Summary

Non-GEO Constellations Analysis Toolkit 5.3

The Non-GEO Constellations Analysis Toolkit (NCAT) combines rigorous, data-driven analysis with an intuitive user experience to deliver objective assessments of low-Earth orbit (LEO) and medium-Earth orbit (MEO) satellite constellations.

NCAT equips strategists, business leaders and technical professionals with reliable insights into the capabilities and impact of non-geostationary (non-GEO) constellations by integrating diverse datasets, advanced analytics, interactive visualisations and AI capabilities.

NCAT is delivered as a user-friendly online web app, and empowers users to seamlessly explore bandwidth supply and demand dynamics, assess market addressability, evaluate business case sensitivities and delve into satellite data and launch statistics. The platform automatically calculates key performance metrics and benchmarks the competitiveness of satellite constellations (both against each other and relative to terrestrial networks), all without requiring deep technical expertise.

Toolkit coverage

18 integrated tools, driven by tens of thousands of lines of original code and millions of queryable database records, provide objective, data-driven assessments of constellation performance at multiple levels. Millions of dynamic calculations are processed via an intuitive interface with configurable filters, visualisation controls and user-defined inputs. All outputs (data tables, charts and visualisations) are easily downloadable for further analysis or reporting.

Features included

• Rigorously coded algorithms that drive factual analytics and visualisations.
• A comprehensive, regularly updated database. This enables users to run up-to-date simulations.
  • Daily: in-orbit satellite counts and orbital observations are updated automatically every day.
  • Weekly: the satellite catalogue is updated automatically each Sunday.
  • Monthly: satellite and launch statistics are refreshed automatically every month.
  • quarterly: core software and database enhancements are deployed every quarter.
• Point-and-click interactivity. Users can easily navigate interactive maps and controls (such as layers, filters, buttons and settings) to zoom in and out, set user terminal locations and drive dynamic calculations and visualisations with just a few clicks.
• Multi-orbit, multi-band analysis. Simulations can be configured across combinations of orbital shells from one or multiple systems, thus enabling concurrent calculations for thousands of satellites across different frequency bands.
• Dynamic, animated visualisations. Users can view real-time propagation of key conditions, including satellite positions, coverage footprints, visible satellites, antenna look angles, link latency variations and supply–demand heatmaps.
• Space-time controls. NCAT5 supports both real-time and accelerated time-lapse analysis at global, regional or local scales. Simulations can be sped up by up to 300×, enabling users to analyse a full day of constellation performance in around 5 minutes.
• Hexagonal ground grid. NCAT5 employs a dynamic hexagonal grid with country-level precision, configurable down to city-scale resolution (~9 km cell radius). The ‘Shapes’ tool enables users to define custom geographical areas beyond the 250+ countries and regions preloaded in the NCAT database.
• Concurrent IP throughput computations. NCAT5 performs concurrent link-budget throughput analysis across all user and gateway beams, accounting for combinations of user-terminal and gateway look angles.
• Flexible demand models. The toolset enables users to choose from pre-set demand criteria or define custom demand parameters (including user terminal distribution and functional drivers of bandwidth demand) to tailor simulations to specific use cases.
• Demand-driven supply. NCAT simulates dynamic reconfigurations of steerable beam capacity based on selectable fairness criteria to optimally match feasible supply with changing demand conditions.
• Mobility tool. NCAT supports a wide range of mobility applications (such as in-flight Wi-Fi, rail, maritime and connected vehicles) through user-defined schedules. Additionally, NCAT integrates real-time commercial flight data, covering tens of thousands of routes, airlines and airports, to assess in-flight connectivity (IFC) supply and demand dynamics.
• Statistics. NCAT5 accesses and processes comprehensive catalogued data and satellite launch statistics, presenting users with configurable filters to explore data for over 61 000 unclassified objects launched into space since 1957.
• Report generation. The AI Agent tool uses natural language to interact seamlessly with internal NCAT tools and datasets, enabling it to answer queries, generate professional reports and interpret simulation results.
• Downloadable charts and data. All charts, maps and infographics can be downloaded in PDF or PNG format. Output data is available in tabular CSV format, enabling further analysis outside the platform. Downloadable content includes tables, chart data, maps, benchmark metrics, time-stamped samples, terrestrial grids with supply and demand data, assessment summaries, flight routes, look angle statistics, beam utilisation and more.

     

Applications
NCAT is focused on satellite communications (satcom) but includes features to assess Earth observation (EO) and global navigation satellite systems (GNSS).

Tools 
    
18 configurable tools to analyse and benchmark systems from multiple angles, including:

    satellite visibility and revisit rates
    IP throughput, beam and satellite capacity
    bandwidth supply and demand
    direct-to-device (D2D) channel capacity
    business case sensitivity
    end-to-end latency
    launch and satellite statistics.

Constellation shells     
100+ operational, planned and filed systems included (user editable and expandable)

Gateways     
370+ surveyed gateway locations (user editable and expandable)

Geographical regions
250+ countries, territories, regions and subregions included (user editable and expandable)

Questions answered

• How do current and future NGSO architectures benchmark across coverage, capacity, beam, and satellites?
• What is the forward and return link capacity (spectrum, bandwidth and IP throughput) per gateway, user beam and satellite?
• How many users can constellations support simultaneously, by country or territory?
• How can the capital cost per usable megabits per second be determined?
• What is the business-case sensitivity to spacecraft manufacturing and launch costs?
• When can satcom constellations outperform fibre-optics in underserved communities?
• How does backhaul capex and opex affect the business case?
• How can bandwidth supply and demand be assessed, based on configurable service plans, and where are the congestion hotspots?
• What is the maximum, average and minimum number of satellites in view or line of sight at different latitudes and orbital shells?
• How does fibre latency compare with that of LEO systems, factoring in POPs, optical inter-satellite links (OISLs) and link relays?
• What are the regulatory exclusion angles for non-GEO systems to avoid GEO interference?

Who should use this toolbox

• Satellite operators (GEO, non-GEO, FSS and MSS/D2D)
• Spacecraft manufacturers and component vendors
• Terrestrial/wireless network operators (telecoms operators, MNOs, ISPs, towercos, cloud services providers and so on)
• Ground system vendors (terminals, antennas, hub/modems and SD-WAN) 
• Teleport operators, satellite service providers and GEO–non-GEO integrators
• Major non-GEO capacity users (such as governments, defence players, airlines and energy companies)
• Industry associations, research labs and institutions
• IT companies developing virtualised constellation software
• Regulators and spectrum research agencies
• Financial institutions and investment firms

Satellite systems included (examples)

Amazon Project Kuiper, AST SpaceMobile, Boeing, E-Space, G60 Thousand Sails (Qianfan), Globalstar, Hughes, Inmarsat Orchestra, Intelsat MEO, Iridium, Kepler, Lynk Global, Mangata Networks, Omnispace, OneWeb, Rivada, SES mPOWER & O3b, SpaceX Starlink, Telesat Lighspeed, ViaSat