the satellite industry isheaded, however, one can be sure thatCRC and Telesat will be at the fore,helping Canadians and others aroundthe world to communicate evermoreefficiently and cost effectively.

The AnikF2 COULD THIS BE CANADA'S BROADBAND SOLUTION

41

Jim Kingtesting Cospas-Sarsat beacon

40

surface features and targets inagriculture and disaster managementfor example. All imaging modes willbe available to both the left and rightside of the satellite track. These capa-bilities will make RADARSAT 2 themost advanced commercial radarsatellite ever launched.

The flexibility of RADARSAT 2 beammodes and its 24-hour data acquisitioncapabilities position the satellite as amajor information source forcommercial applications and remotesensing science, helping scientists andresearchers better, understand,monitor and protect the earth and itsenvironment.

First and foremost, RADARSAT 2 isbeing developed to address the needsof the commercial market, but the

mission is also providing DefenceResearch and Development Canada(DRDC) Ottawa with an opportunityto carry out a defence-relatedproof–of-concept experiment. Dr.Chuck Livingston heads a team of ninedefence researchers that will useRADARSAT 2 data to detect and trackmoving vehicles on the earth's surface.The Ground Moving Target Indication(GMTI) demonstration project involvesthe development of a specializeddefence payload on the satellite thatwill collect and process data central tothis application. The information willbe transmitted back to earth usingsecure encryption techniques.

The GMTI project has obvious defenceapplications; Dr. Livingstoneexplained however that it could

ultimately have important civilianapplications as well. "By using theGMTI technique, we expect to be ableto detect moving vehicles on thesurface of the earth. Airborne radarresults have been very positive andour analysis indicates that we couldexpect similar results usingRADARSAT 2."

He also adds: "Our detection cell sizeon the surface of the earth is 6 metres,however GMTI is usually able todetect targets smaller than the radarcell size. The ability to monitor andanalyze traffic patterns from spacecould be an interesting civilianapplication of the demonstrationproject.”

RADARSAT 2, Canada's next-generation Earth observation satellitewill soon undergo integration andtesting at the Canadian Space Agency'sDavid Florida Laboratory.

RADARSAT 1, developed by theCanadian Space Agency (CSA),became Canada’s first commercialSynthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)satellite, positioning Canada as aworld leader in the business of Earthobservation. Launched November 4,1995, the satellite has spawned afollow-on mission to provide datacontinuity for thousands ofRADARSAT 1 data users around theworld. RADARSAT 2 will soonundergo integration and testing at theDavid Florida Laboratory at ShirleysBay, like its predecessor did in the 90s.

One of the hallmarks of SyntheticAperture Radar is its capacity to usemicrowaves to penetrate cloud cover,making the surface of the earthaccessible at all times, regardless ofweather conditions. This is a partic -ularly valuable characteristic for userswho require images on a regularlyscheduled basis, or acquired at timesthat coincide with specific events.Radar is particularly good at

monitoring oil spills, floods, and iceflows.

Another useful characteristic of imagesproduced by radar is that they containphase information from the microwaveenergy reflected off the earth. Thisopens the door to many unique appli-cations including measuring minutechanges in land elevation due toearthquakes or oil field depletion, andthe characterization of differentmaterials or terrain based on the polar-ization shifts of reflected radiation.

Building on the success of RADARSAT 1,the Canadian Space Agency receivedthe mandate to develop a follow-onprogram in co-operation with theprivate sector. The RADARSAT 2program originates from this mandateand ensures the continuity of theoriginal RADARSAT program andsupports the evolution of the Earthobservation industry in Canada.

RADARSAT 2 is a unique collabo-ration between the Canadian SpaceAgency and MacDonald, Dettwilerand Associates Ltd. (MDA). Under afinancial and management agreement,MDA will own and operate thesatellite, while the CSA will recover itsinvestment through the supply ofimages to Canadian governmentdepartments.

The spacecraft is scheduled for launchin 2004 and is designed with anoperational life of seven years. TheRADARSAT 2 program features somekey technology upgrades andenhancements that will bringadditional value to the internationaldata user community. RADARSAT 2will image the earth’s surface at spatialresolutions between 3 and 100 metres,with nominal swath widths rangingfrom 10 to 500 kilometres.RADARSAT 2 will be the firstcommercial radar satellite to offermulti-polarization, a capability thataids in identifying a wide variety of

CANADA RESUMES THELEAD IN REMOTE

SENSING SATELLITES

RADARSAT 1 undergoingintegration and testing atDavid Florida Laboratory

prior to launch in 1995.

Artist’s concept ofRADARSAT 2 in orbit. When

operational, the satellite willprovide data continuity for the

international RADARSAT 1user community, with the

addition of new beam modesand higher resolution single

and multi-polarizedimage products.

