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Starlink is currently experiencing a service outage

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Re: Starlink is currently experiencing a service outage

#51

Post by WJW »

sfn42 wrote: post #39
tjpnz wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is why they don't use it for that. Too susceptible to jamming and Elon's politics on a given day. All their drones will be fly by (fiber optic) wire now.

[flagged]

> You're just gonna have a kilometers long "wire" to control a drone?

Yup. Fiber optic cables are lightweight and thin, so you can stick 10 km+ in a spindle on the drone that unwinds as you fly.

> I'd much rather just lose some drones to jamming. They seem to be cheap and replaceable.

They *are* cheap and replaceable, but you don't send them out for the fun of it. If the drones don't hit the vehicles/soldiers/whatever that you send them at, those enemy assets are going to kill your own soldiers. Especially now that many vehicles on the front lines are equipped with jammers, have non-radio comms is super useful for making sure the drone actually gets where it needs to go.

That said only about 20% of FPV drones are fiber optic at the moment, because radio does have a lot of advantages when it comes to range and maneuverability.

Re: Starlink is currently experiencing a service outage

#52

Post by myfonj »

sfn42 wrote: post #39
tjpnz wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is why they don't use it for that. Too susceptible to jamming and Elon's politics on a given day. All their drones will be fly by (fiber optic) wire now.

[flagged]

Sorry if I've misunderstood sarcasm and taken your comment at face value, but are you really unaware of current developments? There are fields literally covered with thick webs of optical fibre near front lines. "Fibre optic drone" even has its own Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiber_optic_drone

I understand that keeping track of news can be difficult, and staying out of that depressing information cycle has clear mental health benefits. However, when joining discussions about current conflicts, it's worth acknowledging any resulting knowledge gaps.

Re: Starlink is currently experiencing a service outage

#53

Post by sfn42 »

myfonj wrote: post #52
sfn42 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Sorry if I've misunderstood sarcasm and taken your comment at face value, but are you really unaware of current developments? There are fields literally covered with thick webs of optical fibre near front lines. "Fibre optic drone" even has its own Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiber_optic_drone I understand that keeping track of news can be difficult, and staying out of that depressing information c…

I had no idea. A kilometers long wire sounded completely infeasible to me, though clearly I underestimated the fiber optics.

I would have thought kilometers of wire would be too heavy to keep on a spool on the drone itself, and without the spool on the drone you probably can't have fly by wire. That's why I was dismissive, it sounded to me like a completely infeasible idea.

Re: Starlink is currently experiencing a service outage

#54

Post by euLh7SM5HDFY »

stanac wrote: post #46

(Unrelated to main topic) Why is number of dead comments so high here? Do bots search for keywords that may increase views like "starlink" or something?

I choose to believe HN flame wars are still 100% organic. It is "just" immigration from Reddit. Ars Technica also has more trolls in comments under any Musk related topics.

Re: Starlink is currently experiencing a service outage

#55

Post by Joel_Mckay »

WJW wrote: post #45
Joel_Mckay wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The solar flares in the 11-year cycle are at their peak activity. There will be random outages for any space based equipment for awhile. =3

Solar flares are not anywhere near their peak. The NOAA indicates the peak activity was actually in August 2024 with a total of ~245 "flux units". Activity for this month is predicted to be only around 167 units, so almost a full third down from the peak. Total numbers of sunspots is also down dramatically from their peak in August 2024. See the graphs of https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/solar-cycle-progression for…

Indeed, we can't know the maxima for sure until passing through the entire peak prediction model period. The expectation of sun spot frequency and intensity only alluded to the average behavior rather than what we have partially observed in cycle 25 so far. Have fun =3

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cycle_25

Re: Starlink is currently experiencing a service outage

#56

Post by rsynnott »

sfn42 wrote: post #39
tjpnz wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is why they don't use it for that. Too susceptible to jamming and Elon's politics on a given day. All their drones will be fly by (fiber optic) wire now.

[flagged]

Absurd as it sounds, yes, both Ukraine and Russia use wired drones to counter jamming.

Re: Starlink is currently experiencing a service outage

#57

Post by Joel_Mckay »

WJW wrote: post #51
sfn42 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> You're just gonna have a kilometers long "wire" to control a drone? Yup. Fiber optic cables are lightweight and thin, so you can stick 10 km+ in a spindle on the drone that unwinds as you fly. > I'd much rather just lose some drones to jamming. They seem to be cheap and replaceable. They *are* cheap and replaceable, but you don't send them out for the fun of it. If the drones don't hit the vehicles/soldiers/whateve…

In general, your notions of front-line combat strategy is wrong.

People on both sides used the fiber-optic platforms to target the RF Jammers/platforms first, and then deploy normal FPV platforms to chase down the soldiers.

Note, one may buy a fiber network link kit for drones for around $650 USD off China online stores. Try to be more precise if you don't know something. =3

Re: Starlink is currently experiencing a service outage

#58

Post by unkulunkulu »

yzydserd wrote: post #34
arto wrote: post #18

[flagged]

> appreciate the technological miracle What part of the solution is a technological miracle?

The whole possibility of it.

If you put yourself in a position “one foot from success”, then you will be able to devalue any achievement this way.

If you see from the point of “empty universe”, you will see magic everywhere. This is the real magic.

Re: Starlink is currently experiencing a service outage

#60

Post by lucianbr »

sfn42 wrote: post #53
myfonj wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry if I've misunderstood sarcasm and taken your comment at face value, but are you really unaware of current developments? There are fields literally covered with thick webs of optical fibre near front lines. "Fibre optic drone" even has its own Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiber_optic_drone I understand that keeping track of news can be difficult, and staying out of that depressing information c…

I had no idea. A kilometers long wire sounded completely infeasible to me, though clearly I underestimated the fiber optics. I would have thought kilometers of wire would be too heavy to keep on a spool on the drone itself, and without the spool on the drone you probably can't have fly by wire. That's why I was dismissive, it sounded to me like a completely infeasible idea.

Maybe apply something similar to the Chesterton Fence principle: don't be dismissive of an idea unless you really understand the ins and outs of it.
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