DOCSLIB.ORG

On the Path to 6G: Embracing the Next Wave of Low Earth Orbit Satellite Access

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
On the Path to 6G: Embracing the Next Wave of Low Earth Orbit Satellite Access © 2021 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works. On the Path to 6G: Embracing the Next Wave of Low Earth Orbit Satellite Access Xingqin Lin†, Stefan Cioni‡, Gilles Charbit§, Nicolas Chuberre⊥, Sven Hellsten†, and Jean-Francois Boutillon⊥ †Ericsson, ‡European Space Agency, §MediaTek, ⊥Thales Alenia Space Contact: [email protected] Abstract— Offering space-based Internet services with mega- constellations of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites is a promising solution to connecting the unconnected. It can complement the coverage of terrestrial networks to help bridge the digital divide. However, there are challenges from operational obstacles to technical hurdles facing the development of LEO satellite access. This article provides an overview of state of the art in LEO satellite access, including the evolution of LEO satellite constellations and capabilities, critical technical challenges and solutions, standardization aspects from 5G evolution to 6G, and business considerations. We also identify several areas for future exploration to realize a tight integration of LEO satellite access with terrestrial networks in 6G. I. THE NEW SPACE RENAISSANCE Figure 1: Global coverage of a LEO constellation with hundreds of satellites at 600 km altitude. (The colors indicate the number of satellites in view for As the commercial fifth generation (5G) systems are being each point on Earth. Dark blue denotes only one satellite in view. The rolled out throughout the world, research focus starts to be lighter the color, the higher the number of satellites in view). gradually shifted towards the sixth generation (6G) systems that Several factors have been contributing to the renewed are anticipated to achieve another giant leap in communications interest in LEO satellite access. A key enabler is a significant [1]. We expect that the communication with mega- decrease in launch cost with the advent of disruptive launchers constellations of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites will be one of reusing rocket parts, as provided, for example, by SpaceX. the connectivity’s new frontiers on the path to 6G, Meanwhile, the use of components off the shelves (COTS) and complementing terrestrial networks to provide limitless the adoptions of lean principles in satellite design and connectivity everywhere, thus helping to bridge the digital manufacturing allow for mass production with a faster divide [2]. manufacturing cycle at reduced costs. It has also become An LEO is an Earth-centered orbit with an altitude between commercially feasible to use advanced technologies in satellite 350 km and 2,000 km above sea level. Compared to medium communications such as multi-spot beam technologies and Earth orbit (MEO) or geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO) sophisticated onboard digital processing. Another key driver is counterparts, LEO’s proximity to Earth results in lower latency a greater willingness to invest in LEO satellite access to help in LEO satellite access, less energy for launching, and less connect the unconnected, motivated by commercial potential, power for signal transmission from and to the satellites. economic development, and humanitarian considerations of However, LEO satellites at 600 km altitude travel at a speed of bridging the digital divide. around 7.8 km/s. The fast movement of LEO satellites and the The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has been relatively limited coverage area of an individual LEO satellite working on adapting 5G systems to support satellite require a large constellation of satellites to provide service communications [7][8]. Evolving 5G to support LEO satellite continuity across the targeted coverage area [3]. Figure 1 access is built on the inherent flexibility of the 5G systems. The illustrates the global coverage offered by an LEO constellation first design objective is to connect 5G handset devices by with hundreds of satellites at 600 km altitude. 3GPP-based satellite access networks in the sub-6 GHz Over the last several years, the world has witnessed a spectrum, so that 5G connectivity can be provided to the areas resurgent interest in space-based Internet services, particularly where terrestrial 5G networks are not available. The second with mega-constellations of LEO satellites such as SpaceX design objective is to provide broadband connectivity to more Starlink, Amazon Kuiper, and OneWeb [4]. These initiatives advanced devices, such as very small aperture terminal (VSAT) are ambitious, involving thousands and tens of thousands of or Earth station in motion (ESIM), especially in higher satellites and driven by non-traditional, cash-rich, and high-tech frequencies (e.g., Ku/Ka bands). Besides direct satellite access, players. The interest in LEO satellite access has run its course 3GPP has also been working on 5G satellite backhaul, which before. A series of proposals on providing connectivity from can facilitate the offering of cellular services in the areas where space surged in the 1990s, but most of them failed, and a few terrestrial backhaul means are not possible or prohibitively (e.g., Iridium [5] and Globalstar [6]) have had varying degrees expensive to build. of success. © 2021 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works. equipped