The objective of the activity is to design, manufacture and test a highly efficient 20 W S-band Power Amplifier.Targeted Improvements:Efficiency higher than 70% - enabling technology for S-Band automotive applications.Description:Recent studies have shown the potential of satellite communications for 5G-connected cars. Although various frequency bands may be envisaged, the S-band can offer a simple systems architecture as well as a satisfactor…

The objective of the activity is to develop and test a reprogrammable testbed in space to permit the experimentation of Beyond 5G (B5G) satellite features and capabilities and enable technology verification and demonstration; rapid validation of end-to-end solutions and services, following the principles of continuous development/continuous integration. B5G satellitefeatures will be implemented in the testbed as part of the activity to demonst…

The objective of this activity is to extend the thruster lifetime and optimise the operating point of the thruster and to develop afinite element model of the grids system together with the plasma in between to allow health checks.Targeted Improvements:- 20%increase in thruster lifetime.- 20% decrease of grid thruster failure probability (erosion).Description: Telecom platforms couldbenefit from gridded ion thrusters in the near future, but c…

The objective of the activity is to develop a highly integrated, scalable Ku or Ka-band TX/RX direct radiating array, for versatileconnectivity missions in low earth orbit. Critical breadboarding will be carried out, levering the advances in Mm-wave silicon technologies and advanced packaging techniques to achieve a high degree of integration. Targeted Improvements: Enabling highly integrated combined transmit and receive active antenna with a…

Objective:The objective of the activity is to develop scintillation mitigation techniques based on femtosecond pulses for optical feeder uplinks. Their performance will be experimentally verified using the fine acquisition sensor on Alphasat's laser communication terminal.Targeted Improvements:25dB link budget improvement under strong turbulence conditions.Description:The adoption of optical feeder links will largely depend on their abili…

The objective of this activity is to design, manufacture and test a W-band/E-band phased array antenna including the passive RF front-end taking advantage of additive and hybrid manufacturing techniques in order to reduce its complexity and mass compared to conventional subtractive techniquesTargeted Improvements: 30% mass reduction, removing screws and assembly interfaces.Description: With the multiplication of broadband communication satelli…

The objective of the activity is to develop and test a multifunctional hinge technology to accommodate a large multi panel active antenna array on a spacecraft platform, with integrated sensing to avoid adverse local deflections due to spacecraft dynamics.Targeted Improvements:Enabling technology for very large active antennas with disperse panels to be accommodated on a spacecraft platformfor future 5G/6G (direct to handheld) satellitesDescri…

Satellite communication links have specific characteristics that undermine the performance of commonly used Internet protocols, notably TCP, in part because performance over satellite was not a major consideration during the development of those protocols. Specifically, the long propagation delay imposed by GEO satellite links and their asymmetric nature lead to poor TCP performance. Unless addressed, this can result in a poor user experience,…

Objective: The objective of the activity is to develop and test a system simulator testbed capable of modelling and assessing the performance of communication satellite constellations operating in Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO). This includes the assessment of the emerging waveforms (5G NTN, European Protected Waveform).Targeted Improvements: Enable the design and assess the constellation system performance of communication satellites operating i…

The objective of the activity is to select an off the shelf European slipring technology for terrestrial applications and demonstrate its suitability for Satcom applicationTargeted Improvements: Improving by 20% of power density, lifetime, mass, volume, and lead time.Description: Solar Array Drive Mechanism (SADM) require complex slip-ring technology often leading to long delivery times. However, slipring technologies for terrestrial applicati…

The objective of this activity is to design, develop and perform an in-orbit experiment of high-performance data transport, switching and processing technologies consisting of several key building blocks like processors, mass memory, switches and optical interconnects, allowing a data throughput of up to 10 Terabit per second to enable future high performance telecommunication applications. Targeted Improvements: Improvement by a factor of two…

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 connectivitywith LEO satellites. Description: There is today a significant interest to provide broadband connectivity to cars. This request is associated to the need to guarantee emergency service…

