InBroadcast
p20 http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/lesommet/inbroadcast_202011/index.php?startid=20#/p/20
Communications play an indisputably vital part of modern life, and as current events show, satellite capabilities are more critical than ever.
5G is the biggest buzzword of the day in the mobile industry, in the satellite biz the buzz is about low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellations. “LEO satellites are an exciting opportunity,” says William Mudge, Director of Satellite Capacity and Technology, Speedcast. “For the first time, satellite can provide an office-like experience anywhere in the world –it is like making a call from one city to another in the same country.”
Yet geostationary and Medium Earth Orbit satellites have not had their day. Both have their place in the market. Broadcast is one example: a MEO link can deliver one signal to millions or homes or cable headends.
The transition to 5G is going to be revolutionary for how we can transmit data but it is not the answer to anything. If a customer is not working inside the cellular systems, it doesn’t provide the coverage they need, whether on a cruise ship in international waters, a mining camp or an energy platform. That’s where something like LEO fits really well, delivering an at-home experience with none of the delays experienced with GEO satellites operating far from Earth.
Speedcast has technologies, including SIGMA and SD-WAN, that can make the right choice of network for you. While far from the cellular network, Speedcast automatically selects the GEO, MEO or LEO service that best meets the requirement. When 4G LTE or 5G becomes available, it can detect that and automatically switch to the less expensive option. If the cellular connection fails for any reason, it switches to the always-on satellite connection.
“As the technology keeps evolving, our job is to make sure that customers get the best of breed solution all the time,” says Mudge.
The arrival of LEO, MEO, and flat panel antennas has seen the market seek solutions to achieve effective use of the spectrum and provide higher bandwidth for matching demand with reliable network technology.
Integrasys created Beam Budget, a unique solution that enables accurate calculation of Link Budgets supporting LEO constellations and flat panel antennas. According to the company, Beam Budget has availability for any frequency band, including Q and V where high frequencies are more affected by atmospheric events. Thanks to Beam Budget, networks of small satellite constellations can be designed more effectively.
It also has a range of low profile of flat panel antennas designed to make installations easier and faster. Their greatest advantage is the ability to create multibeams, which are able to point to different constellations simultaneously – driving Connected Car applications, for example.
5G interference signals (and new mobile phone networks such as LTE, Wi-Max) are powerful enough to saturate sensitive C-band satellite receiving systems, causing a potential for total loss of service for broadcasters.
Norsat International has launched products to address this. The 3200-sBPF PLL LNB (optimal for maritime terminal applications), combines an LNB and a Band Pass Filter and can switch in and out the filtering between full and concatenated portions of the C-Band spectrum. This allows customers to use the full C-band when they are at sea and switch in the 5G filtering when they are close to shore. This is complementary to Norsat’s existing Band Pass Filter series of 5G Interference solutions.
“As 5G wireless networks grow, there’s an increasing need for specialised products to mitigate interference from 5G base stations,” states Dr. Amiee Chan, CEO of Norsat. “We are excited to further help users of C-band satellite services reject 5G interference and to continue to be a part of the coordination efforts to ensure a smooth transition of 5G into the C-band spectrum.”
Such solutions are being used by China’s Jiangsu broadcasting to prevent 5G interference on current broadcasting stations. The broadcaster, headquartered in Nanjing and operating across China, was facing a lot of interference, with viewers receiving blurred images and videos. JSCN was rapidly losing viewers, and its core competitive advantage of clear broadcasting services was declining. This was because 5G in-band transmissions received by the broadcast antennas drove regular LNBs into saturation and produced unwanted intermodulation products which degraded the desired signal from the satellite. Adding Norsat’s 5G products however strengthened JSCN’s competitiveness for signal delivering.
The design of new generation of satellites - multibeam HTS, LEO and MEO constellations - needs to be highly cost-effective and adaptive to the actual demand. Beam-hopping provides a level of flexibility that makes it possible to increase served traffic, reduce areas of unmet demand while enabling the reduction of power consumption on-board.
In particular, SatixFy’s beam forming chip technology disrupts the satellite communication industry by creating the basis for digital electronically steered antennas, made for mobile platforms and for new and existing satellite constellations.
With OneWeb, SatixFy plans to add a digital technology pathway payload with beam hopping capability as OneWeb commercialises its global communications broadband services via LEO satellites at the end of 2021. The beam hopping capability also enables seamless handover for mobile devices, between beams and satellites. An example would be an Aero terminal for In-Flight Connectivity, able to operate on both LEO and GEO simultaneously and maintaining make-before-break connectivity between the rising and setting satellites. Maximum capacity can be directed from multiple sources to hot-spots like busy airports.
SatixFy has also developed the first modem to fully support the entire DVB-S2X standard including all beam hopping modes over LEO, MEO and GEO systems.
