For planet earth and beyond
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.
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…
CRITICAL BREADBOARDING ENABLING THE REMOVAL OF FAILED SMALL SATELLITES FROM LOW EARTH ORBIT (ARTES AT 4A.085) (ON DELEGATION REQUEST)
The objective of the activity is to design, manufacture and test technologies enabling the removal of failed small satellites (e.g.tumbling) from low earth orbit. Several breadboards will be developed and tested to reduce tumbling and to enable rendezvous and capture.Targeted Improvements: Enabling de-orbiting of large constellations of low Earth orbit telecommunication satellites. Description: In the coming years it is expected that the numbe…
ARTES 4.0 SPL 4S 7B.077 - EMERGENCY LIGHTS FOR CARS IN DISTRESS WITH INTEGRATED TERRESTRIAL AND SATELLITE CONNECTIVITY (ON DELEGATION REQUEST)
The objective of the activity is to develop and test a prototype of the emergency car light device with direct to satellite communication capability in an emulated environment in laboratory.Procurement Policy: C(1) = Activity restricted to non-prime contractors(incl. SMEs). For additional information please go to:…
DIGITAL TWIN OF A HIGH VOLTAGE MODULE FOR ELECTRONIC POWER CONDITIONERS (EPC) OR POWER PROCESSING UNITS (PPUS) (ARTES AT 4B.183)
The objective of the activity is to develop a digital model of a high voltage module typically used in power processing units for electric propulsion or travelling wave tube amplifiers. This model or "digital twin" shall enable an in-depth evaluation which is today only possible by test.Targeted Improvements: Enabling a new approach to achieve innovation acceleration of high voltage module design and test, leading to:- decrease of th…
DUAL BAND KU- AND KA-BAND POWER AMPLIFIER FOR FUTURE FLEXIBLE PAYLOADS (ARTES AT 5C.515)
The objective of the activity is to design, manufacture and test an engineering model of a multi-band (Ku and Ka-band) integrated power amplifier for application in Lower Earth Orbit satellites, enabling seamless flexibility and reconfigurability for active antenna arrays. Targeted Improvements: Enabling technology for seamless Ku- and Ka-band flexible payloads:- reduces mass and volume by 50%,- improves reliability, bill of material and quali…
BROADBAND TUNEABLE KA-BAND FREQUENCY MULTIPLEXERS (ARTES AT 5C.430) (ON DELEGATION REQUEST)
The objective of this activity is to design, manufacture and test two breadboards corresponding to a reconfigurable 4-channel 30 GHz low power Combiner Frequency Multiplexer (CMUX) and a 4-channel 20 GHz low power frequency Demultiplexer (DMUX). Targeted Improvements: Replacement of conventional fixed-bandwidth CMUX and DMUX equipment with a tuneable solution capable of supporting agile traffic management.Description: Current broadband satelli…
ADAPTIVE THERMAL CONTROL OF TELECOM SATELLITES (ARTES 4.0 AT 4D.082) (RE-ISSUE)
The objective of the activity is to develop and test a breadboard of an electrophoretic panel enabling adaptive thermal control on telecommunication spacecraft. Targeted Improvements:-Enabling technology to allow adaptive control of radiative surfaces.-Reduction in heater power of 40% and in radiator size of 30%. Description: Traditional thermal design balances emissivity and absorption parameters based on surface materials and/or coatings sel…
RELIABLE SIMPLE ELECTRICAL INSULATION FOR SATCOM PLATFORMS (ARTES AT 4F.172)
The objective of the activity is to test electrical insulation methods to replace reliable electrical insulation by reliable simpleelectrical insulation and to provide inputs to guidelines to ECSS-E-ST-20C Rev2.Targeted Improvements:Mass, volume, manufacturing time reduced by a factor of 2 compared to current reliable insulation technologies.Description: Double insulation rules lead tooversize electrical architectures to make them robust to s…
CATHODE FOR OXYGEN-RICH ENVIRONMENT (ARTES 4.0 AT 4B.172)
