NEC and Skyloom to Pioneer 100 Gbps Space Optical Communications

• 19 Mar 2024
• TM Team
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NEC Corporation and Skyloom Global Corporation have joined forces to revolutionize space communications with the development of cutting-edge optical communication equipment for multi-orbit satellite networks. The collaboration aims to commercialize and make available on the open market one of the world's fastest space optical terminals, achieving remarkable high-speed inter-satellite communications of 100 Gbps and more, propelling the space industry into a new era of connectivity.

"This marks a monumental milestone in global internet and space communications," said Eric Moltzau, Chief Commercial Officer of Skyloom. "In partnership with NEC, we are committed to the joint development, testing, and manufacturing of the groundbreaking 100 Gbps WARP Optical Communications Terminal (OCT), slated for completion by the end of 2025. Our plan is to launch the product into space by 2026 and rapidly scale up production to meet the escalating demand from domestic and international customers in the latter half of the decade."

Traditionally, space communications have relied on wireless technologies using radio waves. However, the collaboration between NEC and Skyloom represents a significant shift towards optical communication in space, drawing parallels with the advancements witnessed in terrestrial fiber networks since the mid-1980s. “This breakthrough will enable high-speed, high-capacity communication in space, revolutionizing data transmission between broadband satellites and Earth Observation satellites on an unprecedented scale," said Motomitsu Shimizu, Managing Director of the NEC Aerospace Business Division.

"This is not a science project," emphasized Shimizu. "We are committed to tangible results, and to prove it, we will launch several test satellites in 2026 equipped with the jointly developed 100 Gbps WARP OCT."

As the deployment of satellite constellations accelerates, creating a network of interconnected satellites in low-earth orbit, the demand for high-speed communication links becomes paramount. In anticipation of this demand growth, NEC and Skyloom are at the forefront of developing technology to achieve optical communication speeds of 100 Gbps and higher.

Moltzau elaborated, "Much like the emergence of economies centered around Transit Oriented Developments, we find ourselves at the forefront, just beginning to grasp the transformative potential of Extremely High-Throughput satellite communication speeds. The collaboration between NEC and Skyloom is poised to usher in a new era of connectivity, empowering artificial intelligence networks in space to seamlessly handle vast amounts of data and communications enroute to their final destinations at remarkable speeds – akin to the impactful role AI innovation plays on Earth today."

“The satellite constellation network, which connects each satellite through optical communication, liberates the potential of space utilization from the geographical and temporal constraints that were inevitable with conventional standalone satellites," remarked Shimizu. “Diversification of services encourages smooth data sharing between satellites, while advancement of services promotes the implementation of data processing capabilities rooted in artificial intelligence in orbit. Both of these are made possible by low-latency and high-speed inter-satellite optical communication. Therefore, the performance of optical communication becomes a determining factor for the quality and quantity of services utilizing space. The realization of 100 Gbps optical communication through this collaboration with Skyloom, a leading player in space utilization in the satellite constellation era and participant in the US Space Development Agency's Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, is a significant milestone towards the full-fledged utilization of the satellite constellation era. Beyond that, NEC aims for the fusion of computation and communication from undersea to space."

“NEC has a longstanding history of emphasizing the potential of space utilization for solving social issues and has been working on space optical communication since the 1990s," said Yasushi Yokoyama, Chief of Satellite Constellation Business at NEC. “We expect that our collaboration with Skyloom on space optical communication will contribute to expanding space utilization in the era of networked satellite constellations."

“The 100 Gbps WARP OCT leverages the latest technology advances in space-based optical communications and networking," said Santiago Tempone, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer for Skyloom. “We are pleased to partner with NEC to break the barrier to commercializing low-latency, extremely high-throughput space internetworking and communications. Skyloom technology is designed to drive down the cost per bit of free-space optical communications, enabling large-scale production and utilization. We look forward to working closely with NEC's digital coherent optical communication experts and delivering a discriminating optical communications product to the marketplace."