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Training and certification
VSATS
Bringing VSAT training to a global audience It’s been 25 years since satellite industry-focused organisation the GVF was established. The GVF’s Martin Jarrold tells Ron Murphy how VSATS have changed in that time, and how training in operation, installation, and maintenance has adapted to the evolution of VSATs.
Photo: Adobe Stock
Interactive, 3-D, animated tutorials enable a better grasp of technical concepts and permit students to practice hands-on skills such as dish pointing, polarisation alignment, and uplink signal line-up.
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The number of VSAT technicians who have undertaken GVF Training and Certification who are located across the African continent runs into the many thousands www.communicationsafrica.com
HE GVF IS the only global non-profit association for the satellite industry with members from the entire ecosystem. However, it began life as the Global VSAT Forum and still has a significant role in the development and delivery of technologies and services related to satellite terminals or VSATs. This includes training. The growth of the GVF’s training and certification portfolio has been an organic developmental process over the last 21 years, with expansion of the course portfolio being driven by various factors, including by member company and other customer/student/user demand, and by how changes in the operation, installation, and maintenance of VSATs have evolved over time. What, then, has changed since the GVF started 25 years ago? Well, remote terminal configuration is
increasingly more automatic, which simplifies installation. And, said Martin Jarrold, vice president international programme development, GVF, courses too have changed since 2001, when, at the request of its membership, GVF launched a training programme with the objective of building a global force of qualified VSAT installation technicians available in local areas to support the expansion of VSAT networks. “At its inception,” he explained, “GVF Training and Certification was founded on classroom-based instruction, but this had its limitations in terms of reaching a truly global audience of potential trainee technicians.” Jarrold continued, “An online resource was required and developed, building a portfolio over time. The advanced webbased e-learning materials feature interactive animations based on
numerical simulation algorithms. Students equipped only with internet terminals now have access to realistic simulations of the behaviour of real-world equipment.” Interactive, 3-D, animated tutorials enable a better grasp of technical concepts and permit students to practice hands-on skills such as dish pointing, polarisation alignment, and uplink signal line-up. Interactive exercises run in the browser (previously Flash, now HTML5) using highly advanced simulations developed by satcom engineers to accurately emulate the behaviour of equipment and antennas. Student performance in the simulators is automatically scored and is a mandatory element of certification. However, said Jarrold, “While GVF training and certification remains founded on online interactivity, there are
Communications Africa Issue 2 2022
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