Global Connectivity, with Chris Taylor (Aalyria)

This week’s Pathfinder features Chris Taylor, CEO and founder of Aalyria, a Google spinout that specializes in advanced connectivity solutions. The company is developing what could be game changing free-space optics hardware and network orchestration software to meaningfully change communication speed and efficiency across air, space, land, and sea. It’s core products include:Tightbeam: An advanced free-space optics technology which uses coherent light (laser technology) to transmit data at high speeds over long distances without physical connections like cables.Spacetime: A SaaS platform that serves as a network management system that can control and direct data flows across different types of infrastructure, including satellites, ground stations, and other communication devices, effectively making each component a node in a larger network (think: traffic controller for communications). In this episode, we dissect:Free space optics 101Aalyria’s origins as a Google spinoutDeep dive on core technologies and challengesStrategic commercial applications • Chapters •00:00 Intro00:32 Chris's path to Aalyria02:15 What is Aalyria building?04:52 How do different space assets communicate with each other today?05:59 What is optical communication?07:58 The coherent light free space optics (FSO) program10:50 Why did Google sell their optical comms tech?12:56 Why is this so important?15:15 Benefits of Tightbeam over existing free space optics, coherent vs non-coherent space optics21:22 Customer profiles25:41 Real-world use case28:02 Use case in autonomous fleet navigation29:44 Fleet of autonomous taxis30:53 Size of Aalyria's addressable market35:34 Commercialization prospects38:32 Work with DIU (Defense Innovation Unit)40:01 Competitors42:25 Limits of technology44:22 Funding47:00 10-year vision50:34 What does Chris do for fun? • Show notes •Aalyria’s website — https://www.aalyria.com/Aalyria’s socials — https://twitter.com/AalyriaTechMo's socials — https://twitter.com/itsmoislamPayload’s socials — https://twitter.com/payloadspace / https://www.linkedin.com/company/payloadspacePathfinder archive — Watch: https://www.youtube.com/@payloadspacePathfinder archive — Listen: https://pod.payloadspace.com/episodes • About us •Pathfinder is brought to you by Payload, a modern space media brand built from the ground up for a new age of space exploration and commercialization. We deliver need-to-know news and insights daily to 19,000+ commercial, civil, and military space leaders. Payload is read by decision-makers at every leading new space company, along with c-suite leaders at all of the aerospace & defense primes. We’re also read on Capitol Hill, in the Pentagon, and at space agencies around the world.Payload began as a weekly email sent to a few friends and coworkers. Today, we’re a team distributed across four time zones and two continents, publishing five media properties across multiple platforms:1) Payload, our flagship daily newsletter, sends M-F @ 9am Eastern2) Pathfinder publishes weekly on Tuesday mornings (pod.payloadspace.com)3) Polaris, our weekly policy briefing, publishes weekly on Tuesdays4) Payload Research, our weekly research and analysis piece,  comes out on WednesdaysYou can sign up for all of our publications here: https://payloadspace.com/subscribe/