I think the lede here is "satellites with 64 sq meters" (or more!) of antenna can listen in on the signals sent by a cell phone somewhere below it.
Existing smartphones will connect with new satellite constellations in 2023
21–30 of 233 posts
Re: Existing smartphones will connect with new satellite constellations in 2023
#22So there's Bluewalker 3 which uses a big antenna to achieve communications with unmodified cell phones, and then Elon claiming that regular Starlink satellites will be able to do the same thing without that ginormous antenna. How does that work? Both are at roughly similar altitudes, BW3 just slightly higher.
I wasn't familiar with BW3. looks massive compared to star link sats.
https://ast-science.com/spacemobile-network/bluewalker-3/
Re: Existing smartphones will connect with new satellite constellations in 2023
#23Just as a PSA in case not everyone knows this new feature. In the US and a growing number of other countries, the latest iPhones have a satellite network for emergencies. If tech giants are going to spend money on something cool, might as well use it. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213426
It's not exactly "satellite network", it's piggy-backing on an existing SAR reception infrastructure that used to require somewhat expensive dedicated devices. Not sure it's a good idea, I'd expect a wave of SAR requests for not real emergencies.
The devices aren’t even particularly expensive any more, about $200 iirc.
A PLB usually also has a radio transmitter on it that allows rescuers to direction-find your location.
Re: Existing smartphones will connect with new satellite constellations in 2023
#24This sounds to me like a single, global, commercial IMSI catcher that can track international movement of cell phones.. I guess the question is how good their triangulation will be, but I imagine the back-end data market for this will be fairly lucrative for them. And they don't really need any countries permission to _listen_ from space... .. .
I find it hard to believe that there aren't already intelligence satellites up there listening to as much RF as possible everywhere all the time.
Re: Existing smartphones will connect with new satellite constellations in 2023
#25So there's Bluewalker 3 which uses a big antenna to achieve communications with unmodified cell phones, and then Elon claiming that regular Starlink satellites will be able to do the same thing without that ginormous antenna. How does that work? Both are at roughly similar altitudes, BW3 just slightly higher.
SpaceX is going for text messaging, AST SpaceMobile wishes to offer cellular broadband. This means it is probably designed for a higher bandwidth on cellular frequencies. Beyond that, bigger antennas mean better signal quality, so a better coverage.
Also, Starlink seems to be using an order of magnitude more satellites: AST SpaceMobile is planning a 243-satellite constellation, while Starlink currently has 3000+ satellites operational.
Re: Existing smartphones will connect with new satellite constellations in 2023
#26AFAIK only Lynk has demonstrated this capability so far. They're basically aiming for emergency two-way messaging and light downlink data like weather, emergency info, etc.
The others are talking about high speed data but haven't tested or demonstrated it from space that I know of. From what I understand it is not easy! I would be surprised if any of their data services launch commercially next year.
Re: Existing smartphones will connect with new satellite constellations in 2023
#27This will hopefully give Canadians real options for mobile phone plans. It will be "illegal" because our telecom monopoly (oligopoly) writes the laws, but presumably with a US address it will be possible, like it was with satellite dishes, to get a proper phone on a network that doesn't gouge you. I'll be curious what the monopoly does to try and fight it.
Re: Existing smartphones will connect with new satellite constellations in 2023
#28Just as a PSA in case not everyone knows this new feature. In the US and a growing number of other countries, the latest iPhones have a satellite network for emergencies. If tech giants are going to spend money on something cool, might as well use it. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213426
It's not exactly "satellite network", it's piggy-backing on an existing SAR reception infrastructure that used to require somewhat expensive dedicated devices. Not sure it's a good idea, I'd expect a wave of SAR requests for not real emergencies.
Aren't SARs generally mounted on satellites? E.g. https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Engineering_Techn...
Re: Existing smartphones will connect with new satellite constellations in 2023
#29This sounds to me like a single, global, commercial IMSI catcher that can track international movement of cell phones.. I guess the question is how good their triangulation will be, but I imagine the back-end data market for this will be fairly lucrative for them. And they don't really need any countries permission to _listen_ from space... .. .
I find it hard to believe that there aren't already intelligence satellites up there listening to as much RF as possible everywhere all the time.
There are, but I think the idea here is “the more the merrier”.
Re: Existing smartphones will connect with new satellite constellations in 2023
#30Huh, I wonder how they manage to pick up the tiny amount of RF energy a normal phone can output from that far away, and through the noise of literally millions of other phones in the satellite's field of view.
Gotta be some real weird RF voodoo happening in there.