Projects

ViSAGE is an ad-hoc SatCom-as-a Service solution that leverages available GSaaS infrastructure for signal reception and digitization, its own cloud-native software-based modem, and its 3GPP-based service management and orchestration platform. 

Customers will log into the ViSAGE portal to configure all mission parameters (service type, satellite orbit, quality of service, etc.). ViSAGE will then manage and orchestrate all resources needed to provide the requested communication service.

ViSAGE is intended to support customers during mission definition, realization, and operation.

In this project, a fully Software Defined, Single Carrier per Channel satellite communication modem is developed. The modem is maximally compatible with the 5G NR waveform definition of 3GPP Release 17. The implementation leverages Cactus proprietary Tensor Defined Radio technology which make use of artificial neural networks in order to deliver best in class throughput on any given compute & power constrained host platform.

The Caramuel project targets the design, development, implementation, and operation of the first Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) system from geostationary orbit, to be integrated into the future European secure quantum communications infrastructure (EuroQCI). During the Definition Phase, the technological and architectural alternatives were evaluated, in accordance with the state of the art and the requirements of the services to be provided, leading to the specification of the system and the associated development plan.

A low power and miniaturised wideband modulator and demodulator (modem) achieving a giga symbol per second (Gsym/s) symbol rates to enable RF signal based inter-satellite links (ISL) on board small-tomedium platforms.

The project can be summarized as thereafter:

• First step: Requirements review, current LNMO design modifications identification and realization. Parts purchasing, MATV document and qualification test plan redaction.

• Second step: EQM manufacturing and finalization of qualification test plan and test procedures

• Third step: Qualification tests versus space environment, overall assessment and establishment of the LNMO qualification status

The on-site first responders in a safety critical environment require multimedia Mission Critical (MCX) services  with a fast call setup time, high availability, group call management and priority mechanism in place. In areas with no terrestrial radio coverage or limited coverage due to the target disaster, satellite links are essential to connect the first responders and the control centre allowing the utilization of the MCX services. Featuring low propagation delay and ISL, the LEO satellite Constellation Networks (LCN) are favourite satellite candidate to provide the first responders with MCX services in an integrated MCX-LCN environment. 

The development of GFP equipment (AIDA & SCACE) undertaken between the European Space Agency and AIRBUS Defence & Space  to improve the positioning of the European industry within the future Ku-band FSS commercial telecommunications market and achieve the 1st flight opportunity for this class of operation on the Quantum satellite, the first fully flexible, scalable and generic payload in Ku-band.

R3 aims to study a comprehensive vision of what the Rapid and Resilient Crisis Response shall look like, specify, and design a solution addressing the identified requirements. The study paves the way for the definition of services using highly innovative and secure SATCOM systems, Satellite AI, Nav and EO aiming at support the needs of public safety stakeholders and Public Protection Disaster Relief (PPDR) such as emergency services.

5G-HOSTS-SAT validates services from various vertical sectors over satellite-enabled 5G networks. In the first phase, Over-the-Air trials and demonstrations target applications for Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR) and smart agriculture services. The experimentation facility integrates the latest 5G technologies with GEO satellite platforms, to build flexible 5G infrastructures with programmable terrestrial/satellite backhaul, edge computing resources, monitoring and orchestration capabilities.

Technology development (TRL 4) of a Routing Solution for a safety-critical LEO satellite constellation providing safety-critical Communication and Surveillance services for Air Traffic Management (ATM).

The Flight Path Emulator emulates Inmarsat BGAN satellite data communication, including emulation of ground station and core network in mobility scenarios.

This emulation will enable off-air functional and performance testing of different BGAN aero terminals and aero L-band antenna types taking realistic link impairments into account. Impact of aircraft manoeuvring (e.g., banking) and the flight path itself can also be emulated.

Development of critical technologies that are needed for the implementation of VDE-SAT on small platforms such as cubesats or microsatellites, characterized with limited resources and system budget constraints.

