Projects

High frequency, high output power, next generation for communication satellites.

The objective of this project is to investigate the suitability of commercially available GaN enhancement mode FET for space power switching electronics. This project is peculiar to telecom applications being a flight DC/DC converter, fed by the nowadays common 100V satellite bus and with a power level of 600W. We focused on 200V rated GaN components with a high current capability with the true enhancement mode or cascode assembly.

The Reconfigurable Architecture Demonstration Equipment (RADE) program was an ARTES 5.2 program under which an in-orbit reconfigurable platform, making use of the software defined radio technology, capable of operating a sophisticated RF sampling and message decoding application used for the Satellite Automatic Identification of System for ships (S-AIS) was developed.

The project was aimed at developing a low cost Ka Band 2W Transceiver for use on HYLAS.

Thales prepared the next generation of S-Band TWTs with an output power of 500W which is double compared of today’s available products in addition to a large margin to multipaction. The interface and the specification are similar to today’s product respecting the new output power. As far as possible Thales used known materials and technologies in order to keep their long heritage. The product TL2500 enriches the portfolio of Thales.

This project focused on the design, development and testing of a photonic transceiver elegant breadboard which is capable of providing absolute security to cryptographic quantum key distribution (QKD) for secure space communications.
In addition, its compatibility with space environment was taken also into consideration in order to establish the operational limits and to identify any design or technological weaknesses for future space applications.

This development is intended as a further improvement and extension of the RUAG Space product range of Frequency Converters and Receivers for telecom payloads, covering frequency bands from C-band to Ka-band. These products are designed in a modular way in which generic sub-elements are used to build up the different equipment versions.

With this development separate Ka-Band LNA units are included in the RUAG Space product family for telecom payloads, which has been requested by customers.

Project Mercury comprises the design, development and industrialisation of a novel Ka-band transceiver for satellite communication terminals.

A modular Ka-band Down-converter equipment based on a multi-chip MMIC hybrid implementation for the RF section, using a single piece multi-cavity Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic (LTCC) packaging technology, and a conventional PCB based DC/DC Converter power supply section.
Several individual modules can be stacked together onto a mechanical fixing chassis/frame as required for individual spacecraft system requirements.

To be ready for future space missions requiring higher powers and voltages implement the recommendations of this study.

FREquEncy Sharing Techniques with Other NEtworks or radio services

A Ku-Band TCR antenna with an elliptical radiation pattern has been developed. Some satellite manufacturers use this type of antenna as main TCR antenna, complemented with secondary antennas.

An Engineering Model (EM) for a Non-Explosive Actuator (NEXA) to be used in Hold-Down and Release Mechanisms (HDRM) of future telecom platforms, is designed, analysed, manufactured and tested.

The outcome of the project is the NEXA EM, which is a fast-acting, fully re-usable, ultra-low shock HDRM, currently under a TRL 4-5.

The future generation of communication satellites will use multi-beam antennas providing wide-band two-ways communication applications. Active discrete lens antennas permit generating a multibeam coverage adopting only a single Tx/Rx aperture or two separated Tx and Rx apertures instead of the current solutions based on multi-reflector systems. Reduced volume and maximum EIRP flexibility over the service area are the main advantages of this alternative multibeam antenna.

The main objective of the activity was to design, manufacture and test a multifrequency Ku/Ka band Frequency Selective Surface (FSS) breadboard and an Engineering Model to demonstrate the capabilities of a FSS based Ku/Ka band antenna.

Signalhorn is developing a web based customer portal to enable its customers to view and manage all aspects of their relationship with Signalhorn. It will provide an interface to the systems that Signalhorn uses to manage its customers’ accounts, networks and services. The portal will provide Signalhorn with a value-added service and a key differentiator. Key features include: access to near-real-time network performance and availability information; reporting of historical network status in standard formats; a trouble-ticketing system through which faults can be handled through to resolution; key information on networks, service, supplier contacts, SLAs and billing all in one place.

The Space Gate project aims at developing the new generation of satellite access network for high throughput satellite system, based on DVB S2-RCS2 standards

The purpose of this study is to focus on the satellite physical TM acquisition algorithm, especially in terms of management of TM acquisitions resolution and frequency.
This allows having the necessary and sufficient information, for satellite operation, depending on the status of equipment (off / nominal / investigation) and satellite (nominal / emergency).
From a set of requirements deduced from in-flight experience, a demonstrator unit has been implemented succesfully, based on a programmable logic component (FPGA), in order to allow algorithms testing on simulated or “real” (in flight) spacecraft telemetry

COTS GPS receivers are sensitive to radiation effects. Hence their availability is limited due to these effects. The project aims to increase the availability of COTS GPS receivers by adding additional support electronics (protection mechanisms) to counter these effects.

A special antenna for GEO Telecom satellites is developed. The antenna enables tracking of the GNSS satellites from different constellations around the Earth and providing position information to complement inputs from the star trackers to obtain orbit determination.

The Beamsat S3P B2X enhanced Newtec’s System portfolio with a low cost modem MDM2500 and a denser more performant MCD 7000 burst demodulator device module.

The objective of the project is, building on the Inmarsat 4 experience, to improve the system performance in order to meet more stringent pointing requirements of large deployable reflectors (12 m), in particular by introducing electronic beam steering compensation. The first application of this enhanced pointing system is on Alphasat.

