Projects

The SPACEBUS G3 activities group two products: A Slip Ring Collector (SRC) and an Absolute Angular Sensor (AAS). The aim of this activity was to perform the manufacturing, integration, assembly and qualification of one G3 Slip Ring and one G3 AAS. These activities are the follow up phase of an ARTES 5.2 project, which consisted in the design of G3 SRC and AAS.

This project covers bread-boarding an efficient spectral monitoring concept design and its validation using realistic in-space spectral sensing scenarios. Dynamic sensing within the C-, Ku- and Ka-bands are targeted, considering the integration aspects with commercial satellites to achieve minimal impact in terms of size, weight, power consumption and complexity. The project targets a proof-of-concept architectural design and not a direct equipment design.

Iris is Europe’s latest development in satellite-based aviation safety services. The Iris Service Evolution is looking into the technology, operational and strategy roadmap to meet the long term requirements for air traffic control services aligned with the SESAR Future Communication Infrastructure objectives. It follows the activities conducted in the Iris Precursor project which intends to provide initial services by 2019 to complement the existing terrestrial data link services.

The Radio Frequency performances of LNA components on-board telecommunication satellites are proportional to the temperature at which they are kept. The lower it is, the better are the performances. This project focuses on the implementation of a Thermo Electric Cooler (TEC) for the temperature control of the component, optimizing masses, size and power consumption, outside the LNA hermetic sealing.

ANTARES (AeroNauTicAl REsources Satellite based) is the phase B study, within the Iris programme, designing a new Satellite Communication System for Air Traffic Management. The study focuses on the development of a new satellite-based communication system including low-cost user terminals and an open satellite communication standard, entirely designed around aviation’s requirements

Thales Alenia Space France, has been leading this study along with TAS-E, Inmarsat and the University of Bologna.
The main objective was to define the technology roadmaps that need to be implemented by the European and Canadian industry players to be able to deploy Next Generation MSS systems, in L and Ka bands, in two stages, one called Benchmark Systems, and the other called Advanced Systems.

During the recent decades, Harmonic Drive AG built up a good and reliable technical and application know-how in industrial applications, mainly precision and high-demanding ones.
Similar expertise was gained now for space applications by the development, design, integration and testing of Harmonic Drive ® gears which are to be used in reliable, weight and performance optimised space mechanism.

The development provides a cost efficient on-board processor solution for applications using either RF signals or data collection services. Low bandwidth missions, such as Internet-of-Things (IoT) and Machine-To-Machine (M2M) communication have been targeted, as well as more general applications such as spectrum survey, geo-location and general data collection services.

VSATs link quality is very dependent on the tropospheric situation along the fixed slant path between the terminal and the satellite. The SatcomWeather project seeks for support of VSAT operators in optimizing networks and data throughput over time by classifying stations with optimization potential, optimize thresholds for installations, and derive weather data from the VSAT-measurements.

The objective of this ARTES3-4 project is to design, manufacture and qualify an Engineering Qualification Model of a Selectable Sub-Reflector Antenna. This new Rx/Tx antenna product aims to cope with coverage flexiblity needs in Ku band. This antenna is steerable and able to generate 1 shaped or pencil beam among 4 possible. The antenna is in dual optics Gregorian configuration, it is composed of 4 shaped sub-reflectors. The desired sub-reflector is positioned in front of the feed thanks to a rotary actuator.

Ka-METROCAL aims to demonstrate the feasibility and use of a novel automated RF path calibration system for gateway stations of broadband satellite networks operating in Ka-band spectrum. Ka-METROCAL outperforms traditional approaches by applying proven calibration concepts that rely on the use of a broadband white noise source to characterize a receiver chain gain or attenuation.

Overview of the opportunity and the commercial strategy
The opportunity exists for the development and subsequent implementation of a reliable, L-Band satellite communications antenna within the wing of a Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) for use in missions in which the RPA operates Beyond Line of Sight (BLOS) in a remote area with little, or no, reliable telecommunications infrastructure.
Currently available satellite communications antennas, suitable for operating on mobile platforms, for use with the Inmarsat SwiftBroadband service, come in two varieties:
• a mechanically steered helical antenna is typically found in a satcom terminal that is mounted on a moving ground vehicle. The drawback of this antenna is the lack of reliability of the mechanically steered antenna for regular use in an RPA operating BLOS.
• A blade (shark fin) type omnidirectional antenna, is as in the Cobham SB-200 terminal shown in the above photograph. We have tested this satcoms terminal on our Inview RPA. The drawback of this satcoms terminal is (1) the price and (2) the omnidirectional antenna spraying the other antennas on the RPA with electromagnetic signals, creating interference.

