- Email: [email protected]
Skybridge: Global coverage, local operation
SkyBridge: Global Coverage, Local Operation Among the strategic projects of ALCATEL SPACE there is SKYBRIDGE. This article presents the situation of the programme. T t ~ h e industrial partners (among em the SRIW) have constituted e tour de table" financing the ase B and the beginning of phase C. • The big 'Telecom' operators joined us in March 1999, which allowed us to undertake the phase C/D. • The industrial contract related to the ground segment - which is part of the phase C/D - was passed in early 1999 between ALCATEL SPACE and SKYBRIDGE LP. • The industrial contract "Gateway" is expected to be passed rather soon. The gateways are complex: they necessitate the use of the ALCATEL most recent technologies in terms of large band switching (Alcatel Bell is a large part involved). The Prime Contractor for the gateways is ALCATEL SPACE, with strong assistance of the 'Ground Station' unit, of Alcatel Bell Space (Hoboken), and of Alcatel ETCA. • Terminals are presently being studied with participation of different companies. The critical point is the antenna. • The 80-satellite constellation will be deployed from the end of 2001. • The gateways, associated with the main programme, represent a market the value of which is estimated at $2 billion (200 gateways, $10 million each). With a per-user traffic capacity of n x 20 Mbps in the downstream link and n x 2 Mbps in the return link, SkyBridge offers broadband delivery capability comparable to that of a terrestrial fiberoptic "last mile" solution.
We consider firstly the SkyBridge services and applications. SkyBridge is an ideal access network for real-time, highly interactive services such as: • High-speed access to Internet, and more generally, on-line services; • Telecommuting through access to corporate servers, LANs and Intranets; • Videoconferencing and videotelephony; • Distance learning; • Telemedicine; • Entertainment services: interactive video on demand, electronic games, and more. In addition, SkyBridge will provide: • Infrastructure links for point-to-point connections.
lid
• Enhanced narrowband services for voice and data transmission. SkyBridge is part of the telecoms revolution that is fostering economic growth and creating jobs even in regions with inadequate telecommunication infrastructure. SkyBridge is ideal for integrating isolated regions into a nation's mainstream. By enabling universal access to the information society, SkyBridge will be a powerful promoter of progress throughout the world - see tables I and IL
How SkyBridge works SkyBridge will use a constellation of 80 satellites orbiting at an altitude of 913 miles (1469 kin) in the Ku-band. This
...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................RMS & JNSnWnONS low earth orbit allows the short signal propagation - 20 milliseconds - needed for real-time interactive capability. Traffic from user terminals will run transparently through satellites (without any on-board processing: a technique known as "bent pipe") to a local access gateway; approximately 200 gateway stations are planned around the world
(figure I). Gateway stations will interface with the existing terrestrial infrastructure through an ATM switch, ensuring seamless integration into these networks. From the gateway earth stations, traffic passes to users with low-cost antennas. Users may be businesses or private individuals, in houses, offices, apartment buildings, factories, schools, hospitals... just about anywhere. Each access gateway collects traffic from terminals within a circular area whose diameter is 435 miles (700 kin). In fact, each of these spots is de facto a local network. At any given moment, at least one satellite (and up to three in the temperate latitudes) will be over each area of the earth's surface. Unsurpassed flexibility is ensured by localizing the traffic processing within the gateway, thus guaranteeing that the network will evolve as rapidly as enduser needs. Management of the 80-satellite constellation will be performed through a worldwide satellite operation control system, providing constant availability of the service to end-users.
Figure I. SkyBridge will use a constellation of 80 satellites 'LEO'. Traffic from user terminals will run "transparently" through satellites to a local access to about 200 gateway stations (Doc. SkyBridge, an Alcatel Company).
It ensures better propagation characteristics than upper frequencies, thus providing high quality of service; It optimizes the end-user terminal design and cost (see table III). As a result of the deployment capability and the exclusive emphasis on local infrastructure, SkyBridge is a highly competitive solution for on-line broadband service delivery. Local management of the system's capacity also reinforces the program's flexibility, keeping it abreast of the service trends and market changes beyond the beginning of the next cen~ry. At the dawn of a new millennium, SkyBridge is poised to combine the advantages of a worldwide system delivery, affordable services and the advantages of local use to suit user needs everywhere.
