New players are entering the maritime and offshore VSAT sector with LEO constellations for low-latency connectivity
Constellations of low earth orbit (LEO) satellites are being commissioned and tested for the next level of low-latency maritime and offshore communications. Rival companies are pushing ahead with investment in their networks, targeting various sectors and industries.
OneWeb’s LEO network is the nearest to completion, with 70% of its constellation in orbit, ground teleports in place, contracts signed with distribution and technology partners, and it is now testing the network.
OneWeb director for maritime and energy Celeste Endrino-Cowley says its LEO satellites are positioned to offer the maritime and offshore industries another option for high-speed communications and connectivity.
She says almost three-quarters of OneWeb’s planned 648 satellites have been launched and commissioned. The launch of OneWeb’s next package of satellites was delayed by political issues, but there are plans to continue building the constellation.
“We have 70% of satellites in orbit, delivering connectivity to sites in northern latitudes,” she says. OneWeb currently has 428 satellites in orbit, sufficient to provide internet connections above 50° North.
In total, 588 active satellites and 60 in-orbit spares are planned in 19 launches forming 12 orbital planes to provide global LEO coverage. Forty ground stations will act as satellite network portals.
OneWeb’s satellite launch from the Russia-operated Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan was suspended due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A Soyuz rocket was loaded with the satellites and expected to launch 4 or 5 March, but OneWeb suspended this flight, and future ones, on 3 March.
On 21 March, OneWeb procured capacity on SpaceX’s rockets to resume satellite launches, with the next set to be positioned into orbit later in 2022. “With these launch plans in place, we are on track to finish building out our full fleet of satellites to deliver robust, fast, secure connectivity around the globe,” says OneWeb chief executive Neil Masterson.
LEO satellites are 1,200 km from earth, compared with medium earth orbit (MEO) satellites that orbit at 8,000 km high and have latency of around 180 ms; and geostationary orbit (GEO) satellites at a height of 35,000 km with a latency of 600-800 ms.
“We will be able to deliver 100 Mbps to a vessel with low latency of 70 ms,” Ms Endrino-Cowley says. “Our mission is to transform connectivity. To provide enterprise-grade connectivity at sea to support accelerated digitalisation within the industry.”
She says LEO satellites will allow large volumes of data to be transmitted in real-time for critical operations. “Low latency really matters within the offshore industry.” Applications such as remote inspection and surveys, internet of things (IoT) and cloud computing will be possible using LEO connectivity.
“IoT and cloud can be enabled with high-speed connections at low latency,” says Ms Endrino-Cowley. “The connected offshore field provides greater insight and improves performance across the value chain.”
In maritime sectors, she says vessels will be able to get 1 terabyte per month of data “to drive IoT and connect the bridge to shore in real time.” Remote operations mean putting fewer seafarers into hazardous situations, while those on ships will get more bandwidth for crew welfare applications. “Seafarers could get the same level of online access as ashore,” says Ms Endrino-Cowley.
OneWeb vice president for maritime and energy Carole Plessy says OneWeb will pilot connectivity in the offshore sector this year and it plans to offer LEO communications in the maritime market in 2023.
“We will be working with our partners to bring connectivity to merchant and passenger ships, fishing and offshore support vessels in 2023,” she says. “We will bring connectivity at sea with 10 times more bandwidth than available now, but at similar costs.”
Ms Plessy says OneWeb will work with distribution partners such as Speedcast, Marlink and Applied Satellite Technologies (so far announced) and hardware partners, including Intellian.
“This is a risk-free approach to launch with a proven solution and distribution partners who will package this,” says Ms Plessy. “We are working to make sure it fits in different sectors as there is no one solution.” This could offer 10 Mbps for fishing vessels and more than 100 Mbps for offshore vessels.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is building the Starlink LEO constellation with thousands of satellites orbiting at 550 km to eventually cover the globe. So far there is coverage in the US, western Europe, areas of South America, New Zealand and southern Australia.
There are 1,600 Starlink satellites in operation and another 400 are moving into the operational orbits. SpaceX expects to more than double this in 18 months to 4,200 satellites.
In another development, Intelsat intends to integrate Starlink LEO with its own GEO satellites for cellular broadband. It is buying Starlink terminals and services and reselling them as part of a multi-layer, multi-orbit managed network that includes GEO and 4G connectivity. Intelsat is also working with OneWeb on integrating LEO with GEO.
Telesat is getting closer to building its own LEO constellation. Telesat Lightspeed will provide Ka-band coverage to maritime and offshore users when it is ready.
Initially, this network will have 298 satellites. Telesat launched the first of these LEO satellites in 2018 to act as a demonstrator for testing with terminals.
These satellites will be in a combination of polar and inclined orbits for worldwide coverage with digital modulation, demodulation and data routeing in space. Telesat intends to have optical inter-satellite links with data transferring using lasers in a global mesh network.
Intellian will develop satellite terminals to support system development and performance testing. These will feature dual-parabolic antennas to achieve seamless handovers between satellites with a 1-m aperture of the parabolic reflectors.
Inmarsat plans to operate a limited number of LEO satellites in focused areas to augment the connectivity it offers through GEO satellites.
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