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Objectives
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The Thrane & Thrane BGAN terminal "Explorer 100/110" is the world’s smallest and most lightweight [1 kg] mobile satellite device for voice and broadband data communication. The results from the COBRA project will pave the way for even more enhanced equipment in the future.
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The project was initiated under the ARTES 3 program as early as 2002. At that time Nera SatCom had started their development of new satellite terminal products for the Inmarsat BGAN system. The BGAN system was designed to utilise the improvements introduced with the Inmarsat I-4 satellites. The system was introduced as commercial services in 2006. The BGAN network is compatible with the earthbound UMTS/IMT-2000 (3G) networks and is capable of extending the reach of 3G land mobile networks to areas where sufficient telecom infrastructure does not exist or cannot support content-rich applications.
The objective of the project was to develop technological building blocks for different terminal products. In 2005, the project was divided into two phases. Phase 1 was completed by Final Review June 2005. The main objective of Phase 2 is to develop solutions for power amplifiers with high efficiency to reduce weight and cost, increase battery usage time for portable equipment and reduce over-temperature problems.
Challenges
Phase 1 of the COBRA project is summarised as follows:
- A TX RF ASIC was developed and successfully tested,
- A BB- FPGA was developed and successfully tested,
- An adaptive digital predistortion (ADPD) algorithm was developed, implemented and successfully tested using the APACM test board,
- A test-board (the APACM board) was implemented.
The phase 2 of the COBRA project is divided into the following main activities:
- Development of a new transmitter and receiver architecture for Inmarsat BGAN terminal products,
- Development of a power amplifier non-linearity characterisation unit,
- Design of a 5 Watt power amplifier with high efficiency,
- Power amplifier linearization using adaptive digital predistortion (ADPD),
- Development of efficient power supply for dynamic biasing,
- Power Amplifiers with dynamic biasing,
- Power amplifiers with envelope modulation i.e. the Envelope Extraction and Restoration principle (EER).
Plan
The contract was signed in December 2002. Phase 1 was completed in June 2005. Phase 2 of the project, with increased HPA activities was started in March 2003. The total project was concluded in June 2007.
Current Status
The project was successfully completed in June 2007.