The Starlink Robot: A Platform and Dataset for Mobile Satellite Communication

TL;DR

The paper introduces the Starlink Robot platform and dataset to systematically study satellite internet performance during mobility, enabling advancements in motion-aware communication protocols for mobile devices and autonomous systems.

Contribution

It presents the first mobile robotic platform with integrated Starlink connectivity and a comprehensive dataset capturing communication, motion, and environmental data under various conditions.

Findings

Dataset includes synchronized communication and environmental metrics.

Enables development of motion-aware satellite communication protocols.

Supports research on connectivity prediction and optimization.

Abstract

The integration of satellite communication into mobile devices represents a paradigm shift in connectivity, yet the performance characteristics under motion and environmental occlusion remain poorly understood. We present the Starlink Robot, the first mobile robotic platform equipped with Starlink satellite internet, comprehensive sensor suite including upward-facing camera, LiDAR, and IMU, designed to systematically study satellite communication performance during movement. Our multi-modal dataset captures synchronized communication metrics, motion dynamics, sky visibility, and 3D environmental context across diverse scenarios including steady-state motion, variable speeds, and different occlusion conditions. This platform and dataset enable researchers to develop motion-aware communication protocols, predict connectivity disruptions, and optimize satellite communication for emerging mobile applications from smartphones to autonomous vehicles. In this work, we use LEOViz for real-time satellite tracking and data collection. The starlink robot project is available at https://github.com/StarlinkRobot.