Satellites have supported global communications for over half a century but today they face unprecedented levels of cyber risk, with the likelihood of satellites being hacked or manipulated by malicious actors having increased significantly.

Currently, cellular telephony (which is described as TN – terrestrial Network) operates independent of major satellite constellations (except for the rare case where the tower site (BTS/Node B/eNB/gNB) is located at a remote site and the only means of mobile backhaul is via VSAT).

Cyberattacks will get another push when Terrestrial Networks (TN) get integrated with Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN), which is deemed to happen as part of 5G-Advanced, while the unification of TN and NTN is proposed in 6G. NTN consists of not only satellites (GEO/MEO/LEO) but also HAPS (High Altitude Platform Station) – a term used by ITU to describe low flying objects like solar-power planes, hot-air balloons, UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, also known as drone planes), etc, which typically fly at an altitude of 20-50km for provision of broadband in emergency or disaster recovery cases. 3GPP Release 17 laid the foundation for NTN requirements, with Releases 18 and 19 providing further detail. With TN-NTN integration, satellites will become more accessible—and more exposed to attack.

Researchers categorize NTN cyber risks into 3 main areas:

#1 Satellite to Satellite Links

Important security requirements in these links include data confidentiality and integrity, key management, and authentication and access control. The difference in altitude and mobility among satellites in the three layers, i.e., GEO, MEO, and LEO, make some of the encryption techniques more challenging, mainly due to complexity in key distribution. Asymmetric key cryptographic protocols require a universally trusted third party to issue, maintain, revoke, and manage certificates. There are also threats of direct security attacks such as jamming attacks, DoS attacks, spoofing attacks, etc. Jamming attacks introduce interference in communication channels to cause unavailability of communication channels between legitimate users. With the integration of TN-NTN networks, the attack permutations will further diversify to LEO-GEO, GEO-MEO and MEO-LEO, in addition to within the orbit attacks.

#2 Satellite to User Equipment

With the integration of TN-NTN networks, a large range of user equipment will be communicating with satellites, like a stationary user on ground, a passenger travelling in a plane, a marine employee travelling in a ship, a student travelling in a bullet train on ground, a communications device installed in the cargo ship, etc. HAPs, UAVs, and terminals in the sea will have different requirements than those of normal smartphones. Frequent handovers between satellites in different orbits (hence difference latencies) will further complicate the whole scenario.

#3 User to Satellite Links

The most vulnerable link, as the hackers will have direct access to the satellites. While satellite phone users number in the millions, mobile users exceed seven billion – expanding the attack surface dramatically. Threats include DoS attacks, jamming, signaling storms, resource theft, configuration attacks, scanning attacks, privacy challenges, and many more.

Vital Cybersecurity Actions

Ensuring cybersecurity in satellite communications requires a multi-layered approach:

1. Encryption and Secure Protocols
   • Most of the communication is already encrypted but satellite phones use proprietary techniques like GMR-1 and GMR-2 where research groups have demonstrated that they can be cracked. Stronger protocols such as AES-256 are needed.
2. Access Control and Authentication
   • Strict authentication mechanisms for ground stations, satellites, and users prevent unauthorized access.
   • Multi-factor authentication (MFA) and role-based access control (RBAC) ensure only authorized personnel can issue commands or access sensitive data.
3. Anti-jamming and Authentication:
   • Anti-jamming technologies, such as frequency hopping and spread spectrum techniques, make it harder for attackers to interfere with satellite signals.
   • Signal authentication techniques detect and reject spoofed signals.
4. Continuous Monitoring via AI:
   • Continuous monitoring of satellite telemetry and ground station networks can identify unusual patterns or anomalies indicative of cyberattacks.
   • AI and machine learning algorithms are increasingly used to predict, detect, and respond to threats in real time.
5. Employing End-to-End Security
   • Rigorous validation of software updates and hardware components is essential to prevent the introduction of malicious code.
   • Collaboration with trusted vendors and adherence to industry standards enhance security across the supply chain.

