Constellations spoke with Florian Thirion, Senior Product and Portfolio Marketing Manager at Airbus Defence and Space, about the transformative potential of software-defined satellites, including the ability to manage satellite resources in near real time.

Market Demands Software Definition

“This market is changing,” said Thirion. “We see an explosion of data, internet in mobility, streaming, and on-demand video.” Fixed satellite service revenues are also declining, which means there is more demand for high-throughput satellites that can give a mix of video and data. “All these trends led to a massive demand for more flexibility to diversify operator services and improve their capacity price.”

Software-definition also enables lower and progressive CapEx. For example, an operator could resell 50% of its capacity to another operator, or share launch costs, which improves the overall business case. Operators can also look forward to lower overall OpEx, as operating software-defined satellites requires fewer qualified people and improves resource management. “At the end of the day, this equation leads to a better cost per bit in orbit,” said Thirion.

There is greater pressure on delivery and the time to market, as well as greater price sensitivity from customers of satellite manufacturers. With the market increasingly uncertain, many operators want more flexible coverage that would allow them to adapt resources quickly. Software-defined satellites offer more sellable capacity than satellites with fixed hardware, while also reducing the time to market with generic design. This would allow for “very high flexibility in coverage, power and frequency, to drive more revenues and open new markets,” Thirion said.

Managing Resources Every 15 Minutes

Flexible coverage means that “you can customize the payload as much as you want,” said Thirion, as simple hardware design means different configurations can be customized by software. “With traditional satellites, you have fixed coverage over the Earth,” said Thirion. “While with software-defined satellites, you will be able to change the coverage… and so meet evolving and uncertain market needs.”

Software-defined satellites greatly improve an operator’s ability to allocate, adapt, and change resources in real time. “Operators will be able to open or stop resources… every 10 to 15 minutes with the new terminals,” said Thirion. Satellites will be able to generate thousands of independent beams—each one unique in size, shape and power—that can adapt in near real time. He also noted that the expanded configuration coverage will break down barriers between orbits. “There will be no limit between non-GEO and GEO operation,” creating satellite networks with incredible multi-orbit orchestration.

Operators working with software-defined satellites can also expect smoother interoperability with ground systems. “Manufacturers are not only selling a satellite anymore,” Thirion said. “They will sell an end-to-end offer with the ground, with software operational tools to control the hardware,” as well as payload configuration, resource management, and configuration coverage.

Thirion predicts that in the coming years, space and ground segments will become fully integrated, and software-definition will spread across multiple orbits, while also becoming more autonomous and flexible. As soon as commercial operators begin to use and test software-defined satellites, it’s going to give a significant advantage to end users, including a time advantage for those gathering data. “Governments and operators using this technology will have the information before anyone else,” making it a key enabler in the race for data.

Winning the Data Race and Other Applications

“Everything is possible with this new kind of satellite,” said Thirion. What applications would prove most useful? Most importantly, he said, software-defined satellites will help cross the digital divide. “More than two billion people are still unconnected in the world,” said Thirion. “Until the development of a terrestrial network, it means that you will be able to connect people that were not connected before.” Mobility and crisis management services will also be important areas supported by the next generation of satellites.

Next steps for the software-defined market includes integrating 5G, exploring optical comms for ultra-high throughput laser links, and massive data transfer. “This technology will allow from 10 to 100 gigabytes of data transfer,” said Thirion, “and also a terabit per second, or ultra-high throughput satellite systems.”

For more on cloud connectivity, the mobility market and AI in software-defined satellites, listen to the full episode here.

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