with four ISLs supporting communication with adjacent satellites at a data rate of 10 Mbps and high-speed processors for routing voice and data connections. For many reasons (both technically and commercially driven), the LEO systems launched in the 1990s were not as successful as expected because they only provided voice and data connectivity to a limited number of user equipments (UEs). But a wind of change is blowing thanks to the wide range of 5G use cases and new market opportunities. There has been a resurgence of interest in using mega-constellations of LEO satellites to provide connectivity from space [9]. Some new constellations such as OneWeb, Starlink, AST SpaceMobile, Figure 2: Ubiquitous 6G coverage provided by tightly integrating Amazon Kuiper, and TeleSat have planned to launch hundreds terrestrial networks with LEO satellite access. or thousands of space vehicles to provide global connectivity, 5G was initially designed targeting terrestrial complementing existing terrestrial network infrastructures. communications without considering LEO satellite access. We Some of the key information on these prominent LEO expect that there will be only moderate specification constellations is summarized in Table 1. We refer the interested enhancements to enable 5G to support LEO satellite access, readers to [10] for a more in-depth discussion on constellation leading to suboptimal performance. In addition, most of the design. advanced 5G features will likely be out of reach for LEO The design of these new mega-constellations is driven by the satellite access in the 5G era. The integration of 5G terrestrial target use case and market segment. In line with the available networks with LEO satellite access will be loose. In contrast, spectrum allocated to mobile satellite services below 6 GHz, an we anticipate that the integration will become much tighter in LEO satellite system will mainly focus on the Internet of Things 6G, providing seamless mobility between terrestrial and LEO (IoT) devices and services with low-medium data rates directly satellite access networks. As illustrated in Figure 2, the tight to handheld terminals. As far as satellite spectrum in higher integration of terrestrial networks with LEO satellite access will frequencies is concerned (e.g., Ku/Ka bands), the new LEO be essential to achieve global coverage in the 6G era. Figure 2 satellite constellations will target broadband connectivity to also illustrates the overall LEO satellite access network more advanced devices, such as VSAT or ESIM. architecture, which consists of feeder link connecting gateway and satellite, service link connecting satellite and terminal, and B. LEO satellite capabilities inter-satellite link (ISL) connecting one satellite to another. LEO satellite payload should be sized according to the The excitement about space-based Internet services is often average target traffic, but the available platform power is often clouded by myths and confusion. There are challenges, from a constraint. This calls for efficient power recharging technology to business model, facing the development of LEO capabilities when the traffic is low (e.g., switching off most satellite access with mega-constellations. The objective of this operational functions over poles and oceans to maximize the article is to provide an overview of state of the art in critical recharging phase with solar panels). The adoption of ISLs can aspects of LEO satellite access to shed light on the research and reduce the overall number of gateways on the ground, minimize development in this area on the path to 6G. In this article, we the infrastructure and operational
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The State of Broadband 2019 Broadband As a Foundation for Sustainable Development
    International The State of Broadband: Telecommunication Union Broadband as a Foundation Place des Nations CH-1211 Geneva 20 Switzerland for Sustainable Development September 2019 ISBN 978-92-61-28971-3 9 7 8 9 2 6 1 2 8 9 7 1 3 Published in Switzerland broadbandcommission.org Geneva, 2019 THE STATE OF BROADBAND 2019 Broadband as a Foundation for Sustainable Development ITU/UNESCO Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development © International Telecommunication Union and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 2019 Some rights reserved. This work is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- ShareAlike 3.0 IGO licence (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO; https:// creativecommons .org/ licenses/by -nc -sa/ 3 .0/ igo).). Under the terms of this licence, you may copy, redistribute and adapt the work for non-commercial purposes, provided the work is appropriately cited, as indicated below. In any use of this work, there should be no suggestion that ITU or UNESCO endorses any specific organization, products or services. The unauthorized use of the ITU or UNESCO names or logos is not permitted. If you adapt the work, then you must license your work under the same or equivalent Creative Commons licence. If you create a translation of this work, you should add the following disclaimer along with the suggested citation: “This translation was not created by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) or the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Neither ITU nor UNESCO are responsible for the content or accuracy of this translation. The original English edition shall be the binding and authentic edition”.