The SkyBridge value chain Delivery of SkyBridge services involves three levels (figure 2): • The U.S.-based company, SkyBridge L.P., leases satellite transmission capacity to local operators above each operator's territory. Its role is to ensure global coverage and high quality of service. • Gateway operators provide capacity to local service-providers. Their role is regional and national, depending on their territorial licenses, and they provide interconnection between the SkyBridge system and the terrestrial networks. • Local service-providers are the SkyBridge retailers. They are responsible for local implementation, offering value-added services and client management.
Cost-competitive multimedia delivery The network architecture of SkyBridge makes it a system that is both simple and low-cost. Since the satellites operate as a complementary access network, they are used only to connect users to terrestrial networks via local gateway stations, which belong to local operators. The satellites, compatible with several launchers, will be sent into orbit in groups. The system will be up and running in the year 2001. The selection of the mastered Ku-band presents several key competitive advantages: It minimizes development costs, and therefore schedule;
Figure 2. SkyBridge value chain. Three levels: (i) Space segment; (ii) Gateway Operation Segment; (iii) Local Service Provider (Doc. SkyBridge, an Alcatel Company). W
AIR
& SPACE
EUROPE
o VOL.
I • No
3 - 1999
business strategy and dynamism in developing solutions for high-speed access to the Internet." Mr. Lindsay Yelland, Group Managing Director, Telstra Business Solutions, said SkyBridge had the potential to Telstra signs in-principle agreement with Skyprovide the next generation of broadband communiBridge global satellite consortium cations to even the most remote parts of Australia. "SkyBridge would complement our terrestrial backbone Bethesda, MD, June 23,1999: The international satellite and access technologies portfolio," Mr.Yelland said. company, SkyBridge LP,and Telstra have taken another "It has the potential to provide services which are comstep towards a venture under which Telstra would pro- parable to those now becoming available in metropolivide broadband satellite services to Australasia and tan areas in terms of cost, speed and capability. This South-East Asia in 2002. would be the next evolution in satellite-based broadSkyBridge LP and Telstra have signed an in-principle band services, building on the satellite telephony, data agreement which gives Telstra first option to become an and Internet services that Telstra is about to launch in equity partner and SkyBridge LP's regional service rural and remote Australia." provider for Australasia and the South-East region. Telstra's involvement with SkyBridge in the wider AusThe final agreement is subject to commercial, technical tralasia and South-Asia region is expected to be based and legal due diligence and current negotiations are on the further development of global alliances and expected to conclude by the third quarter of this year. bilateral agreements, in line with its existing international President and CEO of SkyBridge LP,Pascale Sourisse,said strategy. telecommunication operators would be the corner- SkyBridge LP is a company led by Alcatel. Alongside stone in the provision of SkyBridge. Alcatel its industrial partners are: Loral Space & Commu"Welcoming Telstra as a regional service provider of Sky- nication and EMS Technologies of the United States; Bridge in Asia Pacific will be a major step forward," Ms COM DEV of Canada; Mitsubishi Electric, Sharp and Sourisse said. "Telstra is very well positioned to provide Toshiba of Japan, SRIW of Belgium; CNES and SNECMA SkyBridge services in this region in light of its broadband of France.
Very important news about SkyBridge
International partners with local assets: the keys to SkyBridge's success Initiated in 1993 by Alcatel, a leading telecommunications turnkey system supplier with a key expertise in satellite solutions, the SkyBridge program won the backing of major multinationals as well as local bodies within a few months. As of today, the following corn-
panies have entered the SkyBridge consortium: U.S.'s Loral Space & Communications, Japan's Toshiba, Mitsubishi Electric and Sharp; Canada's SPAR and COM DEV; Aerospace France's Aerospafiale, and CNES; and Belgium's Soci6td R6gionale d'Investissement de Wallonie. Their capital commitment to SkyBridge is not only proof of their belief in the program's viability; it is also an invitation to others to join in, pioneering this on-line multimedia service.
m
Emphasis now turns to developing the consortium through operators and service-providers. For SkyBridge, this next step is essential. The program's success hinges on local gateways, local operators and local service-providers supplying local users. The key word is local.
ITU Decision Supports SkyBridge Meeting in Geneva in November 1997, the 187-nation World Radiocornmunication Conference of the 1TU moved deci-
Figure 3. The main stages of the SkyBird SkyBridge project main steps (Doc. SkyBridge, an Alcatel Company).
sively to facilitate the worldwide introduction of satellite-based multimedia services. The body, which seeks to establish true competition in the broadband industry, agreed to allow non-geostationary systems to use the Ku-band (10 18 GHz) - a significant part of the radio spectrum, some of which SkyBridge plans to use. Countries from all regions of the world supported the SkyBridge approach to frequency sharing and re-use among LEO, GEO, and ground systems. They emphasized the importance of sharing to encourage rapid deployment of new broadband LEO satellite technologies and to permit efficient use of - as well as equitable access to- the frequency spectrum.
