Description
The objective of the activity is to develop, manufacture and test a miniaturised low frequency circularly polarised omnidirectionalantennas forM2M/IoT applications maintaining appropriate RF performance including antenna efficiency and operating bandwidth. Design and manufacturingmethods shall be suitable for mass production.
Targeted Improvements:Size reduction ranging by a factor of 3 to 5 compared to state-of-art.
Description: Interest in M2M/IoT systems combining satellite and terrestrial cellular networks is growing rapidly. The serving terminal devices are usually designed to connect with non-geostationary (NGSO) satellite. Due tothe low operating frequencies, ranging typically from about 100 MHz up to 950 MHz,ordinary omnidirectional antennas are physically large. There is an interest to provide miniaturized VHF/UHF omnidirectional antennas, possiblycombining different operating frequencies, within the mentioned frequency range to connect to both the space segment (e.g. combined VHF and L-band)and the terrestrial network through the same antenna. There has been extensive investigation on miniaturization techniques applied to omnidirectionalantennas, such as fractal designs, meandering techniques, artificial magnetic conductors (AMC). A balance is often required between size reduction andRF performance, mainly antenna efficiency and operating bandwidth.
This activity shall investigate the future needsfor VHF/UHFM2M/IoT applications, to identify the required combinations of operating frequencies,applicable antenna concepts (e.g.patch, slot,filar antennas) and associated miniaturization techniques. Other solutions may also be considered. Theactivity shall develop a breadboard demonstrator to test and validate the selected antenna design. This activity aims at a significant size reduction (fittingin a square area with side smaller than the wavelength/20) of the omnidirectional antenna without compromising on the RF performance(aperture efficiency above 80% over the nominal operating bandwidth).
Procurement Policy: C(2) = A relevant participation (in terms of quality and quantity) of non-primes (incl. SMEs) is required. For additional information please go to EMITS news "Industrial Policy measures for non-primes, SMEs and RD entities in ESA programmes".
Tender Specifics