ESA Open Invitation To Tender AO8716
Open Date: 12/07/2016
Closing Date: 23/09/2016 13:00:00

Status: ISSUED
Reference Nr.: 16.1ET.09
Prog. Ref.: TRP
Budget Ref.: E/0901-01 – TRP
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
Technology Domains: RF Systems, Payloads and Technologies / RF Technologies and Equipment / Vacuum Electronics
Establishment: ESTEC
Directorate: Directorate of Technical & Quality Management
Department: Electrical Engineering Department
Division: RF Payload Systems Division
Contract Officer: Karl, Heinz-Uwe
Industrial Policy Measure: C1 – Activities in open competition limited to the non-Larg…
Last Update Date: 12/07/2016
Update Reason: Tender issue

The millimeter wave domain is also known as the extremely high-frequency (EHF) spectrum ranges from 30 to 300 GHz. Early works on atmospheric propagation in EHF evidenced encouraging future usage for satellite communications. The allocated W-band for satellite services (71-76 GHz and 81-86 GHz) seems to provide a favourable attenuation window related to oxygen absorption. The exploitation of W-band may offer many advantages for wireless communications, which make it suitable for satellite links, such as: broad bandwidths for high data rate information transfer (e.g. satellite feeder link or point-to-point communications, ISL), high directivity and spatial resolution, reduced transmission power (due to high antenna gain), low probability of interference/interception (due to narrow antenna beam widths), small antenna and equipment size, reduced size of satellite and launch vehicles. Currently no operative W-band satellite communication system has been developed. The W-band can certainly be considered as a frontier for space telecommunication applications. Hence the development of the high power devices for the final amplification stage is critical for the physical layer level design in order to manage the trade-off between power efficiency, spectral efficiency, and robustness against link distortions. The aim of this activity is to investigate on TWT slow wave structures capable of meeting RF power levels in the order of 50 W with 5% of fractional bandwidth, assessing the availability of enabling design tools. Moreover, it is necessary to perform an assessment on manufacture techniques to verify their suitability to the required dimensional tolerances in high vacuum applications. The activity consists of the following tasks:1) Literature survey on the existing TWT performances and slow wave characteristics.2) Design and manufacture suitable slow wave structures.3) Perform cold test measurements.4) Design and manufacture a breadboard to verify the achieved performances.5) Final reporting, conclusions and roadmaps towards higher TRL 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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