Is 6G going to overturn 5G? Musk: No, it’s my satellite internet

It stands to reason that with 5G already officially commercialized, the research and development of the next generation of communication technology has also begun. In the future, 5G technology will be overturned by "6G". However, the famous entrepreneur Musk does not agree with this view. Recently, Musk revealed the timetable for the satellite Internet business based on the "Starlink Project": "Private beta within 3 months, and public beta version within 6 months."

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According to the timetable announced by Musk, the satellite Internet business is expected to start in 2020. In fact, as of now, Musk's Starlink project has successfully launched 420 satellites. With these hundreds of satellites in orbit, Musk's "satellite Internet" can be experienced by consumers in some parts of the world first.

Advantages of Satellite Internet

According to data released by the United Nations, nearly 57% of the world's population still cannot directly use Internet services. Such limitations not only bring great inconvenience to individual users, but also affect the social and economic development of related regions. Therefore, Musk's "Starlink Project" is an attempt to use satellite Internet to make up for the shortcomings of the existing Internet system and provide relatively cheap broadband network services to everyone.

Compared with laying optical cables on the ground, the cost is very expensive, especially in some special areas with complex terrain, such as remote mountainous areas, plateaus, and the seabed. In comparison, satellite Internet has obvious advantages in both deployment cost and service price. It is expected to significantly reduce users' Internet access fees and solve the problem of being unable to connect to the Internet in many places.

In addition to the price and cost advantages, satellite Internet will also bring about a huge increase in Internet speed. Compared with ground transmission, signal transmission from satellite is more direct and faces a simpler environment. Therefore, it is expected that the speed of satellite Internet signal transmission is expected to be about 30% higher than that of ground optical cable transmission.

The key to the realization of the Starlink project

When Musk proposed the bold idea of ​​launching 12,000 satellites into space to build a "satellite internet", many people found it unbelievable. Although satellite internet is not difficult to achieve, launching so many satellites into space, not to mention the manufacturing and operating costs of the satellites, the launch costs alone are astronomical.

But Musk is not an ordinary person, he does not believe in evil! Through research and development efforts, SpaceX, a company under Musk, has successfully acquired key technologies such as rocket manufacturing and launching, and has also innovatively achieved the recyclability of rockets, thereby greatly reducing the cost of rocket launches and laying an important foundation for the realization of the "Starlink Project".

At present, Musk's "Starlink Project" has achieved phased results, with 420 satellites already in orbit, and people around the world can even feast their eyes on the Starlink satellites flying across the sky. Therefore, as more and more satellites are launched into space, Musk's satellite Internet will have a more powerful and comprehensive coverage capability.

Satellite Internet may be the real game changer for 5G

As a new generation of communication technology, 5G has many features that show great application advantages over 4G, and is an important driving force for the real implementation of "Internet of Everything". It is precisely because of this that, based on the fact that 5G technology has already achieved the connection between people, people and things, and things and things, how much room can 6G technology play in the future?

Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission summarized and explained the scope of "new infrastructure", which included satellite Internet, 5G, artificial intelligence, etc. into the category of new information infrastructure, which is a core component of "new infrastructure". It can be seen that the country has paid great attention to the development of satellite Internet.

Given the significant advantages of satellite Internet, it may really be possible to become the "next generation communication technology" that subverts 5G technology. After all, the advantages of the global satellite Internet system over ground base stations are obvious. Of course, this does not mean that 6G technology is useless. From a vertical comparison, 6G must have its advantages over 5G.

One point that needs to be pointed out is that although the "Starlink Project" and satellite Internet created by Musk will benefit Internet users around the world, we must also realize that this "strategic weapon" is fundamentally in the hands of the United States. For the sake of national security and interests, it is necessary for my country to consider building its own satellite Internet based on the Beidou satellite system to avoid being controlled by others.