ESA Open Invitation to Tender AO8991
Open Date: 06/11/2017
Closing Date: 16/01/2018 13:00:00

Status: ISSUED
Reference Nr.: 17.1TF.03
Prog. Ref.: Future Preparation 7
Budget Ref.: E/0501-01C – Future Preparation 7
Special Prov.: AT+BE+CZ+DK+FI+FR+DE+IE+IT+LU+NL+NO+PL+PT+RO+ES+SE+CH+GB+CA
Tender Type: C
Price Range: KEURO
Products: Satellites & Probes / Other
Techology Domains: RF Systems, Payloads and Technologies / Telecommunication Systems/Subsystems / Telecom System Engineering Tools
Establishment: ESTEC
Directorate: Directorate Telecom & Integrated Applica
Department: Telecom Technologies,Product&Systems Dep
Division: Future Projects Division
Contract Officer: Piesche, Claudia Ria
Industrial Policy Measure: N/A – Not apply
Last Update Date: 06/11/2017
Update Reason: Tender issue

High data rate trunking (or point-point-connectivity) is a well-established application and valuable source of revenue for the satellite sector, providing connectivity between established communications infrastructure and remote locations. There has been some evolution in this market in recent years however, with a number of new initiatives providing such services in novel and ever more competitive ways, e.g:There has been a growth in the number of Earth Observation missions planned and deployed, including recent commercial activity centred on low-cost earth observation and sensing missions based on small satellite solutions. The EDRS project is one initiative aimed at providing connectivity services to this growing sector via an innovative solution.Cellular backhaul and IP trunking from remote locations, even in direct competition with fibre networks, as well as combined services to cruise ships (entertainment distribution, broadband access, and telephony) have been early adopters of the recently deployed O3B system.The development of recent communications constellations such as OneWeb or LeoSat initiatives also feature high data rate services as a main component of their business plan.This continued momentum suggests that high data rate trunking applications will become an increasingly attractive commercial application for the satellite sector, leading to the emergence of new innovative systems and concepts which have impacts all along the service value chain (including satellite and system manufacturers, satellite operators, service providers, etc.) The objective of this activity is therefore to assess the requirements of this developing business, and derive the subsequentconcept designs and technologies that will allow future systems to enhance their competitiveness by an order of magnitude. To this end the activity shall look at various aspects including: a careful analysis of the business case evolution of this sector, taking into account the different ways to sell satellite capacity (e.g. by MHz, Mbps, or total data transported) for these services,a thorough review of both current solutions and of novel system concepts and architectures for such systems, and the technologies needed to meet the service requirements at a competitive cost. These investigations include consideration of different satellite orbits and system topologies, Air interface optimisation, the use of Inter Satellite links, the potential use of higher frequency bands or even optical links, payload flexibility requirements, etc.The outcome of this study will enable the European satellite industry to gain a better understanding of the user needs and requirements for these services, and to establish the necessary roadmaps leading to the establishment of solutions able to offer these services in a competitive way.

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