The commercial opportunities for the use of a reliable RPA in civilian BLOS applications are:
• oil, gas and mineral exploration activities, requiring geophysical surveys in remote locations.
• Oil pipeline and related infrastructure monitoring.
• Land and maritime border patrol.
• Small cargo transportation from hub to hub.
• Radio relay node to interface satcoms capability with inexpensive radio transceivers (such as the PMR 446 transceiver) used by ground personnel.

The commercial strategy to exploit this work is as follows:
• BML will provide the L-Band ESTARR antenna as an OEM unit for other RPA developers to incorporate within their RPA.
• BML will provide a vertically integrated (data gathering to and including data analytics), managed service, in which the Inview RPA fitted with a reliable ESTARR antenna is used in civilian BLOS applications.
• BML will use the 5.8 GHz ESTARR antenna to relay data between the RPA and the Remote Pilot Station when the RPA is within Radio Line of Sight.
• BML will use the 5.8 GHz ESTARR electronically steerable antenna technology as a basis for the future development of a satcom antenna operating from 5.030 GHz to 5.091 GHz.

Unfolding the synergies of star trackers and gyroscopes, ASTROgyro™ establishes a reliable and performant attitude determination system by combining Jena-Optronik’s successful ASTRO star tracker series, as source of absolute and drift-free attitude information based on star pattern recognition, with the broad dynamic range and low noise rate spectrum of inertial sensing technology.

Telecom satellite missions with multibeam coverage up to Ka-band embark large aperture antennas with increased focal length and/or large reflector clearance. An Antenna Deployment and Pointing System (A-DPS) is required to accommodate such antennas on Eurostar 3000.
The study objective is to assess the reflector assembly impacts on Antenna pointing performances, and define the required Antenna Tracking System (ATS) product evolutions to meet the mission pointing requirements.

One of the problems of traditional MLI is the reflection of radio (particularly microwave) frequencies in its metallized surface. Such reflection equates to the one of a perfect electric conductor, and poses a significant problem to the communication branch of the mission. In this study HPS attempts to develop an MLI which is able to manage such reflections, and minimize them to an insignificant level.

The overall objective of this activity is to design and develop a high performance Local Oscillator. The intention is to demonstrate that exceptionally low phase noise can be achieved by optimizing all elements in a PLL and VCO.

The main technical objective is to evaluate the current state of the art in commercial supercapacitor technologies suitable for a space grade capacitor that can increase the specific energy density beyond 6Wh/kg.

The Project aims at fully characterize some new air interfaces, like CPM (Continuous Phase Modulation) and SC-FDMA (Single Carrier Frequency Domain Multiple Access), and techniques, like TSS (Time Slot Sharing) in a MESH Overlay Networking based on DVB-S2/RCS2 specifications in terms of achievable system performance.

Low phase noise voltage controlled oscillators (VCO) with relatively wide tuning range represent one of the key challenges in the design of flexible frequency converters for telecom payloads.
There, the requirements for the VCO’s are very demanding. The VCO must exhibit low phase noise in order to meet the bit error requirements of complex modulation schemes The performance requirements of wide VCO tuning range and low phase noise are contradicting.

Several studies predict a rapid explosion of video data traffic in coming years. To forestall this situation, there has been a rapid build-up of technologies and tools. These technologies come in the form of next generation of codecs, multimedia delivery standards, new CDN and terrestrial network architectures, and new satellite technologies. But these technologies are being developed independently in disparate technology domains in the industry, academia, and standardization organizations. The key challenge in this project was to identify and devise synergies among these among mentioned technologies to successfully combat the problem of video delivery.

The DPC ASIC is a mixed-signal microelectronics building block with primary use in the satellite avionics and power control domains. It includes control and regulation functions needed in different types of on-board units such as power control and distribution units. By using this innovative mixed-signal ASIC, significant reduction of the recurring cost of several types of electronics units can be realised.

The central focus of this project is to establish a Direct to Home system demonstrator for high throughput multimedia applications. More specifically, the goal is to study, develop and validate the system and key technologies for the next generation of high speed IP-based broadcasting and broadband access in future Ka band or Q/V bands satellite systems with wideband transponders.

SatGuard is a novel monitoring solution for combating and managing interference from VSAT terminals

The project focuses on the design of novel radio resource management and return link burst scheduling strategies able to satisfy QoS requirements and system availability figures according to traffic forecast for the next 10 years. Further to this, radio resource management schemes are also analysed with respect to different satellite payload architecture in order to investigate the potential benefits of more sophisticated satellite architecture in terms of performance gain over conventional systems.

