ESA Open Invitation to Tender: 1-11471
Open Date: 24/10/2022 14:53 CEST
Closing Date: 22/11/2022 13:00 CEST

The location methods used in the MEOSAR systems are sensitive to beacon motion. A lot of work has been undertaken during the past years to elaborate test means in order to evaluate the MEOSAR location performance with moving beacons (use of vehicles, drones, turn-style mechanism, beacons of opportunity). The test means used have several drawbacks: limited test time, limited speed range, reliability and/or transportability. With this activity it is planned to develop a solution based on a Digital Beam Forming Network (DBFN) antenna that would be a static system able to emulate any kind of beacon motion (by transmitting signals with different frequency/delay in each satellite direction). Such a system could be used for testing and/or commissioning of existing or future Cospas/SarsatMEOSAR services. The test beacon setup will work as a classical one with the possibility to program test scenario including: transmission time, message content, transmitted power, transmitted frequency, waveforms parameters, etc. As this system will not contain mechanical parts, its maintenance will be easier and cheaper than mechanical systems. It will open the door to the introduction of moving reference beacons for monitoring the quality of MEOSAR services: the system could be used continuously to check the location performance of test beacons with various range of motions. The objectives of the proposed activity are to develop an Advanced MEOSAR Test Beacon Setup consisting of DBFN (Digital Beam Forming Network) antenna system and the supporting SW, for MEOSAR testing and performance evaluation, in particular in slow-moving and fast-moving cases and cases with local attenuation and masking.

Estabilishment: ESTEC
ECOS Required: No
Classified: No
Price Range: 200-500 KEURO
Authorised Contact Person: Roman Roussel
Initiating Service: NAV-PNI
IP Measure: N/A
Prog. Reference: E/0365-40 - NAVISP Phase 2 E1
Tender Type: Open Competition
Open To Tenderers From: AT+BE+CH+CZ+DE+DK+GR+FI+FR+GB+HU+IT+NL+NO+RO+SE
Technology Keywords: 6-B-I-Navigation System Tools
Products Keywords: 2-H-1-d-Other / 4-E-1-a-Electrical Ground Support Equipment (EGSE) and Special Check Out Equipment (SCOE)