03 · Coverage
Flock
One LEO sat is in view for minutes. A plane of N birds revisits every T/N. Always-on broadband wants many planes, not one necklace.
In English
One bird is a pass. N birds in a ring revisit every period/N. Covering the globe needs many rings (planes), which is why Starlink is thousands and Iridium was 66.
- Try this
- Raise sats in a plane, then planes. Watch revisit and fleet size.
- Keep this
- Always-on LEO is a fleet, not a satellite.
Lab · fill the ring
One LEO sat is in view for minutes. A plane of N equally spaced birds revisits every T/N. Global always-on wants many planes (Walker / Starlink shells), not one necklace.
Sats in one plane · 16
Planes · 1
- Revisit in-plane
- 6.0 min
- Fleet
- 16
- vs Starlink shell
- a demo
Walker-delta and Streets-of-coverage are the usual patterns. One plane is a necklace; coverage holes sit at the seams unless you add planes.
Iridium 66 was voice and paging. Broadband wants short slant range and small phased arrays, which pushes you to VLEO/LEO and thousands of vehicles.