Information: Arctic

Overview

The transition to the information age has been uneven across the Arctic. The Scandinavian Arctic is by far the most modern and best integrated into global communications networks, boasting some of the best connectivity in the world. Donovian Arctic regions have been slower to adapt. Although the infrastructure is in place, it is not as developed as farther west. Moreover, despite the government?s robust cyber capability, the general population has been slow, if not hesitant, to transition, preferring instead to use television and radio. Connectivity is worst in Asian and North American Arctic regions, where the extreme climate, greater population dispersion, and smaller overall population have hampered connectivity. In many regions, radio remains the most reliable form of communication. Where internet is accessible, it is unreliable and expensive.

The information environment in the Arctic varies significantly with infrastructure, population centers, and political systems, which are influenced by the physical environment and availability of economic resources. Consequently, the Western European Arctic is advanced compared to the more isolated North American Arctic and the strictly controlled, isolated Asian Arctic. In Scandinavia, even the most rural communities are connected to global networks. Television is the primary information medium in Donovia. North American Arctic areas have access to all media, but connectivity is slow and expensive.

Communication

Fixed Line Networks

Fixed line (also called "wireline") infrastructure forms the core of most large telecommunications networks and connects end-users to those networks. Fiber-optic cables, coaxial cable, and traditional copper telephone wires are all examples of fixed lines. Use of fixed lines in Arctic communities is sporadic due to distances and severity of weather. In some areas of the Arctic, regulatory requirements may also be a significant barrier where government land-use policies restrict cable burial.

Submarine fiber-optic cable is the primary transmission method for Internet and other traffic between continents or countries separated by oceans. Low-latency networks are becoming critical to both government and commercial enterprises. Commercial businesses are overcoming some of these challenges with new transoceanic subsea cables.

Polar routes for low latency networks have numerous advantages. This includes a shortcut to major economic capitals, reduced energy consumption for cooling of components, and a lack of potential political obstructions, i.e., no specific country governs the area.

Wireless Communication

Fixed wireless service uses radio transmissions to send information between stationary locations. It provides both middle-mile and last-mile services in the Arctic. Fixed wireless needs a clear line of sight between the transmitting and receiving antennas. Microwave transmissions are part of this network but are placed at high altitude to overcome line of sight challenges. In sparsely populated areas of the Arctic where the demand is within the capacity limits of the network, fixed microwave technology has proven to be effective.

Mobile wireless service is another important alternative for Arctic residents. Mobile wireless infrastructure also uses radio spectrum to deliver last-mile voice and broadband services. A customer subscribing to mobile wireless service can move a wireless device anywhere covered by the wireless signal without losing connectivity. While the service is mobile, most of the infrastructure used to deliver mobile wireless service is fixed terrestrial infrastructure including base stations and antenna towers. Once out of the coverage area, the customer loses service. Radio Communication High frequency (HF), very high frequency (VHF) and ultrahigh frequency (UHF) radios are now being used to enable data communications. One advantage of HF is its wide range when the radio waves are reflected by ionospheric layers. But radio communications in the Arctic are prone to challenging and rapidly-changing transmission conditions, and realistic data rates and ranges are therefore significantly lower. Although these digital HF/VHF/UHF technologies exist as options, none of these systems is likely to be a significant contributor to delivering broadband communication widely in the Arctic.

Satellite Communication and Information

Geostationary Satellites

Fixed satellite services (FSS) provided by geostationary (GEO) satellites are frequently used to provide network connections between communities. These provide voice telephone, Internet, and television services. This is critical in remote Arctic communities that depend on distance learning and telemedicine. Positioning and timing is done by Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) satellites such as the U.S.?s NAVSTAR Global Positioning System (GPS), Donovia?s Global'naya Navigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema (GLONASS), the EU?s Galileo, and Olvana?s BeiDou systems.

The performance of GNSS is assessed using four criteria:

1. Accuracy: the difference between a receiver?s measured and real position, speed or time
2. Integrity: a system?s capacity to provide a threshold of confidence and, in the event of an anomaly in the positioning data, an alarm
3. Continuity: a system?s ability to function without interruption
4. Availability: the percentage of time a signal fulfils the above accuracy, integrity and continuity criteria

This performance improves with a regional satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS), such as the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS). EGNOS improves the accuracy and reliability of GPS information by correcting signal measurement errors and by providing information about the integrity of its signals.

-geostationary satellite services are the only option (such as low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, or highly elliptical orbit (HEO) satellites. While satellites are preferred over terrestrial systems, the challenge in the Arctic is finding satellite capacity that can serve the northern latitudes with enough bandwidth to meet ever-increasing demands. The results of the current satellite coverage are:

1. No Internet heading for ships underway.
2. No Internet connectivity to make daily reports.
3. Sea currents are chaotic and unpredictable if satellite images are not available.
4. Ship and aircraft are controlled by modern computers, which are dependent on INTERNET connections. This becomes more acute when updates are being pushed through a network.

