T712-703GS – GROUND STATION BACKEND ARCHITECTURE WITH HIGH RATE SAMPLING AND SOFTWARE DEFINED RADIO (EXPRO+)
4, February 2022

ESA Open Invitation to Tender: 1-11117
Open Date: 04/02/2022 14:42 CEST
Closing Date: 28/03/2022 13:00 CEST

ObjectivesTo design the Ground stations Backend architecture based on high rate sampler, Software Defined radio anda low latency high rate network, allowing missions performance optimisation and maintenance cost reduction.DescriptionGround Stations (GS) backend functionality is currently spread in several equipment of different technologieswith low flexibility and limited cost efficiency. Progress in key technologies such as Software Defined Radio(SDR) , High Rate (HR) samplers and low latency high rate networks, allows to fix this issue and improveperformance.SDR is a generic modem capable of processing the signal received and transmitted by the Deep Space (DS)GS antenna Radio-Frequency (RF). The interface to the antenna is with a digital signal, through a RF HRsampler placed near the antenna front end. This SDR modem will allow the optimization of the performancefor each mission and will reduce the cost of procurement and maintenance. The RF HR sampler is a very highspeed Analogue-to-Digital-Converter (ADC) digitizing signals at RF, and viceversa, a high speed Digital-to-Analogue-Converter (DAC) converting the digital samples into analogue RF signals. The RF sampler willuse Tracking–Hold-Amplifier (THA) technology in order to achieve high sampling rate and widebandwidth (T712-502GS X-band sampling demo). The possibility to use electro-photonic transceiver willalso be considered for the higher frequency bands i.e. Ka-band (T712-601GS Electro-Photonic Transceiver).Low latency high data rate network is needed to distribute the signals between the RF sampler and the SDR.

Directorate: Directorate of Operations
Estabilishment: ESOC
ECOS Required: No
Classified: No
Authorised Contact Person: Maren Bednarek
Initiating Service: OPS-GSS
IP Measure: C2
Prog. Reference: E/0901-01 – Technology Developme
Tender Type: Open Competition
Open To Tenderers From: AT+BE+CH+CZ+DE+DK+EE+EL+ES+FI+FR+GB+HU+IE+IT+LU+NL+NO+PL+PT+RO+SE
Technology Keywords: 12-A-I-Advanced Ground Station Design Concepts / 12-A-IV-TT&C, Radar and Optical Signal & Data Processing / 12-B-I-Advanced Ground Communication Networking Concepts
Products Keywords: 4-B-3-a-Telemetry and Telecommand equipment, Tracking, Ranging and Doppler measurement equipment, CODECS,…

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