Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

Recently, Huawei Mate 50 and Apple iPhone14 two new phones equipped with satellite communications have aroused widespread discussion. In the current era of increasingly flagging mobile phone innovation, consumers are increasingly aesthetic tired in the cycle of new phones and no surprises year after year. The two big companies agreed to carry a new capability for mobile phones-satellite communications, which quickly attracted the attention of a large number of netizens.

Satellite communication itself is not a new cool techs, but an extremely mature and widely used communication technology. Satellite communications are directly connected to satellites in space, which can basically cover all the areas of activity that can be reached by human beings, and are often used in special fields such as geological exploration, ocean transportation, forest patrolling and so on. Smart phones, coupled with satellite communications, can also keep in touch with the outside world without signals in some "information wastelands" such as oceans, deserts and forests. In some extreme cases, people can send short distress messages through the satellite communication function of their mobile phones.

The smartphones released by the two companies have not only attracted the attention of the eyes with novel features, but also brought the sound of controversy. After all, satellite communication is not a new technology, and there are special satellite phones in the market. These satellite phones are widely used in both military and civilian fields.

There are substitutes in the market, and the satellite communication functions disclosed by the two new mobile phones this time only have basic one-way communication capabilities, so why can they still arouse widespread concern and discussion? What are mobile phone manufacturers aiming at?

What can swaddling satellite communications bring to mobile phone manufacturers? The new phones released by Huawei and Apple have caused a lot of splash. However, its mobile satellite communication function can only send messages in one way and can not receive information. Today, when satellite phones are widely used, why do mobile phone manufacturers bother to achieve satellite communications in mobile phones?

1. It enriches some special scenarios with demand direction. At present, the mobile phone scene has expanded to the bottleneck period, so it is difficult to perceive and expand the new scene with demand. For ocean-going communications, oil exploration, scientific research or emergency rescue activities in remote areas such as sea, forest, desert and other special scenarios with demand, mobile satellite communication can provide support for emergency communication services.

two。 Activate the innovation space of the industrial chain. Facing the 6G era, operators, parts manufacturers, equipment manufacturers and other entire satellite communication industry chain upstream and downstream are actively layout. If mobile phone manufacturers participate in it, they can activate the chain reaction of the industry. The result of participation or not determines whether it is insulated from the value of satellite communications. The leading mobile phone manufacturers play a leading role in the future development of the mobile phone satellite communication field.

3. Occupy the 6G competition point. Of course, mobile phone manufacturers will not stay in a single function or a single scene upgrade small fuss. They focus on the farther away, facing the more advanced next-generation communication network-the 6G era. In the industry, 6G does not have an accurate definition, but there is basically a consensus that the communication index of 6G will be 10-100 times higher than that of 5G. 6G network not only has high speed, large bandwidth and low delay beyond 5G, but also extends from serving people, people and things on the basis of 5G to supporting the efficient interconnection of agents to realize the global seamless coverage of the integration of space and earth.

One of the visions of 6G is to achieve seamless global coverage of global communications, but it is difficult to achieve this goal on a vast earth. For example, in large areas such as oceans and deserts, it is neither realistic nor economical to build base stations. As the most important potential technology in the 6G era, satellite communication is an important supplement to the ground communication network. Satellite communication + ground communication can really achieve a better global coverage experience. In the face of the possibility of high probability of satellite networking in the 6G era, mobile phone manufacturers deploy satellite communication capabilities in advance, which can pave the way for the arrival of the 6G era.

In the increasingly convergent innovation, it is very difficult for mobile phone manufacturers to come up with creative products that affect the market pattern. The withering of innovation makes mobile phone manufacturers fall into the inner volume, and enterprises urgently need new scenarios and new products to attract users. With the entry of large companies and the gradual maturity of the satellite communications industry chain, mobile phone manufacturers have re-found the application space in satellite communications and prepared a technological "granary" in advance for the future to enter a new stage of development.

Next, how to promote the development of satellite communications?

The technological imagination of mobile satellite communications comes from the general trend of the aerospace industry. With the continuous progress of space science and technology, the satellite industry has developed efficiently. With the emergence of multi-satellite launch technology and recoverable carrier rocket technology, the cost of deep space exploration has been continuously reduced. The cycle of satellite deployment and the cost of development are also reduced. At the same time, compared with the past, the satellite communication system has been significantly improved, and there has been an obvious leap in user access, call quality, data transmission and construction costs. All these advances provide opportunities for mobile phones to realize satellite communications.

However, for mobile satellite communications, to enter the depths of the industry, we need to achieve scale coverage, service quality and experience improvement. Mobile satellite communications still need to be continuously advanced, and this process includes four aspects of industrial promotion:

The first step is the development of low-orbit satellites. One of the bases for the realization of mobile satellite communication function is the development of low-orbit satellite technology. The communication capacity of medium-and high-orbit satellites is very limited, and low-orbit satellites can provide higher bandwidth, high-performance global coverage, low-delay and low-cost global interconnection services. Such as Musk's Star chain Project and Geely's Star Age. At the same time, because of the shortage of satellite spectrum resources, the applications for Leo satellite spectrum and orbital resources follow the principle of "login and preemption". Those who register first will have priority. It also means that the development of low-orbit satellites is not only necessary but also time-tight.

The second step is the improvement of information coding and decoding, data compression and other technologies. Because of the limitation of satellite communication transmission capacity, at the equipment side, it is also necessary to pre-process the transmitted information to reduce the amount of data transmitted. Information coding and decoding, data compression and other technologies need to be developed iteratively to meet the improvement of satellite communication transmission efficiency. For example, in the iPhone14 released by Apple, the amount of information is reduced by three times through a custom short text compression algorithm to save the information capacity transmitted.

The third step is the integrated design and planning of mobile satellite communication equipment parts. For mobile phones, it is not easy to support satellite communication capabilities. Take antennas for example, common satellite phones are equipped with long antennas in order to maintain a good signal, and can only be used in unobstructed outdoor scenes. Supporting satellite communication requires high power and strong anti-interference of the antenna. This also makes the power consumption of satellite phones higher, requiring additional large storage batteries to replenish power. For smart phones, the integrated design of all kinds of components is mature, and the space for redundancy is limited. Adding satellite communication components such as antennas to mature mobile phone devices brings challenges to the design of mobile phone integration. To increase the satellite communication function, it is necessary for the mobile phone to design and plan the deployment of all kinds of satellite communication parts, and further balance the power consumption and communication capacity.

The fourth step is the maturity of industrial ecology. The final presentation of mobile satellite communication function requires the coordination of mobile phone manufacturers, operators, software and hardware application ecology, policies and other parties, so that the value of mobile satellite communication function can be truly released. For example, China's communications industry implements the license system. At present, only a small number of operators such as China Satcom and China Telecom hold satellite communications business licenses. The operation of mobile satellite communication needs to cooperate with operators. The satellite communication function of Huawei's new aircraft is temporarily received by China Mobile.

It is a general trend for mobile phones to connect with satellite communications in the future. Connecting Leo communication satellites, information compression technology, and the coordination of various industries, these gradual exploration and continuous improvement measures together lay a solid foundation for the arrival of the 6G era. In the future, the industrial ecology and business model of mobile satellite communications have also been sketched out a new look.

Possible changes in the business model at this stage, the development of satellite communications still requires a lot of investment. In the long run, the free satellite communications business model is not sustainable and will certainly bring about great changes. How to design a sustainable business model to make the mobile satellite communication industry develop healthily and orderly is also an important issue in front of the industry.

Facing the future, the business model of satellite communications may bring about the following changes.

Facing the C side, in the post-era of the popularization of market education, in some special limit scenarios, simple positioning and calling for help may still be free. For example, Huawei has the opportunity to use the help function for free several times a month. However, more detailed images, videos and other content-rich transmission will be based on the pricing idea of a single charge. After the mobile satellite communication becomes more common, large-scale applications will dilute the cost, various applications will be more and more abundant, and the price will be more friendly to the people. However, there are many uncertainties in the changing process of fee pricing, which may be affected by the changes of operators, supply chain, mobile phone manufacturers' development ecology and so on. However, the era of mobile satellite communication with rich applications and good experience still takes a long time to "develop".

For B-side, some special services, such as ocean fishing, oil exploration, ocean shipping and so on, have become the main starting point and value feedback method in the next stage of satellite communication. These areas with special needs for satellite networks can empower different services and enhance commercial value with the assistance of mobile satellite communications. This requires mobile satellite communications to form more solutions combined with the industry, to clarify their own differences with satellite phones, and to build a moat of the B-end market.

In terms of operators, satellite communications will bring far-reaching changes. With the continuous development of terrestrial communication network, the number of base stations is increasing. Whether it is the new base station or operation and maintenance, the cost pressure and carbon emission pressure can not be ignored. Facing the shortage of spectrum resources and the surge of network construction cost, it is very likely that satellite communications will be included in the future 6G network. Relying on Leo satellite networking, the construction of integrated space-space mobile network coverage is one of the core development directions of operators in the protocol stage. At present, it is more in line with the business needs of operators to actively explore satellite communications services and enhance related investment.

Don't worry, no matter what happens to the business model, satellite communications in areas such as humanitarian assistance will be free for a long time.

Facing 6G, it is inevitable for the mobile phone industry to explore satellite communication. Only by laying out as soon as possible can we gain a leading advantage in the future competition. It is very likely that 6G will realize the network construction of the integration of space, space and earth. Carrying satellite communication function will also become the necessity of mobile phones in the future.

Future smartphones, no matter simple emergency help function or more rich information transmission and interaction, can be realized through satellite communication. Although this goal requires a long journey and a long time to wait, the wind of the industry has blown up and the giants have jumped into it. On an extended time scale, the system changes in the satellite communications industry may take place in mobile phones. The satellite communications function in smartphones, like a butterfly flapping its wings, may start a chain reaction in the satellite communications industry. One change after another is like gear meshing, which is promoting the continuous renewal and evolution of the industry.

This article comes from the official account of Wechat: brain Polar body (ID:unity007), by Yan Liang

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