Network outages can cost companies millions and disrupt public safety communications. Constellations spoke with Sergy Mummert, SVP of Sales Global Cloud and Strategy Partnerships at SES Networks, about what it takes to build resilient satcom networks. These are our top four takeaways from the conversation.

Takeaway 1: Satellite will soon be integral to terrestrial communication, not just supplemental.

Historically, satellite communication has been used for media distribution, cable and satellite TV, and occasionally for remote data networks. Now, however, the industry is moving beyond that. “In many segments today, they’re using multi-network deployments,” said Mummert.

We are “starting to see a progression to using satellite communications in a network design,” he said. Multi-network deployment means that terrestrial and satellite are layered on top of each other, instead of having a single primary network with occasional back-up built in. Sophisticated satellite networks also grant access to multiple satellite orbits, which gives the entire system more resiliency, as well as being able to ensure connectivity for an end user that is on the move or in a very remote location.

Takeaway 2: In the future, true interoperability means satellite systems won’t be siloed.

In the current market, EO, IoT, satcom and other satellite capabilities are siloed and operate on different networks. But Mummert believes that, “interoperability between these systems is where we’re headed.”

“You’re starting to see satcom systems that could deliver imagery from another system via space data relay,” he added as an example. Integration will be a multi-step process. First, satellite providers must build awareness of the capabilities of their multi-network systems to attract end-users interested in overlapping multiple satellite capabilities in a single network. Integration will also require standards like 3GPP to become much more universal across the satellite industry.

“One of the key things that people think about satellite is that it’s too complicated,” said Mummert. “We’ve got to make it easier for people to implement it and adopt it and consume it.”

Takeaway 3: 5G capabilities will be built into the resilient satellite networks of the future.

According to Mummert, 5G has always been on the road map for multi-network satellite systems. “We invested to have people in that standard process, to make sure that non-terrestrial networks were included in the design of 5G,” he said.

Public and macro 5G deployments have ensured that MNOs and satcom can work together to provide a service to a new location, or grant route diversity in the case of disaster recovery or a scheduled event—like a rock concert, where a large crowd of people will gather in a place that’s typically sparsely populated.

Private 5G will also be possible as either a primary product or as one piece of a resilient fabric. Private players like offshore energy players may request multiply networks on site to ensure that a remote platform can be highly automated, with high uptime and proven, dependable access to the cloud.

Takeaway 4: Satcom can also be used to provide resiliency to space operations.

Satcom isn’t just useful as an integrated aspect of terrestrial connectivity. “Satcom also provides resiliency for space operations,” said Mummert, as evidenced by SES’s recent contract with NASA to do space data relay.

“We partnered with Planet Labs, who does Earth observation imagery, and we’re able to connect their LEOs to our MEO and GEO systems, to help them provide services faster, backhaul content faster, and increase resiliency,” said Mummert. One benefit of this connectivity across orbits is that it provides LEO satellites access to Telemetry, Tracking and Command (TT&C) capabilities. A guaranteed TT&C link in LEO gives operators a higher level of situational control, and ensures that satellites can “change orientation if they need to, or deal with any type of operational issue.”

For more on the commercial satcom, 3GPP standards and working with hyperscalers, listen to the full podcast episode.

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