Space has always been the final frontier for communications technology. With all the activity in orbit, including ambitious, private-sector efforts from companies like SpaceX, there’s going to be increased pressure for 5G infrastructure to be deployed off-planet; however, this technology will need to be robust and fully space-hardened.
Satellites are the obvious destination for 5G technology, which will benefit consumers here on the ground with much lower latency than the incumbent 4G networks. Until recently, satellite communication has been independent from the broader mobile networking ecosystem. But with the incorporation of 5G architecture, the latest and greatest satellites are becoming key touchpoints in the networks that are offering a broad array of connectivity to support autonomous driving, ocean fleets, airplanes, and billions of small internet of things devices, particularly in remote, rural areas.
Although much fewer in numbers than the many satellites being launched in orbit by private enterprises, the last few years have also seen a rise in the number of space vehicles going into orbit. It’s no longer just supply and personnel trips for the International Space Station; there’s even talk about a space hotel — and you can bet guests are going to want reliable Wi-Fi in their weightless rooms.
All advanced technology eventually trickles down to the average consumer, so it’s inevitable that the 5G innovations made for space will come down to Earth. Regardless, 5G networking components need to endure the harsh reality of an extraterrestrial environment over long periods of time without hands-on maintenance. These demands will put pressure on designs and drive more advanced semiconductor capabilities.
Extraterrestrial 5G networking offers many benefits on the ground
Next-generation satellites are seen as playing a key role in the supporting 5G infrastructure around the world by offering extra bandwidth for data-intensive applications. Meanwhile, mobile networking providers are upgrading equipment on the ground to future-proof their infrastructure, including the ability to receive 5G signals beamed from space to deliver wireless customers a better user experience.
These customers vary widely. It could be a mobile gamer or a smartphone user streaming 4K video on a cellular network, but these 5G satellites can also support smart-home IoT devices, including appliances and security systems. Businesses benefit from extraterrestrial 5G support by being able to track shipping containers, doctors will be able to perform telesurgery, and utility and energy companies will be able to monitor the real-time status of power generators, gas lines, and oil pipelines. Autonomous vehicles and IoT devices around the world stand to benefit a great deal from 5G architecture in satellite communications.
Even as 5G equipment is being deployed on the ground, space-based 5G networks are being explored by companies such as Omnispace and Lockheed Martin to see how it can supplement terrestrial infrastructure. NASA and Northrup Grumman, meanwhile, are collaborating on a proof of concept for 5G in space, including an integrated communications unit that was tested in Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft for two weeks.
Just as all these ground-based devices have specific design considerations when incorporating 5G networking components, so, too, will those that are space-bound, and they will be added to the billions of mobile device users expected in the next few years, which will, in turn, dramatically increase the demand for bandwidth.
5G signals need space-hardened infrastructure
Building 5G architecture in space — whether it’s satellites or other spacecraft — has several key design considerations.
The high density of so many devices sharing 5G signals is going to put a lot of pressure on spectrum bandwidth, which is a finite resource. It could lead to radio-frequency interference that, in turn, affects the ability of satellites, airplanes, and other aerospace technology to operate effectively. With all these satellites going into space, there are concerns from existing operators, such as weather satellite operators, that newer 5G signals will encroach on their frequencies. And because most commercial 4G networks have used up all the available frequency-division duplexing (FDD) bands, most 5G networks will be using time-division duplexing (TDD) bands, which have their own unique requirements and are susceptible to different kinds of interference that could impact network latency and performance.
TDD architecture uses a single frequency band to transmit and receive, which offers advantages over FDD. However, designers are already having to address cross-link interference as 5G is deployed at on-the-ground base stations. This interference occurs when one station is transmitting and another is receiving in the same frequency band at the same time. This can be avoided by ensuring all base stations are either transmitting simultaneously or receiving simultaneously.
The high(er) power of these outdoor base stations is a factor. Because it creates better propagation conditions between them, cross-link interference can be significant when a base station in uplink is interfered by the downlink from another base station. Adding more 5G stations, even if they are in space, will make managing cross-link interference more complex.
As more emphasis is put on the “space” in aerospace, there will be a need to address the extreme conditions that 5G solutions will face in orbit. While base station equipment does need to be hardy, space has its own set of environmental demands, including intense heat and cold, extreme vibrations and high pressures, and more, all of which vary depending on whether a piece of equipment is in transit or in operation above Earth. While commercial aircraft and other military applications have forged some innovation on this front, building space-bound 5G architecture will drive the need for further advancements.
It’s not so much that the 5G systems themselves are different in space but that they need to be housed and connected differently. For one thing, they need to be able to take the heat that comes with being launched into space so that they don’t burn up in the atmosphere. This means that 5G architecture requires thermal shielding that protects it without interfering with operations. Keeping it from melting or fusing together requires effective yet compact cooling systems and thermal management that anticipates it leaving or entering the atmosphere, as well as operating in orbit for extended periods of time.
What to consider when designing for space
No matter what electronic systems you’re building for extraterrestrial use, you need to consider all the connectors and cables that weave them together, including 5G networking components. Housing for connectors and cables as well as the metals for the contacts will be critical for space-hardening any electronics, including 5G networking components, so they can handle high electrical current and ripple intensity and extremely low temperature once in orbit, while still delivering on the requirements for speed, latency, and performance. Space-age connectors and their housings will need to go beyond military-grade.
Monitoring the health of all these 5G networking components will be even more important than on the ground. Integrated electronic design has already been moving toward more advanced aircraft-health– monitoring systems so that pilots can understand any malfunctions and compensate. Doing so in space is just as critical and even more complex, as it requires a great deal of sensors working together, but they must also be able to function in space, making them somewhat costly. Adding to the challenge is that there will be a need for added redundancy in 5G systems, as even if a problem can be diagnosed, things are hard to repair when they’re in orbit.
Conclusion
The reality is that 5G networking is still in its early days, both here on the ground and in space. And even though we’re a long way from agreeing on what 6G will look like, China has claimed to have launched the first 6G satellite into space, tasked with making Earth observations and testing a high-frequency terahertz communication payload that could send data at speeds several times faster than 5G.
Space has always been at the cutting edge of technology advancements in part because necessity is the mother of invention. There’s a need for 5G architecture in orbit, which means there’s an imperative to figure out what must be done for 5G networking to perform and endure in space. Any innovation in the final frontier will ultimately come back to Earth to complement and enhance terrestrial 5G infrastructure.
