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Funding
This page displays the ARTES Invitation To Tenders (ITTs) which are published on ESA-STAR. If you are looking for a specific element select from the list provided and click on the Apply button to start the search and display the results.
Funding of the individual Prime or subcontractors, for ARTES Core Competitiveness and ARTES Applications activities, is subject to authorisation of the required ARTES budget by the related National Delegations. Therefore, bidding teams are requested to inform their National Delegation(s) of their intention to participate in funded activities already before submitting a proposal.
The official information platform for providing potential bidders all the relevant documentation and details concerning the intended and issued Invitations To Tender (ITTs) for Open Competitions and Direct Negotiations is ESA-STAR - managed and operated by the ESA Procurement Department.
SPECTRUM SHARING TECHNIQUES FOR BEYOND 5G (B5G) AND 6G 3D NETWORKS (ARTES 4.0 SPL 5G/6G 3A.185)
The objective of the activity is to investigate and develop spectrum reuse and sharing techniques for integrated NTN-TN 3D networksthat allow them to pool, share, and rapidly reallocate spectrum on demand among their heterogeneous components/segments. The techniques will be prototyped in a testbed to be implemented as part of the activity.Targeted improvements:Enabling spectrum reuse and sharing in integrated NTN-NT 3D networks.Description:Spe…
SOFTWARE EXECUTION ENVIRONMENT FOR INTELLIGENT APPLICATIONS (ARTES AT 4G.047)
The objective of the activity is to develop and test a configurable execution environment for an intelligent platform data handlingsystemTargeted Improvements:- 30% improvement of the performance of autonomous applications.- 50% reduction of the applicationsoftware integration and validation efforts.Description: The increase of processing power onboard spacecrafts will allow the implementation of intelligent functionalities such as early fail…
IP-CORE DEVELOPMENT FOR CCSDS-BASED OPTICAL PAYLOAD DATA RECEIVERS (ARTES 4.0 SL SPL 3C.047)
Objective: The objective is to design, implement and test the IP Cores of the receiver for the coding and synchronisation layer of the two CCSDS telemetry waveforms for optical communications. Targeted Improvements: New market opportunities for optical terminal and equipment manufacturers, addressing both photon-starved links up to 8Gbps and high data rate links up to 10Gbps. This activity will target to reduce by 50% the development costs in…
PIONEER PARTNERSHIP PROJECTS (PIONEER 4.0) - OPEN CALL FOR PROPOSAL
The Pioneer programme, implemented under the ARTES 4.0 Generic Programme Line "Partnership Projects", aims to supports the emergence of Space Mission Providers (SMPs), i.e. commercial entities interested in becoming one-stop-shop service providers for public and private customers. The Open Call for proposals is aimed to offer the opportunity for new companies from across all ESA member statesto participate in the programme. It will b…
ROLLABLE AND DEPLOYABLE REFLECT-TRANSMIT ARRAY ANTENNAS (ARTES AT 5B.237)
Objective: The objective is to develop, manufacture and test a breadboard of a lightweight, rollable, passive reflect-array or transmit-array deployed antenna. This shall operate at L- or Sband and have an aperture area of at least 5 square metre.Targeted Improvements: Enabling technology for large aperture deployable antennas based on a simple, reliable and robust mechanical deployment scheme, not existing today in ESA member states.Descripti…
W-BAND 100W CLASS WAVEGUIDE HIGH POWER ISOLATOR (ARTES AT 5C.517)
The objective of this activity is to design, manufacture and test a 100W W-band waveguide high power isolator engineering model forfeeder link applications.Targeted Improvements: Enabling technology development for W-band feeder links not existing today in ESAMember States.Description: The usage of the spectrum available in W-band for satellite communications offers the opportunity to reduce the number of gateways in the ground segment. For su…
ARTES 4.0 SPL OPTICAL COMMUNICATION - SCYLIGHT: RF AND OPTICAL HYBRID GATEWAY ANTENNA (6C.002/SL.024)(ON DELEGATION REQUEST) - EXPRO PLUS
Objective:The objective of this activity is to investigate a telecom gateway antenna able to work simultaneously in both the RF (Ka- Q/V-Band) and optical wavelengths.Targeted Improvements:This product is currently not available and it would allow a phased migration from RF communications to optical communications.Description:There is a clear trend in the need to increase bandwidth in order to increase the data rate, within the telecommunicat…
KA-BAND RADIO FREQUENCY FRONT-END RESISTANT TO INTENTIONAL INTERFERENCE FOR SECURE TTC (ARTES 4.0 4S SPL 4G.041)
The objective of the activity is to design, manufacture and test a Scaled Engineering Model of rugged Ka-band RF front-end for secure TTC applications that will enable technologies for mitigation of intentional interference. Targeted Improvements: Ability to operate under severe Radio Frequency Interference. Description: TTC is a key equipment for all satellites since it provides the umbilical cord to the control station(s). It has to operate…
POWER EFFICIENT 75W CLASS SOLID STATE POWER AMPLIFIER MODULE FOR ACTIVE ANTENNA APPLICATIONS (ARTES AT 5C.519)
Objective: Power efficient 75W class solid state power amplifier module for active antenna applicationsTargeted Improvements: - Reduced mass and volume by more than 50% compared to travel wave tube amplifiers.- Increased power efficiency by 20% in comparison to current state of art, reaching at least 40% PAE at the nominal operation point in Ku-band or 35% in Ka-bandDescription: Satellite telecommunication systems have experienced an evolution…
CYBERSECURITY AUDITING SUITCASE FOR SATELLITE COMMUNICATION NETWORKS ( ARTES 4.0 SPL 4S 3D.024)
The objective of the activity is to design, develop and test in a representative environment a portable auditing tool prototype to assess VSAT networks security from the wireless interface.