    [Show full text]
  • IAC-18-B2.1.7 Page 1 of 16 a Technical Comparison of Three
    A Technical Comparison of Three Low Earth Orbit Satellite Constellation Systems to Provide Global Broadband Inigo del Portilloa,*, Bruce G. Cameronb, Edward F. Crawleyc a Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge 02139, USA, [email protected] b Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge 02139, USA, [email protected] c Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge 02139, USA, [email protected] * Corresponding Author Abstract The idea of providing Internet access from space has made a strong comeback in recent years. After a relatively quiet period following the setbacks suffered by the projects proposed in the 90’s, a new wave of proposals for large constellations of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites to provide global broadband access emerged between 2014 and 2016. Compared to their predecessors, the main differences of these systems are: increased performance that results from the use of digital communication payloads, advanced modulation schemes, multi-beam antennas, and more sophisticated frequency reuse schemes, as well as the cost reductions from advanced manufacturing processes (such as assembly line, highly automated, and continuous testing) and reduced launch costs. This paper compares three such large LEO satellite constellations, namely SpaceX’s 4,425 satellites Ku-Ka-band system, OneWeb’s 720 satellites Ku-Ka-band system, and Telesat’s 117 satellites Ka-band system. First, we present the system architecture of each of the constellations (as described in their respective FCC filings as of September 2018), highlighting the similarities and differences amongst the three systems.
    [Show full text]
  • NGSO Large Constellations SES
    ITU Satellite Symposium 2019 - Bariloche NGSO Constellations - O3b, mPower PRESENTED BY PRESENTED ON Suzanne Malloy 24 septiembre 2019 SES Proprietary and Confidential | With the world’s largest multi-orbit, multi-band satellite fleet, we are building a next-generation network for our customers’ growth Unique Driver of 50+ GEO-MEO INNOVATION satellites covering constellation complemented in building a cloud-scale, by a ground segment, automated, “virtual fibre” network of together forming a flexible the future. Leading in the industry’s 99% network architecture that is most influential standards groups of the globe and world globally scalable population SES Proprietary and Confidential | Suzanne Malloy, ITU Satellite Symposium 2019 2 SES Constellations GEO wide beam Over 50 satellite constellation Reaching >350 million TV households worldwide GEO HTS Expanding HTS fleet: SES-12, SES-14, SES-15, future SES-17 Improving value proposition for data applications MEO HTS Operational since 2015, now 20 satellites High throughput, low latency 7 next-generation satellites in 2021 SES Proprietary and Confidential | Suzanne Malloy, ITU Satellite Symposium 2019 Across industries, business customers are embracing digital technologies, the cloud, IoT and big data IT spending priorities E-learning revenues in LATAM shifting to digital business, have doubled IoT, big data¹ over last 5 years² Enterprise Education Mobile banking, omni-channel 82% of mining execs will experience driving bandwidth increase digitalization growth spending over next 3
    [Show full text]
  • Governance Report
    Governance report In this section 82 Our Board of directors 86 Our Executive Committee 88 Chair’s introduction 90 Our leadership 97 Board evaluation 100 Audit and Risk Committee report 110 Nominations Committee report 115 Our compliance with the UK Corporate Governance Code 119 Directors’ report 123 Directors’ responsibilities statement 124 Directors’ remuneration report Airtel Africa plc Annual Report and Accounts 2021 81 © 2021 Friend Studio Ltd File name: BoardXandXExecXCommittee_v48 Modification Date: 26 May 2021 8:22 am Governance report Our Board of directors Sunil Bharti Mittal Raghunath Mandava Chair Chief executive officer N M Date appointed to Board: October 2018 Date appointed to Board: July 2018 Independent: no Independent: no Age: 63 Age: 54 Nationality: Indian Nationality: Indian Skills, expertise and contribution Skills, expertise and contribution Sunil is the founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises, one of India’s leading Raghu has held a variety of sales, marketing, customer experience and general conglomerates with diversified interests in telecoms, insurance, real estate, management roles in the FMCG and telecoms industries. Raghu joined Airtel Africa agriculture and food, renewable energy and other ventures. Bharti Airtel, the flagship Group as chief operating officer in 2016 and took over as CEO in January 2017. company of Bharti Enterprises, is a global telecommunications company operating in To his role as CEO, he brings a deep understanding of telecoms and a strong belief 18 countries across South Asia and Africa. It’s one of the top three mobile operators that connectivity can accelerate growth by helping to bridge the digital divide and globally, with a network covering over two billion people.
