Mobile phone satellite communications, on the eve of the outbreak?
The interface for making and receiving satellite calls on Huawei phones
"Satellite communication" has become a new focus of mobile phone manufacturers. Huawei's new Mate 60 Pro is equipped with dual satellite communication functions, Apple announced a free one-year extension of the satellite communication service launched in the iPhone 14 series, and Honor, Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, ZTE, and Meizu are working together to promote consumer-grade satellite phones to become the "standard" of flagship mobile phones. Although "always-on" satellite phones are still a niche demand, they can be a selling point to increase the competitive chips at a time when mobile phone products are highly homogeneous. Industry insiders believe that in the first half of next year, there will be more domestic mainstream brand mobile phones equipped with satellite communication functions, and smart terminals will enter the era of "ground + satellite" dual communication.
Brands are competing against each other
In September last year, Huawei announced that the Mate 50 series could send text messages of up to 19 characters in one direction outdoors via Beidou satellites for emergency communications. Apple was also quick to announce at last fall's conference that the iPhone 14 series could use satellites to send and receive help messages to rescue agencies in an emergency.
After a year, the Huawei Mate 60 Pro has become the world's first consumer-grade smartphone to support satellite calls. And Apple's iPhone 15, which was released this year, only launched the satellite request roadside assistance function, and announced that its satellite communication service will be free to use on the iPhone 15 for two years.
Apple and Huawei carry different satellite technologies. It is reported that Apple's access to low-orbit satellites has the advantages of small transmission delay and broadband, but also faces problems such as small coverage, limited capacity and susceptibility to interference. Huawei's latest access to the mainland's self-developed Tiantong-1 satellite mobile communication system is a high-orbit satellite, which puts forward higher requirements for antennas, signal transmission losses, and power transmission, further increasing the technical difficulty.
OPPO has announced that the next-generation Find flagship will support satellite communications
Under the demonstration of Apple and Huawei, other mobile phone manufacturers are also secretly competing in the mobile phone with satellite communication function. OPPO recently announced that the next generation of its Find flagship will support satellite communications. The Honor Magic6 series may be equipped with satellite communication function. Xiaomi has tested the satellite communication feature on the new generation of 14 series phones. Vivo showcased a concept phone with a direct satellite connection this year.
Although OPPO, Honor and other mobile phone manufacturers have not clearly disclosed the release time of new phones equipped with satellite communication technology, they have begun to cooperate with upstream and downstream enterprises such as China Telecom, Qualcomm, MediaTek and other upstream and downstream enterprises in the field of technology to tackle satellite communication functions.
The era of "ground + satellite" dual communication is coming
Since cellular networks are difficult to cover the communication needs of the ocean, urban edges, remote mountainous areas and other areas, the sense of security brought by satellite communication "never lost" and "smooth and reliable communication" has become the biggest plus.
iPhone satellite communication interface
Li Kun, general manager of Honor flagship mobile phone, said that satellite communication has become a charming feature of smart terminals, in the case of sudden disasters and ground network communication interruptions, satellite communication provides emergency rescue capabilities, not only that, satellite communication will also become a rigid need for high-end mobile phone users, such as self-driving, outdoor hiking, fishing and other scenarios, has a wide user base.
China Telecom Research Institute researchers believe that although the popularity of mobile phone direct connection to satellite still has a way to go, however, because mobile phone direct connection to satellite can meet people's "always-on" needs, under the two-wheel drive of economic benefits and demand, and under the joint promotion of the satellite industry chain, technological breakthroughs will make mobile phone direct connection to satellite business become the general trend.
Hou Lin, a senior analyst at GfK's China Technology Division, told China Electronics News: "As the current mobile phone products have been highly homogeneous, even if the implantation of satellite communication systems will increase the cost of mobile phones, it is also a selling point for mobile phone manufacturers to increase their competitive chips, and at the same time, it can also improve the scientific and technological image of mobile phone manufacturers." Hou Lin said.
At present, the satellite communication function may not be of much use in the daily life of most people, but if the mobile phone is supported for free and the price is right, the mass consumer will not reject it. Li Kun pointed out that just like the previous NFC function, satellite communication will also become a must-have function of flagship mobile phones, and the future smart terminal will enter the era of "ground + satellite" dual communication.
Satellite phones will be smaller, more stable and more power-efficient
Recently, the mainland satellite communication industry chain has continued to have good news, Galaxy Aerospace announced that it has successfully achieved China's first terminal-to-terminal low-orbit satellite communication test on the Lingxi 03 satellite, the reusable verification rocket hyperbola-2 flight test mission of Interstellar Glory has been a complete success, and the communication technology test satellite 10 has been successfully launched...
China Telecom is currently the only one of the mainland operators that has opened satellite communication services, but China Mobile said that one of the key technical directions of the layout of the 6G technology system includes "air, space and ground integration", and China Unicom has also released a vision of integrated communication between space and earth.
After the opening of the precedent of direct satellite connection to mobile phones, industry insiders have positive expectations for the prospects of the satellite communication industry, but believe that there are still multiple challenges of satellites, terminals and technical standards in terms of specific implementation. Zhou Jing, director of China Unicom Research Institute, pointed out that the key technologies for mobile phone terminals to access satellite communications are mainly in energy saving, antenna optimization, and AI enhancement.
Most of the application scenarios of satellite communication are in remote areas, especially smartphones and IoT devices have limited battery life, which is extremely sensitive to terminal power consumption. In the scenario of direct satellite call, the power consumption of mobile phones is more than 4 times that of ordinary cells, and the standby power consumption of satellite is more than 10 times that of ordinary cells.
Zhou Jing believes that terminal power consumption optimization can be achieved by improving circuit integration. At the software level, the terminal communication module can follow the common power consumption optimization ideas of terrestrial cellular communication to achieve terminal power saving. The reporter learned that Honor has achieved the same order of magnitude of satellite power consumption and cellular power consumption through self-developed low-power solution design, and solved the problem of satellite communication heating and improved call duration through self-developed frost engine liquid cooling system.
As smart terminals become thinner and smaller, the available space for antenna design is gradually shrinking. Zhou Jing said that it is extremely difficult for mobile phone research and development to do the enhancement of antenna technology and transmitting power on smart phones, and it is also an important direction for terminal manufacturers to make technological breakthroughs. "To improve antenna performance, in addition to the traditional improvement of antenna efficiency, you can also consider using circularly polarized antennas to reduce polarization losses, or dynamically adjust antenna parameters according to different holding scenarios, and make breakthroughs in antenna directional tracking capabilities. Zhou Jing pointed out. According to Li Kun, Honor adopts a self-developed antenna design, and improves antenna performance through software and hardware collaborative tuning, with the goal of achieving a professional terminal effect in satellite communication experience.
AI will also help optimize the functions of mobile phone satellites. Relevant experts told reporters that AI can ensure the best performance through the intelligent switching of 4G, 5G, satellite communication and other networks, and help terminals optimize network performance and improve data transmission speed and efficiency through data compression, caching and prefetching technologies. AI intelligently detects users' hand usage habits, and with machine learning and continuous optimization of algorithms, it can more accurately detect usage scenarios, judge the usage status of antennas, and dynamically tune antennas to improve user experience.
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