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Mar 8 15 tweets 6 min read Read on X
🚨FCC WAIVER IMPLICATIONS🚨

📓DEEPDIVE DD EXPLAINED 👨🏼‍💻

Let’s start:

The way you can differentiate emmissions in space [where] and in time [when] and in strength [how much] you can also differentiate in the frequenzy domain [which channel].

That you transmit in.

🧶🐈‍⬛

1/n
The transmissions are ”good signals” if they’re [when], [where], [as strong] and [which channel] combo that is needed to do the transmission that is sought for.

Another combo is ”a waste”.

But some other combos also do harm.
”Bad signal”

2/n
This is a result showing AST SpaceMobile technology to maximize the signal to which channel it is wanted in (blue) ”good signal” while minimizing it elsewhere, which is adjacent channels. (Green). ”Bad signal”

This is industry excellence.

3/n Image
It’s the sharp drop-offs in signal strength highlighted here with orange ellipse that makes it very high tech.

Requires very good chips/ filters and amplifiers.

It is not easy stuff to do.

4/n Image
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Yesterday (see: )

Starlink received a waiver from FCC

It permits SpaceX to have higher aggregate out-of-band emissions (OOBE) power flux density (PFD) level in the USA, specifically up to -110.6 dBW/m2/MHz, instead of the standard -120 dBW/m2/MHz.

5/ docs.fcc.gov/public/attachm…
Conditions:
1. SpaceX must address any harmful interference to authorized terrestrial licensees by its operations, or else cease operations.
2. The waiver applies 👉only to the 5 MHz band segments immediately adjacent 👈 to the downlinks for SpaceX's SCS service.

6/
And as Starlink d2c hardware isn’t as cutting edge as ASTs.

Because their differentiation in frequency domain doesn’t drop off as sharp.

(Starlink ACLR 20 dB AST 45 dB)

This has severe implications for Starlink.

6/ Image
Image
Basically FCC did this:

”Hi Starlink d2c feel free to spam the green box some more (adjacent 5MHz channels) but rule is still upheld in red box. (The channels beyond the most adjacent ones).”

7/ Image
And so the waiver while it on paper might seem an appeasement to Elon is that mostly on paper only.

In reality Starlink d2c still need to upgrade their RF hardware a lot to be able to use this waiver for any significant increase in power and throughput.

8/
This becomes Starlinks problem under the new waiver.

If they raise power in the channel. Not only do they increase in adjacent channels where they are allowed some but also beyond that where they are not.

Not much of a gift from fcc given the width of that tent.

9/
Here is AST type better RF technology on increasing power levels.

Note how the very sharp drop off means that spamming doesn’t propagate significantly beyond the main channel itself and certainly not beyond adjacent channels.

This feature also key to use Ligado spectrum.

10/
Now. Be adviced that Starlink fanbois posing as either journalists or consultants will not report on these key differentiators. Or even try to ridicule those who do.

Well. The joke is on them.

Because of the implication.

11/
When FCC establishes this type of precedent it is of some limited use to Starlink d2c.

But it will be of huge benefit to AST when launching the L-band and S-band compatible block 3 tier in ~2026-2026 for multi connectivity.

That will be full power on full spectrum width.

12🏁
Let’s acknowledge genious as they acquaint us.

HT: @defiantclient who had this gem identified 18h ago.

Love your DD, my friend.

🐾 Image
@defiantclient *~2026-2027

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More from @CatSE___ApeX___

Feb 15
🚨SPACEMOBILE $ASTS FULL FCC GRANT FOR 🇺🇸 BLOCK 1 β-TESTS🚨

✅$ASTS REGULATORY READINESS NOW ON PAR WITH STARLINK D2C

✅$ASTS TECHNOLOGICAL READINEDS WAY BETTER,

⏳ WHICH IS ABOUT TO BE SHOWCASED 🎬🎥🍿

🧶🐈‍⬛

1/n Image
Image
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As a ten tweet primer the competition in the form of Starlink regenerative architecture(green👇) is having severe problems with handovers.

As also can be seen AST is a different architecture altogether.

You’ll notice:

One single core.
gNBs (5G)

V/S

Two cores
eNB & gNB

2/n Image
But it is far from the only differentiator.

