This researcher is sending satellites into space to pave the way for faster internet
Northeastern University professor Josep Jornet is helping lead a first-of-its-kind satellite mission to test sub-terahertz wireless technologies in space.
Northeastern University professor Josep Jornet is on a mission to transform space-based wireless communications.
Next year, Jornet – working with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab based in Pasadena, California, Northeastern’s student-run Satellite Laboratory and other research partners — will send a sub-terahertz satellite into orbit to test the capability of the bedrock wireless technology in space.
Terahertz networks are seen as a cornerstone technology in the development of sixth-generation cellular networks, or 6G, explained Jornet, a distinguished professor of electrical and computer engineering, and a leading researcher of the technology. The group’s satellite research project – dubbed TeraLink — could one day even enable people to have high-speed access to the internet even in remote parts of the world and after environmental disasters.
In addition to being a professor, Jornet is also the associate dean of research, the director of the Ultrabroadband Nanonetworking Lab, associate director of the Institute for Intelligent Networked Systems, and the adviser of Satellite Laboratory.
Northeastern Global News spoke with Jornet about terahertz communication networks, 6G, and how this research could transform internet communications around the world.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
What inspired you to do this research in wireless communications?
I started doing this research when I was an undergraduate student back in Spain. My first opportunity to do research was designing antennas. That was interesting. I liked the experience.
When I started my Ph.D. at Georgia Tech, the topic I was asked to work on was new types of wireless connectivity, which eventually took us to terahertz.
In the last 20 years, many things have changed. In 2001, Wi-FI released and that was a big opening of wireless connectivity for everyone. When I started doing research, that was something new.
Wireless connectivity has changed the way we interact with our environment. If I asked you 10 to 15 years ago how wireless communications would change your life today, you probably wouldn’t have guessed half the story.
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At a high level, what are terahertz communications networks and why are they important?
Think of your daily activities and how many wireless devices you have around you. Think of the information they exchange. We’ve gone from calling people and sending text messages to video calling. And the next stop is probably to meet with people in the virtual world, or the metaverse.To support all these activities from not just one person but everyone, you need many more resources.
Think of your networks as highways. You need more lanes if you need to carry more information for everyone. Terehertz communication networks are the additional lanes we want to use to speed up wireless communications. At a big level, they are next-generation networks that have very high data rates that can carry traffic not just from you but from everyone else.
What is 6G and how does satellite research advance its development?
6G is the next generation of wireless technologies that are supposed to be approved within the next eight years. 6G by itself is not one technology. It’s a collection of technologies. It’s going to use AI from the beginning, so we call it AI native.
They will also enable many new scenarios, including that users may not have data coverage from traditional infrastructure. It’s in that scenario where non-terrestrial networks, the general term for satellite communications, enter the game.
If you are in a city, you’ll probably be connected to a base station that sits on top of a building nearby. But what happens if you drive from the city to a vacation resort or some relatives who live on a farm? There is not going to be 5G and 6G everywhere if we rely on ground stations. What we need is another way to have access, which can come directly from satellites.
Satellite communications have existed for decades, but they were used by few. But if suddenly everyone wants to be sending not just voice calls or short, but streaming, you don’t need more satellites. You need satellites that can support faster connections and that’s where terahertz enters the game.
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Can you explain how your research could help more people gain access to high-speed internet?
As of today, no one has demonstrated that you can create a terahertz link between a satellite and a ground user. TeraLink, our satellite mission, aims to demonstrate that. We’re building a satellite that will carry one of our terahertz radios and a ground station that will allow it to link to the satellite while it’s orbiting around the Earth. It will be doing so at high data rates.
But why should anyone care about this?
There are scenarios where satellite communications (can be very helpful).
For example, if we are in the city and there is extreme weather – a massive snowstorm or an earthquake — and the telecommunications on the ground get compromised, you could always rely on your satellites. So satellite connectivity is useful in remote areas that don’t have the latest technology and in areas where you have service but something might have disrupted that service.