Summary

The integration of terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks marks a new era for global communications but also introduces significant cybersecurity challenges. As dependence on satellite services grows, prioritizing cybersecurity is essential to ensure resilience, trust, and continuity in the connected world.

Just a decade ago, AI was virtually unknown in the telecom industry. Few could have imagined its impact on multiple domains such as network configuration, power management, optimization, and customer engagement. The Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) predicts that AI will become a standard part of operational procedures within the next six to ten years.

#1 Dynamic Resource Allocation

Telecom networks serve diverse customers, each with unique needs for bandwidth, latency, jitter, and other parameters, as well as varied data types like VoIP, video streaming, mission-critical communications, and secure file transfers. Traditionally, these settings were pre-configured and adjusted manually when user requirements changed. With AI, network parameters can now adjust dynamically based on demand, and customer portals can even enable self-service resource allocation. This represents a step beyond cloud computing, where users simply select processing power or storage from a portal.

#2 Energy Optimization

Cellular networks experience fluctuating traffic loads, and their energy costs are rising each year. Historically, networks ran at full capacity to handle peak conditions, with some manual optimization introduced in the past decade. AI now enables automated load sensing and real-time power adjustments, resulting in significant energy savings and more efficient resource utilization.

#3 Predictive Maintenance

Cable cuts are one of the greatest risks for telecom providers, potentially affecting millions of customers if they occur on backbone links. Some submarine cables carry over a petabyte of data per second (1 PB = 1000 TB). Subsea repairs are costly (often exceeding a million dollars) and time-consuming, taking weeks or even months. Terrestrial backbones are similarly critical, with outages leading to heavy penalties due to strict SLAs. AI can correlate alarms—for example, OTDRs detecting sudden signal losses or smart circuit breakers flagging overheating—and provide early warnings to Network Operations Center (NOC) teams, enabling proactive measures to prevent major outages.

#4 Progressive Cybersecurity

Dynamic AI models enable proactive detection of cyber threats and faster response. AI supports real-time anomaly detection, threat prediction, automated mitigation, and fraud detection. Telecom networks generate massive volumes of data that are difficult to analyze with conventional tools. AI enhances cybersecurity by detecting malware, isolating infected nodes, and preventing breaches more effectively.

#5 Future Trends

In addition to these established domains, AI is expected to expand into emerging areas such as Edge AI, Generative AI, and Intent-Driven Networks. These innovations will be closely tied to IoT, augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), and self-configuring networks that align infrastructure with business intent—similar to how autonomous vehicles respond to changing road conditions.

Summary

AI is no longer optional for telecom networks; it is essential for growth, automation, and security. While its transformative potential is immense, challenges remain, including regulatory hurdles, business model innovation, technical complexities, and policy considerations.

Submarine Optical Cables have been deployed since 1988, starting with TAT-8. Optical signal goes through attenuation when it travels down the fiber, and after a few hundreds of kilometers, it needs to be amplified to reach its destination, which is typically thousands of kilometers away. In this journey, dozens of amplifiers may be required. These amplifiers are usually EDFA (Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifier), though Raman amplification is also a possibility.
EDFA is a fully optical amplifier (O/O/O), meaning that it receives an optical signal, amplifies it in optical domain, and outputs an optical signal. It uses a pump laser (typically 980nm or 1480nm) to excite erbium ions, transferring energy to the incoming signal at ~1550nm. This pump laser requires electric current to operate and generate an optical signal.

In terrestrial systems, provision of electricity is not an issue as multiple sources of power are available from commercial mains, batteries, or generators. However, powering optical gear in the subsea environment is quite a challenge. Hence, the electric current travels along with the optical signal in the same submarine cable. This electric current is generated by the Power Feeding Equipment (PFE) which is typically installed in Cable Landing Station (CLS). Since all the amplifiers are in series, they are powered in series with the same current, making it a “constant-current system”. However, the voltage is highly variable, depending on the length of the submarine cable, number of repeaters, and number of fiber pairs (each fiber requires a separate repeater). In addition, the resistance of the copper conductor plays an important role in determining the power feed budget.

