Broadband/Connectivity Low earth Orbit Opinion Satellite

The LEO and MEO constellations paradigm

Leading companies within the telecommunications industry are focussing on LEO constellations and planning their subsequent network deployment, says Alvaro Sanchez.

Alvaro Sanchez is CEO of Integrasys.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a great challenge has arisen in broadcasting and telecommunications industry, to make a smart world in no time, with adoption to remote work, meetings, webinars, and conferences in order to keep business alive.

Thanks to the new satellite technology, this is possible anytime and anywhere. The exponential demand for remote work and digital management is the reason why the ultra-high-throughput satellite (HTS) constellations are clearly the solution to provide higher bandwidth demand with reliable network technology. Accordingly, LEO and MEO constellations become more relevant.

The small distance between the Earth’s surface and LEO satellites enable faster communications with no delays and with support of any type of device or necessity needed as fibre in the sky.

Leading companies within the telecommunications industry are focussing on LEO constellations and planning their subsequent network deployment.

The endless benefits of these new satellites lie in the huge complexity of their networks. The satellites that compose the network are in constant orbital movement, therefore it is difficult to certify that our link will be up and running 99% of the time, for complying with customer SLAs.

Also, the service providers need to select a given antenna or ground terminal and then, the ground terminal can be in a moving platform. For instance, link budget calculation becomes harder with LEO satellites due to the dynamism of their satellite networks.

To that purpose, Integrasys created Beam Budget, a technology solution that enables companies to accurately calculate Link Budgets supporting LEO and MEO constellations.

Thanks to link budget calculation tools, satellite service providers can compare constellations and services before they choose the right partner.

Currently, technology providers for ground networks have used tools to do their link budget calculation and make their deployments succeed. In such cases, a high-quality service depends on how accurate they are designing the network.

Link Budget tools allow them to design their network easily. The tool shows the parameters needed in order to have a clear signal without losses. Therefore, choosing the right antenna is not a challenge for these companies and they can fulfil their work faster and accurately while saving time and money.

The pandemic has brought new challenges but also new opportunities for these service providers, who can fulfil the connectivity demand taking advantages of new technologies such as LEO, MEO and smart tools.

Alvaro Sanchez is CEO of Integrasys.