{"id":17614,"date":"2020-12-16T22:10:06","date_gmt":"2020-12-16T14:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/amazons-project-kuiper-reveals-details-on-customer-terminals-for-satellite-internet\/"},"modified":"2020-12-16T22:10:06","modified_gmt":"2020-12-16T14:10:06","slug":"amazons-project-kuiper-reveals-details-on-customer-terminals-for-satellite-internet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/amazons-project-kuiper-reveals-details-on-customer-terminals-for-satellite-internet\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazon\u2019s Project Kuiper reveals details on customer terminals for satellite internet"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_596378\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-596378\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-596378\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/201216-lab-630x420.jpg\" alt=\"Project Kuiper lab\" width=\"630\" height=\"420\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/201216-lab-630x420.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/201216-lab-1260x840.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/201216-lab-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/201216-lab-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/201216-lab-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-596378\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Project Kuiper employee works on antenna hardware. (Amazon \/ Project Kuiper Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Amazon\u2019s Project Kuiper hasn\u2019t yet said when it\u2019ll start launching satellites or providing broadband internet access from above, but it is sharing details about how customers will get their data.<\/p>\n<p>The $10 billion project, which aims to put more than 3,200 satellites into low Earth orbit, will use an innovative type of phased-array antenna that overlays one set of tiny elements on top of another set, Amazon said today in a blog posting. \u201cThis has never been accomplished in the Ka-band,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n<p>Amazon says the innovation should result in a lightweight, low-cost customer terminal with an antenna that\u2019s only 12 inches (30 centimeters) wide. The hardware is being developed primarily at Project Kuiper\u2019s research and development facility in Redmond, Wash.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you want to make a difference for unserved and underserved communities, you need to deliver service at a price that makes sense for customers,\u201d said Rajeev Badyal, vice president of technology for Project Kuiper at Amazon. \u201cThis simple fact inspired one of our key tenets for Kuiper: to invent a light, compact phased-array antenna that would allow us to produce an affordable customer terminal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Amazon's Project Kuiper shows off antenna design\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vsNObhZwEMQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Amazon didn\u2019t specify precisely how affordable the terminal would be, or how much Kuiper\u2019s broadband internet service would cost. However, it said reducing the area of the antenna by an order of magnitude would \u201creduce production costs by an equal measure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Project Kuiper received approval from the Federal Communications Commission in July for a system that would make use of two separate sets of frequencies in the Ka-band for sending data to and from its satellite constellation. Usually, such an arrangement would require setting up separate antennas, side by side, for transmitting and receiving data. Overlaying the two sets of arrays reduces the terminal\u2019s size and weight.<\/p>\n<p>The flat-panel system uses digital and analog components to steer the Ka-band beams toward satellites passing overhead, Amazon said.<\/p>\n<p>In today\u2019s update, Amazon said its prototype terminal has handled data transfers ranging as high as 400 megabits per second (Mbps) \u2014 and has been able to stream 4K-quality video from a geostationary satellite during field tests. \u201cPerformance will continue to improve in future iterations,\u201d Amazon said.<\/p>\n<p>That doesn\u2019t necessarily mean Kuiper will deliver 400Mbps service to customers when the project goes commercial, sometime between now and 2026. That\u2019ll be dependent on the capabilities of the satellite constellation, and Amazon hasn\u2019t yet described its satellite design in detail.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_596382\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-596382\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-596382\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/201216-field-630x420.jpg\" alt=\"Antenna field test\" width=\"630\" height=\"420\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/201216-field-630x420.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/201216-field-1260x840.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/201216-field-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/201216-field-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/201216-field-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-596382\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Project Kuiper\u2019s satellite terminal hardware gets a field test. (Amazon \/ Project Kuiper Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Project Kuiper is playing a game of catchup with other satellite broadband ventures: SpaceX\u2019s Starlink project is the furthest along, with nearly 1,000 satellites already launched and a \u201cBetter Than Nothing\u201d public beta trial underway. Starlink\u2019s beta users are said to be paying $99 a month, plus a one-time equipment fee of $499 for a terminal, tripod and router.<\/p>\n<p>In its recent award of funding for rural internet connectivity, the FCC suggested that SpaceX should be able to provide data transfer speeds in excess of 100 Mbps. Some beta users are reporting more than 160 Mbps, and over the longer term, Starlink is targeting gigabit speeds.<\/p>\n<p>Another rival in the mega-constellation space race is OneWeb, which recently emerged from bankruptcy under new ownership and is planning to have 36 more satellites sent to low Earth orbit, or LEO, this week.<\/p>\n<p>OneWeb\u2019s current schedule calls for service to begin in northern latitudes by late 2021, with global coverage by mid-2022.<\/p>\n<p>Canada\u2019s largest satellite operator, Telesat, is also working on LEO internet service.<\/p>\n<p>All of these ventures say they want to furnish broadband internet service for the billions of people around the world who are currently underserved. But Project Kuiper has the inside track for addressing Amazon\u2019s needs when it comes to cloud computing services, its streaming-video platform and other online offerings.<\/p>\n<p>Who knows? Maybe Kuiper\u2019s broadband internet service will someday come bundled with Amazon Prime.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Project Kuiper employee works on antenna hardware. (Amazon \/ Project Kuiper Photo) Amazon\u2019s Project Kuiper hasn\u2019t yet said when it\u2019ll start launching satellites or providing broadband internet access from above, but it is sharing details about how customers will get their data. The $10 billion project, which aims to put more than 3,200 satellites [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[275,4591,252,962,20,442],"class_list":["post-17614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-amazon","tag-antennas","tag-broadband","tag-project-kuiper","tag-satellite","tag-satellites"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17614"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17614\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}