36氪 was informed that the satellite laser communication equipment developer “HiStarlink” (HiStarlink) announced the completion of the Pre-A round of financing. This financing is only 6 months away from the angel round of financing. The Pre-A round was led by Zhongguancun Development Frontier Fund, and the old shareholders Qiji Chuangtan and Shouye Capital joined the investment again. According to the company, the Pre A+ round is also drawing to a close.
Founded in 2021, ” Helium Star Optical Link ” is a private enterprise benchmarking Starlink on-board laser communication technology. It is committed to the development of low-power, miniaturized on-board laser communication terminals and ground communication receiving systems. The main product matrix covers Aerospace-grade core optoelectronic devices, ultra-high-speed communication boards, laser communication terminals, and ground signal transceiver super terminal systems. The company uses in-depth understanding of the industry and continuous innovation to solve the communication pain points of high cost, low speed and high delay in the satellite Internet. At present, it has been deployed in Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing and other places, and has built thousands of square meters of R&D centers and laboratories. , and is preparing to build a smart factory for laser communication terminals.
Image credit: NASA
Advantages and disadvantages of satellite laser communication
As tens of thousands of satellites will be sent into space, the need for space laser communication technology is becoming more and more urgent. Compared with traditional satellite microwave communication technology, satellite laser communication technology has the advantages of large communication capacity, high speed, low power consumption and strong anti-interference ability . The frequency of laser is 3 to 4 orders of magnitude higher than that of microwave, and the wider frequency band enables laser communication to transmit a large amount of data in a short time. At the same time, the rate of laser communication can reach or even exceed 10Gbit/s, and the energy is concentrated during the transmission process, which is not easy to disperse. With its advantages of high speed, small size, light weight and low power consumption, it has become an indispensable and effective means of high-speed communication between satellites, especially in the application of micro-satellites, which can better reflect the advantages of laser communication.
Zhang Jiawei, investment director of Zhongfa Frontier Fund, said that in the construction of satellite Internet, from the perspective of functional development, power, storage, and communication must come first. In terms of communication, high-speed, high-throughput, and high-reliability laser communication paths that do not depend on frequency resources are already clear, and coexist with microwave communication.
In addition to the advantages, laser communication also has certain disadvantages, especially in air-ground communication, the earth’s atmosphere and clouds have brought great challenges. The stability of satellite laser communication still has much room for improvement due to the external interference caused by atmospheric climatic conditions, changes in space environment temperature, and background light factors such as the sun, as well as the influence of platform vibration and relative motion. Due to the narrow laser beam, when ground-to-ground communications are disrupted by bad weather, there must be an alternative adjustment scheme, and the laser signal is transferred to a receiver elsewhere to receive it.
Image credit: Airbus
Countries compete for the satellite laser communication market
Communication is the fundamental strategic need of a country. Especially in the field of national security, communication is of great significance to the transmission of intelligence.
Blue Sky Wing, the founder of Qianyu Sky, found that at the beginning of August 2022, a user in Ukraine used a Starlink terminal for testing, but his IP address was displayed in Seattle. It is possible that the inter-satellite laser communication link has taken effect. At a distance of 8800km, it can achieve a delay of 200ms, which is very practical. With the inter-satellite laser communication, the information warfare and intelligence warfare in the Russian-Ukrainian region will have a new situation.
At present, the United States, Europe, Japan, etc. are all accelerating the research and development of satellite laser communication technology.
Since the mid-1980s, Europe has begun to study satellite laser communication technology, and it is the fastest growing region in the world in satellite laser communication technology. Europe has achieved the world’s first verification of inter-satellite laser communication technology and coherent laser communication technology, and has the world’s highest verified inter-satellite laser communication rate. In terms of satellite-to-earth laser communication, Europe has successfully verified the earth-moon laser communication, low-orbit satellite and ground laser communication. In addition to Switzerland, Germany and other European countries, the United States and Japan also have a very strong research and development foundation.
In December 2021, NASA began experimenting with its first two-way laser communication relay demonstration. The system cost $320 million and has a data transfer rate 10 to 100 times faster than traditional radio frequency communication systems. The International Space Station is the first after the experimental phase. Operating users, the transfer rate is expected to reach 1.2Gbps. The US Space Development Agency will also launch four “next-generation space architecture” key technology verification satellites in 2021 to verify the laser communication technology between satellites and between satellites and drones. According to NASA, by 2030, optical communication technology will become the mainstream of space communication network. The laser communication network can operate seamlessly between all parties involved, ultimately greatly improving the efficiency of satellite communication and reducing the cost of communication.
