Starlink : Hardware Design / Manufacturing

[vsatman]

I don't recall seeing parabolic dishes on the Starlink satellites.

see left  from red caps   

[su27k]

Modern Flat Panel Antenna Technology for Ku-/Ka-Band User Terminals in LEO Satellite Communications Systems

In recent years, an increasing number of broadband satellite systems have been launched into low earth orbit (LEO), connecting people across the globe. Flat panel antennas are especially attractive for LEO satellites due to their tracking ability, low profile and easy installation. This article discusses three major antenna technologies: electronically scanned array (ESA), variable inclination continuous transverse stub (VICTS) and lens antenna. ESAs consist of arrays of individually controlled radiating antenna elements with different phase delays that coherently form and scan the antenna beam in the far field. Within the category of ESA antennas are analog, digital and hybrid antennas with passive or active radios. VICTS antennas consist of rotating disks that steer the beam and change polarization based on the relative position of the disks. Lens antennas consist of modular lens sets that steer the beam by individually controlling the source of energy relative to the focus of each lens. Each of these technologies has strengths and weaknesses that are compared in this article using the size, weight, power consumption and cost (SWaP-C) metric.

Author says SpaceX's system is ESA Active Hybrid, but didn't say how he got this information.

[markbike528cbx]

I don't recall seeing parabolic dishes on the Starlink satellites.

see left  from red caps   

Thanks  vasatman  ! 
Nice specific point-out for the pic.  Needed that.  So often the picture is posted and the poster says about a small feature "it is in the picture " with no text aid to find the small feature.

[su27k]

Starlink Deepens Cooperations With Taiwan on Solar Cells

Taiwan Solar Energy Corp. (TSEC), Taiwan’s largest manufacturer of photovoltaic (PV) systems, has become a supplier of Starlink. Founded in 2010, TSEC produces both multicrystalline and monocrystalline silicon solar cells and modules.

<snip>

Starlink satellites reportedly used silicon-based solar cells, traditionally used for terrestrial applications, instead of the III-V compound solar cells more commonly used by the space industry. While the solar cells based on compound semiconductors are more efficient and more resilient to harsh space environment, they are also prohibitively expensive. Driven by cost reduction as well as the shorter life expectancy of Starlink satellites, SpaceX opted for the silicon-based solar cells that are less durable in space environment.

[su27k]

https://twitter.com/olegkutkov/status/1486115840802148363

Starlink Dishy PCB artworks

[Teppich]

Some interesting job postings

https://twitter.com/idontwa86202030/status/1530271541279219718?s=20&t=jj71QRoAK1BViRI45d5EUg

https://twitter.com/idontwa86202030/status/1530272631890518018?s=20&t=jj71QRoAK1BViRI45d5EUg

Looks like SpaceX is getting into packaging as well as ASIC design for Starlink

Silicon Development Engineer, Packaging Technology https://boards.greenhouse.io/spacex/jobs/6174603002?gh_jid=6174603002

Principal SOC Physical Design Engineer https://boards.greenhouse.io/spacex/jobs/6163663002?gh_jid=6163663002

[Asteroza]

Some interesting job postings

https://twitter.com/idontwa86202030/status/1530271541279219718?s=20&t=jj71QRoAK1BViRI45d5EUg

https://twitter.com/idontwa86202030/status/1530272631890518018?s=20&t=jj71QRoAK1BViRI45d5EUg

Looks like SpaceX is getting into packaging as well as ASIC design for Starlink

Silicon Development Engineer, Packaging Technology https://boards.greenhouse.io/spacex/jobs/6174603002?gh_jid=6174603002

Principal SOC Physical Design Engineer https://boards.greenhouse.io/spacex/jobs/6163663002?gh_jid=6163663002

You would think they would just dragoon SOC jockeys from Tesla instead...

[Tomness]

Some interesting job postings

https://twitter.com/idontwa86202030/status/1530271541279219718?s=20&t=jj71QRoAK1BViRI45d5EUg

https://twitter.com/idontwa86202030/status/1530272631890518018?s=20&t=jj71QRoAK1BViRI45d5EUg

Looks like SpaceX is getting into packaging as well as ASIC design for Starlink

Silicon Development Engineer, Packaging Technology https://boards.greenhouse.io/spacex/jobs/6174603002?gh_jid=6174603002

Principal SOC Physical Design Engineer https://boards.greenhouse.io/spacex/jobs/6163663002?gh_jid=6163663002

You would think they would just dragoon SOC jockeys from Tesla instead...

They just might, I thought they we moving the terminal production to Austin near Tesla. Be a win-win. Its not the first time Tesla & SpaceX have marvel teamed up.

[gongora]

SpaceX has had internal chip designers for years now.

[oldAtlas_Eguy]

A custom Silicon chip design acheives multiple goals all of which SpaceX is very interested in.

Move more of the varied circuit board components onto a single chip which has these advantages:

- Higher overall reliability in harsh environments
- Lower power consumption
- Less mass
- Lower overall unit costs per circuit implementation produced

An example would be a complete implementation of an ISL onto a single chip. Each V1.5 has 5+ ISL's and a V2 will probably have 4 times that at 20. The ISL is a case where if anything fails the ISL is useless. So by integrating everything into a single chip that also achieves a better reliability even though it represents a single point of failure for a specific ISL unit. Achieves the four above items which over a production run for V2 over a period about 3 years could be chips numbering into 600,000. Highly successful chip design could e around for 10 years before a newer chip design with even better advantages is produced again in the .5 to 1 million units production run. If the ISL terminal designs becomes very popular then the production runs could number into the millions.

Another example is the terminal antenna circuits. These will run into the 10s of millions chip unit production runs. Lower number of components means lower cost and faster manufacture of the terminals.