Simulated quad-polarizedRADARSAT 2 image

product. Multi-polarizedSynthetic Aperture Radar

data extends the informationcontent of each scene, aiding

in the identification of surfacefeatures and targets

42

RADARSAT 2

THE DAVID FLORIDALABORATORY PARTICIPATES

IN CANADA'S PREMIERROBOTICS DEVELOPMENT

PROJECTair, extreme temperatures that fluctuate,vacuum conditions and high vibrationconditions on launch. Every system iseffected differently by these conditionsand every system must be designed andtested in ways that take these conditionsinto account."The David Florida Laboratory (DFL) isthe expert at simulating spaceconditions. Every moving component ofthe SPDM was put through rigoroustesting at the DFL. Some of the types oftesting available at the lab include:

Vacuum TestingIn space most lubricants outgas. This means that over time lubricants completely disappear. As a solution, specialized lubricants that avoid this problem have been developed. That is one of the reasons that mechanisms intended for use in space must be tested in a vacuum test chamber like the ones available at the DFL. Another reason is that many mechanisms such as braking systems are designed to operate only under vacuum.Vibration TestingWhen the DFL first receives a component, one of the first set of tests that could be performed are continuity and isolation tests. This means that the device would be tested at normal room temperature and pressure to make sure that it operates as expected.Once continuity testing is passed, a component could be taken into the vibration facility where it would undergo vibration testing along 3 different axes. The vibration level would be typical of that experienced during launch. This is the so called launch load. Vibration tests are also done in order to check workmanship.Extreme Temperature TestingSpace is a place of extreme temperatures. Any equipment designed to operate successfully in that environment must endure sudden shifts between extreme heat and extreme cold. The DFL test chambers provide a facility where space bound components can be tested operationally under vacuum and through extreme temperature variations

ranging typically between plus 70 and minus 36 degrees Celsius.

Gary Searle talked about his experienceat the DFL where the SPDM componentswere tested. "Any components that hadbrakes were tested under thermalvacuum. Space brakes are designed towork in vacuum to operate. We put oursystems into the DFL thermal vacuumchamber in order to test them. We wouldrun the motors and then hit the brakes.The cycle would be repeated severaltimes under hot conditions and thenduring cold, to run in the brakes. It takesabout 2 weeks to perform a complete setof tests, a week for thermal vacuumtesting, a day and half to do the vibrationtesting and then all the ambient testingthat has to be done in between."

THE IMPORTANCE OFCONTINUITY We asked Gary about what it took to besuccessful in the space robotics industry.Gary's immediate response was,"Continuity". Many of the engineers atMD Robotics and at the David FloridaLab that helped build the originalCanadarm have now retired. However,they personally trained people like Garywho are in turn training a newgeneration of engineers who will pick upthe skills needed, and the lessonslearned, to address the even moredemanding requirements to come in thefuture. "Passing on the torch is criticalbecause this is something you can't learnin a book.", says Gary.

Gary is very satisfied with his career atMD Robotics, he explained, "Having theopportunity to work on this type ofhardware is rare. We are able to attractthe best and the brightest out ofuniversity and train them to carry on.Furthermore our products are unique inthe world. Nobody else does what wedo. We've gained the respect by NASAand other countries for those veryreasons."

NEW HORIZONSGary Searle is now the programmanager of what is called the "neuroArm". Using much of the sametechnology that went into the Canadarm,MD Robotics is building a robot armwhich will be used to carry out brainsurgery while the patient is placed in an

MRI. Working on a smaller scale thanthe SPDM the neuroArm requiressimilar levels of precision, safety anduser control as those required in space. Features which will make the neuroArmunique include:

Haptic ControlThe neuroArm will have a variety of surgical instruments attached, such as forceps and specialized instruments used to hold, cut and cauterize tissue. The instruments MD Robotics is developing for the arm will be almost identical in appearance to normal instruments, except for how they are held. When the operator, a surgeon, uses these instruments to touch a piece of tissue they will "feel" the force that the tool is applying to the tissue through the hand controllers.

This kind of sensory feed back to the operator is called "Haptic control". The surgeon will sit at a work station located outside the operating room where the patient is located. It will be the robot that does the surgery. "Haptic control" is a capability unique to neuroArm in the field of surgical robots, as none of the currently available surgical systems offer this feature.Optical Force SensorMD Robotics has developed an optical force sensor. In order to achieve "Haptic control", force is usually measured using a electrical/mechanical sensor, and then electrical signals are transmitted to the feedback devices within the hand controller. However common electrical sensors cannot operate correctly within the MRI environment. To solve this problem MD Robotics has invented and patented a purely optical force sensor that communicates the force load on it by way of reflected light from a fiber optic probe. No electrical signals or attachments are required.Canadarm Software The technologies needed for the development of the neuroArm are very similar to those used in the Canadarm 2, except that the scales are much smaller. The neuroArm needs to get around in tighter areas,

Testing of the Mobile BaseSystem (MBS) at the DavidFlorida Laboratory.

The original Canadarm went into spacefor the first time more than 20 years ago.It has since flown on nearly 70 spaceshuttle missions. Designed and built bySpar Space Robotics, now MacDonaldDettwiler Space and Advanced RoboticsLtd (MD Robotics), the first Canadarmcost about $100 million. It was Canada'scontribution to the U.S. Space ShuttleProgram. NASA has since ordered fourmore units, at a cost of about $600million.