The objective of the activity is to design, manufacture and test a TT&C diplexer at S-Band for small sat applications with a reduced volume and mass.

The QUICOPTSAT project is investigating the effectiveness of the recently standardised QUIC transport protocol when used over satellite networks. The project develops an update to enable QUIC to provide similar performance to that achievable with TCP PEP (Performance Enhanced Proxy) based solutions. The performance benefit is demonstrated using commercial satellite services.

An optimized QUIC protocol for SatCom.

Satellite communications networks are critical infrastructure that are prone to interference, impairments, and other effects that impact their ability to deliver robust and reliable service. Qoherent is developing machine learning based radiofrequency impairment classifiers for improving satellite communications network operations.

This study posits a design and delivery solution for a multi-orbital layered satellite constellation, researching capability gains exploiting a cross-vertical space segment. It discusses technology and economic freedoms and constraints, and identifies markets aligned to a multi layered satcom solution.

DINoS5G project has developed an end-to-end platform from integration of High Throughput Satellite (HTS) system and 5G terrestrial infrastructure, enabling communications for an advanced diagnostic service in the railway environment. The platform provides communication interfaces to applications for real-time monitoring and “smart” predictive maintenance services of the railway infrastructure.

The DAWN project investigates network control, management and orchestration algorithms to enable data-driven SatCom network and resources management and configuration in future integrated satellite-terrestrial networks. This includes data mining and analysis to optimize the performance of both the radio access and the network.

Neuromorphic computers are non-von Neumann computers whose structure and function are inspired by brains and are therefore composed of neurons and synapses. They have enormous potential for many different applications. In this project we explore and understand the current state-of-the-art of Neuromorphic Processor hardware and software technologies and assess their applicability to space applications.

The objective of the ESA project AIComS is to develop AI/ML-based SW/HW platforms for future products of an integrated satellite and 5G&beyond communication network. It focusses on the development of ML-based 5G NR physical layer components and investigates different functional splits. Furthermore, 5G&beyond compliant ML-based routing, network slicing, and security components will be investigated. The 3GPP 5G specifications are tracked for these developments.

The 5G-EMERGE develops an integrated satellite and terrestrial online delivery ecosystem to enable high-quality and efficient content distribution services. It encompasses a hybrid and fully native IP infrastructure to deploy edges in both 5G and non 5G-network head-ends, home networks and networks in vehicles. The 3GPP 5G specification is used as convergence technology. 

The MARINA project aims to compare the performance of DVB-S2x/RCS2 and 5G-NR NTN protocols when deploying broadband satellite services from geostationary (GEO) orbits in the higher frequency bands (.i.e., FR2). The achieved results are contributed to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) work item "Comparison of DVB-S2x/RCS2 and 3GPP 5G-NR NTN-based systems for broadband satellite communication systems" led by the TC-SES/SCN working group.

The Unified Communication Services Manager (UCSM) is a Pooling & Sharing Solution for safe/secure SATCOM-centric communication services. UCSM targets the community of IGO/NGO and private-sector users as well as commercial & governmental providers.

The project designed and developed the core components of this expert system / service broker. It paved the way for future tailoring and operationalisation on various scales, ranging from “single-provider, multiple user” to “multiple-provider, multiple-user, international deployment”.

A clear tendency of convergence of communication and sensing can be observed in the frame of 5G, beyond 5G and 6G. This offers a unique opportunity for the space industry, in particular in combination with the ongoing softwarisation (software defined networks, network functions virtualisation, cloud-based internet services etc.) to revolutionize Earth Observation and communication satellite payloads. The opportunity for change and improvement is similar and can be compared to the emergence and success of the all-purpose computers and data centers that opened up completely new efficiency dimensions and economies of scale.

In particular, the 5GEOSiS team sees the sharing and convergence (commonalisation) of the processing – yielding to the joint processing – between the Earth Observation and sensing part of a satellite payload, and the communication part of the payload that is something that can be and shall be considered immediately focusing on the dynamic on demand reallocation – repurposing – of payload resources.