Here is a primer to another difference needed as background.

Starlink uses earth moving cells, EMC.

AST SpaceMobile uses earth fixed cells, EFC. Picture hex grids all over the planet each cell having it’s own cell ID.

Fixed.

3/n Image
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Read 22 tweets
Feb 8
Welcome to todays episode of

MAKING MICRONS

Prsenting is me, CatSE, to walk you through the wonders of advanced phased arrays.

Todays subheading is

COMPARISON.

We’ll relate micron generations to eachother and to others arrays.

🧶🐈‍⬛

Let’s start!

1/n Image
The Block1 micron is a panel about 30 millimeters thick and 644 x 1,288
millimeters wide.

On one side antennas and on the other solar panels.

The antennas have a spacing that corresponds to a certain spectrum band.

The larger the spacing the lower the frequenzy.

2/n Image
You will notice that the antenna element spacing differs between satellite arrays that do Lowband, Midband and C-band respectively.

And that you can choose spacing to capture a certain range.

For $ASTS tech that range is wide it differs 1:1.55 between upper and lower bound.

3/ Image
Read 23 tweets
Jan 6
Small update.

Starlink beam diameter of 50 km. (Blue)

Advertised AST midband beam diameter is 24 km for comparison.(Red)

What it means practically is that spectum deployed with Starlink d2c will be used by 3.3 x more users per MHz.

Cutting area SE to 1/3 by this metric alone. Image
Image
-It’s called SpectRum with an R, cat.

-Right. My mistake. I like all sorts of Rum

🍹 🌈🛜 no offense intended.

-What is ”area spectral efficiency, cat?

-It is the key performance metric of an 3GPP NTN system.

-What is it made of and why is it important?

-I’m glad you asked
- We could first get more detailed and say that it is the mean area spectral efficiency that is key. Not the peak area spectral efficiency.

-Yeah, or alternatively we coukd simplify the concept instead of making it more complex. I’m not following, cat.

-Ah. Eli 5?

-Yes Please.
Read 50 tweets
Dec 27, 2024
The case for Low Earth orbit radar.

And sharing spectrum between DoD and Telecom.

This image shows the Chinese bomber fleet range. Previous and that of H-20 bomber project a bomber similar to the US flying wing stealth bombers.

As can be seen Hawaii is now within range.

1/n Image
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A bit smaller regional nuclear capable strike aircraft like this one shown yesterday (JH-XX ?) are likely capable of reaching places like Guam and Japan.

The two types of aircraft are built for stealth, low observability. And likely capable of electronic warfare.

2/n Image
Australia ponders buting the B21 as a strategic deterrent.

It is the most modern US stealth bomber and is capable of reaching chinese airforce bases.

The opposite would be true of the chinese equivallent.

3/n Image
Image
Read 13 tweets
Dec 13, 2024
Let us look at the SDA opportunity.

What does $ASTS have that SDA might seek?

How does that fit with PWSA architecture and timelines.

Any hints there is a fit or work in progress between the two space architectures?

1/n Image
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AST was selected to be part of HALO pool. From this pool they can be awarded contract for 2 space vehicles.

This is when AST themselves became a prime DoD partner.

In parallell we know that another AST partner which also has a prime contract staus with the DoD are testing OISL Image
That other partner is Fairwinds.

They integrate as part of SBIR OSIL direct to Phase 2 a Skyloom OISL on a ASTS Flat Sat Simulator, with a 12-mo demonstration integrating the OISL onto the Sat and test events to verify interoperability between ASTS payload and an SDA OISL.

3/n
Read 22 tweets
Nov 29, 2024
There are many people speculating in revenue from AST satellites.

A year ago @thekookreport and I did some math.

It’s in his report.

1/n Image
One simple key to understanding data transmission capacity in networks is the difference between bits and bytes.

A byte contains 8 bits.

2/n Image
One other key metric is the peak processing bandwidth of an $ASTS BlueBird Block 2 which is 10 GigaHertz

Another is the spectral efficiency.

Which was measured in early tests with BlueWalker 3 to 3 bits/sec/Hz

We used some margin to that peak value: Instead 2.5 bits/s/Hz.

3/n
Read 41 tweets

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