From Al-Qadeeh senior Engineer: Satellites achieve sustainable development goals

Over time, Saudi Aramco has transitioned from using HF radio and VHF systems to relying on geostationary satellites for connectivity needs as data demands increased. And the search journey continues until the company's needs are reached.

Inmarsat satellite communications were introduced in the early 1990s to provide limited voice and data of 64kb/s. Then it was followed by VSAT services in 2000 offering 2 Mbps connectivity.

While GEO satellites have served communication needs for decades, the growing demand for higher data speeds has revealed their limitations as latency impacts real-time uses.

Low Earth orbit systems like Teledesic, though unsuccessful originally due to costs, may now succeed by offering lower latency broadband through constellations. Moreover, major improvements in communication technologies have lowered the costs of satellite manufacturing and launching while advances like electronically steered antennas have replaced mechanical systems, addressing challenges that contributed to earlier LEO systems' failures. This encourages companies such as Starlink, OneWeb and more companies to join the market and plan to launch thousands of satellites.