    [Show full text]
  • Airbus, Delta, Oneweb, Sprint, Airtel Announce the Formation Of
    Airbus, Delta, OneWeb, Sprint, Airtel Announce the Formation of Seamless Air Alliance Enabling Airlines to Empower Passengers with Seamless In-Cabin Connectivity Experience The Alliance welcomes interested parties to join as members to be at the forefront of driving global change to enhance passenger experience Barcelona, 26th February 2018 – Airbus, Delta, OneWeb, Sprint, and Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”) announce the formation of the Seamless Air Alliance – which will usher in a new era of innovation for airlines on all routes. By empowering member mobile operators to extend their services into airline cabins, the Seamless Air Alliance will allow them to continuously provide their customers - via satellite technology - with the same high speed, low latency connectivity from ground, to air and back again. It will also significantly reduce costs for everyone involved while creating a smooth, positive user-experience. The alliance – which aims to attract additional industry operators beyond the five initial members – will eliminate the immense costs and hurdles commonly associated with acquisition, installation, and operation of data access infrastructure by streamlining system integration and certification, providing open specifications for interoperability, increasing accessibility for passengers, and enabling simple and integrated billing. “What if the best internet you ever experienced was in the air? Keeping this goal in mind, together, we will enable an affordable and frictionless experience for passengers everywhere,” said Greg Wyler, Founder and Executive Chairman of OneWeb. “With the launch of our first production satellites set for later this year, we’re one step closer to bridging the global Digital Divide on land and in the air.” “Easy-to-use, high-speed connectivity is part of the next revolution in aerospace,” said Marc Fontaine, Airbus Digital Transformation Officer.
    [Show full text]
  • Revue De Presse Sectorielle Numerique Une Publication Du Service Économique Regional De New Delhi
    REVUE DE PRESSE SECTORIELLE NUMERIQUE UNE PUBLICATION DU SERVICE ÉCONOMIQUE REGIONAL DE NEW DELHI N° 9 1 au 15 Juillet 2021 G En bref NUMÉRIQUE : - La nouvelle stratégie indienne en matière de cybersécurité sera publiée cette année - Les nouvelles règles IT vont créer un écosystème responsable pour les médias sociaux le nouveau ministre de naw - WhatsApp n'appliquera pas sa nouvelle politique en matière de données personnelles tant que l'Inde n'aura pas adopté sa loi sur la protection des données. - Le gouvernement indien représente 25% des demandes mondiales d'information de gouvernements auprès de Twitter. - La RBI interdit Mastercard de nouvelles cartes en Inde au motif du non respect de l TÉLÉCOMMUNICATIONS: - La société néerlandaise de semi-conducteurs NXP fournira des puces à Jio pour son réseau 5G. - SpaceX prêt à s'associer à des entreprises indiennes pour fabriquer localement des équipements de communication satellitaire. - Brookfield asset management et Digital Realty forment une coentreprise pour construire des data centers en Inde. REVUE DE PRESSE SECTORIELLE NUMERIQUE The companies allowed must be a 'trusted Revue de presse source', he said adding, "We were able to create and launch the trusted telecom portal during the 1. NUMÉRIQUE pandemic and within six months." Govt to unveil national cyber security New IT rules will empower users, says strategy soon: National Cyber Security Ashwini Vaishnaw Coordinator ET Bureau, 11/07/2021 PTI, 3/07/2021 Ashwini Vaishnaw, the newly appointed Union The government will release a new cybersecurity Minister of Electronics and IT, Communication strategy this year, National Cyber Security and Railways, said on Sunday that the new Coordinator Rajesh Pant said at an event Information Technology Rules will empower organised by Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI).
    [Show full text]
  • Syrlinks Keeps Pace with Airbus Oneweb Satellites
    NewSpace Syrlinks keeps pace with Airbus OneWeb Satellites Press Release In Cesson-Sévigné, France, May 4th, 2021. OneWeb continues the deployment of its large-constellation with 36 additional satellites launched April 25th,2021, from Vostochny Cosmodrome spaceport in Russia. (flight ST31 from Arianespace). OneWeb overall project aims at offering in 2022 high-speed, low- latency connectivity services thanks to a 648 LEO (Low Earth Orbit) satellite constellation. In this project, Syrlinks is supplying two key products for the manufacturing factory, Airbus OneWeb Satellites: © ArianeSpace • TT&C transceivers to control the satellites from ground stations • Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) at the input of the onboard GPS receiver. Thanks to these major elements, communication link (ie more precisely Telecommand & Control), between each Spacecraft and the ground, is permitted. Syrlinks is also supplying crystal oscillator for other subsystems within the spacecraft. TT&C LNA GPS OCXO “At Syrlinks, we are following with pride the successive launches of OneWeb to build this amazing large-constellation”, says Gwénaël GUILLOIS, General Manager at Syrlinks. “It’s a great recognition of our team’s capability to produce and deliver our space RF products in large quantities and despite the Covid-19 situation.” Adds Gwénaël. About Syrlinks Syrlinks, is a French company, founded in 2011 near Rennes. The company designs and deliver worldwide RF communication products to address four market segments: Space, Defense, Safety and Time-frequency. Its products are now deployed on hundreds of satellites and have also been used in many high-profile space missions such as Rosetta and its small Philae Robot to explore Comet Chury at the edge of our solar system.