Canadarm 2, is now a significantcomponent aboard the InternationalSpace Station (ISS). The contribution ofthe Mobile Servicing System (MSS)which includes the Canadarm 2,represents Canada's contribution to theInternational Space Station. The Canadian Mobile Servicing Systemor MSS, is an essential component of theInternational Space Station. The systemhas three parts:• Canadarm2, the Space Station

Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) - delivered to the ISS in 2001;

• the Mobile Base System (MBS) - a work platform which will move on rails along the length of the space station - delivered to the ISS in 2002;

• the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM) - a "robotic astronaut" which has two arms of its

own - scheduled for delivery in 2004.

The MSS gives astronauts the ability tomove equipment and supplies aroundthe space station. It provides the onlyway to manipulate objects outside of thespace station without having a humanactually leave the relative safety of thespace station.

THE SPECIAL PURPOSEDEXTEROUS MANIPULATOROR SPDM Gary Searle is an MD Robotics ProgramManager who has just completed twoyears working at the David FloridaLaboratory, testing the componentswhich will make up the Special PurposeDexterous Manipulator or SPDM. Weasked Gary why he thought theCanadarm 2 system was important forCanadians. He responded, "Projects like theCanadarm 2 bring Canadians into theforefront of technology, we becomepioneers rather than followers. Thecapability that MD Robotics hasdeveloped by building the Canadarmsystems for the Canadian Space Agencyhas made us world leaders in ourparticular field of robotics. We have noreal competition. Organizations from allover the world, including the U.S. andJapan are coming to us with theirrequirements."

The project that Gary Searle worked onuntil recently was the Special PurposeDexterous Manipulator or SPDM. This is

a system that will allow the Canadarm 2to do more intricate work than it can currently do using its end effector, ormechanical hand. The current endeffector is suitable grasping a large objectsuch as a satellite or a component to beadded to the ISS. The SPDM which will be added in 2004,is designed, as you would expect fromits name, to carry out tasks that requiremore dexterity. Using two arms, eachhaving its own much smaller morespecialized end-effector, called an OrbitalTool Change-out Mechanism or OTCM.The OTCM is specifically designed tograsp the small attachment devices usedto secure equipment and electronic boxesto the outside of the space station. Theseattachment devices are in turn referredto as micro fixtures.

Taken as a whole, the two armed SPDMwith its specialized end effectors, can bethought of as the space station's roboticexternal maintenance technician. Fullycontrollable from within the station,astronauts will be able to service mostaspects of the outside of the stationwithout being exposed to the hazards ofa space walk.

THE ROLE OF THE DAVIDFLORIDA LABORATORY INTHE SPDM DEVELOPMENT"Space is a totally different environmentfrom earth", explains Gary. "Weencounter atomic Oxygen, no breathable

The Canadarm 2 is shown hereas one part of a three part,

Canadian made system.Canadarm2 (SSRMS- part 1) is

mounted on a mobile base(MBS- part 2) which moves

along a set of rails that extendthe entire length of the space

station. By 2004 a specialized

manipulator system (SPDMpart 3) will be mounted at the

end of the Canadarm 2 and willprovide the space station

operators with a powerful toolfor carrying out detailed

extra-vehicular tasks withoutleaving the station.

David Florida Labstaff shown assemblingone of the Canadarm 2joints in 1999.

Canadarm2

but the fineness of motion is the same. If you imagine your own shoulder moving a quarter of an inch, your arm will have moved almost a foot. The accuracy in the Canadarm has to be very precise at the shoulder in order to get the accuracy needed at the end of the arm.The neuroArm requires 1mm resolution of movement in order to be able to suture small arteries. The mechanical parts have to be very accurate as well. MD Robotics will need to machine some components to within two one one thousandths of an inch, much the same tolerances as those required in the Canadarm 2. What is really critical in both of theseapplications is the software that enables the arms to move. A good portion of the software being used inthe neuroArm came from the

Canadarm projects. In space the safety systems have to be as perfect as they do in brain surgery. You can'trisk having the arm start jerking in space when the lives of personnel or the safety of valuable equipment is atstake.

Applications of Canadarm technologydo not stop at neuro-surgery. MDRobotics manufactures mining robots,vision systems that detect ice andchemicals from a distance. MDRobotics has even sold dinosaur robotsto Universal Studios. These animatedTriceratops won a gold award at therecent Design Engineering Awards.According to the awardannouncement,

"While not a manufacturing system, the entry is used as commercial equipment by Universal Studios Islands of Adventure. The complex programming and smooth motion

control systems make for a stunningly real illusion to customers who are never more than six feet away from the exhibit-sometimes even touching it. The dinosaur has a range of realistic behaviour-dilating pupils, coordinated muscles and tongue movement among them-a striking simulation of a live animal."

One of MD Robotics' award winningrobotic Triceratops dinosaurs

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