NEC Completes Design for Optical Communication Demo Satellitenec

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NEC Corporation will develop a small technology demonstration satellite to conduct in-orbit verification of key technologies essential for realizing future optical communication satellite constellations, including optical communications, high-speed network routing design, and high-capacity millimeter-wave band communications. The design of the satellite-mounted equipment (payload) for this demonstration has now been completed. Moving forward, the payload will be manufactured and integrated into the satellite bus, the common functional component of the satellite, which is scheduled for launch into Earth’s orbit in fiscal year 2027.

In satellite constellations where numerous satellites collaborate and function together, optical communication is increasingly favored over conventional radio for satellite-to-satellite communications. This shift aims to avoid communication interference and enable high-capacity data transmission. However, in order to equip a large number of small satellites with optical communication devices, it is necessary to shorten the development and manufacturing times and reduce costs. Therefore, it is important to utilize general-purpose technologies that are highly functional, high-performance, and have a proven track record of mass production.

Furthermore, in optical communication satellite constellations—which consist of tens to thousands of satellites and function as high-speed, dynamically moving mesh networks—high computational power is required for routing processes that enable low-latency, high-capacity communications in orbit. Consequently, high-performance applications are needed that differ from routing designs based on terrestrial network environments.

Against this backdrop, NEC will conduct demonstrations of the underlying technologies needed to solve these challenges.