The amount of bandwidth provided by SpaceX Starlink Satellites are limiting Ukraine’s ability to operate ground-based robots on the front lines of the country’s war against Russia, forcing the beleaguered nation’s technology innovators to look for innovative solutions.
During the last year, Ukraine sent thousands of wheeled ground robots to its frontline military units to help deliver supplies, evacuate the wounded, and, in some cases, attack intruding Russian troops and drive them out without risking the lives of Ukrainian soldiers. But the limited bandwidth that SpaceX satellites can provide means that individual terminals mounted on the UGVs have to make do with as little as 10 megabits per second, resulting in poor quality of the video signal used to control the UGVs.
SpaceX’s Internet-beaming Starlink megaconstellation has been indispensable to Ukraine since the early days of the war. Its terminals keep troops connected on the battlefield, but also help guide FPV drones, marine robots, and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) beyond the range of radio links. According to sources linked to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, up to 200,000 Starlink terminals are active in Ukraine, making the former Soviet republic by far the largest user of Starlink services in Europe.
But the sheer number of devices, especially on the front lines, means robots can only travel at meager speeds of about 6 miles per hour (10 kilometers), Andriy Dovbenko, a Ukrainian entrepreneur and CEO of the Ukraine Tech Exchange network, told Space.com. Because of that slow speed, ground robots need up to two hours to cross the 20-kilometer (12-mile) wide gray zone, where troops and equipment are in constant danger of being destroyed by Russian first-person view (FPV) drones. “It’s pretty slow to [unmanned ground vehicles]”Dovbenko said. “You want to have at least 20 kilometers per hour [24 miles]”.
Starlink terminals, Burukin added, also tend to have errors due to vibrations from the UGV rolling over rough terrain. Clouds, rain, and even treetops can further degrade the signal.
In response, Ukrainian technology innovators are looking for alternatives that allow robots to drive faster to increase their chances of completing their missions before they are discovered and bombed by Russian kamikaze drones.
To solve the problem, Burukin and his colleagues have developed tethered drones that soar 150 meters (500 feet) high and carry signal repeaters that amplify weak radio signals to increase their range.
“For ground-to-ground communication [the radio signal range] “It’s only a couple of kilometers,” Burukin said. “With an airborne repeater, this range extends to more than 40 kilometers (25 miles).”
Flying drones can fly even further thanks to aerial repeaters, up to 48 miles (80 kilometers) from their controllers, hidden out of reach of enemy drones.
This allows Ukrainian soldiers to conduct daring exploratory missions deep into territory now controlled by Russia without worrying about losing their Starlink signal.
“We were recently able to reach the Donbass Arena, a large stadium in the center of Donetsk, flying drones using our repeater equipment,” Burukin said.
Donetsk, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the current front line, has been controlled by Russian separatists since 2014.
Still, Starlink remains indispensable for Ukraine, Dovbenko insists.
“There are many uses for Starlink in warfare, but it has not been specifically developed as military technology, so it has its limitations,” Dovbenko said. “It would be nice to have alternatives. But can we really produce an alternative to Starlink at scale? Probably not.”
AI-powered autonomous navigation systems further help military robots overcome signal problems due to deliberate jamming and other disruptions. In the coming years, AI will take over most frontline activities, Ukrainian innovators hope. Autonomous war machines will not require real-time human supervision, so they will be immune to radio interference and Starlink signal loss.
Although killer robots are unlikely to completely replace human soldiers, they will help reduce the number of people needed in the most vulnerable and dangerous locations along the front lines.