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Due to its simple architecture, its secured technical choices, as well as its plans to operate exclusively with local operators and service-providers, SkyBridge will be ready for service in 2001
This article is published with the kind permission of SkyBridge, an Alcatel company.
(figure 3).
•
AIR
& SPACE
EUROPE
• VOL.
I •
No
3 -
1999
We consider firstly the SkyBridge services and applications. SkyBridge is an ideal access network for real-time, highly interactive services such as: • High-speed access to Internet, and more generally, on-line services; • Telecommuting through access to corporate servers, LANs and Intranets; • Videoconferencing and videotelephony; • Distance learning; • Telemedicine; • Entertainment services: interactive video on demand, electronic games, and more. In addition, SkyBridge will provide: • Infrastructure links for point-to-point connections.
lid
• Enhanced narrowband services for voice and data transmission. SkyBridge is part of the telecoms revolution that is fostering economic growth and creating jobs even in regions with inadequate telecommunication infrastructure. SkyBridge is ideal for integrating isolated regions into a nation's mainstream. By enabling universal access to the information society, SkyBridge will be a powerful promoter of progress throughout the world - see tables I and IL
How SkyBridge works SkyBridge will use a constellation of 80 satellites orbiting at an altitude of 913 miles (1469 kin) in the Ku-band. This
...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................RMS & JNSnWnONS low earth orbit allows the short signal propagation - 20 milliseconds - needed for real-time interactive capability. Traffic from user terminals will run transparently through satellites (without any on-board processing: a technique known as "bent pipe") to a local access gateway; approximately 200 gateway stations are planned around the world
(figure I). Gateway stations will interface with the existing terrestrial infrastructure through an ATM switch, ensuring seamless integration into these networks. From the gateway earth stations, traffic passes to users with low-cost antennas. Users may be businesses or private individuals, in houses, offices, apartment buildings, factories, schools, hospitals... just about anywhere. Each access gateway collects traffic from terminals within a circular area whose diameter is 435 miles (700 kin). In fact, each of these spots is de facto a local network. At any given moment, at least one satellite (and up to three in the temperate latitudes) will be over each area of the earth's surface. Unsurpassed flexibility is ensured by localizing the traffic processing within the gateway, thus guaranteeing that the network will evolve as rapidly as enduser needs. Management of the 80-satellite constellation will be performed through a worldwide satellite operation control system, providing constant availability of the service to end-users.
Figure I. SkyBridge will use a constellation of 80 satellites 'LEO'. Traffic from user terminals will run "transparently" through satellites to a local access to about 200 gateway stations (Doc. SkyBridge, an Alcatel Company).
It ensures better propagation characteristics than upper frequencies, thus providing high quality of service; It optimizes the end-user terminal design and cost (see table III). As a result of the deployment capability and the exclusive emphasis on local infrastructure, SkyBridge is a highly competitive solution for on-line broadband service delivery. Local management of the system's capacity also reinforces the program's flexibility, keeping it abreast of the service trends and market changes beyond the beginning of the next cen~ry. At the dawn of a new millennium, SkyBridge is poised to combine the advantages of a worldwide system delivery, affordable services and the advantages of local use to suit user needs everywhere.
The SkyBridge value chain Delivery of SkyBridge services involves three levels (figure 2): • The U.S.-based company, SkyBridge L.P., leases satellite transmission capacity to local operators above each operator's territory. Its role is to ensure global coverage and high quality of service. • Gateway operators provide capacity to local service-providers. Their role is regional and national, depending on their territorial licenses, and they provide interconnection between the SkyBridge system and the terrestrial networks. • Local service-providers are the SkyBridge retailers. They are responsible for local implementation, offering value-added services and client management.
Cost-competitive multimedia delivery The network architecture of SkyBridge makes it a system that is both simple and low-cost. Since the satellites operate as a complementary access network, they are used only to connect users to terrestrial networks via local gateway stations, which belong to local operators. The satellites, compatible with several launchers, will be sent into orbit in groups. The system will be up and running in the year 2001. The selection of the mastered Ku-band presents several key competitive advantages: It minimizes development costs, and therefore schedule;
Figure 2. SkyBridge value chain. Three levels: (i) Space segment; (ii) Gateway Operation Segment; (iii) Local Service Provider (Doc. SkyBridge, an Alcatel Company). W
AIR
& SPACE
EUROPE
o VOL.
