A digital 3D illustration of a futuristic tunnel with bright neon light rays converging towards a distant center, giving the impression of traveling at high speed through outer space.

Constellations spoke with executives from Rivada Space Networks about building satellite infrastructure that telcos can access. Declan Ganley, CEO, and Konrad Nieradka, Vice President of Product Development, discussed the shifting relationship between telecom and satcom, building a laser-mesh OuterNET and creating the first multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) network in LEO.

Finding ‘Hilltop’ Orbits

Ganley opened the conversation with a discussion of how space-based optical links could play a key role in secure satellite networks. By placing these links above the atmosphere, the near vacuum environment allows for much faster and more secure communication networks. “If you eliminate the fiber and you just have a pure light laser link,” Ganley describes, “then the speed of that link is faster than light through fiber.”

Ganley is also interested in access to a variety of orbits. By using low Earth orbits that are slightly higher than average—about 1,050 kilometers—he hopes to create what he calls “hilltop sites” within the satellite environment. Rivada also takes advantage of “polar orbits at 89-degree inclination, which means that the routes that we can take through that satellite mesh,” Ganley describes. “Think of it like a fishing net cast around the whole planet.”

But what do you do with a massive satellite fishing net? Simple: you build the OuterNET.

Building the OuterNET

Access to both the high LEO orbits and the polar orbits creates faster routing options and multiple routing paths for a wide range of traffic. With this, Rivada plans to create “something distinct and separate from the internet, that is truly global, that can cover any square meter of the surface of the planet.” Unlike other satellite constellations, it doesn’t use ground relay. “Every other satellite constellation that you’ve heard of, whether it’s a geostationary or whether it’s even a low Earth orbit satellite, they all use ground relay stations.”

The OuterNET, on the other hand, “takes the internet, the subsea cables, all of those things out of the equation, and it instead puts you on its laser mesh network and can send you anywhere around the planet from any point to the other.” This system also creates greater security. “The attack surface on the network, because we don’t use ground relay, is much, much smaller than it is on any other network.”

Aligning Satellite with Telcos

With the OuterNET, Rivada plans to create the first multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) network in LEO. “It means that it’s a network that follows and complies with the same standards as the big telecom networks do on the ground,” Ganley says. MPLS is a telco routing technique that offers guaranteed throughput. “These sorts of agreements that comply in the terrestrial environment can now be applied to this particular LEO constellations,” Ganley adds.

As VP of Product Development at Rivada, Konrad Nieradka is working towards integrating the Carrier Ethernet standard, which would allow telcos to access the OuterNET. “Satellite operators are quite new to the Carrier Ethernet ecosystem,” Nieradka says. Using Carrier Ethernet “enables a plug-and-play experience when integrating operators, service providers, and end-user systems.”

As satellite and telecom integrate, companies like Rivada hope to provide a unique service. Even the largest international carriers don’t have a global presence. The largest ones, Nieradka says, “are reaching at most three continents.” But connectivity through space allows telcos to “extend the reach of their terrestrial networks into new territories without expensive capital expenditure and multi-year prolonged deployment efforts.”

For more on the Carrier Ethernet ecosystem, prioritizing spectrum assets and open access technology, listen to the full episode here.