Since 2020 the NCAT toolset has been supporting players across satcom and telecom value chains to get ahead of the NGSO game with actionable, real-time data and intelligence.
In October 2023
NSR, an Analysys Mason company
released version 4.0 the toolkit (NCAT4). The toolkit moved online with expanded capabilities that harness the processing power of the web.
The Non-GEO Constellations Analysis Toolkit version 4.0 (NCAT4) analyses and benchmarks the performance of non-GEO satellite constellations including SpaceX
Starlink, SES Satellites
O3B, Amazon
Project Kuiper and many others.
Some of the new features and enhancements of NCAT4 include:
- Point-and-click interactivity: Through interactive maps and controls, users now zoom in/out, set user-terminal locations, and control dynamic calculations and visualizations.
- Multi-orbit analysis: Simulations can be configured for any combination of sub-constellations, from one or multiple LEO/MEO satellite operators.
- Enhanced database and updates: Quarterly software and database enhancements, along with daily updates for operating NGSO shells, ensure you're working with the most current data.
- Dynamic, animated visualizations: Real-time visualizations of propagating conditions, including satellite positions, antenna look angles, link latency variations, and bandwidth supply-demand heatmaps, provide valuable insights.
- Space-time simulation controls: Run real-time or accelerated time-lapse analysis globally, regionally, or locally in any country or territory, with simulations accelerated up to 300 times.
- Hexagonal ground grid: NCAT4 introduces a dynamic hex-grid with country precision down to city-size resolution, a 50X improvement over previous versions.
- Boosted IP throughput computations: NCAT4 computes link budgets on all satellite user and gateway beams with granular look-angle precision.
- Demand-driven supply: Simulate reconfigurations of steerable beam capacity to meet changing demand conditions.
- Upgraded mobility tool: NCAT4 accesses daily information sources for commercial flights, enabling assessment of in-flight connectivity supply/demand dynamics.
- Downloadable datasets: Download vast amounts of output datasets in tabular CSV format for further processing in spreadsheets or other applications.
NCAT performs -literally- millions of real-time calculations so that you can factually assess the capabilities and performance of LEO (Low Earth Orbit) and MEO (Medium Earth Orbit) satcom constellations dynamically and precisely.
- NSR website: Visit the NCAT information page
with tabs listing the features, product contents and sample use cases.
- Contact NSR: Submit inquiry
to the S&M team.
- NCAT tutorials: Watch demo videos on YouTube
- Overview in PDF: You can also contact me to receive output samples and the NCAT4 Overview document in PDF format.
