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Can anyone explain how it's possible given that Starlink satellites are at 500 km altitude while LTE tower has coverage radius of only around 5km?
by loandbehold 2y ago
Can anyone explain how it's possible given that Starlink satellites are at 500 km altitude while LTE tower has coverage radius of only around 5km?
- hmottestad 2y agoDunno if that’s maybe a typo? Could be that the signal strength is really weak so they have to use a very directional antenna to transmit and receive signals. I would bet that receiving a signal from a cell phone is the hardest part. You can always omf up the transmit power, but to receive you really need to have a sensitive and directional antenna
- ablation 2y agoI am by no means an expert on this, but I think it works because satellites at 500 km altitude have a much wider line of sight than ground-based LTE towers. Throw beamforming and steerable antennas into the mix and I think you’re then getting to why. It’s a “cell tower in space” optimised for wide coverage, not urban capacity.