ESA Open Invitation to Tender: 1-10671
Open Date: 23/09/2021 11:19 CEST
Closing Date: 18/11/2021 13:00 CEST

The objective of the activity is to design, develop and test a location customized wall-mounted flat antenna with integrated beam pointing for direct to home applications (DTH). Novel manufacturing techniques shall be explored and an end-to-end manufacturing process will be developed. Targeted Improvements: Enabling technology to eliminate the need for manual antenna pointing as part of the installation. Volume reduction by one order of magnitude in comparison to today’s reflector antennas. Description: Many private users are reluctant to install parabolic antennas for DTH (Direct to Home) services because of installation inconveniences and costs, antenna volume and/or aesthetic reasons. This problem can be addressed by offering a thin flat antenna design at low cost that allows the terminal to be mounted in an aesthetically acceptable manner, while reducing the volume and addressing installation inconveniences. This activity shall develop a solution of customised antenna that are built with a pre-set pointing for a specific location on the Earth. The expected frequency band of operation is from 10.7 GHz to 12.75 GHz (DTH receive band). Potential antenna technologies are metasurface antenna, Fresnel-zone plate antenna, reflect array, transmit array or flat lens. Solutions including an integrated feed as well as solutions with a separate feed (e.g. Fresnel lens) are suitable, as long as the aesthetics are preserved. The aim is to use new manufacturing processes like inkjet printing, 3D printing and photolithography that are available in combination with the need for customised designs and have the potential to achieve an attractive price target. This activity will select the most suitable technology and manufacturing process based on the bandwidth, pointing accuracy and field of view requirements. A prototype antenna will be designed, manufactured and tested to demonstrate the applicability of this concept to DTH antennas and to test the critical functions (i.e. location enabled beam pointing). 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”.

Directorate: Directorate Telecom Integrated Applica
Estabilishment: ESTEC
ECOS Required: No
Classified: No
Price Range: 200-500 KEURO
Authorised Contact Person: Adriana Lucas
Initiating Service: TIA-TT
IP Measure: C1
Prog. Reference: E/0534-01G – CC-AT 4.0.1
Tender Type: Open Competition
Open To Tenderers From: AT+BE+CA+CH+CZ+DE+DK+EL+ES+FI+FR+GB+HU+IE+IT+LU+NL+NO+PL+PT+RO+SE
Technology Keywords: 7-A-III-Array Antennas and Standalone Radiators
Products Keywords: 4-B-1-a-Structure & Thermal, Servo / Mechanics, Reflectors, feeds and diplexers, Antenna Control Units (ACUs), Drive Systems,…