Bx-WiFi technology enables broadcasting of uninterrupted audio or video content from multiple sources to thousands of smartphone or tablet devices, all connected to Wi-Fi access points, while simultaneously providing general internet access.

The astronomical Observatory at Skinakas, located at the Greek island of Crete, will be upgraded to an Optical Ground Station (OGS). The instrumentation for optical and quantum (QKD) telecommunication with LEO satellites will be designed and developed. 22SkinUp aims to evolve the technology that will lead to a national OGS network.

Designing and developing an ESA-community open-source satellite mission and communications analysis tool to be able to tackle the current issues that the industry faces efficiently. This project is expanded and built around a community, and its aim is to become a robust and trustworthy solution for the industry.

The objective of project DISCO is the development of a compact S-band diplexer with 30 MHz channels bandwidth and with 60% and 50% of volume/mass reduction in comparison to the state of the art. Engineering Models (EM) are planned to be designed, manufactured and tested experimentally. The target TRL is 6.

Project AO-RETINA is targeting advancement in optical ground stations (OGS) and in a free-space optical communication system. Unlike traditional OGS, beam tracking and data acquisition are both implemented using a single, long wavelength avalanche photodiode based receiver which enables high sensitivity operation up to 10 Gbps.
 

Over 90% of international trade and millions of passengers worldwide rely on marine transportation. However, illegal fishing, smuggling, oil theft, and piracy pose a direct challenge to marine transportation. The Maritime Awareness Services system fuses multiple data-sources ranging from Earth Observation, SAR, Radio Frequency and AIS and applies ML models to support insurance compliance officers, marine security and search and rescue end users with enhanced dark vessel detection, identification and route predictions at an order of magnitude better than current alternative systems.

The satellite broadcast market is under pressure.OTT is taking market share from DTH. Density and ease of use is more and more a requirement However, there are opportunities for innovative products that support the high-level quality standards of the satellite broadcast market as well as the upcoming OTT market.

The INT-UQKD project, led by RHEA Systems Luxembourg S.A., aims to develop and validate an integrated satellite terrestrial end-to-end secure quantum key distribution (QKD) system for various security critical business applications. The project includes numerous demonstrations spanning globally across multiple continents.

This ESA project is managed by TRAD with the collaboration of ONERA, OHB, AIRBUS and Thales Alenia Space. The goal of this project is to provide a new proton environment model and a new calculation tool in order to provide a better modelling of solar array degradation for the typical telecommunication satellite applications experiencing an EOR radiation environment.

The future will be driven by data and our world powered by making data accessible to all. This project introduces the first IoT and SATCOM Education kit to classrooms throughout Europe, engaging young minds through hands-on learning and real-world scenarios. The objective is to ensure that the next generation has the skills to work, innovate and thrive in the fourth industrial revolution.

The aim of this ARTES ATLAS project is to develop and demonstrate the functionality and performance a frequency and modulation flexible telecommand receiver with a CAN Bus, on the Eutelsat Konnect satellite. 

The objective of the project is to develop and validate AI-based signal processing techniques for satellite telecommunications such as signal identification, spectrum monitoring, spectrum sharing, signal demodulation etc. using Off-the-Shelf AI accelerator(s). This includes the development of a laboratory testbed to validate and demonstrate the developments in both on-ground and on-board scenarios.

Within this project a magnetic brake is designed, built and tested, which provides holding torque without mechanic contact and without constant energy consumption. The brake has no tribological layer and generates no debris. It is designed and tested in vacuum in a temperature span from -45°C to +100 °C. Locking / releasing the brake requires only a short current pulse.

Optimize the pointing and acquisition of the optical inter-satellite link in such a way that the ISL for ranging and data can be completed within a time frame of < 40 seconds. Maximize ranging accuracy and time and frequency transfer performance of the inter-satellite link.