Networking In Aerospace

No fibre. No RF. No pre-positioned ground antenna. A jet over southern France locks a narrow pencil beam onto a satellite 36,000 km away, and holds a 2.6 Gbps connection. Bit-error-free. For minutes. Same orbit as last week's GEO voice call. Completely different physics. ESA, Airbus, TNO and TESAT pulled this off in December 2025 over Nîmes. The part that shouldn't work is the pointing: keeping a microradian-precise beam stable from a vibrating, banking aircraft. But it did. 2.6 Gbps from aircraft to GEO. The previous record was 50 Mbps in 2006. Two GEO firsts in a few weeks. A voice call. A gigabit laser. Both 36,000 km up. GEO isn't dead. It's specialising. The future of satcom isn't LEO vs GEO. It's multi-orbital. Each layer doing what it does best. #Satcom #NTN #LaserCommunications #Aerospace #ESA

The "Blind Spot" is officially gone. Deutsche Telekom just went Multi-Orbit. For years, the choice in satellite IoT was a compromise: the stability of GEO or the speed of LEO. Today, Deutsche Telekom ended that compromise. According to TelcoTitans, the German group has officially added a "LEO Trio" - Sateliot, OQ Technology, and Iridium - to its refreshed Satellite IoT platform. Why this "Multi-Orbit" strategy is a game-changer for Industry 4.0? The First of its Kind: DT is the world’s first mobile network operator to offer a unified roaming framework that switches seamlessly between terrestrial NB-IoT, GEO (via Skylo), and LEO (via Sateliot/OQ). Mission-Critical Redundancy: For remote asset management - like water, energy, or oil and gas infrastructure - LEO satellites now serve as a high-speed backup layer. If one path is obstructed, the device automatically finds the next. Standard Hardware, Global Reach: This isn't experimental tech. It’s been validated on commercial hardware (like Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF9151). This means companies can use a single DT SIM card to stay connected from deep valleys to the open sea. The Iridium Power Play: Later this year, DT will integrate Iridium’s NTN Direct service, adding a layer of "pole-to-pole" reliability that is unmatched in the industry. My Take: We are witnessing the "normalization" of space. By integrating satellite orbits directly into the core telco platform, Deutsche Telekom is removing the complexity of "space-based" logistics. For the customer, it just works. Connectivity is no longer a question of geography; it’s a standard utility, available anywhere on the planet. This is the blueprint for the next generation of global supply chains. #DCSTELECOM #DeutscheTelekom #SatelliteIoT #MultiOrbit #LEO #GEO #Sateliot #OQTechnology #Iridium #Skylo #Industry40 #Connectivity

Researchers from University of Pennsylvania introduced ModQuad, a modular aerial system where individual drones can dock mid-air and become a single flying structure. Each unit is a quadrotor inside a cuboid frame, designed so multiple modules can align, attach, and physically connect while flying. Once assembled, they don’t just stick together. They fly as one system. Control, stability, and motion are shared across all modules. Which means you can go from a single drone to a reconfigurable flying structure built on demand.

After seeing the outages at Newark Airport and the impact they are having on air travel, I'm reminded of one of the key concepts we've been working on with our Cisco ThousandEyes customers: the critical importance of continuous network Assurance, particularly as it relates to maintaining ongoing peace of mind. After all, it's no longer a question of IF outages will occur...it's a question of WHEN. ⌛ When network intelligence and monitoring (Assurance) are deployed solely as tools to respond to outages, I compare it to buying a fire extinguisher: a necessary safety measure, but only useful after the fire has started. But what if we took it a step further and thought of Assurance as a platform? What if we focused on preventing the fire altogether as the network evolves and grows? The big question for customers managing both owned networks (e.g., MPLS/SD-WAN) and unowned networks (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP, Internet) is this: Are you deploying visibility and Assurance technologies as tools for reactive firefighting, or as a platform for proactive network assessment, monitoring, migration, growth-and yes, crisis resolution as well? Taking a platform approach, as many of our customers do, shifts the focus from reactive firefighting to proactive Assurance- ensuring continuous network reliability, safety, and growth. As an Assurance platform, ThousandEyes empowers organizations to identify tech debt, plan migrations and growth strategies (like MPLS to Internet for transport), maximize investments in Observability and APM technologies, adopt more SaaS and cloud-native applications, and implement best operational practices. By providing advanced issue detection, remediation, and optimization, it ensures every connected experience is seamless, resilient, and future-ready. 🤔 My two cents? Let's move beyond reacting to outages....let's prevent them altogether. #Assurance #NewarkAirport #Networking #tech #DigitalResilience