Now, to calculate the resistance, we use the following formula:

R = ρ * (L / A), where:

• R is the resistance in ohms (Ω).
• ρ (rho) is the resistivity of copper (approximately 1.68 x 10^-8 Ω·m).
• L is the length of the pipe/conductor in meters (m).
• A is the cross-sectional area of the pipe/conductor in square meters (m²).

The cross-sectional area of the conductor is given as:

A = π r1² – π r2² = π (r1² – r2²)

If the outer diameter of the conductor is 4mm and inner diameter is 3mm, then the cross-sectional area comes out to be:

A = π (4² – 3²) = 22 mm² =22 x 10^-6 m²

For a typical submarine cable of 1km (1000m), with copper conductor’s cross-sectional area of 22 mm² (0.000022m²) the resistance comes out to be:

R = 1.68 x 10^-8 x 1000 /0.000022 = 0.76 Ω

Now, if we replace our copper conductor with aluminum conductor of exact same diameter and thickness, then its resistance will be:

R = 2.82 x 10^-8 x 1000 /0.000022 = 1.28 Ω

However, the ratio of the densities of Copper vs Aluminum is: 8.96/2.71 = 3.3.

It means that we can add more Aluminum to have a larger cross-sectional area and hence have a comparable resistance. With a price differential of 3.92, this additional weight will still be cheaper than the heavier copper, hence resulting in comparable resistance.

Now, let’s calculate the volume and mass of the conductor:

• Density = m/V, m is mass and V is volume
• Volume of the conductor: V = A x L, where A is the cross-sectional area and L is the length of the conductor (1km (1000m) in this example).
• The mass of the conductor: m = Density x Volume = Density x A x L

For copper conductor:

• Density = 8960 x kg/m³
• m = 8960 x 22 x 10^-6 x 1000 = 197 kg
• Price: (@$9800/Metric Ton) = $1931

For Aluminum conductor (having same cross-sectional area):

• Density = 2710 x kg/m³
• m = 2710 x 22 x 10^-6 x 1000 = 60 kg
• Price (@$2500/Metric Ton) = $150

For Aluminum conductor with additional material:

To bring down the Aluminum resistance to that of Copper, we need to put more material, i.e., enhance the area. Since the resistivity ratio of Aluminum to Copper to is 1.68, we need to enhance its cross-sectional area accordingly:

• A = 1.68 x 22 = 37 mm²
• R = ρ * (L / A) = 2.82 x 10^-8 x 1000 /0.000037 = 0.76 Ω (Same as that of Copper)
• m = Density x A x L = 2710 x 37 x 10^-6 x 1000 = 100 kg
• Price ($2500/Metric Ton): $250

Summary

In summary, copper has been used traditionally for all electric current requirements but aluminum is emerging as a lighter, more cost-effective alternative. As per above comparison, Copper conductor of 1km length and 22mm² cross-sectional area weighs 197kg and costs about $1931. An aluminum conductor of equivalent resistance will require a cross-sectional area of 37 mm² but weighs only 100 kg (about 51% of copper) and costs just $250 (about 13% of the price). These cost savings can be transferred to the buyer and seller, while the lower weight simplifies installation and makes fault recovery easier. These advantages that cannot be taken lightly.

Satellites have become an integral part of our modern world, facilitating communication, navigation, weather forecasting, and much more. Behind their capabilities in enabling global connectivity and unrivaled insights into the mysteries of space lie remarkable facts that will leave you amazed.

#1 Satellite Lifespan: A Decade of Service

Satellites typically have a working life of 10 to 15 years, during which they provide critical services like communication, weather monitoring, and more.

#2 Space Fuel Conservation: The Dance of Orbit

Once a satellites reaches its designated orbit, it can maintain its position without consuming fuel. However, lower satellites experience atmospheric drag over time, requiring occasional fuel boosts to remain in their position.

