There are more than 4000 satellites in orbit around the world. Are there too many satellites in the sky? Why build a low-orbit satellite Internet? Will satellites be used in future communications? Where are the opportunities and challenges for building a satellite Internet?

News (www.thepaperc.cn) reporters recently interviewed Liu Jinlong, head of the commercial aerospace industry in the Asia-Pacific region of NI in Shanghai. Liu Jinlong has 16 years of experience in related testing business in the aerospace and defense industries. He was deeply involved in the establishment of the innovative test system of the first domestic commercial satellite company, and witnessed the successful launch of the first domestic commercial satellite supported by these innovative test technologies and the realization of the constellation networking process of more than 20 satellites. 刘金龙

Liu Jinlong

In answering the aforementioned question, Liu Jinlong said that satellites are not the ultimate demand, and launching satellites is not the ultimate goal. There are not many satellites in the sky, and the judgment is based on whether the satellite service meets people’s needs.

At present, whether it is remote sensing satellites or communication satellites, the number is “undersupply.” “Hundreds of low-orbit satellites may be launched to cover the world, but at any point, once there are more people calling, it will not be able to serve. This is the reason why tens of thousands of satellites are sent.”

Liu Jinlong said that from a communications point of view, even compared with the number of ground base stations in China, “tens of thousands of satellites are actually not many.”

At present, there are only more than 4,000 satellites in orbit around the world. Are more than 4,000 satellites orbiting the earth “crowded”? Liu Jinlong drew an analogy, “If you put more than 4,000 cars on the earth, it seems that you don’t need traffic lights.” Of course, satellites have orbits and frequencies. From this perspective, they are scarce resources.

Before a large number of satellites go to the sky, it is the planning of the satellite network. Liu Jinlong said that the first thing to do is to break through theoretical issues, including how many satellites to launch, what frequency band to use for communication, and what coding method to use. When there are no satellites in the sky, the ground laboratory needs to simulate the situation of the constellation prototype.

“Many people say why don’t you see Chinese satellites go to the sky in large quantities? If these theoretical problems are not solved, they will have to iterate after the satellites are released. The largest satellitesThe problem is that it won’t come back if you post it. “

The mid- and downstream links of satellite Internet construction are satellite manufacturing and ground terminal manufacturing, and the technical innovation of commercial devices for commercial aerospace is not small at all.” It is very difficult to make a satellite terminal very small and low in cost. “Even companies like SpaceX are also seeking to reduce terminal costs, reducing equipment costing several thousand dollars to several hundred dollars.

Under the integration of satellite communications and 5G communications A generation of integrated air, ground and sea communication networks is an earlier research direction proposed by NI. Will satellites be used in future communications? Liu Jinlong said that at present, satellites are more likely. “For ordinary users, we The hope is that the participation of satellites is not felt, but the satellites truly become an important node in the complex heterogeneous network. “

People who do satellites look down, those who do terrestrial cellular networks look up, but “encounters are not always a sweet thing.” It is impossible to communicate with 5G without moving satellite communication. The communication efficiency of moving satellite communication to the ground is too low. There is a huge gap in the communication system between satellite communication network and terrestrial communication network. How to integrate is another challenge.
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