5 ms·
I don't understand how this is meant to lower the latency. Currently: ground <--> satellite <--> ground With satellite links: ground <--> satellite <
by taneq 6y ago
I don't understand how this is meant to lower the latency. Currently:
ground <--> satellite <--> ground
With satellite links:
ground <--> satellite <--> satellite <--> ground
How can the latter possibly be faster?
Edit: Thanks for all the responses. I'd been assuming it was a test of Starlink latency only, but if it's Starlink -> ground station -> open internet -> ISP then it would make sense how that would be slower than a pure Starlink connection.
- Havoc 6y agoCurrent satellites are in a much higher orbit
- Torkel 6y agoThis is a good question, I see three main reasons but I may miss something: 1. Hop count is not one on the ground to go same distance. 2. Speed of light is significantly faster in vacuum. 3. The path is potentially straighter for longer distances.
- lultimouomo 6y agoCurrently: ground <--> satellite <--> ground <------------> ground With satellite links: ground <--> satellite <--> satellite <--> ground i.e. the sat-to-sat link should be faster than the ground-to-ground link, on the basis that light transmitted in vacuum goes faster than light transmitted in glass. That's the theory at least.
- fastball 6y agoPlus they're transmitting in a straight line without a lot of switches in between.
- martinko 6y agoMore like this: Currently: ground <--> satellite <--> ground <--> ground farther away via legacy infrastructure With satellite links: ground <--> satellite <--> satellite <--> ground farther away directly
- extropy 6y agoLight travels through glass (fiber optics) at 2/3 of the speed in vacuum. So as long as you are skipping some ground links by doing similar length links in space it is faster. Low altitude orbits mean that the hops up and down can be compensated by faster hops across. That all of course is not there yet and depends on Starlink implementing the cross sattelite links.
- ls612 6y agoThere are some places where there is no ground, say the middle of the Atlantic. Satellite to satellite is important for that.