VERY LOW FREQUENCY COMMUNICATION EXPERIMENT FOR FUTURE INTERNET OF THINGS APPLICATIONS (ARTES AT 3E.025)
The objective is to develop, embark and carry out an in-orbit experiment to investigate the performance of specific air interfaces over very low frequencies (in the 24 to 72 MHz range) for very low data rate (Internet of Things (IoT), emergency paging etc) from satellite to ground and vice versa. This experiment will include the channel characterisation (including space weather effects) and communication performance assessment in outdoor and i…
ARTES 4.0 SPL OPTICAL COMMUNICATION - SCYLIGHT : DEMONSTRATION OF RELIABLE HIGH DATA RATE OPTICAL LINKS UNDER STRONG ATMOSPHERIC TURBULENCE CONDITIONS (3B.042 / SL.015)
Objective:The objective of this activity is to demonstrate reliable high data rate optical transmission through the atmosphere (>100Gbps) in a scenario representative (in terms of link attenuation and optical turbulence) of an optical link between a telecom satellite and an Optical Ground Station for elevation angles down to 5deg. Targeted Improvements:Improve the service quality and availability of high data rate optical links through the…
POWER MODULE WITH ADVANCED BATTERY MONITORING AND ELECTRICAL POWER SYSTEM TELEMETRY MANAGEMENT CAPABILITIES (ARTES AT 4F.169 )
The objective of the activity is to develop, manufacture and test a power module with a new concept for Li-Ion battery management and with an advanced Electrical Power System Telemetry able to collect, store, retrieve and process large quantity of data related tothe Status of the Power System (SA, Battery, PCDU). A digital oscilloscope for the Built-In Test function and a function to analysein flight the degradation of solar arrays will be imp…
DVB/3GPP HYBRID TERMINAL FOR BROADBAND APPLICATIONS (ARTES 4.0 SPL 5G/6G 7B.078)
Objective: The objective is to develop and test a Ku or Ka band transparent phased array antenna to provide broadband connectivity on board cars. Targeted Improvements: Develop a new class of phased array antennas for cars able to guarantee a seamless broadband connectivity with LEO satellites. Description: There is today a significant interest to provide broadband connectivity to cars. This request is associated to the need to guarantee emerg…
ATMOSPHERIC TURBULENCE EFFECT MITIGATION BY SECONDARY MIRROR ACTUATION (ARTES 4.0 SL SPL 6C.020)
Objective: The objective of this activity is to simplify optical feeder links systems in Optical Ground Stations by replacing the secondary mirror with an active (deformable) one and to demonstrate the improvement in transmission budget and complexity. Targeted Improvements: 30% increased optical throughput in optical communication ground stations. 20% reduction of complexity in adaptive optics and beam pre-distortion in feeder-link systems. R…
AGILE ULTRA HIGH FREQUENCY (UHF) TO KU-BAND TRANSCEIVER FOR COMMUNICATIONS IN CRISIS SITUATIONS (ARTES 4.0 SPL 4S 7C.092)
The objective of this activity is to design and develop a UHF/Ku transceiver prototype for communications used by governmental users (i.e.+ first responders) and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) within an area of crisis+ compatible with all Ku-band service providers.
