The ICTS was formed in 1999 and is chartered under the sponsorship of the International Foundation for Telemetering (IFT). The IFT (www.telemetry.org ) is a non-profit organization dedicated to serving the professional and technical interests of the telemetering community.Over the past few years, several factors within and external to the telemetering community have resulted in a change in the way the electromagnetic spectrum is viewed. These factors include:

• Commercial Radio Frequency (RF) spectrum utilization is increasing rapidly and this trend is expected to continue
• Real-time data and video telemetry is critical to the economic viability of the commercial aeronautical industry,
• Frequency bands used for telemetry have been reallocated for other use and continue to be at risk of reallocation
• Telemetry data rates are increasing, thereby increasing the RF bandwidth needed for each mission
• We are caught between a rock (telemetry demand is increasing) and a hard spot (less spectrum is available for telemetry.

The purpose of the ICTS is to establish an international information exchange of telemetry practitioners to promote the benefits and enhancement of electromagnetic spectrum for telemetering applications.

In this endeavor, the main objectives of the ICTS are to:

• Create a forum for information exchange on potential telemetry spectrum issues;
• Better inform national, regional, and international spectrum managers of the importance of telemetry to their economy and security;
• Inform and invite open participation in the group to all telemetry practitioners, including government, industry, academia, etc.;
• Share information on the use, research, and development of new technologies for improving the use of telemetry spectrum.
• Prepare members for World Radio-Communications Council agenda items affecting the telemetry community.