High-throughput satellite

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High-throughput satellite (HTS) is a communications satellite that provides more throughput than a classic FSS satellite (at least twice, though usually by a factor of 20 or more [1] ) for the same amount of allocated orbital spectrum, thus significantly reducing cost-per-bit. [2] ViaSat-1 and EchoStar XVII (also known as Jupiter-1 [3] ) do provide more than 100 Gbit/s of capacity, which is more than 100 times the capacity offered by a conventional FSS satellite. [4] When it was launched in October 2011 ViaSat-1 had more capacity (140 Gbit/s) than all other commercial communications satellites over North America combined. [5]

Contents

Overview

The significant increase in capacity is achieved by a high level frequency re-use and spot beam technology which enables frequency re-use across multiple narrowly focused [1] spot beams (usually in the order of hundreds of kilometers), [1] as in cellular networks, which both are defining technical features of high-throughput satellites. By contrast traditional satellite technology utilizes a broad single beam (usually in the order of thousands of kilometers) [1] to cover wide regions or even entire continents. [1] In addition to a large amount of bandwidth capacity HTS are defined by the fact that they often, but not solely, target the consumer market. [6] In the last 10 years, the majority of high-throughput satellites operated in the Ka band, however this is not a defining criterion, and at the beginning of 2017 there was at least 10 Ku band HTS satellites projects, of which 3 were already launched and 7 were in construction.

Initially, HTS systems used satellites in the same geosynchronous orbit (at an altitude of 35,786 km) as satellite TV craft (with satellites such as KA-SAT, Yahsat 1A and Astra 2E sharing TV and HTS functionality) but the propagation delay for a round-trip internet protocol transmission via a geosynchronous satellite can exceed 550 ms which is detrimental to many digital connectivity applications, such as automated stock trades, hardcore gaming and Skype video chats. [7] [8] and the focus for HTS is increasingly shifting to the lower Medium Earth orbit (MEO) and Low Earth orbit (LEO), with altitudes as low as 600 km [9] and delays as short as 40ms. [10] Also, the lower path losses of MEO and LEO orbits reduces ground station and satellite power requirements and costs, and so vastly increased throughput and global coverage is achieved by using constellations of many smaller, cheaper high-throughput satellites. [11] [8] SES's O3b constellation was the first MEO high-throughput satellite system, launched in 2013, and by 2018 more than 18,000 new LEO satellites had been proposed to launch by 2025. [12]

Despite the higher costs associated with spot beam technology, the overall cost per circuit is considerably lower as compared to shaped beam technology. [1] While Ku band FSS bandwidth can cost well over $100 million per gigabit per second in space, HTS like ViaSat-1 can supply a gigabit of throughput in space for less than $3 million. [6] While a reduced cost per bit is often cited as a substantial advantage of high-throughput satellites, the lowest cost per bit is not always the main driver behind the design of an HTS system, depending on the industry it will be serving. [13]

HTS are primarily deployed to provide broadband Internet access service (point-to-point) to regions unserved or underserved by terrestrial technologies where they can deliver services comparable to terrestrial services in terms of pricing and bandwidth. While many current HTS platforms were designed to serve the consumer broadband market, some are also offering services to government and enterprise markets, as well as to terrestrial cellular network operators who face growing demand for broadband backhaul to rural cell sites. For cellular backhaul, the reduced cost per bit of many HTS platforms creates a significantly more favorable economic model for wireless operators to use satellite for cellular voice and data backhaul. Some HTS platforms are designed primarily for the enterprise, telecom or maritime sectors. HTS can furthermore support point-to-multipoint applications and even broadcast services such as DTH distribution to relatively small geographic areas served by a single spot beam.

A fundamental difference between HTS satellites is the fact that certain HTS are linked to ground infrastructure through a feeder link using a regional spot beam dictating the location of possible teleports while other HTS satellites allow the use of any spot beam for the location of the teleports. In the latter case, the teleports can be set up in a wider area as their spotbeams' footprints cover entire continents and regions like it is the case for traditional satellites . [14]

Industry analysts at Northern Sky Research believe that high-throughput satellites will supply at least 1.34 TB/s of capacity by 2020 [14] and thus will be a driving power for the global satellite backhaul market which is expected to triple in value – jumping from the 2012 annual revenue of about US$800 million to $2.3 billion by 2021. [15]

KA-SAT coverage over Europe showing frequency reuse by different colors KA-SAT spot beams coverage.jpg
KA-SAT coverage over Europe showing frequency reuse by different colors

List of high-throughput satellites


See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Satellite constellation</span> Group of artificial satellites working together as a system

A satellite constellation is a group of artificial satellites working together as a system. Unlike a single satellite, a constellation can provide permanent global or near-global coverage, such that at any time everywhere on Earth at least one satellite is visible. Satellites are typically placed in sets of complementary orbital planes and connect to globally distributed ground stations. They may also use inter-satellite communication.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Satellite Internet access</span> Satellite-provided Internet

Satellite Internet access is Internet access provided through communication satellites; if it can sustain high speeds, it is termed satellite broadband. Modern consumer grade satellite Internet service is typically provided to individual users through geostationary satellites that can offer relatively high data speeds, with newer satellites using the Ku band to achieve downstream data speeds up to 506 Mbit/s. In addition, new satellite internet constellations are being developed in low-earth orbit to enable low-latency internet access from space.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SES (company)</span> Communications satellite owner and operator

