The ‘sorcery’ scared me too at first. The LNB probably has about 6-8dB antenna gain all by itself. This is in the same ballpark as the passive L-band patch antenna for DC 2.0.
As long as there is enough signal to noise to decode the signal is all that’s really required. My concern at first was the effective beamwidth of the antenna is not narrow enough to eliminate signals from other satellites a few degrees on either side of the satellite that is broadcasting. But if the other satellites are not broadcasting SCPC signals on the same frequency, this is probably not a problem. Hopefully there’s enough scrambling and FEC to effectively deal with interfering signals.
Galaxy 28 is already Southwest and fairly low to the ground here in Seattle, Washington, United States: 138.3° & 26.5°. I have mountain ridges that run east-west just to the south of me. The satellite barely scrapes over the top of them. A small dish may be required up in Alaska or northern Canada. I’m not concerned.
At boresight, the antenna hits about 13 dBi. Yes, there is signal to decode, it’s just under the noise floor
The adjacent satellites are definitely causing interference, as they are within view of the antenna and also use the same frequencies. The co-channel interference is overcome by the specific type of modulation used.
Don’t you just love channel coding? …the kind that gives you enough processing gain so that you can decode the signal. Excellent. This is definitely going to be worth the wait.
Here is an interesting link that describes the SpaceX test platforms for Low Earth Orbit Ku band broadband internet:
Of interest is the power and data rates expected and the plan of turning off transmissions when the LEO’s cross the paths of GSO (?) and other satellite services. There is no real description of what the earth -ground station- equipment is going to be ie… fixed or omni antenna to receive a moving satellite signal.
Also the header of the file is dated January 1, 2020.
Interesting read.They are still years away. But I am sue it will happen and be a low cost success. The use of high frequencies for portable devices is massively lowering the cost.
The new equipment is coming soon. I normally would order 3 packages, but since there are only a few coming out, I’m temporarily cutting back. I think we should all do that so as many units get into different hands as possible for initial testing. Ken
I’ve received transmissions on the older DC 2.0 system
New hardware has been developed, it’s being tested
Yes, only developing guys are doing the tests currently
Normal public still is not able to buy the hardware. It’s within days of being here.
Yes, except for the few prototypes, there is no first production of DC 3.0
There is nothing petty, underhanded, or disreputable going on. It just takes time to rent satellite space and to get a product out sometimes. We’ve known about this development for months. There’s nothing shadowy about any of it. I’m waiting just like everybody else.
Are you one of the millions waiting for a Tesla car? Many of those people pre-ordered and actually paid to be in line.
There is a chance we will sell the pre-production units next week. We will start with a notice here on the forums. I’m pretty sure we’ll sell out before posting it on the website. The first real production run (1000 pieces) will be available at the end of March.
We need to roll out with partners so that we are not on the hook for the bandwidth leases while we build out the regional business. APAC may actually be sooner than EU, as we have a partner there that is interested in supporting various humanitarian and disaster relief applications. There will likely end up being two beams for North America; one for Canada/USA (the current one) and another for the Caribbean and Central America. South America can be covered by a single beam. Africa can also be covered by a single beam. India is tricky, due to regulatory reasons.
Since the DC v 3.02/3,03 is rolling out with a quarter vga qvga little screen. 320x240…
see QVGA 2.4"TFT LCD Touch Shield 320x240 Serial Module Display,ILI9341
I am thinking about a direct hdmi or vga connector that could be wired onto the board. I think it is still a allwinner a13 system on a chip that incorporates a mali 400 gpu. maybe some direct hook up without needing much else at least for 800x600 which would display the skylark user interface?
If the little qvga is wired for touch then probably 4 wire input is available or use a usb mouse… Then wa-la – it is stand-alone.
I seriously doubt (without ever seeing the circuit diagram) that the LCD has an HDMI interface. It all depends on the type of LCD he’s using. There are quite a few choices. For example, look at the number of displays supported by a DVMega+BlueStack radio. None of the choices are HDMI.
An HDMI display can be driven with a USB to HDMI dongle.
A USB mouse might just do the trick.
And, then all you need is a bunch of software (all free on the Internet, right?), maybe a processor chip with more horsepower and voilà (French), you have a computer that receives Outernet