GaAs Solar Array building block development for Telecommunication Geostationary Satellite Applications

This activity has focused on the development of ultra-light RF cables capable to handle RF power signals for future telecom payloads. The main goals, phase stability and low mass, have been successfully achieved. The cables show excellent phase stability over a wide temperature and frequency range and it is as light as the lightest state of the art cables.

The project is about the development of features and functionalities of a communication gateway, which allows the efficient linking of Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs) to satellite networks. The development addresses the market of public safety organisations which do have a requirement for mobile broadband communication solutions with a high availability at the respective operation sites. Key requirements from public safety organisations in the areas of mobility management, security and QoS provisioning will be fulfilled by the solution to be developed. Public safety organisations are involved in the project during the requirement collection and system validation phase.

The aim of the project was to develop and experimentally validate propagation models and relevant input data for the statistical prediction of radio interference on ground terminals of satellite systems. The selected models were implemented into a software tool for interference studies.

In its Digital Agenda for Europe (DAE), the European Commission has set ambitious goals for high-speed broadband coverage and take-up. Across most of Europe, xDSL is the dominant broadband technology both in terms of coverage and subscriber numbers. However, a significant proportion of xDSL in Europe lines are too long to support high-speed xDSL. The study is designed to investigate the use of a high-throughput satellite in receive-only mode to supplement downstream capacity on slow xDSL lines such that an improved end-to-end service is provided to the user.

The M2M project delivered a new standard for the air interface and upper layers for M2M systems in Ku band, called S-M2M, derived from S-MIM and aimed to optimize terminals cost and satellite resources. A hardware demonstrator has been implemented to validate the protocol, including a DVB-S2 broadcast forward link, gateway, traffic and channel emulators and three terminal prototypes.

Nitrous Oxides Fuel Blend (NOFB) propellants are re-emerging and may be a candidate next generation propellant for Telecom applications. NOFB allows monopropellant simplicity (single tanking) with bipropellant levels of performance (320-340s Isp). This outstrips any European green propellant alternative and is a potentially disruptive technology. The fuel selection, handling & safety assessment, engine firing and a system level study are covered by the project activities.

The purpose of this study was to investigate future GEO constellation communication scenarios and derive the resulting requirements for optical intersatellite links. Starting point for the investigations was the existing Laser Communication Terminal (LCT) developed by TESAT. For future GEO applications, additional features for the LCT were identified.

This study enabled the design of a new Ku band antenna compatible of in orbit reconfiguration of the radiation pattern. The reconfiguration of the pattern is achieved by means of a number of mechanical actuators acting on a flexible reflecting surface.
The challenge of the project is the definition of a flexible shell compatible with RF and mechanical needs. The antenna design is based on a multidomain optimization (technology, mechanical, RF).

The product developed in this project is a software tool able to compute radiation patterns and assess interference effects of multiple telecommunications satellite reflector antennas when mounted on a spacecraft platform. The new tool is tightly integrated with the well-established and validated reflector antenna design tool, GRASP

The objectives of this activity were to develop a number of new products of the Septentrio product portfolio to prepare it for the growing amount of satellites and the higher complexity of the GNSS algorithms.

These new developments were:
• GReCo4 baseband ASIC (building block for new products)
• Enhanced Loose Coupling Hybridisation software
• MF rover and MFMA Rover

Aim of this project is the design of a complete new single chip SiGe synthesizer (PLL including VCOs) with a very good phase noise performance at nearly no spurs, due to a novel system concept.

Recent advances in satellites network technologies such as larger antenna apertures, more powerful repeaters, better pointing systems, improved network management systems have allowed the introduction of satellite systems leading to a significant network capacity breakthrough from 10’s of Gbps today in orbit up to several 100’s of Gbps are targeted for the end of the decade. These improvement on the performance allow a significant increase of the number of beams generated by the satellite payload.

Satellite-to-aircraft signals are crucial to supply either the aircraft itself or the passengers with communication abilities, and signal propagation characteristics are of special interest for assessing the performance of communication links. This project aimed to extend the current state-of-the-art aeronautical satellite channel models (aircraft and helicopter) in order to consider the influence of physical related propagation effects on the communication link, and to extend these models in order to be close to reality.

A novel feature for future star trackers enabling the angular rate measurement even with high angular rates for a fully gyroless spacecraft solution.

This project covers the development of a Large Multiple-spot Feed Array (LMFA) and its adaptation to the Eurostar E3000 spacecraft interfaces. Multiple spot beam scenarios are becoming more common for Ku-Band satellites and Airbus Defence and Space has flown multi-beam feed systems at Ka-band on previous missions. There is an increasing demand for complex Ku-Band multi-beam antennas and these missions drive the need for a new feed array product which is larger and heavier than any feed array already flown.