02 January 2020

Martin Jarrold, chief of international programme development, GVF

During October this year I spoke at an event for information technology security professionals in Riga, Latvia, although the theme of my presentation was a little off the mainstream of topics addressed during the several tracks of the programme. My choice of title? A “Network of Networks” for Digitally Driven Sustainability: A Cyber Secure Satellite-5G World. An alternative title might have been “Triangles”. What follows explains this cryptic alternative.

The train of thought which led to my choice of the actual title and theme relates to all the available evidence suggesting that we are not on track to avert two existential environment challenges: the nature crisis; and, climate change. Some scientists believe that the acknowledged biodiversity crisis is, in actuality, the beginning of the sixth mass extinction in geological history; and, over 98 per cent of the scientific community acknowledge climate change as a fact. It is equally acknowledged that Africa is the global region most likely to be severely impacted by both.

What has this to do with satellite communications? The link is all to do with data, information, knowledge. Whilst Africa is one region of the world which continues to face the problems of a digital deficit, or digital divide, there is another digital gap that is apparent, one made evident through the fact that of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015 – part of the Agenda 2030 to achieve a better future for all humanity – 68 per cent of the 93 environmental SDG indicators cannot, according to the UN 

Development Programme (UNDP), currently be measured due to lack of data.

This other digital divide must also be bridged, enabling us to acquire and deploy data sets to build a digital ecosystem for the entire planet which will allow data flows to be eventually transformed into insights for sustainable decision-making. Radio communications, including satellites – and, therefore the related areas of the forthcoming “network of networks” with integrated satellite and 5G, and of cyber security (see below) – have a key supporting role in achieving the 17 SDGs. The UNDP is working with partners on a digital ecosystem for the entire planet, as detailed in a UN paper authored by Jillian Campbell and David E. Jensen.

Requiring various “frontier technologies” – cloud & edge computing; artificial intelligence & machine learning; the Internet of Things; social media platforms; blockchain & distributed databases; software; mobile apps; augmented reality & virtual reality – as well as satellite, and related communications technologies, the building of such an ecosystem will, as I see it, have its foundations in a series of parallel relationship “triangles”.

The three vertices of the first conceptual “triangle” are Socio-Economy, Development, and Environment – all elements of the 17 UN SDGs. The integrity and robustness of a digital ecosystem which will support each vertex and the relationship between the vertices will depend on the inter-relationships between the vertices of two other conceptual “triangles”. The first of these features – satellite, 5G (and, to some extent, previous generations of broadband mobile), and cyber security; and the second features the characterization of 5G itself, divided between the three major use cases (the vertices?) of:

The satellite-5G-cyber security inter-relationships have been well-addressed by GVF on behalf of the satellite industry (Joint Statement on the Satellite Industry’s Commitment to Cyber Security and a Secure Supply Chain), as well as by, for example, the European Space Agency (ESA) in calling for proposed solutions to determine the viability of satellite-based services in support of cyber security and to assess technical feasibility and commercial viability for diverse, current and future, vertical sector users of satellite. Potential solutions will be enabled by space as a means to mitigate the cyber security risks and to enhance cyber resistance and the resilience of existing infrastructures, services and operations, and contribute to enhancing the end-to-end cyber security of space-based applications.

The 3GPP – the 3rd Generation Partnership Project producing the Reports and Specifications that define 3GPP technologies, including 5G – has said the incorporation of satellite networks will help enable 5G service rollouts in unserved and under-served areas, enhance reliability and increase service availability everywhere to the benefit of critical communications and transportation applications.

Governments, telecoms network companies and technology groups are working on heightened security standards for 5G and the Internet of Things. Whilst there are apparent flaws in 5G security – such as the use of fake mobile base stations to steal information – 5G data encryption and network user verification mechanisms have improved on 4G, but the 5G weak link is in communication of IoT devices connected to 5G networks, particularly when manufacturing default passwords on such devices are not upgraded.

Building a global digital ecosystem is firstly dependent on the gathering and accumulation of RAW DATA from multiple sources – economic, environmental and social – reflecting the conceptual “triangle” vertices of Socio-Economy, Development, and Environment, elements of the 17 UN SDGs. Secondly, the storage and processing of this data, and the connection of multiple databases with improved metadata, is dependent on an information and communications INFRASTRUCTURE. Thirdly, cloud computing and AI ALGORITHMS & ANALYTICS extract actionable, intelligence, INSIGHTS & APPLICATIONS – from multiple and integrated information streams – as metrics & ‘performance dashboards‘ which are comprehensible to decision-makers.

All this must happen with a much elevated and broader understanding of the long-term models and incentives that will sustain these efforts. What is needed is to determine how such efforts can protect data security, achieve interoperability, and maintain high standards, whilst answering the question “Will governance be voluntary and collaborative, or regulated and mandated?”

By Martin Jarrold, chief of international programme development, GVF