From the 33rd floor of the Fairmont Hotel, Dubai, we had an incredible view for the Satcom Innovation Group’s Middle East Workshop, held jointly with Arabsat. We knew there was a lot of ground to cover, and the agenda reflected the diverse challenges and opportunities that exist in the region and beyond for the satcom sector.
Trends
The day kicked off with a closer look at the fundamental technical transformations happening across the industry including:
- The emergence of software defined satellites has changed the game within the satcom sector, bringing extreme flexibility to satellite services. Emerging technologies such as optical communications have the potential for significant opportunity for expansion and development with satellite systems driven by growing data demand and signify a new era of satcom systems.
- The advent of in-orbit servicing that will extend the lifetime of ageing satellites and allow satellite operators more time and space to assess the market and recognize new opportunities.
- Multi-orbit satellites have changed the game with digital network architecture that utilize virtualized modems and components. The move to multi-orbit has prompted the proliferation of the flat panel antenna, and this is being carefully monitored by SIG as there is concern around standards for this new generation of antennas.
- AI is continuing to advance within the satcom industry, enabling rapid and accurate analysis of satellite data and enabling the automation of repetitive tasks.
AI
AI was a dominant subject across the entire day and we certainly got into the weeds. AI is here to stay, and we must work together to advance. It will play a significant role across all orbits, simplifying highly technical processes that are complex and challenging.
It was raised that there needs to be a balance struck between capability and cost as satellite operators will need a cost-effective approach to AI. On top of this, regulation needs to keep pace with the rapid changes that are so evident in AI.
We lingered on the subject of AI for quite some time and it’s clear that it is already playing a role within our industry with some of our members already adopting it effectively. Atheras Analytics has built its business on AI, using it with meteorological data to enable prediction of weather events that could potentially affect ground stations, enabling satellite operators to mitigate any network interruptions and even to determine where best to site their ground stations.
For other companies, they are at a point where they are evaluating AI to see where it fits within their business and how effectively they can use it.
Fundamentally though, AI is another tool that is going to carry out complex things for us but we must remember that it is a tool and it’s a case of applying it in the right way so that we can address our challenges.
Sovereignty
The geopolitical situation has sparked a wave of concern over satellite sovereignty and new trends associated with it. Recent events have resulted in the realisation that what we thought was the status quo has now changed and has prompted nations to take a fresh look at the provision of sovereign satellite services that are under their control. This has been driven by the rise of LEO and the sheer amount of ground stations that it demands.
This also relates to data. Countries and companies are fiercely protective of their data, and we need to decide when and to what extent this is shared and this is resulting in countries insisting that certain data lands into their own country, where they know it is not going to be compromised. This has led to a growth in demand for sovereign gateways.
Data is only really shared when there is a problem, and some companies could compromise their competitive edge if their data is shared. Lines need to be decided and drawn in terms of when, how and to what degree data is shared for the common good.
Spectrum
Spectrum monitoring has become more complex due to the increase in software defined satellites and the new multi-orbit environment that we are operating in today. The panel noted that the stability that we had known as an industry has now gone, and this is creating challenges for the monitoring of the precious resource that is spectrum. Adequate access to spectrum is essential as the coverage of networks increases and the demand for data skyrockets across every region of the globe.
The panel discussed how we can effectively monitor spectrum in this new era of not just GEO, but MEO and LEO satellites. The capabilities of software defined satellites that operate in very high frequencies and can switch beams automatically and allocate bandwidth have created a new level of complexity. This makes it more challenging as monitoring systems must keep pace with the new satellite behaviour where there is growing spectrum congestion. The capability to offer situational awareness and knowledge of satellite activity as well as the ability to monitor cloud-based infrastructure is essential.
Interference
Interference has not gone away. It is still very evident, and the increased use of FPAs is not helping. As you will already know if you keep regular tabs on SIG, we are working on our FPA initiative to try to establish minimum performance guidelines for these antennas that are, as yet, unregulated. Working with our partner, GSOA, we continue to work to establish minimum test requirements and best practices. With more incidents of interference between orbits, there are still many challenges to overcome. We will continue to move forward and encourage industry dialogue and action to tackle interference of all kinds.
Virtualisation
The ground infrastructure is changing, and virtualisation is very much a priority. It is critical that ground systems are aligned tightly with the advancements that are happening in the space segment. To achieve this, by virtualising the ground segment and transforming hardware into software, we can integrate into the cloud infrastructure and align with telco standards. There was wide acknowledgement of the progress that the DIFI standard has helped to bring about and many SIG members are also members of DIFI and have been active at the plugfests that the association has held over the last couple of years. These exercises have been critical in enabling DIFI to drive towards improved standards and to encourage the all-important collaboration that will make this a success.
The space industry has been lagging behind the telco sector by as much as a decade but now must accelerate as more software defined satellites are introduced.
Ultimately, satellite services are becoming dynamic and there is a need for a flexible and scalable ground segment that enables the user to bring services up and down on demand. If the capability is there to spin up services as and when needed, it offers the ultimate in flexibility. By leveraging the technology that cloud providers are offering, users can analyse data, detect congestion, switch bands and beams and triage and troubleshoot problems. There was some disagreement on whether we will go down the route of software-only or whether appliance-based solutions will still be required. In some scenarios, such as in disaster recovery, appliance-based solutions make most sense and they still have a place to provide more density and higher throughput. However, for surges in demand it was also argued that this could be accessed through the private cloud, where it could meet demand for busy periods and scale back when not required. In the past, creation of new services could take weeks to bring up but now they can be instant, with no need for the involvement of a technician.
In terms of readiness for these new virtualised modems, different members are having different experiences. For some, software-based modems are in the PoC phase. They are starting to talk to customers and finding that there is a need for education so that the benefits of moving to a virtualised platform can be put across. For others, the orders are there, and some see absolutely no demand at present. It is early days, but in any case, it is imperative that the industry is ready, because there seems no doubt that the demand will come.
The demand for software is also creating a requirement for software engineers that possess the correct skillset, which is a fairly neat segue into the final portion of the day – a lesson in ballroom dancing.
Dancing (yes, dancing)
Paul Illife of the Satcoms Game and strength and conditioning coach, also joined us remotely from the UK to talk about how to bring learning and training into the satcoms sector. He explained how he has used his expertise as a ballroom dancing coach to enable him to take the complex satcom industry and create a simple framework of understanding so that an entire satcom organisation understands the company vision from CEOs and engineers to marketing and HR. A comparison can be drawn with the complex routines of ballroom dancing but by breaking this complexity right down, you can enable the people in your workplace to better understand an overall mission and by thinking about the way in which information is presented to people that are new to the sector, we stand a better chance of engaging them, and retaining them.
We’d like to thank Arabsat for hosting the workshop and to all the attendees that took time out of their day to spend with us. It was a pleasure!
We are currently planning our next workshop, so if you are a member and would be interested in hosting, please let us know!