I • No
3 - 1999
business strategy and dynamism in developing solutions for high-speed access to the Internet." Mr. Lindsay Yelland, Group Managing Director, Telstra Business Solutions, said SkyBridge had the potential to Telstra signs in-principle agreement with Skyprovide the next generation of broadband communiBridge global satellite consortium cations to even the most remote parts of Australia. "SkyBridge would complement our terrestrial backbone Bethesda, MD, June 23,1999: The international satellite and access technologies portfolio," Mr.Yelland said. company, SkyBridge LP,and Telstra have taken another "It has the potential to provide services which are comstep towards a venture under which Telstra would pro- parable to those now becoming available in metropolivide broadband satellite services to Australasia and tan areas in terms of cost, speed and capability. This South-East Asia in 2002. would be the next evolution in satellite-based broadSkyBridge LP and Telstra have signed an in-principle band services, building on the satellite telephony, data agreement which gives Telstra first option to become an and Internet services that Telstra is about to launch in equity partner and SkyBridge LP's regional service rural and remote Australia." provider for Australasia and the South-East region. Telstra's involvement with SkyBridge in the wider AusThe final agreement is subject to commercial, technical tralasia and South-Asia region is expected to be based and legal due diligence and current negotiations are on the further development of global alliances and expected to conclude by the third quarter of this year. bilateral agreements, in line with its existing international President and CEO of SkyBridge LP,Pascale Sourisse,said strategy. telecommunication operators would be the corner- SkyBridge LP is a company led by Alcatel. Alongside stone in the provision of SkyBridge. Alcatel its industrial partners are: Loral Space & Commu"Welcoming Telstra as a regional service provider of Sky- nication and EMS Technologies of the United States; Bridge in Asia Pacific will be a major step forward," Ms COM DEV of Canada; Mitsubishi Electric, Sharp and Sourisse said. "Telstra is very well positioned to provide Toshiba of Japan, SRIW of Belgium; CNES and SNECMA SkyBridge services in this region in light of its broadband of France.
Very important news about SkyBridge
International partners with local assets: the keys to SkyBridge's success Initiated in 1993 by Alcatel, a leading telecommunications turnkey system supplier with a key expertise in satellite solutions, the SkyBridge program won the backing of major multinationals as well as local bodies within a few months. As of today, the following corn-
panies have entered the SkyBridge consortium: U.S.'s Loral Space & Communications, Japan's Toshiba, Mitsubishi Electric and Sharp; Canada's SPAR and COM DEV; Aerospace France's Aerospafiale, and CNES; and Belgium's Soci6td R6gionale d'Investissement de Wallonie. Their capital commitment to SkyBridge is not only proof of their belief in the program's viability; it is also an invitation to others to join in, pioneering this on-line multimedia service.
m
Emphasis now turns to developing the consortium through operators and service-providers. For SkyBridge, this next step is essential. The program's success hinges on local gateways, local operators and local service-providers supplying local users. The key word is local.
ITU Decision Supports SkyBridge Meeting in Geneva in November 1997, the 187-nation World Radiocornmunication Conference of the 1TU moved deci-
Figure 3. The main stages of the SkyBird SkyBridge project main steps (Doc. SkyBridge, an Alcatel Company).
sively to facilitate the worldwide introduction of satellite-based multimedia services. The body, which seeks to establish true competition in the broadband industry, agreed to allow non-geostationary systems to use the Ku-band (10 18 GHz) - a significant part of the radio spectrum, some of which SkyBridge plans to use. Countries from all regions of the world supported the SkyBridge approach to frequency sharing and re-use among LEO, GEO, and ground systems. They emphasized the importance of sharing to encourage rapid deployment of new broadband LEO satellite technologies and to permit efficient use of - as well as equitable access to- the frequency spectrum.
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Due to its simple architecture, its secured technical choices, as well as its plans to operate exclusively with local operators and service-providers, SkyBridge will be ready for service in 2001
This article is published with the kind permission of SkyBridge, an Alcatel company.
(figure 3).
•
AIR
& SPACE
EUROPE
• VOL.
I •
No
3 -
1999