When we talk about Non-Terrestrial Networks, or NTN, the discussion usually focuses on satellites providing connectivity directly to users and devices. However, a short presentation from Airbus looked at a very different role for non-terrestrial infrastructure.
Andres Catelo, Product Manager for Lasercomms Services & Ground Segment at Airbus Defence and Space, discussed how free-space optical communications could provide extremely high-capacity connectivity through satellites, aircraft and other platforms. The wider vision is to integrate these optical links with terrestrial fibre infrastructure and use them to support future 5G and 6G networks.
Rather than replacing terrestrial networks, the idea is to add another high-capacity and highly adaptable layer above them. Airbus is exploring how non-terrestrial optical connectivity could support xhaul, connect network nodes, move traffic between data centres and provide additional routes when terrestrial infrastructure is unavailable or insufficient.
The slide above provides a useful way to understand how the technology is evolving. Yesterday, optical communications technology was being developed, proven and used to launch the first services. Today, Optical Inter-Satellite Link, or OISL, technology is mature and increasingly used in satellite constellations. Satellites can exchange large amounts of data directly with one another using laser links, rather than routing everything through ground stations.
Tomorrow, Airbus expects much wider adoption of optical connectivity. This includes line-of-sight links, inter-satellite links and cross-atmospheric communications connecting satellites, aircraft, ships, vehicles, ground terminals and terrestrial infrastructure.
The most interesting part of this vision is that it is not simply about a satellite communicating with a ground station. Airbus sees the potential for a much broader non-terrestrial optical network spanning space, air, sea and the ground.
The motivation comes partly from the enormous growth in data traffic. Terrestrial operators continue to deploy fibre to meet demand, but installing new fibre can be expensive, slow and difficult. At the same time, cloud services, AI and future mobile networks are putting increasing pressure on the infrastructure carrying data between network locations.
Airbus is therefore looking at the role that non-terrestrial optical communications could play alongside terrestrial fibre.
In the presentation, Catelo described the possibility of using nodes in space or on aircraft to provide links ranging from around 100 Gbps towards 1 Tbps. The aim would be to integrate these links with terrestrial networks so that they can act as very large pipes for transporting data.
For 5G and 6G, this could potentially provide another form of xhaul. Traffic could be carried between network nodes using fibre where it is available, but optical links through the air or space could provide additional capacity, alternative routes or connectivity to locations where deploying new fibre is not cost-effective.
Airbus highlighted several potential benefits.
The first is capacity. Free-space optical communications can provide very high data rates, making them attractive for carrying traffic between high-capacity network locations.
The second is latency. In some cases, a direct optical path could provide a more efficient route between two points.
The third is power consumption. Airbus is looking at optical communications as a potentially more sustainable way to transport large quantities of data.
The fourth, and perhaps the most interesting, is adaptability.
Once a fibre cable has been deployed, its physical path is fixed. Aircraft and satellites are moving assets. A network that uses them can potentially change its topology and create new routes as demand, availability and operating conditions change.
This could also improve resilience. When a terrestrial route or subsea cable is disrupted, a non-terrestrial optical network could potentially provide an alternative path for some of the affected traffic.
The presentation also looked at a particularly interesting example based on commercial aircraft.
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Airbus studied how aircraft flying over continental Europe could potentially form a dynamic optical mesh. The analysis used actual aircraft movement data and considered how aircraft equipped with free-space optical terminals could connect to terrestrial nodes, either directly or through other aircraft.
In the example, an aircraft could establish an optical link to a ground node. Another aircraft could connect to that aircraft, and so on, creating a constantly changing network in the sky.
Every time the aircraft moved, the topology would change. Links would appear and disappear, and the network would need to find new routes.
The study used a baseline of 400 Gbps for the optical links.
This is a very different way of thinking about connectivity. Aircraft would no longer simply be users of a communications network. They could also become part of the infrastructure carrying traffic between different locations.
Such a network could provide additional capacity between terrestrial nodes, create alternative routes during outages or connect locations where deploying fibre is difficult or uneconomical.
There are also important military applications.
Airbus highlighted the security characteristics of laser communications. Unlike traditional radio signals, optical communications use very narrow beams. This makes them harder to detect or intercept and more resistant to traditional RF jamming techniques.
Airbus is therefore exploring multi-domain optical communications connecting GEO and LEO satellites, aircraft, maritime platforms, fixed and mobile terrestrial vehicles and other assets.
The same underlying concept could eventually have commercial applications. Enterprises might use highly secure optical connectivity between sites or moving assets, while telecom operators could use non-terrestrial optical paths to provide extra transport capacity.
Other possible use cases highlighted in the presentation include cloud traffic optimisation, connecting data centres at the edge of the network, mobile network backhaul and providing additional connectivity when subsea cable routes are interrupted.
My main takeaway from the presentation is that the future of NTN may be much broader than direct-to-device satellite connectivity.
The mobile industry has spent many years discussing the integration of terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks. In many cases, this is still presented as a coverage story, with satellites extending connectivity into places that terrestrial mobile networks cannot reach.
The Airbus vision adds another dimension.
Non-terrestrial infrastructure could also become part of the transport network behind future 5G and 6G services.
A future connectivity network could combine terrestrial fibre, RF links, satellites, aircraft and free-space optical communications. Different traffic flows could use different paths depending on the capacity, latency, availability, security and resilience required.
Fibre will undoubtedly remain fundamental. The more interesting possibility is that future networks will no longer need to rely entirely on fixed terrestrial routes.
The sky itself could become part of the high-capacity network infrastructure supporting 5G, 6G, cloud services and the wider digital world.
The talk is embedded below:
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