Identification of Technology Spin-In Opportunities

Status

Completed
Status date

2025-09-22
Activity Code

1A.109

Objectives

The focus of this study is to identify non satellite communications candidate technologies that have the potential to be modified and migrated into the satcom market.

The main objectives are to:

Identify and define new technologies, techniques, working practices, and solutions that can be transferred into the satellite communications industry;
Characterise and quantify such opportunities in terms of commercial viability, potential benefits, and value to relevant satcom market sectors;
Define relevant use cases, applications and new business opportunities that could be enabled by successfully spinning-in the identified technologies;
Detail an economic model with ROM estimates of the recurring and non-recurring costs of developments necessary to effectively integrate the identified technologies into the satcom sector;
Establish a preliminary roadmap to address most of the expected technical and non-technical issues and define the key developments necessary to fully integrate the proposed technology. Highlight timelines, critical developments, enabling technologies, regulatory and standardisation issues that may impact on the successful migration and integration;
Define follow-on Advanced Research in Telecommunications (ARTES) projects for investigation and possible demonstration through ARTES Partnership Projects.

Identification of technology Spin-In objectives — *Image credit: shutterstock*

Challenges

A key challenge of this project is to identify, from a large pool of interesting technologies, the one that has the most value for the satcom industry and to find a balance between the novelty of the identified technology and its feasibility in the foreseeable future.

Benefits

The value of this project result lies in two focal points:

Identification of spin-in technologies that will advance the satellite communications sector;
Identification of follow-on technologies (and ultimately product developments) within the ARTES core competences or of new system concepts for investigation and possible demonstration within ARTES Partnership Projects.

Features

The project is purely a paper study. The results of the spin-in analysis are presented and evaluated in a structured manner in the document.

System Architecture

During the Exploration Phase a diverse pool of potential use cases is developed through a series of systematic surveys and brainstorming sessions. These use cases then undergo further refinement in the Consolidation Phase. Prioritisation/down selection of use cases is done in conjunction with ESA.

Identification of Technology Spin-In Opportunities system architecture

Plan

The project is structured in three phases: Exploration Phase, Consolidation Phase and Spin-In Strategy. The following milestones apply to the project: Kick-Off Meeting, Exploration Phase Review, Consolidation Phase Review and Final Review.

Detailed description of around 40 identified candidate spin-in technologies
Identification and TRL estimation of most promising technologies / trends:
- Gradient Materials using 3D printing;
- Carbon-based materials;
- Neuromorphic photonics;
- Smart textiles;
- Optical orbital angular momentum;
- Petahertz.
In-depth research for technologies chosen with ESA:
- Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) as a technology basis for CNT Field-Effect Transistors (CNTFETs);
- MXene-based antennas.
Spin-in strategies for CNTs (including CNTFETs) and MXene-based antennas;
Economic models for both technologies.