Broadband High-Throughput Satellites

Abstract

Rapid growth in demand for broadband Internet services has brought new challenges to the satellite industry. Satellite networks must have an incredible amount of bandwidth to deliver high-speed broadband service to a large population of subscribers. Ku-band transponder satellites, which comprise a large fraction of the current worldwide fleet, are typically limited to 1-2 Gbps of total capacity. Ku-band satellites do not have the scale and bandwidth economics required to provide a compelling broadband service. To satisfy the demand for Internet bandwidth, large broadband satellites need 100 s of Gbps of capacity. The satellite industry has responded to this challenge with new payload designs and new satellite system architectures, advancing into higher-frequency bands and incorporating aggressive frequency reuse, advanced waveforms, adaptive coding and modulation, and other techniques. Broadband satellites approaching 150 Gbps of capacity are now in orbit. Satellites with up to 350 Gbps of capacity are being manufactured and will be launched in the 2016–2017 timeframe. The 1000 Gbps barrier will be exceeded in 2020 with the launch of recently announced third-generation broadband satellites from ViaSat.