Satcom Operators Pivot To High Bandwidth Satellites To Take On Telecommunications ComPanies (Telcos).

April 6, 2022

Why in news?

Satellite internet operators are turning to Very High Throughput Satellites (VHTS), a type of fixed service satellites (FSS) that offer significantly higher data bandwidth over the previous generation FSS satellites provided by Telcos.
- Bandwidth refers to maximum amount of data transmitted over an internet connection in a given amount of time.
FSS are used in television broadcasting and telephone communication, and depend on dish-style antennas.
- FSS are typically deployed at a geostationary equatorial orbit (GEO) of 35,786km above Earth’s surface.
Satellite Internet Services is a wireless internet connection which uses satellites in space to get an Internet signal from Internet Service Provider (ISP) to users.
Satellite-based low-bit-rate connectivity is possible using Geo Stationary, Medium and low Earth orbit Satellites.
It is different from satellite television as Internet signals have to go both ways with a much greater amount of bandwidth to move all that data.
They operate by sending and receiving broadband signal to a satellite in space rather than using an underground copper/fibre network.
Benefits of Satellite Internet Services: Cheap and easy internet option for rural areas. hilly terrains. Faster than Digital Subscriber Line (DSO connection etc.

Models for satellite-based connectivity

Direct to Satellite Model: Allows devices to directly communicate with the satellite without the need of any Intermediate ground gateway.
Hybrid (LPWAN + Satellite) or Indirect Model: In this, each sensor and actuator in a network may communicate with the satellite through an Intermediate sink node. i.e., Low Power Wide-Area Network gateway.