SES S.A., trading as SES is a Luxembourgish satellite telecommunications network provider supplying video and data connectivity worldwide to broadcasters, content and internet service providers, mobile and fixed network operators, governments and institutions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viasat (American company)</span> American communications company

Viasat, Inc. is an American communications company based in Carlsbad, California, with additional operations across the United States and worldwide. Viasat is a provider of high-speed satellite broadband services and secure networking systems covering military and commercial markets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inmarsat</span> British satellite communications company

Inmarsat is a British satellite telecommunications company, offering global mobile services. It provides telephone and data services to users worldwide, via portable or mobile terminals which communicate with ground stations through fifteen geostationary telecommunications satellites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medium Earth orbit</span> Earth-centered orbit above low Earth orbit and below geostationary orbit

A medium Earth orbit (MEO) is an Earth-centered orbit with an altitude above a low Earth orbit (LEO) and below a high Earth orbit (HEO) – between 2,000 and 35,786 km above sea level.

Hughes Network Systems, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar. It is headquartered in Germantown, Maryland and provides satellite internet service. HughesNet has over a million subscribers in the Americas in late 2023, down from 1.4 million in early 2022.

O3b Networks Ltd. was a network communications service provider building and operating a medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellite constellation primarily intended to provide voice and data communications to mobile operators and Internet service providers. O3b Networks became a wholly owned subsidiary of SES in 2016 and the operator name was subsequently dropped in favour of SES Networks, a division of SES. The satellites themselves, now part of the SES fleet, continue to use the O3b name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">O3b</span> Satellite constellation designed for telecommunications and data backhaul from remote locations

O3b is a satellite constellation in Medium Earth orbit (MEO) owned and operated by SES, and designed to provide low-latency broadband connectivity to remote locations for mobile network operators and internet service providers, maritime, aviation, and government and defence. It is often referred to as O3b MEO to distinguish these satellites from SES's forthcoming O3b mPOWER constellation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tooway</span> Satellite broadband Internet provider

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">KA-SAT</span> Communications satellite

KA-SAT is a high-throughput geostationary telecommunications satellite owned by Viasat. The satellite provides bidirectional broadband Internet access services across Europe and a small area of the Middle East, and additionally the Saorsat TV service to Ireland. It is positioned at 9°E, joining the Eurobird 9A Ku band satellite. KA-SAT was manufactured by EADS Astrium, based on the Eurostar E3000 platform, with a total weight of 6 tons. It was launched by Proton in December 2010. The satellite is named after the Ka band frequency, which is used on the spacecraft.

ViaSat-1 is a high throughput communications satellite owned by Viasat Inc. and Telesat Canada. Launched October 19, 2011 aboard a Proton rocket, it held the Guinness record for the world's highest capacity communications satellite with a total capacity in excess of 140 Gbit/s, more than all the satellites covering North America combined, at the time of its launch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eutelsat OneWeb</span> Global communications company

Eutelsat OneWeb is a subsidiary of Eutelsat Group providing broadband satellite Internet services in low Earth orbit (LEO). The company is headquartered in London, and has offices in Virginia, US and a satellite manufacturing facility in Florida – Airbus OneWeb Satellites – that is a joint venture with Airbus Defence and Space.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ViaSat-2</span> Communications satellite

ViaSat-2 is a commercial communications satellite launched June 1, 2017 and went live late February 2018. It was advertised to be the world's highest capacity communications satellite with a throughput of 300 Gbit/s, exceeding that of HughesNet EchoStar XIX, which launched in December 2016. It is the second Ka-band satellite launched by ViaSat after ViaSat-1. The satellite provides internet service through ViaSat to North America, parts of South America, including Mexico and the Caribbean, and to air and maritime routes across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe.

Horizons-3e, also known as IS-H3e, is a high throughput geostationary communications satellite ordered by Horizons Satellite, a joint venture of Intelsat and SKY Perfect JSAT Group. The spacecraft is designed and manufactured by Boeing on the Boeing-702MP platform.

SES-17, is a high throughput all electric geostationary communications satellite owned and operated by SES, and designed and manufactured by Thales Alenia Space. Launched on 24 October 2021 from Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG), in Kourou, French Guiana by an Ariane 5ECA launch vehicle, SES-17 was positioned at 67.1° west in May 2022 and, after testing, became fully operational in June 2022.

A satellite internet constellation is a constellation of artificial satellites providing satellite internet service. In particular, the term has come to refer to a new generation of very large constellations orbiting in low Earth orbit (LEO) to provide low-latency, high bandwidth (broadband) internet service. As of 2020, 63 percent of rural households worldwide lack internet access due to the infrastructure requirements of underground cables and network towers. Satellite internet constellations offer a low-cost solution for expanding coverage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eutelsat Konnect</span> Eutelsat telecommunications satellite

Eutelsat Konnect is a geostationary communications satellite operated by Eutelsat. The satellite was designed and manufactured by Thales Alenia Space on the Spacebus NEO 100 platform, and was launched on 16 January 2020 on an Ariane 5 ECA. The satellite provides broadband internet and communications coverage to Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa.

O3b mPOWER is a communications satellite system owned and operated by SES. The system uses high-throughput and low-latency satellites in a medium Earth orbit (MEO), along with ground infrastructure and intelligent software, to provide multiple terabits of global broadband connectivity for applications including cellular backhaul and international IP trunking, cruise line connectivity, disaster recovery, and military communications. The first O3b mPOWER satellites were launched in December 2022 and the system became operational in April 2024 with 6 satellites. The system's capacity will be increased by a further 7 satellites launched by 2026.

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