The objective of the activity is to develop, manufacture and test a cathode for use as a neutraliser in electric propulsion systemsand suitable for operation in an oxygen-rich environment for a long duration of time (e.g. >5 years).Targeted Improvements:Enabling cathode capable of operating in an oxygen-rich environment for more than a few hours.Description: Platforms operating in Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) require prolonged and/or continu…
NETWORK EMBEDDED HYBRID CONNECTIVITY OVER TERRESTRIAL AND SATELLITE 5G ACCESS (ARTES 4.0 SPL 5G/6G 3F.012)
Objective: The objective of this activity is to design, develop and test a 5G system to support upper layer Access Traffic Switching, Steering and Splitting (ATSSS) mechanisms relating a User Equipment (UE) data session across dual terrestrial and satellite 5G access, as well as over dual 5G satellite access.Targeted Improvements:- Enable dual 3GPP access- Significant part reduction - Network and device centric system- Enable 5G Core Network w…
AUTOMOTIVE S-BAND ANTENNA FOR SATELLITE IOT AND 5G TERRESTRIAL COMMUNICATIONS (ARTES SPL 5G 7C.062) (UPON DELEGATION REQUEST)
Upon Delegation Request (*) The objective of the activity is to develop, manufacture and test an integrated automotive S-band antenna that combines satellite IoT and 5G terrestrial communications. Targeted Improvements: Reduction of antenna form factor from a protruding antenna (e.g. shark fin shape) to planar antenna fully integrated in the car roof. Bandwidth increase from 30 to 90 MHz for satellite and 5G communications. Description: The In…
PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD TECHNOLOGY FOR AUTOMOTIVE CONFORMAL ANTENNAS (ARTES 4.0 AT 7C.083)
The objective of the activity is to investigate, develop and test conformal Printed Circuit Board (PCB) technology using a novel approach, such as additive manufacturing to "print" the antenna for the automotive market. Targeted Improvements: Enabling conformal board of patches with distribution feed and integration of amplifiers on the reverse side, able to follow the shape of a car roof. Description: Conventional PCB technology is…
HIGH BANDWIDTH INTERFACE RADIATION MITIGATION IP CORE FOR PROGRAMMABLE LOGIC DEVICES (ARTES 4.0 AT 5C.489)
The objective of the activity is to develop, implement and test a 100 Gbps class interface radiation mitigation IP core for programmable logic devices for application in Low Earth and Geostationary Orbits. This includes hardware radiation characterisation and testing. Targeted Improvements: 3 to 4 times improvement of high-speed serial link data rate (from 32 Gbps to 112 Gbps) under radiation conditions. Description: State of the art programma…
END-TO-END ADAPTIVE OPTICS BI-DIRECTIONAL MODELLING TOOL FOR OPTICAL FEEDER LINKS (ARTES 4.0 SL SPL 6C.035) - EXPRO+
Objective: This activity aims at developing a modular software tool allowing to simulate the improvement from employing adaptive optics (AO) systems in bidirectional optical ground station (OGS) to satellites optical communication and quantum links scenarios (e.g. GEO, LEO, MEO). Targeted Improvements: 50% improvement of design time and computation time to dimension optical communication systems operating through atmospheric turbulence enhance…
BUILDING BLOCKS FOR DIGITAL TWIN OF ATTITUDE AND ORBIT CONTROL SYSTEM EQUIPMENTS (ARTES 4.0 AT 4C.068)
The objective of the activity is to develop and test a cyber-physical modelling for a Digital Twin of AOCS sensors. A multi-physic model-based Digital Twin can be used to perform on-board self-calibration employing data-driven techniques and simplify the ground verification of new satellite platforms by having a direct dispersion of the different parameters, hence reducing complex Monte Carlodispersions. Targeted Improvements: Enabling on-boar…
DVB ENERGY SAVING DELIVERY OF CONTENT (ARTES AT 3A.201)
Objective: The objective of the activity is to design, develop and test protocols and system level approaches for energy saving video content distribution in satellite telecommunication networks. A testbed will be developed to evaluate the energy savings achievedin real networks considering the different video codecs, air interfaces and video quality. The output shall be available to the DVBstandardisation EADC (Energy Aware Delivery and Consu…
