ViaSatellite: How Software-Defined Satellites Will Shape Communications
In Via Satellite’s article, NSR discusses the move towards a software-defined era of satellites. “With the cost of launching satellites going down via reusable rockets, you need manufacturing costs to go down via mass production of generic satellites. As in terrestrial networks, hardware is becoming software in space as well.”
In a recent white paper, NSR noted the shift from traditionally CapEx-heavy investments of satellite ground infrastructure to an optimized OpEx-driven virtualized network environment that is flexible and open.
“When you shift customization capabilities to software, you have the ability to reconfigure generic satellites, which is a huge cost advantage over having a satellite that is rather statically configured for many years”.