UNISOC launched the first satellite communication SoC V8821

UNISOC launched the first satellite communication SoC V8821, accelerating the direct connection of smart phone to satellites.

As mobile communications move towards the Internet of Everything, in the future 5.5G and 6G eras, satellite networks and ground networks will be deeply integrated, further accelerating the realization of intelligent full connections between the Internet of People and the Internet of Things, wireless and wired, air and space and ground.

In response to the new development trend of satellite communication, UNISOC launched the first satellite communication SoC chip V8821.

Currently, based on the V8821, UNISOC has taken the lead in completing 5G NTN (non-terrestrial network, non-terrestrial network) data transmission, short message, call, location sharing, and other functional and performance tests with industry partners such as China Telecom, China Mobile, ZTE, vivo, Quectel, Keysight, Penghu Wuyu, and Baicells based on the V8821.

Integrating innovation to promote the integration of space and earth

V8821 has the advantages of high integration, and the common functions of communication equipment such as baseband, radio frequency, power management, and storage are integrated on a single-chip platform.

The characteristics of low power consumption, small area and high reliability brought by these technical advantages enable V8821 to support smart terminals to achieve continuous and smooth connection applications in different vertical fields.

Based on the 3GPP NTN R17 standard, the V8821 uses the IoT NTN network as the infrastructure, and is easy to integrate with the terrestrial core network.

V8821 provides functions such as data transmission, text messages, calls and location sharing through L-band maritime satellites and S-band Tiantong satellites.

At the same time, it can be extended to support access to other high-orbit satellite systems, and is widely applicable to communication needs in areas where cellular networks are difficult to cover, such as oceans, urban fringes, and remote mountainous areas.

V8821 supports TCP/IP protocol, applicable to a variety of upper-layer services, and inherits commonly used IoT protocols, so as to quickly access existing data platforms;

in terms of hardware configuration, V8821 can flexibly support customers to reuse hardware resources in the original solution, thereby improving deployment efficiency and avoiding high hardware costs and time-consuming problems.

UNISOC launched the first satellite communication SoC V8821, accelerating the direct connection of smart phone to satellites.

Continue to evolve and complete multiple functional verifications

In terms of V8821 application verification, UNISOC has successfully completed multiple L-band and S-band 5G NTN technology satellite verifications with many upstream and downstream partners in the industry chain since 2022.

The mobile phone direct-to-satellite technology has greatly expanded the mobile phone application scenarios.

Compared with other mobile phone direct-to-satellite communication technology routes, the 5G NTN technology route based on the 3GPP standard belongs to the evolution and expansion of the 5G standard.

It has obvious advantages in industry integration and service richness.

The terminal transmits low power consumption and is easy to achieve interoperability with the ground cellular network.

UNISOC participated in the first field verification of 5G NTN mobile phones directly connected to satellites in China.

By adopting vivo’s highly integrated radio frequency antenna solution and vivo satellite communication terminal prototype embedded with UNISOC V8821 chip, it realized the uplink and downlink connections of 5G NTN mobile phones directly connected to the satellite air interface in Tiantong satellite environment, and realized the intercommunication between vivo mobile phones.

The business demonstration of sending and receiving text messages was successfully carried out using satellite communication.

The functions and performance met expectations. In the future, UNISOC will also cooperate with vivo to actively promote the landing of commercial mobile phone products to meet the communication needs of users in more scenarios.

UNISOC launched the first satellite communication SoC V8821, accelerating the direct connection of smart phone to satellites.

Figure: 5G NTN Field Verification Vivo mobile phone directly connected to satellite (from vivo)

The Internet of Things based on satellite communication can solve the pain points such as the failure of information monitoring data to be returned in areas where cellular communication signals cannot be covered.

UNISOC participated in the field tests of several IoT application scenarios based on Tiantong satellites in Yanqing, Beijing, and Dianshan Lake, Suzhou, including surface buoys, satellite messengers, and satellite-ground dual-mode trackers.

Through the built-in satellite communication chip V8821 of the terminal and the latest satellite communication module CC950U-LS of Quectel, the collected sensor data, emergency messages, and terminal location data were sent to the cloud platform in real time through satellites, and the effect was good.

UNISOC launched the first satellite communication SoC V8821, accelerating the direct connection of smart phone to satellites.

Figure: Hydrology and water quality monitoring terminal based on 5G NTN (from Penghu Wuyu)

In terms of 5G NTN key technology research and verification, UNISOC and Keysight jointly explored advanced R&D and design solutions, and successively built end-to-end 5G IoT-NTN open demonstration and verification platforms in Shenzhen and Beijing, and successfully demonstrated signaling and data transmission using satellite orbit trajectory simulation solutions, providing a technical cornerstone for the optimization and iteration of UNISOC NTN communication solutions, and promoting the accelerated development of NTN technology and the industrial ecosystem.

Entering the era of 5.5G and 6G, with the continuous extension of satellite communication application scenarios, the application penetration rate of smartphones and other smart terminals is also increasing.

UNISOC relies on 3GPP, ITU, CCSA, etc. to carry out a number of space-ground integration technology research and business tests, and deeply participates in the research work of the space-ground integration standard system for 5G-A and 6G.

As a world-leading platform-based chip design company, UNISOC adheres to technological innovation as the core, actively invests in satellite communication and space-space integration technology research and application practice, and aims to provide higher connection rates for NR-NTN and NR-ATG technologies, and further taps the value space of technology evolution and application, and promotes the commercialization of space-space-ground integration networks.

It is committed to becoming a leader in the new generation of communication technology, creating value for the industry and society, and illuminating a happy life with the light of technology.