ESA Open Invitation To Tender AO8707
Open Date: 16/09/2016
Closing Date: 22/03/2017 13:00:00

Status: ISSUED
Reference Nr.: 16.1TT.78
Prog. Ref.: ARTES 5 Sub-El. 5.1
Budget Ref.: E/0505-01B – ARTES 5 Sub-El. 5.1
Special Prov.: BE+DK+FR+DE+IT+NL+ES+SE+CH+GB+IE+AT+NO+FI+PT+LU+CZ+RO+CA
Tender Type: C
Price Range: 200-500 KEURO
Products: Ground Segment / Ground Station / RF equipment / Transmitter and Receiver assemblies, Frequency converters
Technology Domains: RF Systems, Payloads and Technologies / RF Technologies and Equipment / RF Equipment
Establishment: ESTEC
Directorate: Directorate Telecom & Integrated Applica
Department: Telecom Technologies, Product& Systems Department
Division: Technologies and Product Division
Contract Officer: Rinaudo, Nicole
Industrial Policy Measure: C1 – Activities in open competition limited to the non-Larg
Last Update Date: 16/09/2016
Update Reason: Tender issue

Objective: To design broadband high power diplexers for next generation of broadband telecommunication satellite system ground stations. Targeted Improvements: To develop key technology for ground stations Q/V-band gateway links with very high power handling and reduced PIM. Description: In the future the High Throughput Telecommunication satellite systems (HTS) are expected to use Q/V-Band for the gateway feeder links. This will enable full use of the Ka-band for user links resulting in a dramatic increase of the overall capacity offered by the system to the end users. The Q-Band (37.5-42.5 GHz) is allocated to the downlink whereas the V-Band (47.2-51.4 GHz) is assigned to the uplink and are favoured candidates for gateway feeder links in the near future. This activity targets the high power in-ground diplexer where the transmission is done at V-band. For this band two main issues can be raised: on the one hand, the diplexer shall withstand the power required to transmit from the ground station, on the other hand V-band is not continuous and there are areas in the spectrum where the transmission is forbidden (50.2 – 50.4 GHz is allocated to earth exploration-satellite service, all emissions are prohibited and strong rejection is required).The development of this Q/V-band diplexer is a key enabler for future ground base stations based on Q/V-band feeder links with an efficient use of the V-band spectrum. As first the activity shall assess possible solutions based on trade- offs related to power handling and RF performances. Thermal and mechanical aspects must also be taken into account due to the high sensitivity of the RF performance to dimensional deviations at the targeted frequency and power levels. Subsequently, a prototype shall be designed, manufactured and tested to show the suitability of the design in terms of RF performances, power handling, PIM (Product Inter Modulation), and thermal aspects. Procurement Policy: C(1) = Activity restricted to non-prime contractors (incl. SMEs). 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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