Schedule + Sessions | 2018 Satellite Innovation

Big Ideas - Satellite Technology that will Define Tomorrow

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What satellite technologies will have the most profound impact on satellite markets in 5, 10 or 15 years? While major breakthroughs in HTS, data processing and multiple ancillary technologies are already shaking the market it is worth asking what new technologies are undervalued, or overlooked. With a multitude of different potentially disruptive technologies emerging, which will affect satellite markets the most? Morgan Stanley's 2040 $1.1 trillion annual space industry prediction has awaken a new wave of investors and entrepreneurs. This will help fuel the next wave of market growth, or invite unwanted speculation into the market?

Creating an Innovative Structure - Financial and Strategic Perspectives

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Taking into consideration the cost of capital as well as partnership expectations from various funding sources, what are the most innovative structures being formed today to leverage technologies to the forefront of the marketplace? For various types of satellite companies at various stages of growth, what are the options for obtaining the resources needed to push companies ahead of the market? Listen from experts providing different types of financing. Prominent legal partners, asset managers and leaders that have formed some of the industry's most innovative partnerships discuss various joint ventures, M&A strategies, and public and private options available today.

Emerging Technology Update: Robotic Space Applications

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Since the first programmable manipulator, or Robot, emerged in 1958, our fascination with Robots has been a subject of discussion in many fields. Not only is the cost of sending a lifeless programmable manipulator to space for production and servicing of Satellite and other systems significantly lower, but the depth of their potential capacity is just starting to be revealed. What developments in servicing and production will likely be obsolete once robotics technologies advance in the next few years?

Major Opportunities Ahead for the Satellite and Space Industries

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Connected devices, video streaming, self-driving vehicles, IoT, remote sensing applications…there are multiple growth opportunities for the satellite industry. How are these markets currently being served, and at what point will there be an inflection point in scale that makes satellite services economically viable for these markets? Listen as experts discuss these technologies, current estimated timetables, and unexpected trends from the last year that are expected to continue onward.

Antenna Performance and Economics – The Influence of New Materials and Processes.

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While antennas have continued to grow smaller, lighter, more durable and capable, the market is evolving rapidly as costs decrease and mobile application become a more vital segment. The session will addresses not only phase array, but other areas of antenna design to lower SNR and further optimize antenna design. The growth of HTS and mobile markets have changed the priorities of antenna manufacturers significantly – where do new opportunities lie, and how will new market influences effect todays established antenna manufactures?

New End User Markets – The Next Generation of Satellite Customer.

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With broadband services costing more than $2 per megabit/second per month, and fiber or cable being less than $1, new point to multipoint services may be the next market. With vertical integration disrupting the established marketplace at an increasing pace, new users not only provide an opportunity for growth, but for service providers and operators alike, a means of survival. This panal aims to identify important stratagies to secure new markets which will be key to all satellite industry players in the future. Techniques to identity new partnerships, connect with new customers and best emphasis the unique advantages of SatComs over alternative technology will be discussed.

Briefing – Interference

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Interference has always plagued the satellite industry. How can we resolve a congested sky? With evermore satellites being launched and more terminals coming to market, interference is threatening the industry. Proper training and machine learning may be the best solutions. What network management solutions are there for interference problems? How will the new smallsat world with thousands of satellite competing for precious spectrum handle the demands of many?

Servicing Government and Military Needs through Commercial Space

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Government & Military customers present logistic challenges to commercial bandwidth providers largely due to a complex set of rules, security requirements, and uncertain budgets. Never-the-less providing service to such customers creates a unique opportunity for comercial providers willing to work with through their specific requirements. As new LEO and MEO systems providing unique advantages such as lower latency, worldwide coverage and higher throughputs, how can the comercial providers and their non-commercial clients best work together? Can Government and Military play a role in the development of innovative technology in the comercial sector? If so what is their role and how is it optimally executed?

Keynote Speaker — Steve Jurvetson, Co-founder, Future Ventures & DFJ

Steve Jurvetson is an early-stage venture capitalist with a focus on founder-led, mission-driven companies at the cutting edge of disruptive technology and new industry formation. Steve was the founding VC investor in four public companies and several rapidly growing companies like Planet, Memphis Meats, Hotmail, and the deep learning companies Mythic and Nervana. He also led VC investments in companies that were acquired for $16 billion in aggregate.

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Emerging Technology Update - Software Defined Networking and Machine Learning

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How exactly will Software Defined Networking and Machine Learning affect the satellite communications industry? Our speaker will take aspects of these applications for solving the complexity of using spacecraft as a platform for providing abundant Internet access to the world. The key challenges in the operation of non-geostationary, multi-hop aerospace networks will be discussed. We are on the brink of an exponential growth in data production and analysis, with the monetization of this trend largely dependent on the ability to process this data – and these applications will be critical to that step.

Big Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence

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What role do these new approaches and techniques play in the satellite communications community today? As these technologies develop over the next few years, which SatCom markets are going to be disrupted the most? At what point will these technologies begin to solve interference, and even manage future networks? In the last five years, the amount of data being circulated has increased nearly ten fold, and the revenue surrounding collection, storage and analysis nearly five-fold. Currently, less than 1% of the worlds’ data is analyzed. As these technologies develop and avenues of monetization emerge, the SatCom industry is poised to benefit tremendously.

