Projects

The subject of this contract was the improvement of the Mechanical Platform product for the Astrium telecommunication satellite product, Eurostar 3000.

Altobridge´s 3G lite-site (DATE) solution offers bandwidth hungry 3G services to remote communities. The current 2.5G altoPod provides 2TRX capacity which is capable of voice and GPRS/EDGE. The 3G lite-site is a natural evolution of the solution into 3G technology.

The objective of the study has been to brainstorm potential communication satellite standardized modules and to derive a solution which allows to save manpower and costs for non-recurring and recurring satellite design. It also aimed to shorten the AIT process, giving an estimation of the relative high non-recurring costs for the design and prototyping of the standardised modules.

The Payload Control System in the Ground Segment is the necessary other half of the Satellite system to be able to fully control the Next Generation Integrated Processors as fitted to Alphasat and for future spacecraft.

The objective of this project was the definition of the requirements and the design of a Low Cost Coarse Earth Sensor, suitable for use both in GEO telecoms and for LEO missions of Earth Observation and constellations. An Engineering Model for GEO applications has been manufactured, assembled and tested.

This project aims to develop an industrial EMC test method for telecommunication satellite payload with associated MGSE,EGSE and software.

During this project, an experimental campaign was conducted in order to understand the characteristics of the so-called flash-over phenomenon. Therefore, a real solar panel has been tested in a large vacuum chamber under representative conditions.

The mould is a significant element in determining the shape accuracy and surface finish of the cured CFRP reflectors. The work to be performed in the frame of this project is to define a new tooling method, curing procedures and if necessary material selection for antenna reflectors.

A new device for the mitigation and control of negative spacecraft charging phenomena has been developed at Thales Alenia Space in Italy. The instrument is based on a very low weight and power consuming cathode, emitting electrons in a diode configuration.

The objective of the ESA MENOS project was to develop a coherent end-to-end IP network for multimedia exchange over satellite.

The VGSE is a generic flexible wide-band waveform and traffic generator/analyser for end-to-end system validation and optimisation. The VGSE supports CW, modulated only and DVBS2/RCS(2) carriers for a bandwidths of up to 500MHz.

The objective of this contract was to study the possible improvements in
terms of materials, mass, cost and voltage required for the future
development of the next generation of the high voltage modules of the EPC.

This project aims to develop a new technology that allows non-technical personnel create, deploy, browse and download applications for interactive TVs or regular TVs connected to set-top boxes.

The Activity aimed at demonstrating the feasibility and assessing the performance of on-board calibration sub-systems for advanced Ku-band and Ka-band communication payload architectures using active/semi-active antennas and/or Multi Port Amplifiers.

The AOCS Mk1.5 Evolution is the first step of Eurostar 3000 design to a full-STR AOCS.

The project is to develop two large variants of the mechanical platform of the EADS Astrium Eurostar 3000 telecommunications spacecraft, designated as E3000LX and E3000L.

The project will investigate the feasibility of designing and manufacturing a combined Ku/Ka-Band maritime VSAT antenna.

Typically Commercial Communication Satellites (COMSATCOM) are not protected against unintentional and intentional (jamming) interferences. Also with the development of new services and applications (in the commercial but also institutional and governmental domain) it is of essence to continue to guarantee a high level Quality-of-Service (QoS) to the customers.

The objective of the study was to develop and qualify a dual LDLA

The objective of the study was to develop and qualify a CMUX stacked solution with a significant saving on footprint.

The project aims to develop a stand-alone Down-Converter dedicated to new RF spectrum allocation for Broadcasting Space Systems in 25 and 17 GHz in order to present competitive products in this emerging market.

The objective of the study was to develop several Land Mobile Satellite channel propagation models which can cover land-mobile satellite, aeronautical and maritime environments, and which are intended to be used for system design and/or air-interface performance optimisation for frequencies below 10 GHz.

The continuing push to higher TWTA power levels and EPC voltages, respectively in combination with higher efficiency and lower mass and volume is currently limited by known insulation technology.

The objective of this ARTES3-4 project is to design, manufacture and qualify an Engineering Qualification Model of a full carbon reflector of 2.05m diameter and an Engineering Model of a high efficiency feed.

Iris is the programme to develop a new Air-Ground communication system for Air Traffic Management as the satellite-based communication solution for the SESAR programme. Phase 1 is completed. Phase 2 (2.1 during 2009-17 and 2.2 during 2014-2017), includes the present study and concerns the design and development of the new satellite communication standard. Approval of Iris Phase 2.2 is conditional to the Agency having negotiated an agreement with a satellite operator and/or a satellite service provider for provision of the safety communication service to aviation. This study is an enabler for such negotiations to be initiated.

The RF Converters market has recently significantly evolved: new programs show a great step in terms of linearity performances which induce higher heat dissipation. Requests for proposal (RFP) and programs have convinced THALES ALENIA SPACE to analyze the feasibility of "Thermal Enhancement".

The aim of this activity is to develop inkjet-printed circuit board (iPCB) technology.

The study is carrying out a survey of the Satellite Communication Ground Segment Industry including its market characteristics and value chains and looking in particular at the European and Canadian industry players, their competitive position and the issues affecting this.

The Beacon programme covers the design, development and qualification of two beacon products, one operating at C band frequencies and the other at Ku band frequencies.

The dual beacon programme covers the design, development and qualification of a switchable dual frequency beacon product, following up on the previous development of single frequency beacons.

The NXY project was supported by ESA and undertaken by Avanti Communications to implement a content distribution solution over the satellite to end users using multicasting in order to lower the total bandwidth consumption from the operator´s perspective as well as give users the chance to consume VOD / IPTV kind of services without increasing the user´s bandwidth consumption.

NetCaster will provide a solution for customers looking for multi-party conferencing over the Alphasat and Inmarat-4 satellites with low capital investment and control over operational costs.

The overall project objective is to advance the European State-of-the-Art in multi-frequency mobile user terminal antenna technology. The specific objective is to demonstrate by design, manufacture and test the viability of Artificial Magnetic Conductor technology for multi-frequency mobile user terminal antennas.

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The Feasibility Study addresses an innovative approach to providing an end to end service management capability at low cost (as compared to existing systems of today) for a hybrid terrestrial-space communications scenario.

The purpose of this project was to develop a new generation of a compact GPS receiver family
(dual or single frequency) able to deal with new civil L2CS GPS signal.

The objective of this activity is to develop an Engineering Model (EM) of a high speed fibreoptic
transceiver for use on board telecom satellites consolidated through testing.

The goal of the MIMOSA project is to develop a propagation channel model including a software simulator implementation for satellite MIMO channels valid for L to C-bands taking satellite and polarisation diversity into account.

The project investigated the design and implementation of Multi-Port Amplifiers that would operate at Ku or Ka-bands.

The project activity consists of developing a laboratory test-bed capable of emulating in real time a complete satcom system. The system implements the DVB-S2/RCS mobile specifications, applicable to both LOS and NLOS conditions and for both aggregate and not-aggregate types of traffic.