Gottlieb's SATELLITEMOBILITY WORLD Independent Analysis and Commentary on Maritime, Aero and Land-based Satellite Technologies VolumeII, No9 October 2017 In This Issue... "O3b mpower: SES' Flexible New Solution in the Sky": An Interview with Steve Collar SES Networks CEO "ABS' CEO Tom Choi"s Vision: Unbridled Exuberance and the Satellite Industry's Uncertain Future" 1 "Newtec Dialog: A Powerful New Platform for HTS Mobility Networks." with CEO Thomas Van de Driessche
A Word with Thomas Van den Driessche, Newtec's New CEO Newtec Dialog, A Powerful, New Platform for HTS Mobility Networks 24 Management of mobility focused satellite networks has never been easy. With the coming of HTS spot beam technology, managing a network that serves thousands of ships and fast moving aircraft with wide beam satellites has become even more challenging. Newtec has faced this challenge head on. Its new Newtec Dialog platform incorporates a host of powerful, new features designed to allow users to take control of the HTS network management process in powerful new ways. We met up with Newtec's new CEO, Thomas Van den Driessche at Euroconsult's World Satellite Business Week in Paris to find out more about their advancements in mobility management and the other new features incorporated into their innovative, new Newtec Dialog platform. Newtec Dialog features the industry's first deployment of the DVB S2X platform, and promises new levels of performance, flexibility and customization that will be very appealing, especially to bandwidth intensive mobility customers. Deployment of Newtec Dialog is now in full swing. Panasonic Avionics Corporation has based their next-generation global aero network entirely on Newtec Dialog. They are currently in the process of rolling out Newtec AMC 5001 DVB=S2X aero modems to their entire fleet of planes. We asked Thomas to describe some of the key features of the platform that have made it so attractive for Panasonic, especially those incorporated into it's new Mobility Manager: SMW: I understand one of the key features of the platform is a unique Mobility Manager which essentially goes beyond the simple beam switching technology that has been used in the past to give enhanced flexibility and control of process itself. Can you describe functionality of the platform, and its advantages to the Maritime VSAT integrator? Thomas: Yes, as you know management of mobility networks focuses on beam switching. With the growing complexity and scale of next-generation mobility networks, we have
25 decided to take a new, centralized approach to the process. Up to now, most beam switching systems relied on simple logic, built-in to the terminals themselves. This was adequate when networks were small, with only a few beams. However, with the advent of HTS, next-gen networks will have hundreds of beams, with varying costs, loads, elevation angles, and regulatory restrictions. So, it was inevitable that customers would demand more control of the beam switching process. They wanted to own the decision when to switch beams. Newtec Dialog's centralized Mobility Manager has just such a unique feature that is designed to allow customization of the switching process and is, therefore, able to provide a more sophisticated, flexible and scalable solution for network operators to vastly enhance the efficiency of their networks. SMW: In our Paris meeting, you mentioned that the customer can control basic functionality via a GUI, and actually go a step further using your "...with the advent of HTS, next-gen networks will have hundreds of beams, with varying costs, loads, elevation angles, and regulatory restrictions. So, it was inevitable that customers would demand more control of the beam switching process. They wanted to own the decision when to switch beams." developer's kit to further customize the beam switching process. What can you do with the GUI, and how might you employ the API? Thomas: The Newtec Dialog Mobility Manager is a turn-key, centralized solution with a customizable rules-based engine. Service providers will be able to define a series of?if, then? rules that provide very granular control over beam switching. For example, the Mobility Manager can be configured to provide comprehensive beam switching functionality based on satellite footprints, GPS coordinates, signal strength, and several other static and real-time variables. While we expect most customers will be well served by simply customizing the Mobility Manager rules, we also offer additional flexibility via our Mobility API. This powerful interface will allow sophisticated service providers to essentially develop their own Mobility Managers, with an unlimited level of customization and control.
