QUBE - ESA CSC: Connectivity & Secure Communications

Objectives

The Q/V band is increasingly being adopted for feeder links in Very High Throughput Satellites (VHTS) operating in geostationary orbit. Although the use of active antennas for feeder links introduces additional implementation complexity, it provides several key advantages: multi‑beam gateway access through a single on‑board antenna aperture, graceful performance degradation in the event of active component failures, and competitive overall RF efficiency.

Q/V‑band operation is also expected to extend to user links in non‑geostationary (LEO and MEO) satellite communication systems, where congestion in the Ku- and Ka-bands is likely to drive future architectures toward higher frequency allocations. In these systems, the need to generate narrower user beams results in higher power consumption, further reinforcing the importance of highly efficient power‑amplifier building blocks across the 10 W down to a few hundred milliwatt power range.

Within this context, the final objective of the project is to design, manufacture, and test a family of highly efficient Q‑band High Power Amplifier (HPA) MMICs on European GaN technology for active‑antenna applications in VHTS missions across GEO, MEO, and LEO. The packaged option aligns with the trend toward more cost‑effective solutions, primarily due to the simplification of assembly and integration procedures.

To cover a broad range of power classes, the following chipset is developed:

A highly efficient Q band HPA in the 100 mW class
A highly efficient Q band HPA in the 1 W class
A highly efficient Q band HPA covering the 4–10 W class

Benefits

Active antennas in the Q-band hold significant promise for revolutionising satellite communication in both feeder and user links. They will be instrumental in enabling higher data rates, more efficient spectrum use, improved coverage, and robust performance for applications ranging from broadband internet access to mobile communications, IoT, and emergency services. Q-band active antennas offer several advantages over current Ka-band systems, particularly in terms of larger bandwidth, better beamforming capabilities, higher frequency reuse, and the ability to support emerging technologies. As satellite communications demands continue to grow, Q-band active antennas will be critical in enabling the next generation of satellite communications.

The proposed family of highly efficient Q‑band HPA MMICs delivers a set of strategic benefits for those architectures. The availability of multiple power classes within a coherent chipset enables flexible scaling of radiating elements, allowing system integrators to optimize EIRP, thermal load, and redundancy strategies across GEO, MEO, and LEO missions. The high efficiency achieved at Q‑band directly reduces DC power consumption and thermal dissipation, two critical drivers for active phased arrays operating at high element counts. The packaged implementation further enhances manufacturability and cost‑effectiveness by simplifying assembly, improving handling robustness, and enabling streamlined integration into modular designs. Collectively, these benefits support more compact, power‑efficient, and reliable active antennas, while ensuring graceful degradation, multi‑beam gateway capability, and improved RF performance in congested spectrum scenarios. their high cost having a remarkable impact on the total cost of the active antenna.

Features

All the HPAs developed operate across the entire Q‑band (37–43 GHz) in linear regime, while preserving a high efficiency level. In addition, the low‑cost plastic packaging option satisfies the stringent constraints of ultra‑compact, lightweight, and cost‑effective architectures required for new satellite generations.

Challenges

The main challenges addressed by the project are:

The identification of the right architecture for the best trade-off between efficiency and linearity.
The implementation of the power flexibility, from 4 to 10 W, with the same MMIC maintaining good levels of efficiency and linearity.
The exploitation of a new-advanced GaN technology based on 0.10 µm gate width.
The design of a MMIC-to-package transition capable to operate with low loss and good matching up to 45 GHz.
To ensure the reliability, under space derating conditions.

System Architecture

All the HPAs are based corporate architecture and biased in specific points optimised to keep the channel temperature below the limit of 160 °C imposed for space applications.

Plan

The project is developed on the basis of the following tasks:

Task 1: Analysis of the technology, identification of best architectures for the MMICs and definition of the Baseline Specifications;
Task 2: Design of first iteration MMICs and relevant test structures; analysis of the package; manufacturing and test of components;
Task 3: Detailed design of the MMICs;
Task 4: Manufacturing & Test of the final components.

and through the following milestones: