Viasat’s Marc Agnew on the evolution of satellite ground networks

Satellites launched by rockets into space may get a lot of attention, but equally important is the ground system back on Earth. Those connections are essential for making the link between the internet, the satellite and the end user.

In this episode of the Viasat podcast, host Alex Miller talks with Marc Agnew, who’s been working on this technology for decades at the company. As Vice President of Commercial Networks, Agnew has seen the technology for ground systems change dramatically, and he outlines some of those developments in this podcast.

With the upcoming ViaSat-3 global constellation, Agnew talks about how the miniaturization of the equipment, along with a shift of processing into the cloud, will enable the network to handle terabits of information.

Other topics discussed include:

How ground systems work and a bit about their history;

The growth of Viasat as a fiber optic player;

The changes to the equipment at the home or business;

The benefits of Ka-band for managing data; and

The greater challenge low-earth orbit satellites have with antennas.