    [Show full text]
  • Beidou Short-Message Satellite Resource Allocation Algorithm Based on Deep Reinforcement Learning
    entropy Article BeiDou Short-Message Satellite Resource Allocation Algorithm Based on Deep Reinforcement Learning Kaiwen Xia 1, Jing Feng 1,*, Chao Yan 1,2 and Chaofan Duan 1 1 Institute of Meteorology and Oceanography, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410005, China; [email protected] (K.X.); [email protected] (C.Y.); [email protected] (C.D.) 2 Basic Department, Nanjing Tech University Pujiang Institute, Nanjing 211112, China * Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract: The comprehensively completed BDS-3 short-message communication system, known as the short-message satellite communication system (SMSCS), will be widely used in traditional blind communication areas in the future. However, short-message processing resources for short-message satellites are relatively scarce. To improve the resource utilization of satellite systems and ensure the service quality of the short-message terminal is adequate, it is necessary to allocate and schedule short-message satellite processing resources in a multi-satellite coverage area. In order to solve the above problems, a short-message satellite resource allocation algorithm based on deep reinforcement learning (DRL-SRA) is proposed. First of all, using the characteristics of the SMSCS, a multi-objective joint optimization satellite resource allocation model is established to reduce short-message terminal path transmission loss, and achieve satellite load balancing and an adequate quality of service. Then, the number of input data dimensions is reduced using the region division strategy and a feature extraction network. The continuous spatial state is parameterized with a deep reinforcement learning algorithm based on the deep deterministic policy gradient (DDPG) framework. The simulation Citation: Xia, K.; Feng, J.; Yan, C.; results show that the proposed algorithm can reduce the transmission loss of the short-message Duan, C.
    [Show full text]
  • The Commercial Satellite Industry: What’S up and What’S on the Horizon
    S. HRG. 115–569 THE COMMERCIAL SATELLITE INDUSTRY: WHAT’S UP AND WHAT’S ON THE HORIZON HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION OCTOBER 25, 2017 Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation ( Available online: http://www.govinfo.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 35–753 PDF WASHINGTON : 2019 VerDate Nov 24 2008 13:09 Mar 27, 2019 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 S:\GPO\DOCS\35753.TXT JACKIE SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION JOHN THUNE, South Dakota, Chairman ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi BILL NELSON, Florida, Ranking ROY BLUNT, Missouri MARIA CANTWELL, Washington TED CRUZ, Texas AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota DEB FISCHER, Nebraska RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut JERRY MORAN, Kansas BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii DAN SULLIVAN, Alaska EDWARD MARKEY, Massachusetts DEAN HELLER, Nevada CORY BOOKER, New Jersey JAMES INHOFE, Oklahoma TOM UDALL, New Mexico MIKE LEE, Utah GARY PETERS, Michigan RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois CORY GARDNER, Colorado MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire TODD YOUNG, Indiana CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO, Nevada NICK ROSSI, Staff Director ADRIAN ARNAKIS, Deputy Staff Director JASON VAN BEEK, General Counsel KIM LIPSKY, Democratic Staff Director CHRIS DAY, Democratic Deputy Staff Director RENAE BLACK, Senior Counsel (II) VerDate Nov 24 2008 13:09 Mar 27, 2019 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\DOCS\35753.TXT JACKIE C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on October 25, 2017 .........................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • ORBCOMM - System Status, Evolution and Applications 1
    ORBCOMM - System Status, Evolution and Applications 1 ORBCOMM - SYSTEM STATUS, EVOLUTION AND APPLICATIONS M. Kassebom OHB-System AG B. Penné Universitätsallee 27-29, 28359 Bremen, Germany C. Tobehn mailto: [email protected] I. Kalnins http://www.fuchs-gruppe.com E. Pütz ORBCOMM Deutschland AG Universitätsallee 27-29, 28359 Bremen, Germany J.J. Stolte ORBCOMM LLC R.L. Burdett Atlantic Boulevard, Dulles VA, USA Workshop “Satellitenkommunikation in Deutschland” DLR / Köln-Porz 27. - 28. März 2003 ORBCOMM - System Status, Evolution and Applications 2 Table of Content n Technical Overview n Applications & Services with detailed Examples n Products & Prizes n Outlook on System Evolution n Conclusions ORBCOMM - System Status, Evolution and Applications 3 System Features n Service: - Global two-way data and messaging - Monitoring, tracking and messaging applications n Unique Features: - Low-cost equipment and service - Personally portable subscriber units - Worldwide coverage n Customer Focus: - High-value, end-to-end solutions n Business Drivers: - Be first - With high-value applications - At the lowest cost ORBCOMM - System Status, Evolution and Applications 4 Technical Overview ORBCOMM - System Status, Evolution and Applications 5 ORBCOMM Space Segment GPS Antenna Solar Panels n 30 operational Deployed (2) satellites in orbit Nitrogen Tank n Weight: Approximately 43 kg Thruster (3) Solar n BOL Power: Cells 220 Watts Batteries VHF / UHF Antenna Deployed (3.28 m) n Size: Magnetometer - 0.17m height x 1.04m diam. (Launch Configuration) - 2.24m
    [Show full text]
  • Since Our Last SIA Member News Summary, Press Releases and Posts
    SIA PRESIDENT’S REPORT – MEMBER NEWS FOR AUG 2020 Since our last SIA Member News Summary, press releases and posts from many SIA Members including Amazon, Boeing, Hughes, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Iridium, Kymeta, Planet, SES, SpaceX, Spire and Viasat have released news. Please see the summary of stories and postings below and click on the COMPANY LINK for more details. SPACEX On Aug 2nd, SpaceX announced that 63 days after being launched from Cape Canaveral, FL, Crew Dragon undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) before successfully splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Pensacola, FL. The flight marked the return of human spaceflight to the U.S. and the first-time in history a commercial company successfully took astronauts to orbit and back. The Demo-2 mission was also the final major test milestone for SpaceX’s human spaceflight system to be certified by NASA for operational crew missions to and from the ISS. (photo credit: SpaceX) SPIRE On Aug 27th, Spire posted the following. “The summer of 2020 has had its fair share of out of the ordinary weather events. From thunderstorms and lightning to cyclones, most parts of the world are experiencing extreme weather conditions. Storm forecasts are one way to mitigate the impact a storm has on an area both in the form of human safety and economics. Storms cause damage to an area’s vital infrastructure, they disrupt supply chains, cost billions of dollars each year in structural damages, and most importantly, lives are lost. Forecasting a storm allows for measures to be put in place to lessen the impact of these extreme storms and save lives.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 2 SATELLITE CONSTELLATION NETWORKS the Path from Orbital Geometry Through Network Topology to Autonomous Systems
    Chapter 2 SATELLITE CONSTELLATION NETWORKS The path from orbital geometry through network topology to autonomous systems Lloyd Wood Collaborative researcher, networks group, Centre for Communication Systems Research, University of Surrey; software engineer, Cisco Systems Ltd. Abstract: Satellite constellations are introduced. The effects of their orbital geometry on network topology and the resulting effects of path delay and handover on network traffic are described. The design of the resulting satellite network as an autonomous system is then discussed. Key words: satellite constellation, network, autonomous system (AS), intersatellite link (ISL), path delay and latency, orbit geometry, Walker, Ballard, star, rosette, Iridium, Teledesic, Globalstar, ICO, Spaceway, NGSO non-geostationary orbit, LEO low earth orbit, MEO medium earth orbit. 1. INTRODUCTION A single satellite can only cover a part of the world with its communication services; a satellite in geostationary orbit above the Equator cannot see more than 30% of the Earth's surface [Clarke, 1945]. For more complete coverage you need a number of satellites – a satellite constellation. We can describe a satellite constellation as a number of similar satellites, of a similar type and function, designed to be in similar, complementary, orbits for a shared purpose, under shared control. Satellite constellations have been proposed and implemented for use in communications, including networking. Constellations have also been used for geodesy and navigation (the Global Positioning System [Kruesi, 1996] and Glonass [Börjesson, et al., 1999]), for remote sensing, and for other scientific applications. The 1990s were perhaps the public heyday of satellite constellations. In that decade several commercial satellite constellation networks were 13 14 INTERNETWORKING AND COMPUTING OVER SATELLITE NETWORKS constructed and came into operation, while a large number of other schemes were proposed commercially to use available frequency bands, then loudly hyped and later quietly scaled back or dropped.
    [Show full text]