IBAC Technical Report Summary
Subject:
SATCOM Voice Guidance Material
Meeting:
Inter Regional SATCOM Voice Task Force
IBAC File:
Reported by:
David Stohr
Summary:
The Inter Regional SATCOM Voice Task Force meeting was held in Seattle Washington.
USA from Sept 14th through Sept 16th, 2011. David Stohr, IBAC IMG member, attended
the meeting. The following items of discussion are of importance to business
aviation:
a.) Work is progressing toward a completing document on SATCOM Voice
Guidance Material by June of next year. The document is currently in its
8th draft and working toward a mature document.
b.) There is no requirement for an operator to be approved by the State of
Registry or State of the Operator to use SATCOM Voice.
c.) Aircraft equipment installations should be approved by the State of
Registry or State of the Operator in accordance with FAA AC 20-150A (or
equivalent), and verified to comply with:

RTCA DO-210D, Minimum Operational Performance Standards for
Geosynchronous Orbit Aeronautical Mobile Satellite Services (AMSS)

RTCA DO 262A, Minimum Operational Performance Standards for
Avionics Supporting Next Generation Satellite Systems (NGSS)

ARINC 741, Aviation Satellite Communications System.

ARINC 761 (Iridium & Inmarsat-2G)

ARINC 781 (Inmarsat-3G)
Implication for Business Aviation:
With the requirement that aircraft equipage should be approved by the State
of Registry or the State of the Operator in accordance with FAA AC 20-150A or
equivalent could mean many business operators will not be able to use their
SATCOM installations for ATC Purposes.
Decisions Required:
IBAC should use the Advisory Group to review FAA AC 20-150A and work with
SATCOM vendors to insure that the SATCOM installations in business aircraft
can be approved for Air Traffic Services.
This report contains material for the sole information of IBAC Members and no guarantee or
undertakings are given, or should be assumed, as to their accuracy. The content is under the copyright
of the author and IBAC, and may not be distributed to third parties without specific agreement of the
IBAC Director General.
FAA AC 20-150A is now finalized and available from the FAA web site. The
following are some of the requirements that are specified:
 Satellite voice is considered voice communication for the purpose of
the operating rules pertaining to CVR. Means must be provided to
record all flight crew satellite voice communications in crash
survivable memory, if a cockpit voice recorder is required.
 Satellite voice calls Priority, Preemption, Precedence
o If a satellite voice channel is in use and the ground station
wants to send a higher priority call, the satellite voice
equipment should clear the lower priority channel. If all
available channels are in use, the equipment should preempt
the channel supporting the lowest priority channel in favor of
the higher-priority call.
o The satellite voice equipment must provide the flight crew the
means to preempt any call at any time. The equipment may
provide the means for automatic preemption of cabin
communications.
o The satellite voice equipment may also allow flight crew
members to place their call request at the top of the queue –
that is, to camp-on while awaiting free resources. Flight crew
procedures should include explicit instructions defining how
the flight crew can use camp-on capability.
o The satellite voice equipment should configure the cockpit
default priority to level 2. The flight crew must have the
ability to se the priority level for an individual call.