One of the hottest topics in the hardware circle recently is probably the Huawei Mate 60 Pro, which suddenly came online and is far ahead.
Among them, how to achieve CPU and 5G-like network speed is a matter of special concern to everyone. In contrast, the satellite call function is slightly less discussed (I don’t mean to say it is not popular).
On the one hand, there is satellite communication itself, which has a relatively high threshold for technical understanding. On the other hand, if you are not extreme sports enthusiasts or outdoor workers who "climb mountains, seas and snow mountains", to ordinary people, mobile phone satellite communication is more like a black technology used by superheroes in science fiction movies, unlike 5G has become a daily necessity.
You may have heard a saying: The development trajectory of my country's mobile communications industry is that 1G is blank, 2G follows, 3G breaks through, 4G runs parallel, and 5G leads.
This achievement is something that every Chinese person should be proud of. On this basis, it is inevitable to want to go one step further and ask: What about after 5G?
Although the goal of 6G is far away, countries are already making active plans. Among them, whether there is satellite communication or not determines whether 6G can successfully build a network; whether it can be deployed on mobile phones determines whether 6G can be used by everyone, including you and me, and whether operators dare to invest or not. Can the cost be recovered?
It is no exaggeration to say that the integration of "mobile phone + satellite" is the key to the next generation of communication technology, and this time, China's scientific and technological strength has completed "straight overtaking."
As the saying goes, the ducks in the spring river are prophets. We might as well start from the signal of domestic mobile phone satellite communications and take the lead in imagining the next surge in the communications field.
Two-wheel drive of satellite + mobile phone
China’s science and technology overtakes on a straight line
Before discussing the waves caused by mobile phone + satellite communications, it is necessary to explain why this innovation is valuable to China? Why does it represent the strength of China’s original technology in “straight overtaking”?
First of all, a breakthrough in the satellite field is a very remarkable thing.
We all know that Musk's "Starlink" has built a satellite Internet, which is considered the American version of 6G. In areas that are not covered by 5G, signal transmission must rely on satellites.
Just imagine, if sea oil exploration, desert construction, plateau border patrol, and outdoor adventure encounter "no man's land", there is no own satellite communication service available, and a large number of digital equipment cannot work, which is equivalent to blindness in the eyes and mind. It is very difficult. confused.
Chinese satellites have been catching up from the late launch position. By 2020, the 55th navigation satellite of the Beidou system was successfully launched, and the deployment of the Beidou-3 global satellite navigation system constellation was completed. The following year, 2021, the Beidou-3 global satellite navigation system was completed and launched.
This achievement was not easy to achieve.
With the independent Beidou satellite network, this is not enough.
A communication technology cannot exist independently of network experience and commercial market. To put it bluntly, advanced technology must be used by people and exert commercial value, and cannot be just for admiration.
So, how does satellite communication technology enter people's lives?
One key answer: smart hardware.
Terminal devices such as smartphones, smart watches, and smart homes are the products that everyone comes into contact with most every day. Data transmission relies heavily on communication guarantees, and with the rapid development of AI/VR/AR/8K/Yuanverse/cloud office/cloud games/remote The emergence of emerging application scenarios such as medical care has placed increasing demands on network experience. These rigid demands are driving the further upgrade of existing 5G networks, and satellite communications will naturally become one of the options.
However, although satellite communications are good, it is extremely challenging to integrate them into these smart hardware.
At present, we are still unable to know the specific technical details of Huawei Mate 60 Pro's satellite communications, but as early as the previous generation product Mate 50 series, it has already used the short message function of the Beidou-3 system to become the world's first to support Beidou satellite messages. smart phone. Huawei WATCH Ultimate is the only smartwatch on the market that supports two-way satellite communication.
From the research and development of these past products, we can get a glimpse of the technical difficulty of combining satellite communications with smart devices:
Smartphones/watches require very high voltage and current when receiving satellite signals. Today's mobile phone/watch devices are getting smaller and thinner, and the device space is constantly compressed. Traditional batteries have to fit within a limited "body" Carrying the pressure of satellite communications within is very difficult.