So even with the added cost of doing their own chip design and a custom production run at a fab. SpaceX should still be able to achieve a lower total cost per unit for chip design.

[andrewi]

Recommend good video on how Starlink works - esp Dishy ie how steered phase arrays work.  More detail than most would want but really only a primer so to speak.  Wasn't sure which to post in.

How does Starlink Satellite Internet Work?  by Branch Education


The video indicates Dishy switches satellites every 4 mins (based  100 degree field of view) but other posts and websites on the Starlink API indicate that dishy does this every 15 seconds which is also reflected in looking at tcp traffic flows  - saw a comment the this indicates that Starlink v1 UT (Round User Terminal) would remain compatible  with the larger V2 Starlink sats which would be deployed in denser shells so require ground UT to switch more often (ie can switch every 15 seconds not the often assumed 4 minutes requirement of current deployed shells)

eg su27k posted in Re: Starlink Internet Connection equipment - Home/Office user
« Reply #264 on: 07/06/2021 02:47 am »
Some friendly hacking of the protocol between app and Dishy:
SpaceX shutdown part of Dishys API because of me (and others)
Starlink Dishy: getting some deeper status
Biggest discovery is Dishy switches satellite every 15 seconds. They was able to get real time satellite and gateway id used by Dishy, but that API is locked down now.

[DanClemmensen]

The video indicates Dishy switches satellites every 4 mins (based  100 degree field of view) but other posts and websites on the Starlink API indicate that dishy does this every 15 seconds which is also reflected in looking at tcp traffic flows  - saw a comment the this indicates that Starlink v1 UT (Round User Terminal) would remain compatible  with the larger V2 Starlink sats which would be deployed in denser shells so require ground UT to switch more often (ie can switch every 15 seconds not the often assumed 4 minutes requirement of current deployed shells)

Dishy switches Satellites about once every 4 mins, but each satellite throws multiple beams (i.e. footprints) that move across the ground as the satellite moves. Your Dishy is switching from beam to beam about once every 15 seconds, on the same satellite. I'm not sure of the Starlink beam pattern, but the OneWeb satellites throw 16 long skinny beams whose long axis is roughly perpendicular to the direction of motion of the satellite, so each terminal ends up switching to each of the beams in turn as the pattern sweeps across the terminal. Starlink probably does something similar.

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/virtuallynathan/status/1594359493332455425

SpaceX is hiring engineers to work on v2.0 solar panel production using teamtechnik Stringer Systems -- the TT2100: https://www.teamtechnik.com/en/new-energy/stringer-systems/solar-stringer-tt2100-i8 A single system can build 72.5MW-peak per year.

[docmordrid]

https://twitter.com/virtuallynathan/status/1594359493332455425

SpaceX is hiring engineers to work on v2.0 solar panel production using teamtechnik Stringer Systems -- the TT2100: https://www.teamtechnik.com/en/new-energy/stringer-systems/solar-stringer-tt2100-i8 A single system can build 72.5MW-peak per year.

[FutureSpaceTourist]

twitter.com/virtuallynathan/status/1614486135211962369

SpaceX just got their own IDRA casting machine delivered last month to Houston... possibly destined for the new factory near Austin? Maybe in-house production of the Starlink metal stand and/or other metal parts...

https://twitter.com/virtuallynathan/status/1614487490169311232

In the past year, they've imported 455,971kg of metal stands

[RedLineTrain]

twitter.com/virtuallynathan/status/1614486135211962369

SpaceX just got their own IDRA casting machine delivered last month to Houston... possibly destined for the new factory near Austin? Maybe in-house production of the Starlink metal stand and/or other metal parts...

https://twitter.com/virtuallynathan/status/1614487490169311232

In the past year, they've imported 455,971kg of metal stands

Aren't the dish back shells also metal?  Metal stands are a dime a dozen.

[Remes]

Aren't the dish back shells also metal?  Metal stands are a dime a dozen.

The tear down videos on yt seem to show that it is plastic.

Also die casting sheet metal like structures is the worst thing. With the beginning of the injection process the molten material starts to cool down. As thinner, as faster the material solidifies. It would also be more economic to have smaller machines for smaller parts, and not making 100 dishes in one shot.

Thinking of a Tesla die casting part (thing between the rear tyres), I could imagine rather big (in the order of meters) parts. Parts which have to carry load, like a thrust structure. The thrust puck could be replaced for a SS. Lot of stamping, cutting, bending, fixturing, welding, ... Could be replaced by a couple of parts.

Things which carry too much load, like the engine swivel mounts, are maybe to hard to create with magnesia alloys (and typcially to small for such a big press).

Maybe with the bigger 2.0 Starlink satellites they want to replace some structures in the satellite? Replacing extremely work intensive carbon/honeycomb plates with heavier but way easier producible die cast structures?

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/felixschlang/status/1616894544867479552

Here's @CosmicalChief's SpaceX Starlink v2 Satellite stack picture from Starbase, January 20th, with brightened Shadows for a clearer view of the stack!

I am counting 33 Starlink v2 Sats in this picture! Are any other estimates out there? ❤️🚀

[su27k]

https://twitter.com/olegkutkov/status/1619118201803251712

The new #Starlink UT is upcoming?
Board name: board_rev_rev4_proto1
The most exciting difference is 4 digital beamformer ICs instead of 16.  Huge production optimization.

It looks like the codename of the new DBF IC is "bamboo". It's still based on ST xp70 DSP.

[seb21051]

"Thinking of a Tesla die casting part (thing between the rear tyres)"

Tesla has moved on a little from only having a casting between the rear wheels. They have one between the front wheels too now on the Model Y. These castings are partially responsible for the significant margins Tesla maintains. They are reported to replace around 170 discrete components, reduce the number of assembly robots required, and reduce the time it takes to assemble the vehicle.