Thursday, Inmarsat unveiled plans for what it calls “Orchestra, the communications network of the future.” The satellite firm says the new system will bring together its existing geosynchronous (GEO) satellites with a planned Low Earth Orbit satellite constellation (LEO) and terrestrial 5G into a single broadband network aimed at corporate customers.
Inmarsat plans to invest $100 million in the first five years of the project. It expects to launch 150 to 175 LEO satellites in the second half of this decade.
The satellite firm projects Orchestra will enable new services such as close-shore navigation for autonomous vessels, next-generation emergency safety services for maritime crews, secure and tactical private networks for governments and direct-to-cloud connections for airlines. New segments set to benefit from Orchestra include energy rigs and drilling platforms, mid-market business aircraft, coastal vessels, smart passenger ships and urban air mobility, according to the company.
LEO, GEO and terrestrial networks have never been combined at scale before to create a unified connectivity service for mobility customers, claims Inmarsat in a press release. “The result is a ‘dynamic mesh network’ that will deliver high-performance connectivity everywhere. Bringing together the lowest average latency and fastest average speeds with unique resilience, Orchestra will eliminate the industry-wide challenge of congested network ‘hot spots,’” states the company.
Inmarsat says its existing GEO satellites – both GX and L-band – will continue to provide global coverage, high performance, security and resilience. “Terrestrial 5G adds ultra-high capacity in busy ‘hot spots,’ such as ports, airports, and sea canals. A small constellation of LEO satellites will layer additional high capacity over further high-demand areas such as oceanic flight corridors,” notes the U.K.-based satellite operator.
The new network will benefit from ‘dynamic mesh’ technology, which allows individual customer terminals to direct traffic to and from other customer terminals, according to Inmarsat. “This means that a ship within reach of a 5G ground station can receive ample capacity for its own needs as well as route capacity onwards to other vessels beyond terrestrial reach. This effectively creates a mobile web of terminals that extend the network’s reach and improve its performance and resilience,” Inmarsat states.
The move comes as there’s more competition for delivering low-latency broadband from space, with Elon Musk’s Starlink in the trial phase and OneWeb working to improve its coverage, Inside Towers reported.
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