Therefore, in terms of design, it is necessary to improve the integration of smartphones/watches through technologies such as floating antennas. While adding functions, it still maintains a smaller appearance and does not make consumers feel bulky. At this point, Chinese mobile phone manufacturers should be the undisputed number one in the world.
Black technology products, of course, use many high-tech components. For example, high-power batteries can instantly rise to high voltage when communicating with satellites. If you cannot find ready-made products on the market, you need to find a battery supplier to customize them. This not only requires suppliers to be willing to take some early R&D risks and customize them for manufacturers, but also to have the strength to develop such black technology components. Therefore, the realization of satellite communications for domestic mobile phones has benefited from the rise of domestic smartphones in the past decade or so, which has given birth to such a high-end manufacturing supply chain.
In addition, the blessing of new technologies is also needed.
Equipped with satellite communications, it means that the equipment may work in very cold and low-temperature environments. At this time, the battery's working capacity and discharge capacity are even weaker. Huawei's solution is to use AI artificial intelligence to continuously heat the product and discharge it after reaching a suitable temperature. This is inseparable from China's AI's global leadership in algorithms, productization, and engineering.
From the various breakthroughs in the past, we can see that China has not omitted any of the most critical factors in the combination of satellite communications and mobile phones, from technology to industrial chain, from hardware to software.
It is the continued exertion of these Chinese forces that has allowed smartphones and satellite communications to begin to intertwine, making them ready for "straight overtaking". Next, these two technologies with great practical and commercial value will surely brew new chemical reactions.
Let’s imagine from three dimensions: short, medium and long term, what will the two-wheel drive of smartphones + satellite communications bring to the world?
Short term: Explosion of satellite mobile phones
Today, China has built the world's largest 5G network. The commercial success of 5G shows that the continued explosion of consumer applications and the continuous construction and upgrading of networks are a set of positive cycles that complement each other.
Consumer-grade terminals such as smartphones will be the pullers of satellite communication technology, leading this new technology into public life and allowing the value and advantages of Chinese satellites to continue to expand.
At the same time, after more than ten years of rapid development, the smartphone industry has generally entered a bottleneck period of "sluggish innovation". The user replacement cycle has been continuously extended. Data from some domestic and foreign research institutions show that the replacement cycle of mobile phone users has exceeded Two years. The introduction of satellite communications, a black technology, will undoubtedly inspire some users who are in urgent need and geek groups to try new things and bring new increments.
Therefore, what is most likely to be realized in the short term is the mature application of Huawei mobile phone satellite communications, gradually building a mature industrial supply chain, accelerating the amortization of R&D costs, lowering the R&D threshold, and making satellite communications a common choice for domestic mobile phones. ability.
Some people may say that 5G is fast enough for mobile phones, and even 4G is enough for most current Internet needs. Is it necessary to use satellite?
This brings up a law in the communications industry - demand drives technology, and technology drives demand. When 5G first appeared, many people felt that it was “of no use except speed.” It was only after the network matured that new applications such as cloud live broadcast, cloud gaming, high-definition conferencing, and telemedicine became possible, and once used, it would never be used again. I don’t want to go back to the past.
Therefore, mobile phones that incorporate the most advanced satellite communication technology will definitely lead the further upgrade of the mobile phone industry and compete on the newly opened technology track.
Medium term: New possibilities for dedicated markets
I still remember someone asked Huawei before, why not just do 6G? The answer from Huawei insiders is: If 6G is to be implemented, it does not rely on technical strength first, but first relies on imagination.
In addition to specific technical capabilities, communications networks must be adapted to business needs. Therefore, if China's Beidou satellite network wants to expand its value, it must explore a broader industrial scenario and tap into its imagination for implementation.
