DEVELOPMENT AND VERIFICATION OF EARTH-SPACE STATISTICAL CLUTTER LOSS MODEL – EXPRO PLUS
7, August 2020

ESA Open Invitation to Tender AO10361
Open Date: 31/07/2020
Closing Date: 09/10/2020 13:00:00

Status: ISSUED
Reference Nr.: 20.1ET.15
Prog. Ref.: Technology Developme
Budget Ref.: E/0901-01 – Technology Developme
Special Prov.: BE+DK+FR+DE+IT+NL+ES+SE+CH+GB+IE+AT+NO+FI+PT+GR+LU+CZ+RO+PL+EE+HU
Tender Type: C
Price Range: 200-500 KEURO
Products: Satellites & Probes / RF / Microwave Communication (Platform and Payloads) / RF Comm. Eng. SW / SW for RF Comm. design, analysis, simulation, etc. / Satellites & Probes / System Engineering Software / System Modelling & Simulation / Modelling tools (Model development, Non real-time execution, Code generation, …) / Ground Segment / Mission Operations / Mission Control / Engineering Support (GS S/W dev. and maintenance, …)
Technology Domains: Electromagnetic Technologies and Techniques / Wave Interaction and Propagation / Wave Propagation / Ground Station Systems and Networks / Ground Station System / Advanced Ground Station Design Concepts
Establishment: ESTEC
Directorate: Directorate of Tech, Eng. & Quality
Department: Electrical Department
Division: RF Payloads & Technology Division
Contract Officer: Singer, Anze
Industrial Policy Measure: C2 – Activities in open competition, significant partecipat…
Last Update Date: 31/07/2020
Update Reason: Tender issue

Recently, Study Group 3 Radiowave propagation of the International Telecommunication Union Radio communication sector (ITU-R, an agency of the United nations) developed a new ground clutter model to comply to a specific agenda item of the upcoming World Radio Conference (WRC-19), for the allocation and use of frequencies for International Mobile Telecommunications systems (IMT) 2020, in view of 5G development.This is one of the key elements for defining levels of interference in frequency management and coordination areas for Space systems, with particular regard on the interference levels between Space Ground stations and terrestrial 5G base stations in a number of frequency bands, including Ka Q and V.The current ITU-R model presents a number of simplifications with respect to the description of ground reflections and the height of buildings in different types of environments (e.g. Urban and rural). Thismodel underestimates the interference between an IMT-2020 terrestrial base station and a receiving satellite or a ground station fora space system. This would affect considerably the development and operations of Space industry in the future by reducing the areawhere they can operate without interference from terrestrial systems.The main tasks of the activity are:

Review the earth-space statistical clutter loss clutter model and assess validation and improvement needs Review and collect LMS (Land Mobile Satellite) and clutter loss data from past campaigns and recent campaigns Implement and perform EM simulations of clutter loss on earth-spacepaths, reproducing also ground reflections (also in presence of metallic scatterers (e.g. Cars) and taking into account different types of environments (e.g. Urban canyon, urban low heights, rural etc.) Develop, Validate, and test an improved statistical clutter loss model for Earth-space paths. Compile dataset and draft a proposal to ITU-R SG3 for the update of recommendation ITU-R P.2109.Procurement Policy: C(2) = A relevant participation (in terms of quality and quantity) of non-primes (incl. SMEs) is required. For additional information please go to EMITS news “Industrial Policy measures for non-primes, SMEs and RD entities in ESA programmes”.

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