> Theoretically though, it should continue to work while in motion right? Perhaps with a bit more latency than if the unit was stationary?
It probably won't work great. The Starlink unit has a phased array forming narrow beams of reception and transmission to the satellite, and assumes it's on a stable platform.
It's possible to build a system that is robust to bounces and yaws, but that doesn't mean that they have.
Actual recordings in motion of normal end-user terminal in motion. It works OK-ish. But a lot of packet loss (completely lost packets) and latency spikes (from retransmits).
Of course, with ground hardware built for in-motion, you could do significantly better.
I'm guessing utilization is rather high with retransmits, etc-- which is probably a driving factor of Starlink prohibiting in-motion use in EULA.
Note it's not really the speed that matters. It's suddenly having a much different bearing to the satellite because you have begun a turn or hit a dip in the road that matters.
This. I doubt the moving target part matters much since it's a few ms of travel time, but unless you are driving perfectly straight on a smooth highway,nthe turning and bouncing would probably aim the beam wrong faster than it could compensate
Pretty sure Starlink forlvomg vehicles will be a completely different service entirely.
I know a few airlines contracted with them to provide in-flight internet. My assumption is that different hardware would be needed given both the vehicle and the satellite are moving simultaneously. I could be wrong.
Maybe, but I would interpret this to mean that they can't guarantee a seamless handoff between zones. Like, they obviously have to hand off between satellites all the time since they're all in motion, but it seems the expectation here is that the service could drop (for what, a second? a few seconds? a minute or two?) as it realises that you're in a new location and it needs to schedule in your transitions.
It depends a lot on their software/hardware design. Doppler can have a non-trivial effect if it isn’t taken into account, even at highway speeds, let alone having to constantly re-aim.
Theoretically though, it should continue to work while in motion right? Perhaps with a bit more latency than if the unit was stationary?