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Objectives
Since a long time ago, Thales Alenia Space Italia recognized that broadband communications should have been characterized by the use of a number of enabling technologies, such as:
- Multi-beam antennas to improve link performance and allow frequency reuse,
- High frequency band components (Ka Band and above), to improve spectrum availability,
- On board regeneration and/or switching to improve performance and to support inter-beam connectivity.
The Company objective is to strengthen its position in the field of agile payloads, by developing the critical building blocks that allow to propose competitive and “one step ahead” solutions for bandwidth management. The present project was focused on the development and qualification of four units, i.e.:
- An Agile Frequency Converter
click for larger image - A Frequency Generation Unit
click for larger image - An Integrated Microwave Switch Matrix
click for larger image - An Agile Command Receiver
click for larger image
These units were tailored for Ku/K band applications, with the possibility to migrate to other frequency bands with limited modifications.
Challenges
Taking into account the peculiarities of the units and the target performances, several challenges had to be faced. The most remarkable are:
- Mechanical: the design of all the units had to be optimized to minimize both size and mass, in view of their extensive use in broadband satellites. Interconnection and distribution issues (at both DC and RF) required special care on large units (FGU and Microwave Switching Matrix).
- Performance: Examples of critical parameters that required special care are: phase noise and rejection of spurious modulation for Agile Converter; homogeneity of performance for any input-output path and in any working configuration for Microwave Switching Matrix; crosstalk and conducted susceptibility for FGU; VCO bandwidth for Agile Command Receiver.
Plan
The contract started in June 2008 and the development and qualification of the units was completed with the last TRB in March 2012.
Current Status
All EQM units are now developed and have successfully passed the qualification tests.