26 SMW: Another interesting feature you described was the platform's ability to switch between a dynamic SCPC, Mx-DMA mode and conventional SCPC mode? How might this capability benefit a cruise ship operator or inflight connectivity provider. What sort of savings and efficiencies might be achieved vs. a conventional TDMA or SCPC platform? Can you give any examples of potential costs savings vs. conventional TDMA and SCPC platform? Thomas: One of the key differentiators of the Newtec Dialog platform is the fact that it supports three return technologies, including SCPC, TDMA and Newtec?s unique Mx-DMA. Our 3000 and 5000 series modems support all three technologies and can dynamically switch between them. This allows service providers to efficiently adapt to changing demand and traffic patterns. For example, a cruise ship might switch from Mx-DMA to SCPC if needed to support a 4K video transmission or a scheduled database update, or it could also switch to TDMA while in port, if most of the traffic is offloaded to a terrestrial network connection. So, operating modes can be pre-programmed to switch automatically based on traffic patterns or set by schedule - all with the flexible API?s in the Newtec Dialog NMS (Network Management System). At present, cruise lines don't use all of the information they have to do this sort of switching, but as they learn to use the capabilities built into the Newtec Dialog platform, they will be able to substantially increase their bandwidth management capabilities and reap the accompanying economic benefits. SMW: You also mentioned that you have incorporated multiple receivers in the modem. Of course, this would enable you to do TV and IP off the same satellite. Could you handle TV and IP and also work in a LEO or MEO environment,
28 assuming antennas are available that can track and access multiple satellites simultaneously? Thomas: We developed the capability to simultaneously receive live TV and IP data on commercial planes from different beams on the same satellite? a wide beam for TV and a spot beam for data. Panasonic designed their next-generation HTS network with powerful spot beams for data, overlaid with wide beams for TV. In this scenario, they can actually leverage all three receivers on the Newtec aero modem. One receiver for TV and two to handle the switchover between spot beams. This same multiple reciever hardware architecture is also appropriate for handling LEOs when they become available, and we are currently working with LEO providers to develop the software required for their satellites. Since our modems are completely software defined, we can simply "flash" the upgrade eliminating the need to swap out hardware. SMW: You explained that Newtec has a unique scheme to compensate for Doppler shift on the return channel, can you elaborate a bit on this feature and explain how it works and how much bandwidth it actually saves? Thomas: The traditional method for dealing with Doppler has been to simply add an extra guard band to carriers to accommodate frequency shifts. This effectively provided a margin of error, at the expense of efficiency and network acquisition time. Since Newtec?s Mx-DMA technology inherently updates carrier plans every second, we have simply incorporated real-time Doppler tracking and compensation into the algorithm. The way this works is we receive two sets of GPS positing data from the antenna, fractions of a seconds apart, and use it to calculate speed and
29 direction of travel. From that, we calculate the precise Doppler frequency shift and compensate for it, a process that allows us to reduce the size of the guard band thereby using bandwidth more efficiently. SMW: You also spoke about improved beam switching efficiency noting that the platform can switch beams in under two seconds. How does this compare with conventional TDMA based systems? Thomas: In light of our focus on aviation and our partnership with Panasonic, we are aggressively tackling the beam switching problem in three phases. Our initial Newtec Dialog 1.3 software release will support approximately 12 second beam switch times. However, in the near future this will be reduced to 2-3 seconds and will eventually be seamless, leveraging the multiple demodulators in our modems. SMW: What sort of Down-link and up-link speeds can the Dialog platform reach, and is the enhanced speed on the down-link common to DVB S2X or is your implementation enhanced in some way? Thomas: We are currently shipping Newtec Dialog modems that support up to 500 MegaSymbols/second on the shared forward link and up to 40 MegaSymbols/sec on the dedicated returns. This can result in aggregate IP throughputs of over 200 Mbps