The lively online discussion hosted by Constellations focused on the topic of “Software-Defined Satellites Meet Software-Defined Ground.” The discussion was led by Euroconsult’s CEO Pacôme Révillon and included Bruno Fromont, Chief Technology Officer of Intelsat, Antonio Abad Martin, Chief Technical Officer of HISPASAT and Stuart Daughtridge, Vice President Advanced Technology of Kratos sharing insights on the future of a software-defined satellite world.

Software-Defined Satellites Key to Enabling Flexibility and Mobility

Bruno Fromont started the conversation explaining that software-defined satellites are more than just a new technology that will enable new applications. He said, “It’s a sign of our industry coming of age.”

He continued, “Many operators will just want to benefit from lower cost and replace their existing assets with software-defined payloads.” But others want the flexibility that software-defined satellites offer because when customer demand changes the satellites coverage, frequency, and power can be adjusted to meet the need. In this sense software-defined satellites offer an insurance policy against rapidly changing market dynamics.

Fromont explained that the dynamic nature of software-defined payloads enables satellite operators to deliver capacity where and when they need it. He said, “We think the application that will benefit the most will be obviously mobility, where the demand is changing all the time.” He also noted that although mobility is well suited for a software-defined capability, all applications will benefit from shorter cycles and lower capex down the road.

Adding another perspective to the discussion, Antonio Abad Martin made it clear that his thoughts were speculative, since there was no fully software-defined satellite in orbit today. He explained that the advantages of a software-defined satellite is that it can be reconfigured in orbit enabling the flexibility to adapt to the market. He said, “It allows for more efficient use of the payload, and probably to increase revenue that you can obtain based on the payload.”

In terms of the applications that will benefit most from the capabilities of software-defined satellites. Abad explained, “Most likely all applications where capacity is time-dependent.” He provided internet access as an application where a daily pattern profile exists in which people use the service at certain hours of the day. He went further by stating that the combination of those patterns with other patterns of capacity consumption could make for very interesting uses of payloads in the future.

Fromont addressed the optimization of these systems by stating that there is one single factor that has been driving the capacity and the capability of this industry, which is frequency reuse. He said, “With a software-defined satellite, I would say you could reclaim the full benefit of frequency reuse in time and space. And so, this is really the next level of optimization because now you can allocate within the envelope of power, spectrum, and geography in an optimal way with the right software and all the ground capabilities.”

He went further by saying he believes that software-defined satellites, at least in the GEO orbit are as or more cost-effective than most of the constellations that are being deployed today in other orbits, especially when you consider the cost per bit and the costs for the ground and space.

Abad wholeheartedly agreed with Fromont on software-defined capabilities and costs matching those of upcoming constellations. He also pointed out that satellites over the last 15 years that have delivered more flexibility have always cost more to build. He said, “The difference this time, that will make it succeed is that we get flexibility for a lower price. I think that this is the key success factor for the software-defined satellites.”

Keeping Pace with Space – the Implications for the Ground Segment

Daughtridge went further on the topic of ground saying that there have been many innovations in satellite technology, but that, “We still have a long way to go on the ground side to create a software-defined system that allows you to really monetize and take full advantage of the capability that you have in space.”

He explained that the satellite industry should take a page from the telecom industry where a customer can request a change to their existing service level and that change can occur in minutes, something that isn’t possible today in the satellite industry.

He stated that the ground segment must also become software-defined to deliver on this level of dynamism. He said, “This drives you to virtualizing your hardware for structuring the software Virtual Network Functions (VNFs). I think it drives you to orchestration systems to control that software so that you can rapidly deploy and respond to services, and I think it drives you to cloud-based infrastructures where you can scale up and scale down and get the resiliency that cloud offers. So, I think it drives you to the software ground that's got to match up to the capabilities that these software-defined satellites offer.”

Fromont fully agreed with this perspective stating that, “As you build and deploy software-defined assets, you need to match your investment on the ground if you want to fully take advantage of the capabilities of what you have invested in space.”

Discussing this more integrated network, Daughtridge said that software-defined satellites are much more like a network switch in the sky that is an integrated part of a wider network. He continued by saying, “That taking the satellite industry network to the next level means operating that switch in the sky with the ground infrastructure in a coordinated manner.”

Daughtridge explained that software-defined satellites that can be updated, for example every ten minutes require a ground planning process that runs at the same speed to keep pace. He said, “That “having a satellite that can update every five minutes and having a ground system that can deploy services on the fly is great, but if you're planning process takes three hours, it really limits the value.”

He emphasized the importance of having ground systems that can keep pace with new advanced satellites. He said, “When you start driving to that level of automation, all of a sudden, you can drive other efficiencies into your operations because now you can not only optimize on services, but you can start optimizing on weather and stop optimizing around interference and things like that because if your planning cycle's now every 10 minutes, well, it's pretty easy to know what the weather is going to be in 10 minutes.”

Daughtridge continued discussing the benefits of this software-defined ground approach by explaining that it opens-up new business models since there is much less capital expenses to make upfront. The software can be purchased as consumption grows. He said, “That changes how satellite operators consume the ground when they can tie the cost of the ground way closer to revenue generation.”

Fromont reinforced Daughtridge’s comment saying, “It's a tremendous asset for operators and this will translate into new services for the end-users. From long-term commitments to more pay-as-you-go models, which now will be very efficient to run. Before it was really difficult to assign this, but now it is something that can be translated into the marketplace.”

Abad also agreed, explaining that the ground segment has grown in importance. He noted that the ground segment is the third largest expense after the costs of the satellite and the launcher. He said, “We are now putting a lot of focus in the ground segment because it has become very important from a budgeting standpoint in the overall capex program.”

5G, Integration with Terrestrial Networks and Massive Market Opportunities

A key element agreed upon by all the panelists was the necessity of connecting satellite systems to their terrestrial counterparts, as-a-means to expand their market share. Fromont stated that 5G is playing a critical role in enabling this integration to occur.

He explained that with 5G the non-terrestrial network has been integrated in the release of the standard, which brings the promise in the future of having the ability to leverage the chipset made for the mobile industry into the satellite industry. In addition, by applying standards and software-defined capabilities, different network elements can be orchestrated and managed across satellite and terrestrial networks end-to-end.

Fromont said that the satellite industry is a very small portion, about 1% of the terrestrial business. Abad echoed these sentiments stating that the integration with terrestrial networks is paramount for the future of the satellite industry, and that the software-defined satellites are providing a good opportunity for improving this in theory.

Fromont agreed and reinforced the point by saying that, “5G is bringing the ability of these networks to interact with each other to provide that scale and flexibility at a macro level between the space and the ground. He said, “It's just another way to route traffic, whether on the ground or in space. It shouldn't matter to the end-user.”

Abad went further by saying, “At the end of the day, what it is very clear, is that the user doesn't care whether they are using satellite or terrestrial or whatever. The user wants connectivity, and the role of the satellite in the connectivity world would be to provide connectivity in a seamless manner with the other 99% of the connectivity providers that are terrestrial.”