#3 Farewell, Low Satellites

Low satellites with altitudes below 1,000 km are intentionally de-orbited when they cease to function. They reenter the Earth’s atmosphere, burning up in the process.

#4 Geo Satellites: Celestial Illusionists

Geostationary Orbit (GEO) satellites orbit the equator at the same speed as the Earth’s rotation, making them appear stationary in the sky. They create the illusion of being fixed in one position.

#5 Leo Satellites: Speed Demons in the Sky

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites orbit the Earth at a staggering speed of 28,000 km/h.

#6 he Mighty ISS: Humanity’s Orbital Oasis

The International Space Station (ISS) holds the distinction of being the largest satellite, measuring a whopping 109 meters in length.

Permanently inhabited by a crew of 6 individuals, the station serves as a remarkable feat of human engineering and international collaboration. Every 6 months, the crew members are rotated, ensuring a continuous human presence in space and fostering groundbreaking research across various fields.

The construction and maintenance of the ISS have come at a significant cost, with the total expenditure exceeding a staggering $150 billion, making it one of the most ambitious and expensive projects in human history.

                                                                                                                Figure 1: International Space Station (ISS)

#7 GPS: 27 Satellites Guiding Our Way

The Global Positioning System (GPS) relies on a network of 27 satellites to provide accurate positioning and navigation services across the globe.

                                                                                                                               Figure 2: GPS Satellite

#8 Sputnik 1: The Trailblazer

The first man-made satellite, Sputnik 1, was launched into orbit by the USSR in 1957. Sputnik 1 was a little larger than a football and took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth. The word ‘Sputnik’ means fellow traveler.

                                                                                                                                  Figure 3: Sputnik 1

#9 Vanguard-1: The Timeless Wanderer

Vanguard-1 holds the title of the oldest man-made satellite still in orbit, having been launched in 1958. It continues to circle the Earth, even after all these years.

#10 Graveyard Orbit: Resting Place for GEO Satellites

GEO satellites which are situated at an altitude of 36,000 km maneuver into a “Graveyard Orbit” at the end of their lives. This ensures that they remain out of the way of operational satellites.

                                                                                                                           Figure 4: Graveyard Orbit

#11 The Resurrected Satellite: LES1’s Surprising Return

In a fascinating turn of events, LES1, a satellite abandoned in 1967, recently started transmitting again due to the decayed batteries unexpectedly shorting the solar energy straight to the electronics.

#12 Messages for the Future: Satellites as Time Capsules

Satellites orbiting Earth today are estimated to re-enter the atmosphere in approximately 8.4 million years, carrying messages from our present civilization to future generations.

#13 Unveiling the Cosmos: Satellites with Mighty Telescopes

Some satellites like the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) carry colossal telescopes to enable the observation of remote galaxies and exoplanets, offering glimpses billions of years into the past.

#14 Tom and Jerry: Satellites on a Gravity Mission

In 2002, 2 satellites nicknamed Tom and Jerry embarked on a groundbreaking mission to investigate Earth’s shifting water masses and map their effects on the planet’s gravity field. Through their data collection, Tom and Jerry contributed invaluable insights into the understanding of Earth’s hydrological cycle and its intricate relationship with gravity.

#15 Suitsat-1: An Unconventional Satellite Endeavor

In a unique and whimsical experiment, the Russian space agency launched Suitsat-1 in 2006. This extraordinary satellite was actually a discarded Russian Orlan spacesuit equipped with various electronics. Suitsat-1 ventured into space, broadcasting amateur radio signals and transmitting images from its onboard cameras. It floated freely, resembling a spacesuit on a spacewalk. Although Suitsat-1’s mission was short-lived and lasted for only a few weeks, it captured the imagination of space enthusiasts and served as a testament to the creativity and ingenuity within the realm of satellite technology.

                                                                                                                                  Figure 6: Suitsat-1

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