InBroadcast
While
broadcast reach and quality has always been the technology’s strongest suit
advances are being made aimed at delivering greater cost-effectiveness.
If content is king then perhaps distribution is King Kong. Anyone
signing satellite’s slow death warrant would be advised to think again.
As the world evolves toward bandwidth sucking UHD satellite
will continue to a mainstay of point to multipoint broadcast for a good decade
hence.
“UHD is growing so fast that it is outpacing HD development,
if you compare their respective roll-out globally,” claims Thomas Wrede, VP,
New Technology & Standards Media Platforms at satellite fleet operator SES.
“UHD started with 13 channels on its first year of commercialization and grew
to 92 two years later (year-end 2017), while HD went from 13 channels to 32 in
the same timeframe.”
Statistics provided by satellite market experts Northern Sky
Research (NSR) reveal that just 0.17% of channels distributed using satellite
are UHD today (this includes DTH platforms and video distribution to cable TV
and IPTV headends).
NSR estimates 930 UHD channels by 2026, while Euroconsult
forecasts 1116 UHD channels by 2025 out of a global total of about 47,300
channels. Of that number, about 22,485 would be in HD.
Eutelsat mirrors these stats. Of the 6,900 channels it
carries worldwide just 1500 of which are HD and 17 UHD (at September 2018) of
which one of the most recent is 4KUNIVERSE, a 4K HDR general entertainment channel.
4K UHD is certainly possible over the internet but as the BBC showed during
its coverage of the Summer’s World Cup, bandwidth limitations, in the last mile
in particular, make 4K with or without HDR like squeezing a pint into a jam
jar. Additional subscribers to a satellite
channel don’t add bandwidth costs, a cost benefit which increases as viewers
consume more and more UHD content.
That’s without considering 8K which we must do given the
launch earlier this month of NHK’s domestic transmissions in the Super HiVision
format in Japan.
8K coming
While 8K began life at NHK as an exotic science project 23
years ago and was given renewed impetus by the Japanese government following
Tokyo’s award of the 2020 Olympics, the Ultra HD standard is also being cherry
picked for application by creatives and broadcasters and promoted by vendors
worldwide.
The exceptionally high-resolution raw material is being used
with some regularity by cinematographers making top end Netflix and Amazon
drama. Even downscaled for a HD or 4K delivery the additional super-sampled
data provides headroom in post to zoom into the shot or add VFX.
The CES in January promises yet more 8K consumer displays,
including a remarkable wallpaper thin and rollable 8K OLED from LG despite the
fact that outside of Japan there is literally no content to watch at the full
fat 8K 120p HDR which is what NHK plan to air.
Meanwhile Turkey’s satellite operator Türksat recently test
broadcast 8K pictures of Istanbul’s “historical and natural beauties” to
showcase the prowess of the country’s broadcast and tech business.
In May this year SES demonstrated its prowess with a 8K
demonstration via an Astra satellite. Video was encoded in HEVC and transmitted
at 80 Mbit/s or four times higher than for a 4K signal. In addition, the test
transmission used native IP formatted signal, providing some insights into the
requirements of a future all-IP broadcast infrastructure for television.
“Even though 8K remains challenging with the video codecs
available today, and is several years away from introduction to consumer homes,
this demonstration shows that satellites are now capable of carrying 8K
signals. As we always strive to take the video experience to the next level, we
are very proud to provide this exciting glimpse at the future of television,”
SES Wrede said at the time.
Analysts Futuresource expect the use of 8K in live
broadcasting to be “very limited for the foreseeable future on a global basis”,
although notes an obvious use for 8K acquisition at prestige events and in
select cinematic instances to begin preparing a library of 8K content.
It’s also worth noting in passing that Japanese trade show
had exhibits capable of processing 16K material. Cinegy’s Daniel2 codec targets
that extreme for example.
Tokyo 2020 will act as a hi-tech shop window for UHD (4K and
8K) and the 5G communications network, both of which are intertwined.
Satellite and 5G
5G is not a mobile standard. It’s a communications network in
which satellite as well as fibre are vital parts of the transport chain. Theory
is that traffic will be dynamically steered to the best transport options
available according to bandwidth, latency, network conditions and other
application-specific requirements. Such interchange between terrestrial and
satellite is actually promoted in mobile’s 3GPP standards.
New opportunities for extending satellite services in urban
and rural areas will likely emerge; for emergency services, for
broadcast/multicast maritime mobility, connected cars, and for mobile backhaul.
The European Space Agency and a group of satellite operators
including Telesat (Canada), OneWeb, LeoSat (The Netherlands), Newtec (Belgium),
Thales and Eutelsat (France), Avanti (London) Viasat (Switzerland), SES and
Inmarsat (Luxembourg) and Echostar (Ireland) have jointly declared the 5G to be
a “unique opportunity for a seamless integration of satellite with terrestrial
networks.”
They argue for satellites complementary connectivity options
and seamless user experience with advantages including universal coverage,
multicasting and broadcasting capability as integral to the overall 5G system.