Analyzing Competitive Alternatives to SatCom

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UAS, terrestrial and other platforms often can (and do) substitute for SatCom. Where is the use of satellites a strong or a weak business case, and what are the trends that will affect today’s marketplace? At one time, satellites were the primary path for all forms of TV contribution and distribution. The growth of fiber capacity and the rise of content delivery systems such as OTT have changed the economics. There are multiple opportunities for teleport operators that are already originating and distributing video to expand their services into OTT origination. What other platforms will continue to compete with SatCom?

Earth Observation & Remote Sensing

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There has been a lot of innovation and growth surrounding earth observation, but will it generate the level of profits commensurate with the innovation? While there have been several constellations planned and even launched to provide for this new marketplace, is there value to the potential redundancy? What unique approaches to processing and analysis have emerged, and what are some potential business cases that depend on imminent technologies?

Keynote Speaker — Mark Dankberg, Chairman and CEO, Viasat

Mark Dankberg co-founded ViaSat Inc. in 1986, and has held the position of Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer since inception. Under his leadership, ViaSat has consistently been recognized as one of America’s fastest growing technology companies.

Mark is an acknowledged industry expert in communications technology, satellite, aerospace and defense, and is the leading visionary for a new generation of high-capacity satellite systems that are poised to deliver worldwide broadband coverage by 2021. He has co-authored several military standards on satellite networking, and holds a number of patents in communications and satellite networking technologies. He has participated on Department of Defense advisory panels and has testified before a Congressional committee on high technology growth companies and IPOs as well as before the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications regarding communications technologies for rural broadband

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Finding Your Investment Source – How All the Pieces Fit Together

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From Angel Investment to VC to PE to government-supported funding, project finance and beyond. Given your current stage, your desired market, and the resources necessary to take you there, what are your best options for financing? What are these various sources looking for from you in order to start the conversation, and potentially put a deal together? Learn from experts actively deploying capital from various sources, what it takes to secure the resources you need.

LEO and MEO Internet Constellations

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Emerging constellations that offer broadband with much lower latency than GEO satellites are being proposed by several companies. Analysts agree that the advent of these huge fleets of small satellites in non-geostationary orbits have the potential to change the paradigm for satellite communications and internet connectivity in particular. With OneWEb’s partnership with Hughes, Intelsat, Airbus and others, the rollout of their constellation over the next few years will act as an indicator of industry trends. On top of Telesat Canada and Space Norway’s recent approvals, SpaceX also received FCC approval in early 2018 for their 4,425 satellite mega-constellation. With SES (O3b) operational and paving the way, what capabilities can we expect from these various constellations coming online?

Ground Equipment Advances in Electronics

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The ground equipment market is now estimated to be over US$20 billion and is projected to reach over US$30 billion by 2022. The growth of this market is driven by the high demand for advanced, energy-efficient, and uninterrupted communication systems with enhanced lifespan, increased reliability, and varied functionalities with new ideas for frequency hopping and re-use, modulation, amplification and fast, accurate & secure data analysis. While the cost of transmission has been driven down considerably in many areas, some of the newest technology is still not economically viable and scalable. What will need to happen for the next stages of growth to occur in this marketplace?

Building Innovative Satellite Companies (Culture, Personnel, Diversity)

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For satellite companies to stay ahead, they will need to get on top of recruiting and maintaining top talent, and will likely need to spend time and resources to do so. The panelists will discuss evolution of the workplace, challenges and opportunities and thoughts for young professionals as they face the future. Many companies based in Silicon Valley are built on the backs of brilliant young minds. What draws the best and brightest to work for your organization, and how do you get started building a team that will propel you ahead of the market?

Keynote Speaker — Charles Wald, General, USAF (Ret.), Vice Chairman Federal Practice Senior Advisor, Deloitte Services

General Charles F. Wald (USAF, Ret.) serves as Vice Chairman, Federal Practice Senior Advisor, Deloitte Services, LP. He is responsible for providing senior leadership in strategy and relationships with the U.S. Department of Defense. General Wald is a subject matter specialist in weapons procurement and deployment, counterterrorism, and international energy security policy.

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Briefing – The Emergence of IOT

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While ORBCOMM operates the world’s first and only 100% dedicated IoT and M2M network, many others are coming to market soon in not only dedicated networks, but with large capacities reserved for IoT technology. The market for these kinds of networks is poised to explode in coming years, with current growth rates in the range of 30%, and compounding. Satellites will have a pivotal roll in this growth, particularly in rural areas, countries without dedicated IoT connectivity, and mobile applications. What can ground system developers and teleport operators do to position themselves in this emerging marketplace? It is important to understand the various market potentials and timelines now so that infrastructural investments are made within SatCom industry at timing optimal to benefit from the growth curve.

Connectivity on the Go: A Paradigm Shift in Mobile Communications

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Consumers today expect to be able to connect anytime and anywhere. Airline passengers rate it only behind price and schedule in selecting flights. Cruise operators require multiples of throughput as well as social media requirements to meet the needs of their customers. How both industries’ customers consume entertainment has also shifted as over the top (OTT) applications have changed viewing habits. How do companies serving mobile customers meet the needs of today’s traveling public? What opportunities does this create for satellite providers? What new technologies are helping drive demand for these services, and how do these services provide value to airlines and cruise lines?