The objective of the Ultra Rapid Deployable Antenna project is to design, manufacture and test a Ku-band transmit & receive antenna having in mind security and emergency scenarios. The antenna will be foldable so that it can be easily transported and fast deployable/stowed so that a communication link can quickly be established.

The team composed by HPS GmbH (as prime contractor), INVENT GmbH and TESAT GmbH, Cobham CTS Limited and other partners has developed an earth-deck antenna (dimensions 1.2m x 2.5m x 1.9m) for feeder link applications in Q/V band (Frequency band Tx: 37.5-40.5 GHz, Rx: 47.2-50.2 GHz) to be embarked on a GEO communication satellite mission with high capacity requirements (in connection with Terabit satellite studies). In order to verify the performances of the proposed solution, an EM (Engineering Model) of the antenna, including a representative feed chain, has been manufactured, assembled and tested.
The results of the RF test campaign performed in the Compact Range of the University of Applied Sciences Munich show an excellent agreement between the predicted values obtained by analysis and the measured values.

The replacement of existing C-band payloads providing a contoured beam could benefit from multi-beam antenna technology to enhance the capacity of the payload.
Starting from two real Multibeam Mission scenarios and associated antenna sub-systems, relevant Single–Feed-per-Beam and Multi-Feed-per-Beam configurations have been defined. From those antennas, the feed design requirements have been derived. Based on RF performance and accommodation aspects, MFB configuration has been choosen as only two reflector antenna are required to produce the full coverage. The model manufactured is a subset of a MFB feed system

Thales Alenia Space France is looking for solutions to improve its competitiveness in terms of Ka-band equipment, payloads and satellites. As far as Ka-band output filtering is concerned, use of Temperature Compensated OMUX is foreseen. This new technology leads to an improvement of the input power limitation, footprint, useful bandwidth and electrical in band performances
The five channels Ka band TC OMUX qualification allows to increase the competitiveness of Thales Alenia Space products by fulfilling identified customer requirements. Those new needs are mainly concerning HDTV application with very high power OMUX (340W / channel).

SatSoHoAfrica is allowing the provision of competitive broadband internet services to Small-office-Home-office (SoHo) users in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Capacity Building activities for rural schools and rural radio stations in Africa based on eLearning platform accessible on-line via the Sat3Play platform.

To study the impact of global changes and increasing human activities on the marine eco-system, monitoring migrating marine animals is essential.
By using the bio-logging technique, data on the biological parameters of the animal (e.g. depth) and environmental parameters (e.g. light) is collected by a data logger on the marine animal and then RF transmitted by the tag when the animal or float surfaces. However currently commercially available tags using ARGOS 1 or 2 systems, suffer from highly ineffective communication requiring multiple data retransmission (low battery life) and overall poor data collection volume.

JANUS Program is focused on the realization of a Dual-Band (Ka- and Ku-band) Antenna System for maritime applications.

The goal of this activity is to design enhanced waveforms to be used by the forward and return links of next generation broadband and narrowband satellite networks, together with the associated estimates in terms of system performance improvements and high level complexity.

New technologies to help fully exploit the capabilities of the next generation of high-throughput telecom satellites will be developed under a public–private partnership between ESA and global satellite operator Intelsat. The Indigo project will develop new ground segment innovations that maximise the new capabilities offered by the latest Intelsat EpicNG satellites.

Iris Precursor will develop enhancements to existing aeronautical satcom to allow its operation in dense continental airspace. The enhanced system will comply with international standards being produced at EUROCAE/RTCA and ETSI, with performance equivalent to or exceeding the next generation of terrestrial VHF datalink services. A new entity would be established as service provider and undergo EASA certification.

With the maturation of electric propulsion technology it has become attractive to exploit the high specific impulse and reduce the propellant budget for orbit transfers. Numerical optimisation of the attitude profile in combination with detailed modelling of complex mission and model constraints is essential for achieving optimality of trajectories.

SBGM is the acronym for the fully qualified RUAG Sealed Brush Gear Motor. The mechanism is mainly dedicated as in orbit motion control
and actuation for solar array panels, but can also be used for other applications where a robust, simple and space qualified actuator is required.
In the frame of the project, the actuator, consisting of a motor and a planetary gear, was developed and qualified for the deployment motorisation and speed regulation of the high power solar array for the Thales Alenia Space Spacebus used for commercial telecommunication satellites.

The project will evaluate how the evolution of the video distribution and content delivery sector impacts satellite networks and will assess how the satellite should adapt to and benefit from this new environment.

The project studies the applicability of virtualisation and softwarisation technologies to satcom network platforms. It will determine the benefits and the challenges associated with the integration of satellite infrastructures into future cloud networks.

The project aims to develop and validate a Set Top Box prototype with a multi-standard decoder for a cost-effective HDTV satellite broadcast technologies. These technologies takes the idea of scalable service combining the usage of DVB-S2 VCM mode transmission and AVC+HEVC video coding (initially SVC)

Modular Top Floor Antenna is a new design concept for Top Floor antennas that gives priority to the modularity of the support structure.
This improved design allows boarding a variable number of antennas with minimum modifications of the structure, reducing in this way the planning and cost of this product.