ARTES 4.0 SPL OPTICAL COMMUNICATION - SCYLIGHT: RF AND OPTICAL HYBRID GATEWAY ANTENNA (6C.002/SL.024)(ON DELEGATION REQUEST) - EXPRO PLUS

Description

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 telecommunications domain. Gateway traffic is currently routed to GEO satellites via Ku- and Ka-Band frequencies, but to allow an increase in the data rate and to release additional bandwidth for users, gateway trafficis starting to look at using Q/V band frequencies. An eventual move to W-band and finally optical links will follow.In this activity, it is intended to perform a study that will analyse the possibility of having in the same antenna (10m class) RF and optical links. In the first phase of the project the optical link will be considered as a down-link only. In a possible second phase, complexity will be added to the system to cover also the possibility to have an optical link in uplink as well.Several antenna layouts will be studied and a trade-off will be performed in order to identify the best architecture. Such a trade-off will also verify the pros cons of a hybrid antenna with respect to systems composed of separate RF and optical terminals.

Tender Specifics