EGNOS is the first pan-European satellite navigation system. It augments the U.S. GPS satellite navigation system and makes it suitable for safety critical applications such as flying aircraft or navigating ships through narrow channels. With the launch of more HEO satellites, the EU will have a footprint in the Arctic.

Plans for satellite broadband in the Arctic include a new constellation of 650 satellites providing full broadband coverage of the Arctic. This system, called OneWeb, will be operational by 2022. These will be smaller satellites at significantly lower cost with a lifetime of 3-5 years.

Meteorological Satellites

The U.S. Department of Defense has the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP), run by the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center. DMSP has four satellites dedicated to the Arctic (three day/night, one dawn/dusk).

Additionally, the U.S. has the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) to consolidate the polar satellite operations of NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). NPOESS also manages satellites for METSAT, EUMETSAT, and METOP.

South Torbia also has a meteorological satellite for the Arctic called AMSR2. Donovia operates the Volna-TC system to monitor tropical cyclones and communicate data.

Communications Satellites

A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunications signals via a transponder. It creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Earth. Communications satellites are used for television, telephone, radio, internet, and military applications. There are over 2,000 communications satellites in Earth?s orbit, used by both private and government organizations.

Wireless communication uses electromagnetic waves to carry signals. These waves require line-of-sight, and are thus obstructed by the curvature of the Earth. The purpose of communications satellites is to relay the signal around the curve of the Earth allowing communication between widely separated points. Communications satellites use a wide range of radio and microwave frequencies.

Satellite Systems

System	Owner	Remarks
Iridium satellite constellation	U.S. (Private Sector)	Provides voice and data coverage to satellite phones, pagers and integrated transceivers over the entire Earth surface through the use of 66 satellites.
CAScade, Smallsat and IOnospheric Polar Explorer (CASSIOPE)	Canada	Hybrid satellite to carry a dual mission in the fields of telecommunications and scientific research. It flies an elliptical polar orbit and carries a commercial communications system called Cascade as well as a scientific experiment package called e-POP (enhanced Polar Outflow Probe)
Molniya constellation	Donovia	Television satellites in elliptical orbits known as Molniya orbits since the 1960s.
Volna	Donovia	Provides communications between ships and aircraft.
Potok (Geyser) Cosmos 1366, 1540, 1961, 2085, & 2319	Donovia	Potok transmits documents and digital data between ground stations, primarily for the government and military.
Military Strategic and Tactical Relay (Milstar) constellation	Constellation of military communications satellites in geostationary orbit, which are operated by the U.S. Air Force, and provide secure and jam-
Sirius	Two satellites that provide television, radio, data, and communications to Nordic countries and Baltic states.

Effects of Solar Flares and Storms

Solar flares are measured on a scale of intensity ranging from A, B, M, C to X. Similar to the Richter scale for earthquakes, each letter represents a 10-fold increase in energy output. Therefore, X is ten times an M and 100 times a C. Within each letter class there is a finer scale from 1 to 9.

M X

Solar Flare Classification

Solar Category	Remarks
A	Near background level
B	10 times more powerful than A class.
C	Too weak to noticeably affect Earth.
Medium size event. Can cause brief radio blackouts at the poles and minor radiation storms that might endanger astronauts. Minor radiation storms sometimes follow an M-class flare.
Ten times an M and 100 times a C. X class flares can go higher than X-10. Can create long lasting radiation storms that can harm satellites, communications systems, and even ground-based technologies and power grids.

When the solar wind mixes with the ionosphere, it becomes super-

When a solar flare occurs, radiation effects can be felt on Earth in as little as an hour with disruptions to communication technology. Some blackouts have lasted from nine to 25 minutes. Cell phones, radios, communications satellites, power grids and GPS devices can all be affected by solar flare radiation.

1. Power grids. Geomagnetically induced currents (GIC) can damage power infrastructure and induce voltage instabilities.
2. Oil and gas industry. Magnetic surveys and directional drilling activities are impacted by auroral currents which cause positioning and timing errors.
3. Radio communications. Reduction in HF radio
4. Transportation:
   • Rail networks susceptible to GICs
   • Polar airline routes are affected (crew radiation dose and HF radio communications)
5. Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). Signal distortions and extreme case loss of navigation capabilities.

Cyberspace

Both Donovia and Olvana actively employ information warfare to advance their respective Arctic interests. Donovia uses information operations to project power, legitimacy, and sovereignty, which includes militarizing Arctic policy and advancing disinformation globally. Examples range from manipulating news media to reinterpreting political statements by U.S. politicians, to misrepresenting Donovian Arctic military capabilities.

Olvana has employed a subtle approach nested within its "three warfares" strategy (strategic psychological operations, media manipulation [both overt and covert], and legal warfare) by introducing terminology such as ?near-