[CMC] Re: RF & Modulation meeting in Pasadena

Wed Oct 13 05:18:31 EDT 2004

Dear Mr Soula,

Here are the reasons for the choice of Pasadena location for the RFM and RNG
WGs meetings of this Fall.

1) There is no need for a joint meeting with other SLS WGs. Discussion on
SCCC-8PSK or DVB-S2 8PSK, which needs co-location with the coding and
synchronization WG, is foreseen for Spring 2005 when an independent review by
CNES and NASA is available as well as an ESA breadboard of SCCC-8PSK.

2) The meeting at Pasadena will make it possible for some European (RF and
Modulation) Delegates to attend sessions of the ITC04 in San Diego, while the
ranging WG meets.

3) The meeting at Pasadena will make it possible to NASA ranging and
delta-DOR experts not normally participating to CCSDS  to attend the ranging
WG meeting.

I do believe that we should strive, for budgetary reasons, to synchronise
CCSDS meetings whenever possible with other events like international
conferences; ITC is a key event for the SLS Area, hence the interest for a
Fall meeting in North America while the Spring sessions can be held in
Europe. I know that other areas are more interested in SpaceOps which imposes
reverse constraints. A dilemna.

best regards

Jean-Luc Gerner
TEC-ETT
Tel: +31 71 565 4473
----- Forwarded by Jean-Luc Gerner/estec/ESA on 13/10/2004 10:08 -----

                      Jean-Luc Gerner                                                                                              
                                               To:      Soula Jean-Marc <Jean-Marc.Soula at cnes.fr>                                  
                      13/10/2004 09:46         cc:      "'Adrian J. Hooke'" <adrian.j.hooke at jpl.nasa.gov>, cmc at mailman.ccsds.org,  
                                               Campan Genevieve <Genevieve.Campan at cnes.fr>, Moury Gilles <Gilles.Moury at cnes.fr>,   
                                               Lesthievent Guy <Guy.Lesthievent at cnes.fr>, Issler Jean-Luc                          
                                               <Jean-Luc.Issler at cnes.fr>, "'nestor.peccia at esa.int'" <nestor.peccia at esa.int>,       
                                               Secretariat <Secretariat at ccsds.org>, Enrico Vassallo/esoc/ESA at ESA                   
                                               Subject: Re: RF & Modulation meeting in Pasadena(Document link: Jean-Luc Gerner)    

Dear Mr Soula,
Indeed these two groups meet in October in Pasadena and this was planned
already almost one year ago. Actually, they have been 'out of phase' already
at the Spring 2004 meeting for historic reasons which would be a bit long to
explain in an email. Anyway they will be back in phase as of Spring 2005.
Note however that the CCSDS 'Restructured Organisation and Processes'
document leaves it up to WG chairs to decide when and where face-to-face
meetings will be held and recommends WG chairs to select their meeting
location 'in the vicinity of institutions where a significant staff
participation exists', which is the case of NASA/JPL. Upon my request, the
chairman of these WGs will be attending the SLS Area meeting planned in
Toulouse.
Note also that RFM and RNG WGs were never planned to be held in Toulouse this
Fall and Enrico Vassallo, the chairman of these WGs, sent warnings to the
CCSDS site manager as soon as the agenda for Fall 2004 was published to
correct the wrong information.
Note also that the room booking I made to you for the SLS Area takes into
account the fact that these two WGs will not meet in Toulouse.

Regarding the costs, the situation is balanced since the saving was for
European agencies on the Spring 2004 meetings which were held in France when
other WGs were held in Montreal. The chairman of these WGs did not mention to
me a problem of participation for mission budget reasons of the CNES
representative in these groups (Guy Lesthievent).
I have planned a joint RFM/C&S/SLP WGs meeting in Toulouse which will review
in particular the modulation/coding issues and the outcomes of the WGs on
these items. It is the opportunity for a large CNES participation.

I am sorry for the confusion and hope that this mail will clarify the issue.

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you need more information.

Cordialement

Jean-Luc Gerner
TEC-ETT
Tel: +31 71 565 4473

                      Soula Jean-Marc                                                                                              
                      <Jean-Marc.Soula         To:      "'Jean-Luc.Gerner at esa.int'" <Jean-Luc.Gerner at esa.int>, "'Adrian J. Hooke'" 
                      @cnes.fr>                <adrian.j.hooke at jpl.nasa.gov>                                                       
                                               cc:      Campan Genevieve <Genevieve.Campan at cnes.fr>, Moury Gilles                  
                      12/10/2004 18:58         <Gilles.Moury at cnes.fr>, cmc at mailman.ccsds.org, Lesthievent Guy                      
                                               <Guy.Lesthievent at cnes.fr>, Issler Jean-Luc <Jean-Luc.Issler at cnes.fr>, Secretariat   
                                               <Secretariat at ccsds.org>, "'nestor.peccia at esa.int'" <nestor.peccia at esa.int>          
                                               Subject: RF & Modulation meeting in Pasadena                                        

Dear all,

it is quite recently, last week in fact,  that I discovered that the two WG's
on RF&Mod and Ranging in the SLS area will have their meeting in Pasadena and
not in Toulouse. Moreover, the dates were advanced by one month ...

This doesn't conform to the information I had on the room requirements and
general organization of the meetings in Toulouse (Nov 15-19) for which those
groups had been confirmed.

Having checked the registrations, it seems that these WG's will look like
NASA - USA meetings with one representative of ESA (chairman), except if late
registrations occur from now.
On the CNES side, we were planning to have several persons attend the meeting
in Toulouse but we have not yet decided if we may send at least one
representative in Pasadena, just for budget reasons.
I am not sure who are the usual other contributors to these groups (JAXA,
DLR, ... ?) and if they were made aware of this change early enough to
reschedule to an earlier date ...

As reported by Adrian at the last CMC there is a risk that a consensus is not
reached by the RF&Mod WG and I'm not sure that having their meeting with a
reduced participation and far away from other groups (and area director ?)
will facilitate the consensus, in particular with those who could not attend.

Could you please advise how you anticipate the results of those meetings
with, potentially, limited participation (in number of agencies) ?
Is it planned to have a complementary session in Toulouse for those who could
not join in Pasadena ?
Why do these groups meet on opposite ocean sides compared to the others ?

Your quick answers are appreciated

Best regards

Jean-Marc SOULA
Chargé de Mission Réseaux de Stations
DCT/OP/CM
CNES - 18, Avenue Edouard BELIN
31401 Toulouse Cedex 9 - France
Tel :  (+33) (0)5 612 74647
Fax : (+33) (0)5 612 73135
Email : Jean-Marc.Soula at cnes.fr