Amazon just reveals the design for the customer terminal of their Project Kuiper Satellite Internet, their answer to SpaceX’s Starlink Internet. Amazon’s Project Kuiper is a low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite network that allows any connected device to access the internet.
In their announcement, Amazon explains that to “use the service, customers will install an outdoor antenna—called a customer terminal—to communicate with satellites passing overhead.” and Amazon developed 3 models of customer terminal.
The standard customer terminal measures less than 11 inches square and 1 inch thick, and offers speeds up to 400 megabits per second (Mbps) and will weigh less than five pounds without its mounting bracket. The standard customer terminal will have a pricetag for less than $400 each.
Then there’s ultra-compact model, which is a 7-inch square design and weighs just 1 pound, it offers a speeds up to 100 Mbps. As for the cost, according to Amazon will be a “lower-cost model.”
There will also be a high-bandwidth design, this will be Project Kuiper’s largest, most capable model which aim for enterprise, government, and telecommunications applications that requires large bandwidth. The terminal measures 19 inches by 30 inches, and will deliver speeds up to 1 gigabit per second (Gbps).
All terminals will be using Amazon-designed baseband chip called “Prometheus.” Prometheus combines the processing power of a 5G modem chip and the capability of a cellular base station to handle high traffic demands.
Amazon’s Project Kuiper is also preparing to deploy its first two prototype satellites on the first flight of United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Vulcan Centaur rocket. Project Kuiper is scaling operations in preparation for its launch early 2024 and its plans to give early adopter access to the service beginning later that year.