per modem. Even higher throughputs can be achieved with external packet processing options which we will offer in the near future. SMW: I understand the the modem is exclusive to aero for Panasonic. Have you made any progress introducing it in mobility segments such as maritime, rail, etc? Thomas: Our AMC5001 aero modem is actually just a variant of our standard, rack-mountable MDM5000 modem. The MDM5000 does not have any commercial restrictions and is available for all markets, including mobility. The AMC5001 aero modem does have some temporary restrictions for commercial aviation, but is unrestricted for government and military markets. SMW: You have a very interesting and innovative feature set. What other functionality enhancements are you considering and how might they further
About Thomas: Thomas enhance Van the den attractiveness of the Driessche platform? holds a Master?s Thomas: degree Our in vision for Newtec Dialog is to electronics provide and a scalable, flexible and efficient marketing platform from that the will continuously evolve to support new markets and satellite University of Ghent. architectures. With this in mind, we are Thomas started out as a always adding new features and Product capabilities Manager to in the the platform. In our recent broadcast 1.3 software and AV release, we introduced a market number and of was mobility and efficiency awarded features several like the times Mobility Manager, by leading 1300km/hr organizations Doppler compensation, such DVB-S2X, as NAB, Infocomm and Very Low SNR Modcods. and In Vanguard. our latest 2.1 release, we added several scalability and density features for HTS Over networks the past like: 15 years a XIF hub module, 500MHz he has modulators been active and in a full the suite of DVB-S2X broadcast modems, and ranging satellite from consumer markets. broadband to high-speed trunking. Further out in the future, we are actively Thomas engaged Van with den satellite operators and Driessche payload has manufacturers been with on exciting Newtec next-generation for nine years architectures like and beam-hopping, has held various beam forming and LEO. positions. His latest roles include 30 Sales and Business Development SMW: Thomas, you have spoken about the efficiency advantages of Mx-DMA vs. TDMA, your technique for minimizing the guard band for Doppler compensation. How much bandwidth can you really save? Thomas: In an HTS environment, when you combine these efficiencies with our advanced coding techniques, you can save 30 to 50- per-cent on the up-link bandwidth which translates into a real reduction in bandwidth costs. In a conventional wide beam environment, with small aero antennas, the savings would be even greater. By leveraging our Very Low SNR MODCODs, instead of the legacy spread spectrum technology, service providers can boost efficiency over 100%. SMW: Thomas, thank you for time and for telling us more about your new Newtec Dialog platform. I'm sure our readers will find your explanations very helpful. Click here to subscribe
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In this Issue: Industry Trends and Analysis: (pg. 3) "An Interview with Steve Collar, CEO of SES Networks: Introducing o3b mpower: SES' Flexible New Solution in the Sky" (pg. 4) "ABS CEO Tom Choi's Vision: Unbridled Exuberance and the Satellite Industry's Uncertain Future" (pg.12) "Newtec Dialog: A Powerful New Platform for HTS Mobility Networks" (pg. 22) "Recommended Upcoming Mobility Related Satellite Industry Events" (pg. 30) 2 GOTTLIEB'S SATELLITEMOBILITY WORLD Welcome to the October 2017 issue of Gottlieb's Satellite Mobility World. Our magazine is now over 19 months old and in just 19 issues, we're now read in over 40 countries! We're following an industry that is rapidly evolving. Satellite Operators are racing to build new HTS and LEO constellations. Hub and Modem manufacturers are introducing new ultra high speed infrastructure, and flat panel antennas will soon be coming to market. At Satellite Mobility World, we're reviewing these new technologies and the strategies that are reshaping the industry. The big news this month is the launch of O3b's new mpower Network and the deployment of the Newtec Dialog platform. We also have a fascinating interview which Tom Choi addresses the potential for massive HTS overcapacity and price collapse in the HTS mobility segment. Gottlieb's Satellite and Mobility World is published monthly (except August) by Gottlieb International Group., Inc. Suite 100, 1209 South Frederick Street, Arlington, VA USA 22204 Copyright 2017 (Tel +1-703-622-8520) Interested in our unique Promotional Capabilities? Contact us today! Click Here To Subscribe