Projects

Thales Alenia Space is a major player in the LEO, MEO, HEO GEO, L2 or interplanetary satellite industry and has therefore a large background in systems and subsystems definition.

In particular, Thales Alenia Space is developing a new product line of geostationary telecommunication satellites, Spacebus NEO, more and more powerful where harness accommodation is already challenging.

The study of a new harness architecture based on a large flexible printed circuit board, associated connectors, intelligent connectors integrating multiplexing and demultiplexing functions will ease the harness accommodation for telecommunications payloads.

This activity aims to develop Engineering Models of fast locking connectors for cable assemblies compatible with standard SMA Jack connectors.

The objective is to identify on-board transmitter and receiver technologies that enable two-way VHF data exchange via Low Earth Orbit Satellite, according to the emerging VDES specifications.

Design, development and demonstration of innovative gateway and user terminal prototypes enabling a vast variety of Internet of Things (IoT) use cases and able to efficiently provide bi-directional Machine-to-Machine (M2M) services in GEO and non-GEO scenarios for both fixed and mobile applications.

The project’s outcomes deals with the design, implementation and validation of a satellite gateway able to receive and manage the traffic transmitted by a large population of terminals asynchronously transmitting short messages with low duty cycle via a satellite communication channel.

The M2M market is increasing fast and more bandwidth is required. Ku-band M2M services can offer this bandwidth but require low-cost front-end components to be accepted by the market. The SiGeM2M project is demonstrating the implementation of the complete front-end transmitter functionality in a low-cost and low-power SiGe RF IC.

Design and development of a prototype of a low profile aeronautical dual frequency band antenna designed for both Aeronautical Mobile Satellite (Route) Service (AMS(R)S) air-traffic management and other existing aircraft applications.

CODYSUN aims at investigating the benefits of new, forward looking dynamic spectrum access techniques, over currently existing methods to share spectrum among satellite services.

Development of a Heat Controlled Accumulator (HCA) for two-phase Mechanically Pumped Loops. The HCA is apart from an expansion vessel also able to control the evaporation temperature of the MPL P/L heat exchangers.

This project is aimed at the development of low-profile and low-cost hybrid mechanical-electronic steerable antenna concepts that will allow reception of the signal transmitted by Ku-band geostationary satellites to cars and other vehicles.

Using three proofs-of-concept this project shows how the application of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence techniques in the domain of satellite communications can offer improved performance and reduced operations costs.

Solid lubrication in ball bearings was an issue since the ceasing of DUROID5813. The aim of the SLPMC2 project was to develop a fully European material for cages in solid lubricated ball bearings. Several compositions were designed, manufactured and tested up to ball bearings. The best performing material showed lower torque as competitive materials. It will be produced by ENSINGER as TECASINT TSE 8591.

The objective of this project is to develop new functionalities on the new generation of miniaturised cameras. New features will be implemented on the MCAMv3 in order to boost the versatility of the existing design.

Lacuna Space Ltd provides a simple and reliable global connection service that links physical devices, such as temperature sensors and location trackers, to the internet. It uses low-orbit satellites which connect the devices to its network, enabling monitoring even in the most remote areas.

The project concerns the development of an L-band High-Power Dual-Polarization Feed Chain, mainly intended for future Mobile Satellite Services (MSS) satellite antennas. Radiating element and diplexers are integrated in the feed chain to allow simultaneous operation in receive and transmit mode. Envelope and mass shall be minimized to allow cluster arrangement in large, multiple beam, array fed reflector antenna architectures.

Aim of this project was the design of two GaN down-converter mixers with very high linearity. One mixer was a Ku-band mixer, the other one a Ka-band mixer. Both mixers have integrated baluns and an integrated LO drive amplifier. As GaN foundry supplier OMMIC (France) was used. The complete project duration was 24 months.

In this activity we perform a preliminary design of possible hybrid antenna solutions for future mobile terminals. The best solution is designed in detail. A demonstrator of the antenna is manufactured and tested to validate the most critical aspects of the design and the expected capabilities.

OrbAstro has matured the requirements for a Flocking Module, a sub-1U onboard plug-in module that wholly enables active formation flight and autonomous flock-level management for constellations/clusters of nanosatellites. OrbAstro built the simulation tools to stress-test these requirements, developed the associated K-/Ka-band RF subsystem to EM level, and carried out mission analyses to verify the value added by the Flocking Module.

First steps in the development of a hybrid structure with high thermal conductivity has been completed. The structure, consisting of stacked graphite foils sandwiched between aluminium sheets with integrated hooks, can replace currently used two- phase heat transportation systems with associated mass and cost savings. Deletion of two-phase systems improves in addition thermal control system testing.

OFDM techniques are currently well established in terrestrial mobile networks but have not found up to now significant use in the space community. The project had an exploratory nature evaluating possible advantages of OFDM-like waveforms in broadband satellite applications.

To design and validate a joint BLoS (Beyond-Line-of-Sight) and LoS (Line-of-Sight) air interface for the command and control of UAVs in the 5030‐5091 MHz band, implement a UAV terminal prototype and to present a waveform design for standardization in the relevant bodies.

The study aims at identifying and analysing the opportunities that in-orbit servicing, assembly, and manufacture may bring to the satcom sector from a technical and business perspective - excluding active debris removal. Good innovation and development roadmaps are mandatory outcomes but they must be linked to credible business cases where total costs are exceeded by the financial benefits to operators.

This project demonstrates the feasibility of a fully software-defined satellite gateway/teleport implementation scalable to support handling of 5 GHz instantaneous RF bandwidth based on cloud technology and generic processing hardware. The DVB-S2/S2X/DVB-RCS2 modulation and demodulation is performed by processing of digitized I&Q samples on general x86 CPU hardware with cloud technology, without the use of FPGAs or GPUs.

