Shift Magazine - May 2021 - 23

Geely says its low-Earth-orbit
Geespace satellite network will
offer more precise location data,
a requirement for developing
highly automated vehicles.

Kymeta's u8 flat-panel satellite
antenna can be mounted on
the roof of a vehicle, in this
case a Toyota Land Cruiser.

amounts of data connected to its maker
via satellite-provided AI in the sky.

REMOTE DRIVER

Another area in which a satellite network's reduced latency could help is in
emergency remote-driving scenarios.
Starlink says its beta users can expect
to see data speeds between 50 and 150
megabytes per second and latency of just
20 to 40 milliseconds (20 milliseconds is
the time it takes for a pain signal to travel
from your fingertip to your brain).
Occasionally, robot-driving software

is overwhelmed by problematic " edge "
driving situations such as toll booths, construction zones or loading docks. Lag time
between on-board cameras and sensing
systems can compromise remote-driver
views and responses. Reducing latency
would make it closer to operating a vehicle
in real time and enhance safety.

DITCH THE DISH

How to elegantly connect a moving
vehicle with a satellite is another issue
companies are tackling.
In Detroit in January 2016, Toyota

displayed a Mirai-based concept car with
a satellite connection. Partnering with
Kymeta, a Redmond, Wash., company,
Toyota cleverly replaced the traditional,
bulky dish antenna with special software
and a sleek, flat-panel roof antenna.
Today, Kymeta claims it has the world's
only commercially available el " ectronically
steered " satellite antenna.
With no moving parts, it can track the
satellite and receive and send Internet
data while a vehicle travels at more than
100 mph.
David Fotheringham, Kymeta's director of product management, says he's
working with an undisclosed automaker
partner. The company's current technology
is upgradable to be a
key enabler for vehicle-Internet connection
and more affordable
autonomy.
" In my opinion, the
problem everyone is Fotheringham:
trying to solve for, and Affordability key
no one has a clean
answer for yet, is connected autonomy, "
said Fotheringham.
But like others in the electronics industry, he has confidence that there is a
priced-right answer hovering in the wings
- and just above the horizon. And he
holds a key to possibly unlock autonomy's
cost problem.
" I like to draw parallels to the electric car. So, it will not be cheap or free in
the beginning. Just like electric vehicles,
you're going to see it start in the premium
segment and work its way down. So as
they put up better satellites, we can scale
down our antenna. And the cost can scale
down. "

SPACE JUNK

Are there any downsides, besides the
cost and complication, to these satellite
fleets rapidly popping up in low-Earth
orbit? Well, the sky is getting crowded
as Earth-bound entrepreneurs loft their
fleets of satellites, and that could create
orbital traffic jams with inevitable highspeed collisions and even more space
junk. n
may 2021 * shift

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5/14/21 2:42 PM
Shift Magazine - May 2021

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