Recently, China Telecom officially announced that its mobile phone direct connection satellite service based on Tiantong Satellite System has landed in Hong Kong. Xiaomi also issued an official statement last night saying: Xiaomi 14 Ultra mobile phone now supports two-way satellite communication in Hong Kong, China. Users need to use a China Telecom/China Telecom (Hong Kong) SIM card and activate the direct connection satellite service of the mobile phone.
The satellites directly connected to mobile phones in my country are mainly Beidou satellites and Tiantong satellites. Beidou’s short message communication technology and Tiantong’s SMS receiving capabilities are mainly used. Beidou and Tiantong are important satellite systems in my country’s satellite Internet of Things industry. Together with low-orbit satellites such as “Apocalypse Satellite”, they are promoting my country’s sky-ground integration project.
Mobile phones are directly connected to satellites, popularizing to C（costumer）
Direct-to-satellite technology, Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) technology, allows devices to communicate directly with satellites without the need for traditional ground base stations. The development of this technology benefits from the freezing of the 3GPP R17 standard, which provides a technical foundation for the growth of the number of satellite IoT connections.
Let’s first introduce the Beidou and Tiantong satellite systems. What are the differences between them?
The completion of the Beidou-1 system in 2000 marked that China officially had its own satellite navigation system and became the third country in the world to build a satellite navigation system. The Beidou-2 system was completed in 2012, and the Beidou-3 global satellite navigation system was officially announced on July 31, 2020.
The launch of the Beidou-3 system not only provides global positioning services, but also has the unique function of short message communication, which is uncommon in other satellite navigation systems. The short message communication service of Beidou-3 was announced at the results conference on July 30, 2022, that it has entered a new stage of development for mass applications. The Beidou satellite communication service has been officially opened to the public and can be accessed on smartphones and other devices. enter.
From 2016 to 2021, Tiantong-1 realized the in-orbit networking of three satellites, which marked that China’s independent and controllable satellite mobile communication system has achieved coverage in the Asia-Pacific region and its service capabilities have been upgraded again. In July 2018, the Tiantong-1 satellite was officially put into commercial use. China Telecom began operating the Tiantong-1 satellite system and built a ubiquitous information network infrastructure integrating land, sea and air through integration with ground 4G and optical broadband networks. On January 10, 2020, China Telecom officially provided Tiantong satellite communication services to the society. This was the beginning of the official commercial use of Tiantong satellite communication system.
At present, domestic mobile phone manufacturers such as Huawei, Honor, Xiaomi, OPPO, and vivo have begun to deploy satellite communication technology. The Tiantong ZTE T900 has a dual-mode satellite communication function, the Huawei Mate 60 Pro series supports dual satellite communication functions, and the Honor Magic 6 series achieves low-power satellite communication through self-developed radio frequency enhancement chips, as mentioned above Xiaomi Mi 14 Ultra also supports dual-satellite calling function. In the future, direct connection of mobile phones to satellites will gradually become popular on mobile phones, and will also become one of the necessary applications for mobile phone manufacturers to implant into smartphones in the future.
Integrated application of sky and ground, in-depth to B
The air-ground integrated communication network achieves seamless global coverage of communication capabilities by integrating satellite communications, aerial platform communications, ground networks and other communication means, which is also one of my country’s strategic development goals.
In 2016, the “Space-Earth Integrated Information Network” was included in the “13th Five-Year Plan” national science and technology innovation plan. Industrial policies such as the “Measurement Development Plan (2021–2035)” and the “14th Five-Year Plan National Comprehensive Disaster Prevention and Reduction Plan” that were subsequently introduced have provided clear and broad market prospects for the development of the satellite communications industry and provided enterprises with Establish a good production and operating environment.
The air-ground integrated communication network can achieve global information transmission and coverage, and is especially suitable for remote areas not covered by terrestrial networks, wide-area network-free areas, disaster emergency communications and other scenarios. Application areas include providing high-reliability military Communications, rapid response emergency rescue, stable ocean communications, remote area connections, real-time digital traffic monitoring, real-time monitoring and dispatching of smart grids, etc.
Its key technologies include satellite communication technology, aerial relay nodes such as drones, and ground 5G/6G mobile communication networks. This also shows that to build an integrated information network of space, space and ground, close cooperation between the aerospace industry and the communications industry is imperative.
With the upgrade of technology and the increase of market demand, the integration and innovation of GNSS, 5G, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, big data and other technologies will drive my country’s satellite communications industry into a period of rapid development.
The satellite industry chain is gradually improving and being implemented quantitatively
Satellite IoT has the characteristics of wide coverage, low latency, broadband, and low cost. Current development is mainly focused on increasing communication speed, reducing latency, expanding coverage, and improving the integration of terminal equipment. It affects a huge industrial chain, and a number of “new productivity” industries have emerged around the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain.
Among them, companies focusing on satellite IoT communication chips, modules, and solutions already have many shining stars standing in the front row, such as Beidou Star, Xingsi Semiconductor, Sinan Navigation, Hezhong Strong, CCE Navigation, Hi-Tech, Qianxun Positioning, etc. .
There are also many communication manufacturers that have expanded their tracks and achieved shipments in the fields of chips and modules, such as Unisoc’s V8821, the world’s first 5G NTN satellite communication chip that supports the 3GPP R17 standard, and Quectel’s CC200A- for maritime/mining. LB satellite communication module, Meige Intelligent’s new generation intelligent positioning terminal solution that supports 5G NB IoT and Cat.M and two-way satellite links, Fibocom satellite IoT module MA510-GL, etc.
In 2021, the market size of my country’s satellite Internet industry will reach 29.248 billion yuan, and the market size is expected to reach 44.692 billion yuan in 2025. Behind this huge market is the thirst for global communication coverage in the downstream markets of the industry. Every time there is a report about how Internet access in the wilderness improves the efficiency of local life and work, it is another B-side enterprise planting a technological flower in the wilderness.
This paper is from Ulink Media, Shenzhen, China, the organizer of IOTE EXPO (IoT Expo in China)
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