CRETIAS

Secure Satcom for Safety & Security (4S)

Status

Ongoing
Status date

2022-05-17
Activity Code

6A.082

Objectives

The objective of this activity is to develop, validate, qualify, and demonstrate a Compact Reconfigurable Terminal Integrated on Antenna for Satellite Communications (CRETIAS).

The terminal will be built around ATTISAT’s FLANKu30B antenna, a passive, low profile, dual polarization, TX/RX, Planar Antenna, operating in Ku band (including the GreeCom assigned ITU APP. 30B band).

Active COTS components (BUC, LNB, and/or SMART LNB) will be integrated on the back side of the antenna in a way that ensures an extremely rugged, portable and fully integrated terminal without any loose parts. Being modem agnostic, the antenna could be paired with any modem and connect to any satellite network.

The terminal will offer enhanced Data Security and Functionality, operating in the Greecom System through the integration of a Dynamic Multipoint Virtual Private Network (DMVPN) system

Challenges

Power handling capability is a key challenge as the antenna shall host BUCs having a power ranging from 6W up to 25W.

Tx/Rx isolation is extremely important as well, a suitable application of the Sequential Rotation technique, leads to a values higher than 25dB. In addition, suitable rejection filters are incorporated for increasing the Tx/Rx isolation to values in the range of 70-80 dB.

The full-scale antenna must be compliant with ITU-R S.580.6 radiation patterns.

Benefits

CRETIAS shall be capable to accommodate any commercially satellite modem offering secure communications.

Especially for the CreeCom system, a DMVPN router, with suitable interfaces will be used, in order to provide a scalable solution for the required encryption, integrity and confidentiality of the data transmitted.

CRETIAS will be facilitating rapid deployment of high throughput any-to-any connectivity across the CreeCom and other satellite networks. It will serve organisations that need fast, reliable and ultraportable network access including:

Greek Civil Protection for Emergency Response/Disaster Management Communication.
Greek MoD, Greek Police for Fixed or Emergency Interconnection of critical services in remote areas.
Hellenic Coast Guard for Border Control and Surveillance Applications
Seismic Data Collection through M2M/SCADA networks.
Hellenic Fire Brigade for Fire Prevention and security of the citizens

Features

CRETIAS terminal shall offer the following features:

Full Ku band operation (including the GreeCom assigned ITU APP. 30B band),
High Antenna Gain characteristics better than 36 dBi.
Dual Linear Polarisation (Vertical / Horizontal).
Radiation Pattern Compliance to ITU-APEREC015V01, ITU-R S.580-6, FCC-25.209
Rugged, fully integrated terminal (65x65x15cm) less than 19 Kgr.
Flexible configuration (Fixed or Portable Use)
Wide application range terminal (modem agnostic)

System Architecture

The main components of CRETIAS are:

ANTENNA
BUC/LNB
OMT/FILTERS
SATELLITE MODEM/DMVPN ROUTER

System architecture is presented below:

Plan

The Project has been divided in two (2) Development Phases, Product and Demonstration.

During the Product Phase, a full-scale antenna incorporating COTS elements will be designed, developed and tested. It will be verified against ITU and FCC standards.

During the Demonstration Phase, complete CRETIAS Terminal, including DMVPN router will be validated in CreeCom’s operational environment, with the involvement of CreeCom users.

Terminal in its final configuration will be installed in different CreeCom user utilisation environments.

A real time communication campaign will be contacted in order to demonstrate its operational effectiveness and capabilities that assure the commercial attractiveness of the product.