Aalyria: A Darkhorse Candidate for OCT Kingmaker?

Incorporating Optical Communications Terminals (OCTs) has become a baseline assumption for nearly every megaconstellation operator (i.e., Starlink, Kuiper, OneWeb Gen2, Lightspeed, PWSA, Rivada, and the EU’s IRIS2) due to their critical role in network capacity, latency, cybersecurity, and ground network costs.

But the reality is that aside from scant details from SpaceX about its "space lasers," this is a terra incognita for the space sector right now. Only a handful of operational OCTs have ever been flown in space, and the ability to build terminals at scale and cost is still unproven.

Hence, the SDA’s recent announcement that its planned optical comms interoperability testing will be delayed until at least next spring evoked groans throughout the industry. Several operators, including Rivada, Telesat, and IRIS2 will be forced to commit to terminals before the hardware is space validated.

While the SDA’s efforts to standardize OCT interoperability have mesmerized the industry for the past year, Aalyria's announcement that it is partnering with an investment group to deploy 200 OCTs on maritime vessels deserves a mention. While space and maritime are very different operating environments, Aalyria’s “coherent” Tightbeam terminal was specifically engineered to operate from terrestrial to deep space.

Aalyria, which acquired the core IP from Google’s unsuccessful connectivity experiments (i.e., Loon, HAPS), has demonstrated its terminal in land, maritime, and aviation environments but has not yet developed a space-qualified OCT. Nonetheless, the company’s focus on space is evident in agreements with Intelsat, Rivada, DIU, and SDA to study or use the company’s massively scalable (thanks, Google) network orchestration software, Spacetime.

Operating at a minimum throughput of 100 Gbps, Tightbeam promises to be competitive in the space-OCT domain, but Aalyria’s maritime agreement should also sound alarms for the already beleaguered maritime sector. According to the company’s press release, “Aalyria aims to outfit thousands of marine vessels with Tightbeam terminals, enabling a large mesh network that will extend high-speed, ground-based connectivity far into the open ocean without relying on satellites.”

This is an interesting concept for a space startup.

SOURCE: https://www.satellitetoday.com/technology/2023/10/24/aalyria-and-hico-plan-to-deploy-laser-communications-on-commercial-ships/