Projects

The project aims to develop a laboratory test-bed including a modem prototype (terminal and hub sides) implementing some innovative physical and MAC layer algorithms/techniques suitable to enhance the performance of broadband interactive satellite terminals implementing the DVB-RCS standard.

The project objective is to develop a temperature compensation technique for both high power OMUXs and manifolds at Ka-band.

The HYDRA TELECOM product is a variant of the already developed and qualified HYDRA baseline product, optimized to address the GEO telecommunication platforms market.

The main objective of this project is to design, manufacture and test a prototype of an ATN/IPS air-ground router as the interface between EATMN and the ground earth station.ecific design and architecture is required for the AGR when compared to commercial off-the-shelf products.

The work of the Satellite Communication Network of Excellence (SatNEx) initially supported by the European Union (EU) is continuing with support from ESA´s TIA Directorate through the Advanced Research in Telecommuncations Programme (ARTES) and the Technical Directorate Network of Centers programmes. Due to this shift in support, the name of the group has changed slightly to the Satellite Communication Network of Experts.

The overall objective of the proposed work is to develop an ad-hoc radio network product which is integrated into a satellite system for the purpose of emergency service use, disaster recovery and Government security applications. It can also be used for commercial application in mineral extraction and oil and gas industries to improve safety, efficiency and to aid the rescue of personnel following incidents and accidents.

This project studied the technological solutions available in the market for the potential implementation of a contact-less angular sensor for European telecommunication satellites applications. It identified the past problems with rotary sensors, the desired industry specifications and the expected market for the close to medium future.

In the scope of the project SkyWAN® Release 7.2 several new features were provided: extended site redundancy options, added comfort for site installations, Chinese User Interface for SkyNMS, and integration with the SWE-DISH CCT portable user terminal

The TESLA project targets the development of an OPTEL‑µ Engineering Model of the space terminal and a prototype of the ground terminal. The main parameters were established together with ESA in the preceding START study.

The objective of the current activity is to develop a DC/DC converter to be integrated as part of MIER active equipment for reception.

Thales Alenia Space and its partners have designed, manufactured and tested a 1.3 m reflectarray antenna that produces a dual polarised contoured beam in Ku band.

The EPCOMSIM study was carried out to quantitatively assess the impact of plasma plumes generated by common ion thrusters (SPT-100, PPS-1350, HEMP-T) on the RF comlink of a geostationary telecommunications satellite.

When integrated in the Pioneer range of baseband systems both the NAC and Linux 2.6 KlasRouter provide additional features in a smaller package when compared with competitors.

The Ka band high performance reflectors activity was aimed to provide evolution from the standard C / Ku reflectors to Ka band ones in order to implement them on the first commercial Ka Mission awarded to CASA, Eutelsat: Ka Sat Satellite.

This project addresses medium port count (50x50) OXC for satellite based telecom applications. The task was to develop a fully reconfigurable low drift switch without feedback loop at the demonstrator level.

The project covers the transfer of a new 30%-class triple junction solar cell from development status to production technology. AZUR SPACE evaluates and optimizes all solar cell materials, processes and equipment with regard to cost savings, simultaneously improving performance, quality and reproducibility.

This project encompasses the design, development and qualification of the third generation of the Thales Alenia Space ETCA´s Electronic Power Conditioner dedicated to supply and control the Traveling Wave Tube that constitutes the Traveling Wave Tube Amplifier for Repeaters involved in large quantity in the Telecommunication Payloads.

SIECAMS Wide Bandwidth Digital Signal Processing is planned to be a high-bandwidth, low cost signal analyzer front-end for the monitoring system SIECAMS which is used for analyzing and monitoring traffic transmitted via communication satellites.

The Payload Control System in the Ground Segment is the necessary other half of the Satellite system to be able to fully control the Next Generation Integrated Processors as fitted to Alphasat and for future spacecraft.

This project aims at the development of a on-board tunable channel filter in Ku-Band, which is the first step for the development of such reconfigurable IMUX devices.

The project aims at improving the overall pointing performance and robustness with respect to uncertainties of large telecom platforms with highly flexible appendages and demanding pointing payloads.

The subject of this contract was the improvement of the Mechanical Platform product for the Astrium telecommunication satellite product, Eurostar 3000.

Altobridge´s 3G lite-site (DATE) solution offers bandwidth hungry 3G services to remote communities. The current 2.5G altoPod provides 2TRX capacity which is capable of voice and GPRS/EDGE. The 3G lite-site is a natural evolution of the solution into 3G technology.

The project objective is to design, manufacture and test a representative end-to-end breadboard of an optical switch. The aim is to demonstrate ultra-fast and high-throughput switching at sub nanosecond time level with the potential for scalability.

The proposed feed system aims to create a four colour multi spot beam Ka-band scenario using only one reflector to transmit and one to receive. Thanks to the saving of two large reflectors compared to a single feed per beam approach, the new feed system also allows to realise mixed missions on large space crafts.

The primary objective of the GTIS is to provide a means to test next generation complex multi-spot beam payloads. The ever increasing numbers of uplink and downlinks requires greater interfaces and the GTIS looks to provide a non-flight interface which will efficiently test these complex architectures and reduce testing times.

The objective of the study has been to brainstorm potential communication satellite standardized modules and to derive a solution which allows to save manpower and costs for non-recurring and recurring satellite design. It also aimed to shorten the AIT process, giving an estimation of the relative high non-recurring costs for the design and prototyping of the standardised modules.

The project has developed integrated laser and detector components suitable for as transmitters and receivers in DBS distribution systems based on optical fibre technology.

The objective of this project was the definition of the requirements and the design of a Low Cost Coarse Earth Sensor, suitable for use both in GEO telecoms and for LEO missions of Earth Observation and constellations. An Engineering Model for GEO applications has been manufactured, assembled and tested.

This project aims to develop an industrial EMC test method for telecommunication satellite payload with associated MGSE,EGSE and software.

During this project, an experimental campaign was conducted in order to understand the characteristics of the so-called flash-over phenomenon. Therefore, a real solar panel has been tested in a large vacuum chamber under representative conditions.

The mould is a significant element in determining the shape accuracy and surface finish of the cured CFRP reflectors. The work to be performed in the frame of this project is to define a new tooling method, curing procedures and if necessary material selection for antenna reflectors.

A new device for the mitigation and control of negative spacecraft charging phenomena has been developed at Thales Alenia Space in Italy. The instrument is based on a very low weight and power consuming cathode, emitting electrons in a diode configuration.

The objective of the ESA MENOS project was to develop a coherent end-to-end IP network for multimedia exchange over satellite.

The VGSE is a generic flexible wide-band waveform and traffic generator/analyser for end-to-end system validation and optimisation. The VGSE supports CW, modulated only and DVBS2/RCS(2) carriers for a bandwidths of up to 500MHz.

The objective of this contract was to study the possible improvements in
terms of materials, mass, cost and voltage required for the future
development of the next generation of the high voltage modules of the EPC.

This project aims to develop a new technology that allows non-technical personnel create, deploy, browse and download applications for interactive TVs or regular TVs connected to set-top boxes.

The Activity aimed at demonstrating the feasibility and assessing the performance of on-board calibration sub-systems for advanced Ku-band and Ka-band communication payload architectures using active/semi-active antennas and/or Multi Port Amplifiers.

The AOCS Mk1.5 Evolution is the first step of Eurostar 3000 design to a full-STR AOCS.

The project is to develop two large variants of the mechanical platform of the EADS Astrium Eurostar 3000 telecommunications spacecraft, designated as E3000LX and E3000L.