#Satellite #Internet…Will this become the preferred #data medium of the future

The internet has changed the way we live over the last 25 years.

Mobile networks and their increased data speeds with the advent of 3G and 4G have dramatically altered the reach and the speed at which we can consume data particularly in countries like India where mobile internet is way way ahead of wired internet.

We have also got used to location services provided by players like Google which can locate your location within minutes and provide you with the easiest and fastest route to your required point …and these location services are being provided to you by a group of satellites which are placed and spaced accordingly to meet these requirements

Am sure we have all come across mobile network issues which makes the internet difficult to access just when you need it the most.

So what if we had internet being provided by satellites…That would take care of all your network issues which you often come across just at the most crucial moment !

Before we get into the details about satellite internet lets break down the internet for better understanding

To understand this, it’s helpful to think of the internet as a thing, with a real physical presence. It’s not just data; it’s where that data lives, and how it moves. It’s not just stored in one place; there are servers around the world that hold it, and when you access it, your computer grabs it from the nearest one that happens to have what you’re looking for. Where it is matters. How far away it is matters. Information that you have accessed travels faster in space than in fibre, almost by half. And when you bounce that fibre connection around the face of the planet, it has to take a circuitous route from node to node, with detours around mountains and continents. It winds up taking much longer when the source of the data is far from the consumer…It is this circuitous route that a faster satellite internet will address

But is this concept of satellite internet new?

Certainly not…I still remember as early as 2001, our office in Cochin having an internet connectivity through the VSAT as they are called mainly to the billing servers etc in the office….We used to find them very often above standalone ATM counters even in the city still a few years ago…With better cable internet connectivity coming in most of the VSAT terminals gave away or got shifted as back up connectivity means in case the primary internet connectivity through cable fails.

One of the pioneering companies in this sector was Hughes which started providing two way internet around 2000..To improve service levels they even launched their own satellites in 2007 resulting at speeds of 10gbs.

Another company was Viasat which used something known as spectrum reuse which enabled the satellite to improve on the efficiency of the data transmitted…

So, who are the companies in this race to capitalise on this opportunity?

There are some 11 companies which are in the race the most prominent of them being

1. SpaceX has been working on just that since 2015, developing a broadband satellite constellation called Starlink…Elon Musk’s company outlined its plan to put a network of internet-providing satellites around our planet, starting with the first craft going into space in 2019, before the full network came online in 2024 with an investment of around $10 billion.
2. OneWeb supported by Virgin founder Richard Branson is launching satellites this year, with service expected to start next year, and adding several more constellations in 2021 and 2023, with an ultimate goal of 1,000 terabits by 2025.
3.  O3b, now a subsidiary of SAS, has a constellation of 16 MEO satellites that has been operational for several years.
4.  Telesat already operates GSO satellites but is planning an LEO system for 2021 that features optical links with 30ms-to-50ms latency.
5. Upstart Astranis also has a satellite up in geosynchronous orbit and will be placing more in the next few years;
6. LeoSat, too, plans to launch a first round of satellites in 2019, with completion in 2022. These will sail around the earth at 1,400km high, connect to the other satellites in the mesh via optical communication, and beam information up and down in Ku-band.

So how does this work?

Let’s take the example of Starlink

Starlink’s satellites will be located just 210 to 750 miles above the ground, one of the lowest satellite constellations ever launched. The lower the satellites, the faster communication speeds can be. Starlink hopes to offer internet speeds of 1,000 Mbps, comparable to 5G (about 1,400 Mbps). However, to provide the blazing fast connection speeds Starlink is promising, it needs to have ground transceivers – small terminals mounted on customers’ homes or businesses, analogous to satellite dishes.

For the plan to become feasible Space X will launch 4425 satellites operating in 83 planes which will be located in the 210 to 750 miles range. This is a very ambitious when we consider that only around 1450 odd satellites which are orbiting the earth presently…

The quest for faster satellite internet has largely relied on building bigger, faster satellites that can carry more data through this so-called pipe to carry data. But companies like his are finding new areas to make improvements by changing the whole system.

So let’s imagine the smallest network…Two Routers with a wire connecting them….So while according to LeoSat while everyone is focusing on only the link they are focusing on all the three components.

LeoSat is putting up 78 satellites, each about the size of a large dinner table and weighing about 1,200kg. Built by Iridium, they feature four solar panels and four lasers (one on each corner) to connect to their neighbours…thereby building a faster network…

The key advantages of the proposal are as below:

1. Provides access in an uniform manner across the world irrespective of urban or rural…Europe or Africa or Antarctica
2. Does away with cabling rights and permissions and relaying of cables etc for ever
3. Will be the backbone as and when humans decide to travel and colonise other planets and galaxies.

So why is there such a huge rush with almost 11 companies keenly pushing for rights for implementing the new satellite internet service?

The key factors have been costs…With the dramatic improvements in technology have brought costs on battery…sensor satellite launch and processor drastically and is making it possible for such ventures to be commercially successful.

Will there be any bottlenecks?

1. Latency or the time it takes for the information you want to reach you. This has been the drawback with satellite internet which as per the new companies will no longer be the case
2. Affordable customer devices to access these services since these are targeted at normal customers like you and me
3. Adequate and provisions to increase bandwidth in case the services build up steam
4. Since satellites will pass through all countries so spectrum rights from the targeted countries will be key
5. What do you do with the space debris with so much satellites flying around our planet?

There are broadly three main orbits that satellites use for going around the earth

• LEO satellites

Low earth orbits (LEO) are satellites, which orbit between 400 and 1,000 miles above the earth’s surface. They move at extremely high speeds and are not fixed in space in relation to the earth.

• MEO Satellites

Medium Earth orbit, sometimes called intermediate circular orbit, is the region of space around Earth above low Earth orbit and below geostationary orbit. Typically at least 2000 kms above the earth.

• GEO Satellites

A geosynchronous satellite is a satellite in geosynchronous orbit, with an orbital period the same as the Earth’s rotation period. Such a satellite returns to the same position in the sky after each sidereal day. They are placed at a distance of 35,800kms above the earth…

Each of these orbits offers its own advantages:

For certain types of applications, like streaming video, for example, a GEO system is very cost effective. However, if you want to have applications which require low latency … then LEO is the best.

So, for me the said dream will only work out effectively with a consolation of satellites orbiting in all the three orbits which can communicate between them and seamlessly shift operations between them based on customer requirements.

Let’s watch and see how this evolves…