Cloud transformation of Forsway’s hybrid satellite/terrestrial Xtend Hub for quicker deployments, closer integration with 5G/NFV networks, and higher innovation speed. The project is the first step towards creating a highly optimized system for connecting vehicles with a combination of satellite and terrestrial technologies.

QuadSAT’s project offers the satcom industry a dynamic new way to test antennas, by utilizing advanced drone and radio frequency technology. The system is an effective tool to help adhere to emerging SOMAP regulations, and provides a faster, cheaper, and easier alternative to traditional testing facilities.

SkyMon VSAT is a fully integrated VSAT monitoring and geolocation solution that closes the last gap to resolve satellite interference. It allows operators to detect, identify and locate satellite interferences originating from VSAT networks. SkyMon VSAT is the latest member in the market leading Atos SkyMon product range, a highly comprehensive toolset to effectively mitigate satellite interference.

The product developed in this project is reflectarray antennas that aims to provide RF performance comparable to conventional shaped reflectors for contoured beam applications or multi-aperture reflector farms for multiple beam applications, while offering advantages in terms of cost, accommodation, versatility, and ability to define the coverage late in the development plan.

Megaconstellations:
Power Check Out System
Tele Command Ranging (TT&C Check Out System) Payload Test System

This project contributes to the development of some major evolutions of the Thales Alenia Space Mission Control Center (MCC) product line, SpaceOps.
This product line aims at offering Satcom Operators a comprehensive solution enabling them to benefit at best of their fleet resources while dealing with their increasing complexity, especially brought by latest VHTS and Flexible Payloads.

The objective of this activity is to investigate system solutions for next generation satellite-based low-cost M2M services able to support a very large number of nodes.

The main objective of the project was to develop a laboratory model of an on board processor chain that could be used to validate the new algorithms. This laboratory model will be the baseline for new OBP generations, and will allow the procurement of qualified and flight models to potential satellite operators.

This activity supported ESA Telecommunications in the identification of opportunities and threats for satellite communications related to the Agenda Items of the World Radio Conference 2019 (WRC-19). A number of topics have been followed in more detail – such as the increasing spectrum requests from the mobile operator community. Positions have been defended at a number of regulatory meetings, in coordination with ESOA (EMEA Satellite Operator Association). The activity has contributed to a number of briefings to ARTES industry at ARTES public event.

The proposed activities are to develop the IFM Micro 100, a 100W class electric propulsion thruster based on FEEP technology. It is an externally mounted thruster intended for orbit raising and station keeping of Small-Satellites. Within the project the performance of the thruster will be optimized and the manufacturing line to prepare the IFM Micro 100 series for Heritage Space Customers is getting improved.

The project aims at understanding how satellite technologies may affect the Communication, Navigation and Surveillance services for Air Traffic Management in the long-term. In particular, how they will interact with new challenges and what business cases may be generated through these technologies. For a set of promising cases, it develops a Cost-Benefit Analysis, to incentivise the development of satellite solutions.

The ARA Mk4 solar array is an evolution of the successful ARA Mk3, of which 69 flight models have been built (including its robust derivative ‘FRED’). Key feature is its versatility - both in terms of power (4-15 kW), of possible configurations (number of panels, dimensions, type of photovoltaics) and of mission applications (LEO, MEO, GEO, manned space, interplanetary).

The WIND Sequel project aims at enhancing the ST Engineering iDirect’s Dialog Platform® ground segment product and at developing features specifically targeting the Enterprise and Cellular Backhaul markets.

Electric propulsion will be the next generation technology for raising communication satellites into geostationary orbit. This requires continuous power supply from the solar generator already during orbit raising. Thus, new powerful and lightweight solar generators are mandatory. They require a solar cell with highest end-of-life power and low weight.
The 4G32C developed in this contract is the first metamorphic (UMM) 4- junction solar cell featuring AZUR SPACE’s proprietary radiation-hardening design and reaching an EOL efficiency of 27.5%. By thinning the cells down to 90 μm substrate thickness, the 4G32C features a weight of
approx. 50 mg/cm² that corresponds to 60% of the mass of the current cell products.

With upcoming technologies, new type of security threats will appear which require consideration now to develop the protection measures in time. Qritical identifies relevant use cases for the protection of European Critical infrastructure using space-based optical communication, specifically space-based quantum key distribution, and develops a communications security architecture with corresponding technical, operational and mission requirements.

Aim of the AISMAN project is to design, manufacture and test a miniaturized space array antenna suitable for SAT-AIS application.

Miniaturization is understood as a technique to reduce the size of the antenna in stowed configuration. Both techniques to reduce the physical dimensions of the single-element antenna and techniques to fold/deploy the final array antenna aperture have been considered.

After trade-offs at element and array level, a miniaturized antenna element, working at VHF frequencies and suitable for AIS applications, has been studied, designed, manufactured and extensively tested.

The design process has been refined and validated through experimental measurements, providing a valuable design tool for further antenna design steps.

The antenna element has been also tested in embedded array configuration, with inclusion of a satellite mock-up, and compliance to the array requirements has been demonstrated.

A parallel study on DBF techniques has been carried out.

An additional activity (CCN-01) has led to the design, manufacturing and full test (RF & thermal) of an improved antenna element, moving a step closer to flight model production.

The test outcomes show that the initial trade-offs could result in different element selection if driven by specific mission requirements. Such requirements can set different weights to the trade-off marking, driving the selection of the element accordingly. The flexibility of the element design allows accommodating this selection process.

A Design, Development and Test Plan has been prepared, considering non-recurring and recurring costs for a batch production of up to 30 FM items.