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Communications Space

SpaceX Competitor Lynk Testing 5G Cellphone Service From Space (space.com) 49

Posted by BeauHD from the can-you-hear-me-now dept.
Lynk, a competitor to the much larger SpaceX, plans to offer an experimental 5G cellular base station aboard a mission in December, working alongside an undisclosed cellular partner. Space.com reports: The experimental payload will launch on Lynk's second commercial satellite, company officials said. "This test will demonstrate the ability to send a 5G signal from space to standard mobile devices on Earth," Lynk officials wrote in late September. The test is a shot across the bow to SpaceX, which has already signed a deal with T-Mobile for cellular service but, unlike Lynk, does not yet have Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval. Lynk received the prized FCC thumbs-up just a few weeks ago.

Lynk and SpaceX are jostling for market access to people living in rural areas who lack access to standard internet service. Lynk already tested a satellite-to-phone service link last year, according to Via Satellite, and is ramping up service fast in a bid to keep ahead of the competition. "We are actively testing satellite-direct-to-phone-services in 12 countries on five continents," Dan Dooley, chief commercial officer of Lynk, said in the same company statement. The company's patent allows the orbiting cell tower to link up with standard 5G devices in 55 countries, Lynk says.
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SpaceX Competitor Lynk Testing 5G Cellphone Service From Space More

SpaceX Competitor Lynk Testing 5G Cellphone Service From Space

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  • Bad news for the anti-5G nutjobs (Score:4, Funny)

    by devslash0 ( 4203435 ) on Tuesday October 11, 2022 @07:47AM (#62955881)

    You can't take this cell phone tower down with your axes and hacksaws. Mind control is here to stay.

    • This is your brain.

      This is your brain next to a handheld transmitter that's powerful enough to transmit to space.

  • 5G has a very short range, so it seems incredibly unlikely to work from a satellite a hundred miles or further away. Not to mention for people inside buildings. Perhaps the small print says it supplements existing tower infrastructure and downgrades to GSM, GPRS or something when there is no coverage. Doesn't seem likely you're going to get decent data anywhere unless there is a dish & terminal to act as a basestation that goes with it.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by rjr162 ( 69736 )

      What? 5G is just the protocol types, the frequencies it works in varies.

      T-Mobile in the US has 5G Band n71 which works in the old Over-The-Air TV frequencies of 600MHz, and they bid for that one on the exact premise the signal travels further.

      Other frequencies have other characteristics of course but...

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        The antenna that can beam form 600MHz to spots not covered by terrestrial 5G, from a satellite in orbit, and receive the return signal from the phone, is going to be pretty impressive.

    • There are different frequency bands that can be used for 5G, low, medium and high. A single low band (~600MHz) cell can cover hundreds of square miles. But not with very high data rates. Mostly meant for rural areas and IoT applications. Maybe that can reach space (I'm not sure if it can get through the ionosphere).

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by fazig ( 2909523 )
      Starlink operates in the same range of frequencies that the 2nd 5G frequency range uses.
      But then again Starlink's hardware on the side of the user does use a phased array antenna to work both as a receiver and emitter.

      So maybe if you're willing to carry a large antenna around that has a large enough gain...

    • 5G has a very short range

      5G does not define range. It defines a protocol and air interface, both of which have a longer range than 4G (slightly). You are confusing 5G (the technology) with the frequency band which *may* be assigned to it. 5G in the common sub 6GHz bands have longer range than 4G. 5G in the k-band (which you are referring to) are short range and not at all what is being discussed here.

      • NR has the frequency range of all previous standards. It's a common mistake to think 5G is Gigahertz. It adapts to the circumstances.

        5G architect here. If anyone have questions.

        • I actually do have a little question. One of the main selling points of 5G is the increased subscriber numbers per cell. I'm curious what the limitation in 4G was in this case. I have my suspicions that it was something to do with the way the air-interface divides up resources, but then why are there different subscriber number limitations for femtocells, microcells, etc defined for 5G? Basically, what defines the current limitation for subscribers?

    • Someone with money fell for their 5G buzzword test, and said ok here's the money. Prepare to be shocked when their results are 'no signal detected'. Well, unless they use a giant satellite dish - would that even work for 5G?
    • And that's the real reason -- even with GSM/GPRS speeds, connected cars and their stinking spyware will work everywhere.

    • Exactly, I was wondering about this.

      I recall the demo with a glass door - close door, no signal and open door, get signal.

      Can the signal even get thru tree branches if you are standing below a tree?

      Or is this glorified 4G, being called 5G ?

    • The truly curious can search the FCC and USPTO web sites for most of the technical information.
      FCC [fcc.gov]: search results [fcc.gov] include "Technical Narrative" and "Sched S Tech Report".
      USPTO [uspto.gov]: search "Lynk Global" or patent "10523313 B2", "Method And Apparatus For Handling Communications Between Spacecraft Operating In An Orbital Environment And Terrestrial Telecommunications Devices That Use Terrestrial Base Station Communications".

      There are similar documents for AST&Space's SpaceMobile system.

  • In the same decade that China is developing ever more powerful anti satellite killers the west seems hell bent on relying ever more on this 1960s technology.

    Other than for services that just can't be done any other way - eg data for weather forecasting - the era of the satellite will be coming to a close one way or another despite what musk et al think because china and russia will eventually make sure of that. And no, I'm not suggesting more cable links since russia demonstrated they're vulnerable too, but

    • The truth is any nation with a space launch capability can hit any point on earth. Sure, satellites are vulnerable. But so is everything else. Arguably the threshold for attacking satellites is lower, but arguably it is not, because blinding a nation's satellites is exactly what you would do to increase the success of a preemptive nuclear strike.

  • From space to Earth isn't the problem (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Locke2005 ( 849178 ) on Tuesday October 11, 2022 @09:35AM (#62956187)
    "This test will demonstrate the ability to send a 5G signal from space to standard mobile devices on Earth." I wouldn't think a much bigger problem would be getting a signal from my tiny cell phone with it's omnidirectional antenna back up to the satellite!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by U0K ( 6195040 )
      I can imagine the uplink to work in a similar fashion as "satellite internet" has been working for decades, simply using a more traditional communication channel.

      Old fashioned satellite internet used to use an aDSL or even POTS connection for an uplink. In this case with 5G downlink satellites it could be used whatever the closest cellphone tower offers, transmit it to a base station which then sends it as a powerful enough signal to the satellite network. This of course will mean that the uplink is likel
      • That model works fine for streaming. For internet gaming, not so much. Of course, my bonded ADSL line offers 20MB download and only 1.7MB upload speed anyway, so non-orthogonal quality of service is pretty much normal.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by U0K ( 6195040 )
          Yes, asymmetrical down- and upload are very common for non business customers for tethered internet connections like various DSL implementations. ISPs usually do not want you to run some file servers without paying extra for some business package.

          Latency could potentially be an issue for gaming, but transfer rates usually do not need to be high in the upload, unless perhaps some peer to peer networking is used where the upload doesn't only need to go to a single server which then distributes it to other c
    • SpaceX and T-Mobile focus on direct satellite-to-smartphone https://www.analysysmason.com/... [analysysmason.com]

  • I work in the industry. True 5G is millimeter-wave transmission and is very short range. It would take a decade to actually deploy. What these "telecoms" are claiming to be 5G is simply multi-plexed 4G. Don't buy the hype.

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