NATO nations seek a light-based internet backup up in space: A defence need will reshape telecoms forever. 📡🛰️ Let me break down why this is a massive market shift: Right now, our global internet runs almost entirely through undersea cables. These handle $10 trillion in daily transactions. And they're incredibly vulnerable. Just this February, a single sinking ship in the Red Sea took out 25% of Europe-Asia internet traffic. NATO's response? They're building a space-based backup network using laser communications. The $2.5M HEIST project launches testing in 2025. The tech leap is staggering: Current satellite links push 5 gigabits per second. New laser systems? 340+ Terabits. That's enough to replace major undersea routes. Why this matters for telecoms: The military is essentially funding the R&D for next-gen internet infrastructure. Once proven, this tech will transform commercial networks. Think Starlink, but with laser speeds and unbreakable security. This is the biggest infrastructure shift since fiber optics. And it's happening now. And here are the key players that are fighting off for a piece of the new SpaceCom infrastructure -which will likely be worth hundreds of billions. 1) Corporate Ventures AAC Clyde Space (Sweden) - Developing 10 Gbps laser terminals for small satellites - Leading €3.5M consortium with TNO and FSO Instruments - Launching next-gen CubeCAT system by 2026 Sony Space Communications (Japan) - Corporate spin-off launched 2022 - Focusing on miniaturized optical devices for microsatellites - Leveraging Sony's advanced optical expertise 2) Established Startups Mynaric (Germany) - Peter Thiel-backed, publicly traded Market cap: $184M - Leading provider of industrialised laser communication products BridgeSat (USA) - Series B funded, $10M raised - Building global optical communications network - Focus on LEO satellite connectivity solutions 3) Emerging Players Archangel Lightworks (UK) - £4M seed funding in 2023 - Developing TERRA-M miniature ground stations - Recently demonstrated rapid deployment capability Astrogate Labs (India) - Developing 1U form factor terminals - Offers 150 Mbps at 1000km range - Cost-competitive with RF systems Cailabs (France) - €26M Series C raised - 26 patent families - Specializes in multi-mission ground stations Xenesis (USA) - $20M funding secured - Offers optical communications as a service - Developing Xen-Link platform We've made our pick at Silicon Roundabout Ventures from the above builders. I'm sure it's going to be an exciting race. And once the infrastructure is there, what it will enable will usher a new era for the human race, like the spread of broadband internet. #deeptech #defense #telecom #spacetech

As AI workloads scale to thousands of GPUs, the constraint isn’t just compute, it’s the network. Synchronized training jobs only move as fast as their slowest path, and traditional networking approaches weren’t built for this. That’s why we worked closely with OpenAI, NVIDIA, and Arista Networks to deploy and scale Multipath Reliable Connection (MRC) across OCI’s cluster network in Abilene, Texas. MRC extends reliable connections across multiple network paths, helping improve throughput, resilience, and tail latency at scale. Paired with Oracle Acceleron’s Multiplanar Network, it helps deliver the predictable performance large-scale AI workloads require. This is what it takes to run AI systems reliably at scale. https://lnkd.in/gJKWzYmK

‼️ Artemis II is quietly introducing one of the most important cybersecurity shifts in human history, communication by light. As we move beyond Earth orbit, traditional radio frequency (RF) communications, long the backbone of space missions, begin to show their limitations not just in bandwidth, but in security exposure. RF signals radiate outward. They disperse. They can be intercepted. Laser communications fundamentally change this paradigm. Using optical links, Artemis II transmits data through highly collimated beams of light, creating what is effectively a point-to-point, line-of-sight communication channel with dramatically reduced signal leakage. From a cybersecurity perspective, this is transformational: • Near-zero interception surface Unlike RF, laser beams do not broadcast, they must be precisely aligned. Interception requires physical placement directly in the beam path, an extraordinarily difficult task in deep space. • Low probability of detection (LPD) The narrow divergence of optical signals makes them inherently stealthy, minimizing the ability for adversarial systems to even detect that communication is occurring. • Resistance to jamming and spoofing RF systems are vulnerable to noise injection and signal mimicry. Optical systems, with their tight beam geometry and photon-based encoding, significantly raise the barrier for interference. • Future integration with quantum encryption Laser communication platforms are the natural foundation for quantum key distribution (QKD) enabling theoretically unbreakable encryption across space infrastructure. But this is not just about protecting data. This is about securing the emerging space economy, where satellites, autonomous systems, biological experiments, and AI-driven platforms will rely on continuous, trusted data exchange. As humanity builds infrastructure on and around the Moon, communication systems will no longer be passive utilities, they will be strategic assets and attack surfaces. Optical communications mark the beginning of a new era: in the next frontier, who controls the signal…controls the system. #CyberSecurity #ArtemisII NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration #SpaceInfrastructure #LaserComms #QuantumSecurity #AI #SpaceEconomy #DeepSpace #FutureOfSecurity