The objective of this activity is to develop and test a receive Q-band prototype, and a transmit V-band beamformer, both supporting2 beams scanning in a large field of view for the mobility market (e.g. aeroplanes, buses, trains). Targeted Improvements:Enabling technology for Q/V band user terminals for the mobility market (aeroplanes, buses, trains). Description:Today, terminal antennas are mainly exploiting the Ka- and the Ku-frequency bands…

The objective of the activity is to de-risk software mitigation techniques for radiation effects on a family of high-performance processors embedded in System on Chip (SoC) components. The activity will identify, on one or more processors of interest for the industry, radiation-induced failure modes and will implement appropriate software mitigation techniques with reuse or development of small FPGA IPs if needed. Targeted Improvements: Enable…

The objective of the activity is to design+ develop and manufacture a ground-based breadboard module allowing existing and auxiliary data from/linked to GNSS services to be securely delivered to their users via satellite communications using a secure protocol.

The objective of this activity is to develop, manufacture and test a highly efficient Q-band spatial power divider and combiner forapplication in Q-band Solid State Power Amplifiers (SSPA). Experimental performance verification shall be carried out on a 40 - 60 W (nominal operating point) Q-band SSPA breadboard. Targeted Improvements: Improved power added efficiency of 5 - 10% of Q-band SSPAs in comparison to the state of the art. Description:…

The objective of the activity is to develop and test coupons to pave the way for high-power, high-voltage solar arrays (e.g., 300 Vplus) feeding directly electric propulsion systems. Targeted Improvements:- Increased solar array output voltage from 100V to at least 300V for high power solar arrays.- Enabling direct feed of solar array power to electrical propulsion systems. Description: Inorder to feed power generated by solar arrays directly…

The objective of the activity is to design, manufacture and test a thruster switching unit facilitating the connection of multiple electric propulsion thrusters to one or more power processing units for redundancy or configuration purposes optimising the system architecture.Targeted Improvements: - Improved efficiency (10% increase with respect to solid state solution).- Increased reliability with respect to a relay-based solution.- Reduced le…

Objective: The objective of the activity is the development and testing of an receiver for lunar optical communication in a photon starved regime. Targeted Improvements: Photon-starved optical communications data and tracking receiver with 8 times increased bandwidth (1 ns versus 125 ps). Description: A photon-counting detector receiver package for free-space communications between a lunar satellite and Earth-based ground terminal does not exi…

The objective of the activity is to develop an elegant breadboard of a high-power optical amplifier operating in L-band.TargetedImprovements:Enable access to spectrum in the optical transmission window(s) beyond the conventional C-band.Description:To date amplifiers in the optical L-band generate relatively low output power, which reduces their usefulness for high bandwidth data transmission. The activity will develop technologies to enhance t…

The objective of the activity is to examine the potential threat of New Space constellations to form a botnet able to generate intentional interference for other communications satellites, and to propose and assess relevant mitigation mechanisms.

The objective of the activity is to characterise narrow attenuation lines (due to absorption or scattering) in the optical C-band (and ideally L-band) and to evaluate their effect on the communication performance of terabit-per-second feeder links. The activity will develop a testbed to perform measurements and to compare them against existing models. Targeted Improvements: 100% reliability improvement of terabit per second optical communicati…

The objective of this activity is the design and demonstration of network protocols that can use multiple unreliable satellite and terrestrial networks for increased resilience and security for retrieval of multimedia data with multiple QoS classes from drones and unmanned maritime vessels. Targeted Improvements: This technique will allow at least 50% increase in the number of UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) that can be supported in the same s…

The objective of this activity is to design and develop a simulation testbed for secure delivery of assistance data with5G satellite networks to enhance positioning.Targeted Improvements:Foster the use of 5G satellite networks to enhance positioning with ubiquitous, reliable, and secure delivery of assistance data. Enable secure time and frequency synchronisation in existing or future telecommunication infrastructure.Description:Various positi…

Objective: The objective of the activity is to develop and test different sized packaging solutions with optical and electronic feed-throughs, which allow commercial photonic chips to be deployed in space. Targeted Improvements: By developing innovative packagingtechniques, some types of high-volume parts developed for terrestrial telecommunications markets can be made available for space. Description: This activity aims to establish a packagi…