Small satellite market will exceed $1.42 billion in 2017

The small satellite market will exceed $1.42 billion in 2017 and is expected to flourish over the next few years due to continued market interest and also because of the sheer potential, according to a report published this month by Visiongain, a research firm based in London.

Key players developing small satellite technologies 
- Aerospace Corp.
- GeoOptics LLC
- Oneweb LLC
- ORBCOMM Inc.
- Planet Labs Inc.
- Spire Global Inc.
- Surrey Satellite Technology Limited
- The Boeing Company

Small satellite applications
- Meteorology
- Security/Surveillance
- Earthquake/Seismic Monitoring
- Scientific Research
- Other Applications

Strong future for satellite services in Sub-Saharan Africa

According to Euroconsult's newly released report, Prospects for Satellite Communications & Broadcasting in Africa, overall usage for satellite capacity in Sub-Saharan Africa increased 11 percent over 2009-2014 despite the spread of terrestrial fiber networks and the decrease of international trunking. Euroconsult further anticipates an 11 percent growth for capacity leased over the next decade, for a total of close to 200 gigabits per second of traffic flowing over satellite.
 
"The tripling of TV signals in the last five years, growth in cellular backhaul requirements and the addition of more than 15,000 VSATs for various vertical segments have all contributed to the emergence of new requirements," said Pacome Revillon, CEO of Euroconsult and editor of the report. "The significant addition of satellite capacity supply has resulted in a fill rate decrease and in greater competition and pricing pressure."
Multiple drivers support a strong future increase in the use of satellite communication services, including:

• Digital TV growth is still only in its early phase; the transition process to digital terrestrial television has just begun. In parallel, satellite pay-TV, despite the signing of close to 10 million subscribers in the last ten years, is only beginning to penetrate the market.
• Mobile penetration keeps increasing along with universal access requirements, while 3G and potentially 4G expansion will create new new connectivity requirements.
• A variety of segments, such as oil & gas, banking, mining, and government networks will require more connectivity as operations either diversify or expand geographically.
• A number of new enterprise hot spot markets are evolving particularly in East and West Africa in addition to the historically strong VSAT markets like South Africa, Nigeria, Angola, Kenya and Tanzania. This should contribute to overall market growth across Sub-Saharan Africa
• Broadband access for consumers and enterprises offers new opportunities on the back of new HTS capacities and services. Also, the usage of HTS capacity for trunking should increase for landlocked countries like DR Congo and South Sudan at least in the short to medium term as fiber availability remains limited and unreliable
  

For operators, the ability to create new differentiators will be key in a context of large capacity supply, which includes the development of video neighborhoods, of selected service platforms and the co-development of projects with local service providers and end-users. For service and equipment providers, the rollout of more sophisticated and hybrid solutions offered through domestic hubs and a potential consolidation of service providers should contribute to market growth. The emergence of new free-to-air and pay-TV platforms should also shape the future African TV market.

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Atmospheric effects on satellite V and W radio frequencies

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Space Vehicles Directorate, in collaboration with the Space and Missile Systems Center, Military Satellite Communications Directorate, and NASA Glenn Research Center, plan to conduct fundamental research to increase knowledge and understanding of atmospheric effects on radio frequency signal propagation in the V and W bands. The Air Force announced the research effort in a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) on Monday.

Known as the W/V-band Satellite Communications Experiment (WSCE) program, “specifically, the objective is to statistically characterize channel propagation effects in the V (71 - 76 gigahertz) and W (81 - 86 GHz) frequency bandwidths of the electromagnetic spectrum,” the AFRL said in the BAA. “Channel propagation effects can include, for example, signal attenuation, phase dispersion, and depolarization. It is necessary to correlate the long-term channel behavior to atmospheric and meteorological parameters. Measured data will be used to develop and validate modeling and design tools that can be used to design and assess future military satellite communication architectures.”

The Air Force invites companies interested in participating in the research to submit a proposal to the AFRL at Kirtland Air Force Base by Feb. 7. The Air Force anticipates awarding a minimum of one contract. Anticipated period of performance is approximately 108 months.

Cost of the overall WSCE program is estimated to be $30 million. The initial task order is estimated to not exceed $2 million.