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They also say they will do satellite-to-satellite switching. Let's see if they actually do it. SpaceX's real innovation is that their base stations are cheap a
by foobiekr 5y ago
They also say they will do satellite-to-satellite switching. Let's see if they actually do it.
SpaceX's real innovation is that their base stations are cheap and can go anywhere you can legitimately get a fiber drop. I doubt the inter-satellite switching will _ever_ happen.
- rtkwe 5y agoRoaming base stations seems simpler than the intra constellation communication at least. It seems like it's largely a problem of doing the discovery on the fly where the multihop communication requires some pretty dynamic routing and complex laser pointing and decoding. I imagine they'll figure both out but the intra constellation communication will be limited to customers like ships where it's required or for people willing to pay for the speed since there's some speculation it could be useful for HFT in places that microwave antenna routes can't be laid easily.
- KiwiJohnno 5y agoInter-satellite switching (user laser links) is already happening with the sats in polar orbits. The sats in polar orbits need this, because there is no base stations on the ground within range - They need to route the signal through several satellites to a base station. Elon Musk has said all satellites will eventually use laser interlinks, but they just don't have this ready yet (and the current generation of satellites probably doesn't have the hardware either) More info here: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/01/spacex-adds-laser-links-to-starlink-satellites-to-serve-earths-polar-areas/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/01/space...