“The Sx3099 chip is first of its kind supporting LEO/GEO orbits with multiple modems capable of very high throughput,” stated Yoel Gat, SatixFy Space System CEO. “It has provisions for both fixed and mobile applications and can serve as a baseline for future broadband satellite communication applications.”
Gilat Telecom is now offering the Intelsat FlexMove managed service for land mobile connectivity. It enables customers to connect to the internet, private data networks and cloud services from virtually anywhere in the world, including while on-the-move, or on-the-pause at a temporary site.
“With the Intelsat FlexMove service, we can help our customers quickly and easily deploy mission-critical communications and maintain a seamless connection to the people and applications they rely on,” says Gilat Telecom VP, Ami Schneider.
The “always-on” FlexMove connectivity solution is claimed to be up to 20 times faster than current mobile satellite solutions for a fraction of the cost. It offers global, multi-layered, redundant coverage that enables even the most data-intensive applications.
The company is offering FlexMove service plans by the gigabyte. These plans are integrated with a portfolio of satellite terminals empowering even non-technical personnel to set-up and connect to the internet in minutes. Service plans are designed for recurring, seasonal, occasional and, event-based use. Users can pool airtime and share data costs across multiple terminals, making FlexMove a cost-effective connectivity solution for organizations with large vehicle fleets and numerous remote locations.
Additionally, Gilat’s VSAT services are now available in every country in Africa offering “significant advantages” over other domestic and international connectivity providers.
A new self-control portal, developed specifically for the African market, gives organisations control over their networks and full visibility of all their services including billing (e-banking), OSS and BSS visible on the same dashboard. It offers downlinks of 70Mbps with up to 15Mbps uplink per single terminal.
The use of multiple HTS and regular satellites enables Gilat Telecom to tailor its service to meet the customer demands. Providers include AfricaSat, ABS, Intelsat, Belintersat, Chinasat, Spacecom, SES and more. In addition, Gilat uses equipment and services from vendors including Newtec, iDirect, Novelsat, UHP and Comtech.
Thuraya, the mobile satellite services subsidiary of UAE’s Al Yah Satellite Communications Company (Yahsat), is building Thuraya 4-NGS, a next generation mobile telecommunications system with Airbus.
This is a major milestone in Yahsat’s commitment towards transforming Thuraya which it acquired in 2018. The next-gen system entails a complete overhaul of its space and ground platforms, enabling a new set of services across a greater coverage area. The new capabilities are aimed at offering the highest speeds available in the market, while reinforcing Thuraya’s strengths in the MSS voice market.
This brings Yahsat’s total committed investment in Thuraya to north of US$500 million. More is anticipated to come, including an option with Airbus to build Thuraya 5-NGS (an additional satellite identical to Thuraya 4-NGS), strengthening its coverage and capabilities across the Asia Pacific region. Thuraya 4-NGS will incorporate a large 12-metre L-band antenna and a payload with on-board processing. It is scheduled for operation in 2024
Thuraya also signed with Ericsson for a core network modernisation and upgrade to its 4G and 5G ready infrastructure. This would also guarantee more flexible, reliable and effective services.
AvL Technologies’ latest antenna and terminals include the ultra-lightweight 2.4m axi-symmetric antenna for operation in X, Ku and Ka-band with new bayonet-style feeds and quick-change RF kits. A C-band capability is in the planning as an upgrade kit. The antenna has numerous BUC and LNB options, and it supports RF or modem peaking.
The new 1.35m Flexible Integrated Terminal (FIT) is a user-defined platform with a 12-petal reflector and an integral tripod for a small pack-up in two IATA-compliant checkable cases. The manual-point version of this antenna can be operated manually or upgraded to motorized operation with auto-acquisition. The terminals operate in X, Ku and Ka-band with new bayonet-style feeds and feed kits for quick RF changes.
AvL’s new ruggedized 1.30m FIT platform has a high-stiffness 6-petal reflector and reinforced tripod. The terminal operates manually or with auto-acquire in X, Ku or Ka-band, and is designed to operate in strong winds without additional wind stiffening. It offers a new bayonet-style feed mount, quick-change RF kits, an optional terminal control module with a spectrum display, BUC and LNB options, and RF or modem peaking.
DataPath has a quarter of a century experience in integrated communications and information technology with an installed base in excess of 4,500 satellite terminals deployed worldwide
In addition, more than one million end-point devices are managed by its MaxView network monitor and control software. MaxView is ideally suited to monitor and manage all equipment, elements and service applications common in most Network Operation Centres. By providing a centralised view and control of an entire network, MaxView helps operators to improve operational efficiency and incident response time. MaxView Enterprise, the latest release of the software, offers enhancements to the user experience and analytics. It employs a high-performance, mobile responsive web platform, to securely manage networks from virtually any web enabled device.
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