The laser communication system mounted on the satellite is the foundation of the laser link between each satellite node of the satellite constellation. In recent years, typical microsatellite laser communication systems include OCSD and CLICK in the United States, VSOTA and FITSAT in Japan, and Xingyun T5 in China. In addition, commercial terminals are also being formed, including OPTEL-μ in Switzerland, Mynaric CONDOR in Germany, and SA photonics Nexus. Helium Star Optical Link will also make efforts to commercialize the end market.
According to the fourth optical satellite communication report released by NSR Corporation in February 2022. In 2031, the satellite optical communication equipment market will reach 2 billion US dollars, mainly serving the construction of various satellite constellations. The industry will accelerate with a compound annual growth rate of 47%, and it is expected that the demand for laser communication terminal equipment may reach more than 6,000 units in the next 10 years . At present, the domestic and foreign communication satellite constellations mainly include the “Hongyan” constellation of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (300), the “Hongyun” constellation of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (156) and the “Xingyun” constellation (80), China Electronics Science and technology group “integration of heaven and earth” (80), foreign “Kuiper” constellation (3236), “Telesat” constellation (298), “Starlink” network (12,000) and other constellations. Most of these constellations are composed of low-orbit microsatellites, and laser communication is listed as one of their backbone transmission link methods.
Helium-Star Optics has limited potential competitors, such as Germany’s Mynaric. The company offers onboard terminals for Condor’s optical inter-satellite links, as well as an airborne terminal called Hawk that can be used by aircraft for air-to-air or air-to-ground data links. OISL can connect satellites, high-altitude aircraft, drones and ground systems through infrared lasers, among which the Condor MK3 terminal can provide a transmission rate of up to 100Gbps in space and a transmission distance of up to 5,000 kilometers.
According to Mynaric, the potential total market for optical communications is currently only $800 million, which could grow to more than $10 billion by 2030, and could eventually exceed $20 billion. According to market research firm NSR, sales of satellite optical communication equipment will reach $2 billion by 2031.
Image credit: European Space Agency
Lunar Exploration and Deep Space Program
The inter-satellite-to-satellite communication around the earth is only part of the space laser communication. Facing the vast sea of stars, lunar exploration and deep space programs are the core goals of mankind in the future. Since the tasks of modern space exploration are more complex, there are more data to be collected and transmitted, so higher bandwidth transmission technology is required, and optical communication can meet the requirements.
Lunar exploration is the first step towards deep space. At present, the microwave communication rate used between the earth and the moon is only 2-20Mbps, which cannot meet the high-speed communication requirements of 380,000 kilometers. Therefore, it is best to use a combination of laser and microwave communication. Consider using high-speed laser communication between the moon and geosynchronous orbit communication satellites. High-speed microwave communication is still used between the synchronous orbit communication satellite and the ground. In the field of deep space exploration, NASA plans to use two-way laser communication relays to simulate optical communication for deep space exploration, which will be used for communication between asteroid belt probes and Earth in the future. Of course, deep space exploration presents unique technical challenges. For example, as the communication distance increases, the laser signal may be rapidly lost, and how to accurately aim the laser beam is also a serious problem. Because the laser beam is so narrow, the signal pointing must span millions of kilometers to precisely target the location of the target receiving station, which will be a huge challenge.
reference reading
” International Aviation: The Era of Satellite Laser Communications Is Coming “
” New Optoelectronics: Development Status and Trend of Microsatellite Laser Communication System “
” China Aerospace: Analysis of the Development of Foreign Satellite Laser Communication Technology “
media coverage
36Kr Investment Community Investment Network
Related events
- Satellite laser communication industry rookie “Helium Star Optical Link” received Pre-A round of financing within half a year2022-08-16
- Deyi Communications completed nearly 100 million yuan of Pre-A round of financing2022-07-18
- Guozhi Laser completed tens of millions of dollars in A+ round of financing2022-02-17
- Aurora Skycom completed tens of millions of yuan in Pre-A round financing2021-12-24
- SpaceX suspends Starlink satellite launch: is integrating laser communication system2021-08-29
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