5G AUTOMOTIVE MAKERSPACE (ARTES 4.0 SPL 5G/6G 3F.010)
Objective: The objective of this activity is to design, develop and test automotive prototypes following 5GAA workplans and increase the number of companies working on automotive satellite communications by 30%. Targeted Improvements: Novel hand-over methods between satellite and terrestrial networks supporting use cases as formulated by 5GAA and miniaturised automotive terminal baseband units.Description: The 5G Automotive Association (5GAA)…
ARTES 4.0 SPL OPTICAL COMMUNICATION - SCYLIGHT: INTEGRATED OPTICAL INTERFACES FOR RF PHASED ARRAY ANTENNAS (5F.013 / SL.030)
Objective:The objective of the activity is to analyse and demonstrate the benefits of replacing coaxial cables/waveguides with fibre optics in large RF phased array antennas. The activity shall identify the best technologies to be employed and it will design, manufacture and test 2 breadboard demonstrators covering both analogue and digital transmission.Targeted Improvements:Order of magnitude mass and volume reduction by substituting the pass…
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/MACHINE LEARNING FRONT-END MODULE FOR SATCOM 5G/6G INTEGRATED ACCESS-BACKHAUL TRANSCEIVERS (ARTES 4.0 SPL 5G/6G 6B.119)
The objective of the activity is to develop, implement and test a breadboard of a digital transceiver front-end capable of switching between access and backhaul modes of operation for integrated satcom-terrestrial 5G/6G networks. The transceiver core shall be supported by an AI/ML engine implemented for a set of commercially available hardware and software platforms. The activity shall also provide the testbed to test the AI/ML-based transceiv…
DEVELOPMENT OF A TESTBED TO ASSESS SPACECRAFT MATERIALS ROBUSTNESS AGAINST ATOMIC OXYGEN IN VERY LOW EARTH ORBIT ENVIRONMENT (ARTES AT 4A.101)
The Objective: The objective of the activity is to design, manufacture a testbed to determine materials behaviour of atomic oxygen fluence exposure representative in Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) environment. With the help of the testbed, in a second step, an aerodynamic and oxygen fluence resistant coating will be developed and evaluated as needed for protection of exposed parts of the spacecraft to the VLEO environment.Targeted Improvements: E…
PROTOCOL STACK ENABLING VOICE-CALL USING NON-TERRESTRIAL IOT WAVEFORM (ARTES 4.0 SPL 5G/6G 3F.013)
The objective of this activity is to develop the software protocol stack for Release 18 enhancements related to 5G New for Radio (NR) for Non-Terrestrial Networks. The software protocol stack development shall be based on a testbed considering both the User Equipment (UE) and g-NodeB (gNB) features and operational procedures.Targeted Improvements:Enable 5G NR NTN system performance simulations with the latest Release 18 modifications.Descripti…
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…
USER TERMINAL SIGNALLING FOR NON-GEOSTATIONARY SATELLITE NETWORKS (ARTES 4.0 AT 7B.074) (RE-ISSUE)
The objective of the activity is to design, implement and validate signalling and control techniques for satellite user terminals in a non-geostationary satellite network where the user terminals can login and function in the network without necessarily relying on the assistance from global navigation satellite services. Targeted Improvements: Enable autonomous commissioning, login and operation of satellite user terminals within a non-geostat…
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…
HANDOVER ENGINE AND TESTBED FOR SATELLITE-BASED 5G NON-TERRESTRIAL NETWORKS (NTNS) (ARTES 4.0 SPL 5G/6G 3F.015)
The objective of this activity is to develop a machine learning (ML) engine that optimises handover between two different 5G networks, where at least one of them is a satellite-based non-terrestrial network (NTN). The activity will also provide the testbed to assess the handover key performance indicators in a laboratory environment.Targeted Improvements:Identify and avoid higher risk handovers improving thus the handover success rate to reach…