The Ground Segment: Gateways, Cores and Lawful Intercept
What infrastructure on the ground does a direct-to-device network need, and why does it matter for cost and regulation?
Chapter summary
Every D2D satellite must send traffic to and from the ground.
Key takeaways
- 1
Satellites relay phone signals to gateway stations (or across laser links to other satellites and then to gateways), which connect over fibre to the satellite provider's network and then to mobile operators' core networks.
- 2
Gateways must be located in or near the countries served, both for capacity and because regulators require traffic to be handled under national law, including lawful interception and emergency-call routing.
- 3
The ground segment is a smaller cost than satellites and launch, but it determines time to market country by country and carries sovereignty implications (Chapter 36).
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