[CMC] CCSDS background (WAS: INPE answer ....)

[Adrian J. Hooke]

At 06:46 AM 7/29/2004, Eduardo Bergamini wrote:
>A doubt, still remains. Can CCSDS self proclaim that it is an 
>international standardization body, just by saying it is so? I may be 
>wrong, but recalling the way CCSDS was formed, I feel that at least a 
>mere, formal (written), explicit Resolution should be made and taken by 
>its steering and management body, in that direction.

Eduardo: this is a very good point since it gets to the very heart of the 
question: just exactly who can go into business and hang a sign on the door 
that says "international standards developed here"?

As I recall the process when we formed the CCSDS in 1982, a standardization 
organization had to be chartered by international treaty - which took a 
very long time. Accordingly, in order to get started quickly, CCSDS 
patterned itself after the "Comité Consultatif International Téléphonique 
et Télégraphique" (CCITT), which is now known the ITU. Apparently the CCITT 
developed Recommendations rather than Standards, and there was some 
important distinction at that time that said that a Consultative Committee 
did not have to be established as an international treaty organization.

There is a very interesting history of the ITU - including how the CCITT 
was formed - at http://www.itu.int/aboutitu/overview/history.html. In 
particular (in 1992, ten years after CCSDS was formed) an "Additional 
Plenipotentiary Conference" took place in Geneva that dramatically 
restructured the ITU into three Sectors, corresponding to its three main 
areas of activity - Telecommunication Standardization (ITU-T), 
Radiocommunication (ITU-R) and Telecommunication Development (ITU-D) - and 
the CCITT was dissolved.  Very clearly, at that 1992 Conference, the ITU 
transformed itself from an organization that developed Recommendations into 
one that developed Standards.

Just prior to this reorganization of the ITU in 1992, CCSDS itself went 
through a transformation (1990) when it officially became the technical arm 
of ISO/TC20/SC13. At that point - when ISO accepted that the products of 
CCSDS followed the proper process to be on a path towards full 
International Standards - the CCSDS itself became de-facto recognized as an 
official standardization organization.

All of this points out the need for us to preserve that special 
relationship with ISO, since it is the root of our technical and 
organizational legitimacy. It also points out, in my opinion, the 
importance of consolidating and streamlining all space standards into 
"TC999" and to use that consolidation to cement the firmest relationships 
with other bodies such as the IEC and the ITU.

Finally, there really is a need for the history of CCSDS - including 
important documents - to be recorded and preserved. I know that some of the 
early pioneers, such as Horst Kummer and Bob Stephens, are very much alive 
and kicking, and that Merv MacMedan is in fact working on such a history 
under a small retirement contract with Peter Shames. It would really be 
useful, I think, to pick their brains and their files while they are 
available. Interestingly enough, I was in England this past weekend 
attending to my mother, and in her papers I came across a copy (that I had 
sent to her in 1980) of the original memo from the ESA Director General to 
the NASA Administrator, suggesting the creation of the NASA-ESA Working 
Group. That, as we all know, shortly thereafter became the CCSDS. I will 
try to scan that memo and sent it to the CMC, for "old times sake".

Best regards
Adrian
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