Still fighting with impedance matching the hard way? That’s why the Smith Chart remains one of the most powerful visual tools in RF engineering. Instead of crunching equations blindly, we see how reactive components guide us toward (or away from) that perfect 50 Ω match. The Matching Network Breakthrough Rather than treating inductors and capacitors as abstract math, the Smith Chart turns impedance transformation into an intuitive, traceable journey. Each topology- series L, shunt C, or multi-element LC networks generates a unique trajectory across the chart. When you plot these paths, the whole problem snaps into focus. The Three Steps to a Perfect Match Start at the Load: Plot the normalized load impedance of your Antenna or RF device on the Smith Chart. Add Reactive Elements: Series elements move you along constant resistance circles; shunt elements move you along constant conductance arcs. Navigate Toward the Center: Use the visual trajectory to choose the right network (L-match, π, T, or multi-section) and land exactly where you want-the center of the chart, the golden point of maximum power transfer. Why This is Indispensable • Clear Insight: Impedance matching becomes graphical, intuitive, and far less error-prone. • Component Selection Made Easy: Visual trajectories highlight whether you need series L, shunt C, or a combination. • Frequency Behavior: Watching the impedance curve sweep across frequency gives immediate understanding of bandwidth and Q. • Universally Useful: From RF front-ends to power amplifiers to antennas, the Smith Chart remains the engineer’s compass. Mental Model: Load → Normalize → Plot → Add L/C steps → Walk to the Center → Achieve 50 Ω Match Are you simulating your matching networks visually, or still relying purely on equations? Which matching topology gives you the best performance in your designs? 👇 #SmithChart #RFEngineering #MicrowaveDesign #ImpedanceMatching #AntennaDesign #ElectronicsEngineering #HighFrequencyDesign

Navigation Without GNSS: The New Operational Standard in Drone Warfare The war in Ukraine has proven that the era of UAVs relying solely on GNSS is over. The battlespace is saturated with electronic warfare systems that disrupt satellite signals across multiple frequencies. In this environment, even advanced CRPA antennas with eight elements have become ineffective. Jamming now comes from multiple directions with overwhelming power, rendering traditional spatial filtering obsolete. A recent case on the Sumy axis illustrates the shift. After a Superkam (Skat) UAV was shot down, investigators found a high-precision altimeter and an onboard microcomputer. This indicates the use of terrain-referenced navigation—specifically, digital elevation models (DEMs) that allow a UAV to determine its position by comparing terrain profiles rather than relying on external signals. Once reserved for cruise missiles (like TERCOM), this technology has now been adapted for tactical drones. This is no longer experimental. UAVs like the V2U have been operating with terrain-matching capabilities for over a year. In parallel, visual navigation using EO or IR cameras with SLAM algorithms is gaining traction. These systems allow drones to localize themselves by comparing live camera feeds to reference imagery, even in complete GNSS denial. Inertial Navigation Systems (INS) provide short-term positional awareness using internal sensors. Though they suffer from drift, they are highly valuable when fused with other data sources—terrain, visual, or barometric. Advanced UAVs now rely on multi-sensor fusion: combining INS, altimeters, EO/IR imagery, and map data to create resilient, redundant navigation systems. A growing trend is local radio-based navigation using pseudo-satellites, RF beacons, or LTE/5G triangulation. In combat zones, however, reliance on national infrastructure is impractical. Instead, tactical forces must create their own positioning grid, using UAVs or ground-based transmitters. This evolution demands a new mindset. Enhancing GNSS resilience is no longer enough. The very architecture of navigation must be rethought. Resilience must come from independence, not reinforcement. Key implications: All medium- and long-range UAVs must support GNSS-free navigation. Terrain and visual databases are now strategic assets. INS and onboard computing are essential, not optional. Command systems must assume operations in GNSS-denied environments as the norm, not the exception. In modern warfare, the winner won’t be the one with the strongest signal—but the one who no longer needs it. Autonomous navigation in signal-denied environments will define next-generation UAV effectiveness. If you’re designing a drone today, the first question should be: How will it navigate when nothing works? Because that is the new baseline.

It seems pretty clear that the aerospace industry needs better tech. Planes have relied on satellite-based GPS for decades, but it's increasingly vulnerable to spoofing and jamming from bad actors and nation states, especially around are the Middle East and around Ukraine and Russia. A small toaster-size black box that leverages quantum physics and contains lasers, electrons and a single GPU could provide a solution. Or at least, Airbus's Silicon Valley-based innovation center, Acubed, thought it might. Acubed recently flew over 150 hours to test whether this navigation solution, known as quantum sensing, could be as reliable as GPS, and early results were promising, said Eric Euteneuer, principal systems engineer at the lab. The quantum sensing device is theoretically unjammable and unspoofable because it's completely analogue. Inside the black box, which was developed by Google spinout SandboxAQ, lasers fire at electrons, forcing photons to release a unique signature that's dependent on the magnetic pull at specific location. An AI algorithm that runs on a single GPU then correlates that signature to that exact location on the earth. When I first heard about quantum sensing a couple years ago, I was fascinated. But couldn't find any companies doing anything meaningful enough to cover. That's why my ears perked up when I heard about what Acubed was doing. There are certainly some hurdles before this becomes widely commercialized, but the promise is exciting. “It’s the first novel absolute navigation system to our knowledge in the last 50 years,” said SandboxAQ CEO Jack Hidary. Read the full story in The Wall Street Journal below for more on how the tech works and why quantum sensing applications go beyond aerospace and can even help doctors measure faint magnetic signals from the brain and the heart. And let me know what you think! Do we need a tech refresh on GPS? Could this be it?