WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin announced Nov. 16 it plans to launch a payload to orbit next 12 months to show 5G fiber-like connectivity from space. The experiment is an element of a bigger project, generally known as 5G.MIL, that the corporate began in 2020 in response to military demand for high-speed wireless communications.
By branching the most recent cellular technology into space, the corporate ultimately hopes to forge what it calls an “all-domain network” — or a seamless communications web between space assets, aircraft, ships and ground forces.
Dan Rice, Lockheed Martin’s vp for 5G.MIL programs, said the corporate in early October accomplished a successful lab simulation of a 5G payload and is moving forward with plans to launch a satellite to low Earth orbit in 2024 for an area demonstration.
He said this payload is the industry’s first regenerative advanced 5G satellite base station for a non-terrestrial network. A regenerative payload enables direct, satellite-based communications, bypassing terrestrial networks when obligatory. The satellite base station communicates with other satellites and with ground stations. In a regenerative base station, the signal processing and radio access network is onboard the satellite.
Business firms have demonstrated 5G from space however the networking processing functions are performed on the bottom, and the satellite is a relay node to attach the bottom to a user. “In our case, the radio access network, all of that software and hardware, the core network that does user authentications is all on the satellite payload itself,” Rice said. “That creates additional resiliency in cases where the satellite could also be operating over territory where you perhaps don’t have secure communications to the bottom.”
Lab demonstration last month
Within the lab demonstration, Lockheed Martin established a hybrid network for land, air and space domains, including 5G connectivity and other tactical networks utilized by the military, Rice said. The test included five hybrid base stations with 5G, tactical datalinks and space backhaul.
During a simulated satellite orbital pass, the satellite base station and user equipment on the bottom successfully connected and transferred data, including live video streaming.
Lockheed Martin said its 5G network is compliant with 3GPP Release 17, an industry standard. The third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) develops wireless communications standards for global consistency.
Lockheed developed the 5G payload with open radio access network, which allows mobile service providers to construct networks with non-proprietary interoperable subcomponents.
Potential customers
The corporate is considering several options to market this technology. One is as a part of a proprietary Lockheed Martin 5G private network that may very well be purchased by DoD for military use. It also might offer the satellite payloads to business mobile network operators. Rice said Lockheed Martin used 5G-enabled drones to simulate space payloads in tests with Verizon to indicate that a single handset could be used to transition from a non-public network to a Verizon public network.
“We’ve been focused on reducing the scale weight and power of those networks in order that they will be brought forward and deployed into more austere environments integrated into aircraft, ground vehicles and ships,” said Rice.
“You’d take the infrastructure with you,” he said. Terminals could be carried on vehicles, integrated directly into an aircraft on a pod or on the skin of the aircraft.
Doing a standards-based network is critical, Rice said, “so you’ll be able to benefit from the massive volume of user equipment that’s on the market that can be compliant to the Release 17 standard. And that lowers the fee of user terminals.”
Company funding space demo
Joe Rickers, Lockheed Martin’s vp for connectivity, transport and access, said the space demonstration is entirely funded by the corporate but he couldn’t disclose the precise cost.
“It’s a pretty big undertaking for us,” he told .
The 5G payload can be integrated with a small satellite bus just like those the corporate is producing for the Space Development Agency’s low Earth orbit constellation.
The arrival of interoperability standards between terrestrial and space networks was an enormous breakthrough that motivated Lockheed Martin to take a position on this demonstration, Rickers said.
The 5G payload, concerning the size of a microwave oven, is now undergoing environmental tests, and the goal is to launch it next 12 months on a yet-to-be-determined business rocket.
Rickers said Lockheed Martin has been in talks with multiple wireless providers and satellite communications firms which are fascinated about a 5G payload for low-Earth orbit satellites. “We see lots of potential partners,” he said.
“Space can be the main enabler of having the ability to use 5G across different platforms,” said Rickers. “It’s been slower to get traction due to the fee, and also you’ve got to have standards to find a way to make this work across the industry.”
“We’ve progressed to where you’ll be able to tie terrestrial together to space,” he said. “It’s really starting to return together. We’ve still got a ways to go but we’ve seen lots of progress.”