“Satellite networks can be configured to provide the
guarantee of the highest level of connectivity, availability, resilience and
security to significant sectors targeted by 5G,” it states.
Terrestrial and satellite 5G convergence has been initiated
in Europe through the initiative undertaken by the European Commission as part
of the Horizon2020 and 5G Public Private Partnership (5GPPP).
In the US, satellite operators have seized on a chance to
rake in a dividend by selling off some spectrum that they hold and mobile
operators need for 5G.
Intelsat, SES, Eutelsat and Telesat have banded to form the
C-band Alliance (CBA). In the US, C-band supports content delivery to more than
100 million television households. The CBA says it will retune around 25000
large dishes installed at network broadcasters and will auction off the
spectrum which is predicted to net the group $2bn. They are couching it as a
move designed to accelerate 5G rollout and the Federal Communications
Commission agrees although mobile network operators and the likes of Google are
baulking at the plan.
Software-defined satellite
As in other sectors there is a trend toward standardisation
of core hardware with applications for each satellite’s coverage, power,
frequency and bandwidth being fine-tuned in software just ahead of launch or in
orbit.
The appeal is obvious as NSR points out, the ability to
change frequency bands, coverage areas, power allocation, and architecture
on-demand, at any point in the satellite lifetime, enables an operator to
capture diverse markets. It can address new applications as they emerge,
compensating if the initial target market falters, or more simply respond to a
rebalancing of demand. Standard-builds also add flexibility to an
operator’s fleet, making satellites interchangeable in the case of anomaly or
shifting priorities.
As Eutelsat points out, traditionally, commercial satellites
are designed for a fifteen-year lifetime. However, with a three-year
procurement and building phase, their design must take into account the needs
to be addressed over a cycle of eighteen years, despite evolving markets and
commercial environments.
Eutelsat and SES are among operators prepping so-called
software-defined satellites for launch.
Eutelsat’s Quantum’s launches in 2019 supported by the ESA,
the UK Space Agency, and Airbus and principally addressing markets that are
highly changeable and mobile such as maritime, aeronautical and land-based
transportation.
“Customers will no longer have to predict market
requirements or anticipate changes in the future,” says the firm. “In-orbit
reprogrammable features will set a new standard in flexibility.”
SES is proposing an open, non-exclusive design for its
software-defined sats and narrowed down it selection for build partner to Airbus,
Boeing and Thales Alenia Space. SES believes the eventual multi-satellite order
will be a step-change in the way satellites are contracted, built and launched.
Aside from standard-build satellites other advances include
very high throughput satellites (HTS) smallsats in GEO (geosynchronous
equatorial orbit), condosats (such as GeoShare), blended GEO/MEO/LEO
(Low-earth orbit) constellations, and in-orbit servicing and assembly. Each
offers a unique blend of risk, cost per bit, flexibility, and market applicability,
observes NSR.
For broadcasters, the introduction of newer satellite
technologies including high-powered and high-throughput satellites (HTS) with
spot beams will allow truly local content to be broadcast at far more
economically viable rates, helping ensure both profitability and competitive
pricing for consumers.
HTS satellites are also the answer to the soaring
connectivity demand in the maritime and aviation industry, where fleets across
the world are being outfitted with onboard services for video streaming.
Connecting the world
The ability of satellite to connect the more rural parts of
the world to mobile or the internet more cost efficiently than alternatives is
driving business in Asia Pacific and Africa.
“Outside of, and sometimes even within, Asia’s mega-cities,
broadband connection speeds remain expensive and inconsistent, and can be
hardly relied on as a source,” says SES Video’s Yew Weng Soo. “Many Asian
countries have just a handful of dominant cities and uneven levels of
infrastructure investment and urbanisation, sharply driving up the cost of
deploying broadband and DTT technologies outside the major urban areas.”
SES points out that with over 1 billion people lacking 3G/4G
coverage, Asia will lead the cellular backhaul via satellite growth.
Intelsat has invested in Africa Mobile Networks (AMN) to
fund, build and operate “ultra-rural” mobile networks for operators in
sub-Saharan Africa. Intelsat satellites covering the continent will connect
ground-based cells with 2G mobile services, such as GSM voice, with the ability
to upgrade the base stations to 3G and 4G as data demands allow.
London-based Quika launched earlier this year aiming to
provide a free broadband satellite service to Iraq, Afghanistan and developing
nations in Africa.
Quika Free will have a download of 3Mbps and an upload of
1Mbps and will be partly subsidised, says the company by a paid tier with a
download target of 5-50Mbps and an upload of 1-3Mbps.
It uses GEO and LEO constellations to provide high-speed,
Ka-band internet using high-throughput satellites.
Alan Afrasiab, founder and chairman explained, “While
numerous initiatives have been implemented to bring unconnected communities
online, a significant amount of people still remain unconnected. With
Quika, we hope to accelerate internet adoption around the world and transform
societies for the better.”
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