Theater frequency management organizes airwaves

  • Published
  • By Bob Jensen
  • Combined Forces Air Component Public Affairs
OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM (AFPN) --  Along with the thousands of planes filling the sky over Iraq are more than 5,000 different electronic frequencies used for critical communications between the systems and people who make those flights possible.

With numbers like these, there are plenty of chances for something to become a problem. Keeping those systems and people from "stepping on" each other's frequencies is Master Sgt. John C. Zimmermann, the theater frequency manager for the Combined Forces Air Component commander.

"Frequency management is a process to ensure all equipment emitting radio frequency energy work harmoniously within the electromagnetic battlespace," said Zimmermann, speaking from the Combined Air Operations Center at a desert air base in Southwest Asia.

"That battlespace includes basically everything that supports the fighting mission," Zimmermann said. "For instance, each of the satellites we use has their own frequencies. Each of the various radars operate in different bands and within those bands they're assigned their own frequencies.

"Every aircraft also has its own frequencies to work with their specific radios," Zimmermann said. "So to give you an example,...I'm trying to make sure the satellite we're using to control (an unmanned aerial vehicle) with isn't going to interfere with the (Navy fighter pilot) the (airborne warning and control system) crews are talking to."

Zimmermann is deployed from Ramstein Air Base, Germany, where he is the noncommissioned officer in charge of the U.S. Air Forces in Europe frequency management office. His current job deals with juggling electronic frequencies for everything from handheld radios to the big satellite links that bring in the military computer network connections -- SIPRNET and NIPRNET.

He and his nightshift counterpart, Staff Sgt. Jermaine Jones, nominate and assign frequencies that support missions for operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. They manage electronic emissions in an area that spans from Turkey to Afghanistan.

When assigning frequencies, Zimmermann analyzes a user's request, reviews the requirements, and then looks at frequencies that have already been issued or assigned to other users. He tries to find an unused frequency or one being used in a geographically separated area.

Finding the right frequency is not necessarily an easy task. For Operation Iraqi Freedom alone there are about 21,000 individual frequencies assigned, Zimmermann said. About 5,000 of those are for the components supporting the air campaign, the domain Zimmermann manages.

More than 1,500 frequency requests to support Operation Iraqi Freedom have been processed by Zimmermann's office since December, he said.

Complicating the task further, the electromagnetic spectrum is actually a sovereign resource and each country manages it the way they deem fit, Zimmermann said.

"It's a lucrative business," said Zimmermann. "So, when we deploy to places like Southwest Asia we have to coordinate all the frequencies we use with the host nation. This is to ensure something we use is not going to interfere with a frequency the host nation may be using for cell phones. And that's actually a case that happened over here."

Each component has its own frequency manager and Zimmermann said he is in contact with them daily. Conflicts between frequencies used by the various components are very rare because of the coordination process and the different kinds of equipment used, he said.

If a conflict does pop up, the component frequency managers usually solve it among themselves, Zimmermann said. For the few times the managers cannot resolve the conflict, the problem is forwarded to U.S. Central Command to decide which mission has the priority.

"Without any frequency management we'd have something we call 'frequency fratricide,'" said Zimmermann. "Everyone would be 'stepping on' each other. There needs to be a clear, relatively clean signal between two links and if someone nearby is using the same frequency for another communication link, there would be frequency fratricide."

"Providing interference-free communications that allows for uninterrupted command and control of air assets to successfully run the air war," is the biggest benefit his function brings to the fight, Zimmermann said. "This is an extremely important aspect of the air campaign that most operators don't think about.

"If it's working right, it's usually an afterthought," Zimmermann said. "If it's not done right we'll hear about it. This is one of those jobs that isn't usually noticed until there's a problem.

"The operators don't care what frequencies they're using," Zimmermann said. "They just want to be able to key their microphone and have someone respond to them from the other side every time. They don't care how it happens, they don't care if it takes five days to find a frequency that doesn't interfere, they just need to know what it's going to be and that it works."