Currently, Digital China is accelerating its construction. The "Overall Layout Plan for the Construction of Digital China" points out that it is necessary to promote the comprehensive development of the mobile Internet of Things and vigorously promote the large-scale application of Beidou.
The integration of Beidou satellites + smartphones will serve as an indispensable terminal device in industrial intelligence and digitalization projects after the technology matures. Combined with private networks and vertical uses, a more segmented and specialized mobile phone market will be developed.
At present, we have seen the application of Beidou satellites in many industries.
For example, a domestic intelligent agricultural machinery research institution, based on Beidou's agricultural machinery automatic navigation system and the latest AI technology, has developed an obstacle avoidance system suitable for farmland environments, which can realize automatic navigation of drones and unmanned vehicles in farmland. Operation.
In mines, the domestic industrial control platform based on Beidou + GIS + remote sensing technology can provide communication services for autonomous vehicles in mining areas, assist mining enterprises in safe production, and is the basis for intelligent mines.
A mine in Shanxi has equipped employees with smart wearable devices to monitor their physical health in real time while they are working. The satellite communication function can ensure that services are not dropped and protect the lives of employees underground.
These digital China ToB scenarios have extremely rigid demands and strong willingness to use end-side devices + cloud services + edge computing based on the Beidou satellite network. They also put forward higher quality requirements for networks and hardware, and low Latency, high bandwidth, usage experience under extreme conditions, etc.
Long term: Satellite-based 6G reinvention
This year one of our partners went to Barcelona to attend MWC 2023 and found that most European communication equipment manufacturers were promoting and discussing 6G. He believes that this is because European equipment manufacturers have not achieved technological and patent advantages in the 5G field, so they are focusing on the next competition point further away.
Looking at China, 5G has been reached but 6G has not been reached. This is the current network status. Some experts have suggested that 6G research should follow the overall approach of “combination of near and far”.
To put it simply, it is necessary to start basic research on 6G to meet the global challenges ten years from now. At the same time, the current focus should be to release the technological dividends of 5G and tap the commercial value of 5G.
Countries currently have different views on what a 6G network will look like. But it is unanimously agreed that the architecture of 6G technology is different from that of 5G and needs to be redesigned. The integration of air, space and ground is the determined direction of 6G. As for air communication networks, satellites are naturally indispensable.
Therefore, looking further into the future, incorporating Beidou into 6G network exploration is of great significance for my country to continue to maintain its lead in the 6G era. It is also a strategic opportunity that Chinese satellites cannot miss.
Imagine that 6G, which integrates satellite network resources, will closely and seamlessly connect the sky, land and ocean, which will bring:
1. Wider coverage. Each network collaborates to communicate, achieving three-dimensional coverage and ubiquitous signals, allowing digital services to be always online and technologies and applications such as artificial intelligence, digital twins, virtual reality, and augmented reality to be available at any time.
2. Stronger application. 6G has greatly improved in terms of transmission rate, end-to-end delay, reliability, connection density, spectrum efficiency, network energy efficiency, etc. The available resources of the network have increased, supporting more advanced, more complex, greater computing power and transmission Intelligent applications in demand, such as self-driving cars, can use satellite networks to travel smoothly across the country without worrying about losing contact. This will bring a great boost to China's intelligent connected car industry.
3. Deeper digitalization. In the 6G era, network resources such as land communications, space communications, and short-distance communications are rich and diverse, which will surely incubate many unprecedented new businesses and practices and deepen China's industrial digitalization capabilities. This is a prerequisite for China not to miss the fourth industrial revolution. condition.
To sum up, mobile phone satellite communication is by no means a small function:
It is a valuable collaboration between China’s satellite and mobile phone industries;
It is a strong proof of China’s continued leadership in the field of communications;
It is a double cross-validation of China’s late-developing science and technology;
It also proves that people in this land can break through limitations and create miracles again and again.
We believe that the two-wheel drive of satellite + mobile phone will definitely have a profound impact on industrialization. Many Chinese scientific and technological innovation forces will fly together and be the first to reach a farther future.