MASS MEMORY UNIT WITH 100 GIGABIT PER SECOND WRITE RATE CLASS FOR LOW EARTH ORBIT COMMUNICATION APPLICATIONS (ARTES AT 5C.498) (ON DELEGATION REQUEST)
The objective of this activity is to design, manufacture and test a memory unit breadboard offering interface port and memory read and write speeds at 100 GigaBit per second and a capacity of at least 3 TeraBits for interconnected constellation telecommunication systems. Targeted Improvements: Improvement of the write speed by a factor of 10 compared to FLASH-based mass memories. Description:Future Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellations with hig…
SOFTWARE DEFINED SATELLITE AVIONICS DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT (ARTES AT 4G.046)
The objective of the activity is to produce a software development environment able to configure and build the full avionics software of a satcom using a model-based approachTargeted Improvements:- Reduction of up to 50% of the development time of the avionics system functions,- Enable one avionic platform to support many missions while being fully reconfigurable in flight.Description:The availability of System-on-Chip, powerful micro-control…
DRAG AND ATOMIC OXYGEN RESISTANT CARBON FIBRE REINFORCED POLYMER FOR VERY LOW EARTH ORBIT TELECOM SATELLITES (ARTES AT 4A.092) (ON DELEGATION REQUEST)
The objective of the activity is to develop and test a coating material (e.g. for substrates such as carbon fibre reinforced polymer, polymers, etc) with improved atomic oxygen and drag resistance to be used on the external satellite surfaces for very low Earth orbit applicationsTargeted Improvements:- Enabling technology not existing today; allowing telecommunication satellites with conventional construction materials in much lower orbits tha…
STANDALONE SATELLITE TELEMETRY RECORDER AND TRANSMITTER (ARTES AT 4G.045) (ON DELEGATION REQUEST)
The objective of the activity is to design, manufacture and test an engineering model of a standalone subsystem that will collect telemetry and command logs. In the event of mission failure the device will communicate this to the mission operations team to improve the speed and depth of understanding behind the root-cause of the mission failure. Targeted Improvements: Enabling higher operational reliability of nano- and microsatellites by impr…
SOLAR ARRAY WITH LATCHED SHALLOW CURVED SURFACE FOR IMPROVED DEPLOYED STIFFNESS (ARTES AT 4F.161) (ON DELEGATION REQUEST)
The objective of the activity is to develop, manufacture and test a latch to enhance the deployed stiffness of an existing array, by means of a slight repositioning of panels. Targeted Improvements: Increase the frequencies of the deployed array by 30%.Description: Most telecommunication solar arrays comprise in-line panels, arranged in a row. Some include lateral panels, forming a cross configuration. In the case of the latter, the frequency…
L-BAND GALLIUM NITRIDE LOW NOISE AMPLIFIER-BASED RF FRONT-END (ARTES AT 5C.465) (ON DELEGATION REQUEST)
The objective of the activity is to design a compact L-band RF front-end for telecom applications which is based on a GaN Low NoiseAmplifier (LNA). A breadboard of a GaN microwave monolithic integrated circuit will be developed and tested. The RF front-end including the filtering function shall be modelled.Targeted Improvements: up to 30% mass and volume saving of the RF front-end (LNA and filtering) and 20 dB improvement of the LNA dynamic ra…
CYBERSECURITY MAKERSPACE: IDENTIFICATION, EXPLORATION AND ASSESSMENT OF CYBERSECURITY CHALLENGES TO SATCOM SYSTEMS (ARTES 4.0 SPL 4S 3D.025)
The objective of this activity is to enable rapid delivery of small proof-of-concepts and technical investigations that are addressing emerging cybersecurity challenges in the field of cybersecurity for satcom systems.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:…
KU AND KA DUAL-BAND TRANSMIT ACTIVE PHASED ARRAY (ARTES AT 5B.236)
The objective of this activity is to design, develop and test enabling technologies for multi-frequency transmit active antennas. This will include antenna radiating elements, beamforming techniques (analogue vs hybrid), active elements customised in order to cover both the Ku and Ka transmit frequency bands, integrated into a breadboard. Targeted Improvements: Enabling dual Ku and Ka-band transmit active phased arrays. Description: Active ant…
BREADBOARDING OF CRITICAL TECHNOLOGIES FOR A MULTI-BEAM SATELLITE RECEIVER FOR AIRCRAFT MODE-S SIGNALS (ARTES 4.0 4S SPL 5A.082) (ON DELEGATION REQUEST)
The objective of the activity is to design, develop and test payload technologies compliant with multi-beam receivers for satellite-based air traffic surveillance. Critical breadboarding will be carried out to demonstrate the concept suitable for use on small satellites in LEO or MEO. Targeted Improvements: 50% reduced payload power consumption, mass and volume compared to current technology.Increase the probability of message detection by a f…