Amazon’s Kuiper Satellite broadband verifies OISL technology

Amazon has recently announced a major development in the Project Kuiper testing phase including optical inter-satellite link (OISL) technology verification.

On December 14th, Amazon completed multiple tests on OISL technology during the Protoflight mission. The test showcases a maintained 100 gigabits per second (Gbps) link over a distance of nearly 621 miles (1,000 kilometers) during the test time.

The test includes KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2 satellite prototypes with advanced optical communication payloads.

This suggests that OISLs will be used in the first production of Kuiper satellites in 2024.

“With optical inter-satellite links across our satellite constellation, Project Kuiper will effectively operate as a mesh network in space,” said Rajeev Badyal, Project Kuiper’s vice president of technology. “This system is designed fully in-house to optimize for speed, cost, and reliability, and the entire architecture has worked flawlessly from the very start. These immediate results are only possible because we approached our OISL architecture as one part of a fully integrated system design, and it’s a testament to this team’s willingness to invent on behalf of customers. We’re excited to be able to support these next-generation OISL capabilities on every Kuiper satellite from day one.”

OISL:

This tech uses infrared lasers to transmit data between satellites in orbit. The OISLs allow satellites to send data directly to other satellites in a constellation.

As an outcome, the OISL will increase throughput and reduce latency across a satellite constellation. Thus also providing more flexibility during its operations in different scenarios and places.

Read more about OISL here.