ESA Open Invitation to Tender AO10505
Open Date: 15/12/2020
Closing Date: 16/03/2021 13:00:00

Status: ISSUED
Reference Nr.: 20.1TF.13
Prog. Ref.: 5G-Other Act. Prod&T
Budget Ref.: E/0534-03A – 5G-Other Act. Prod&T
Special Prov.: AT+CA+CH+CZ+DE+DK+ES+FI+GR+HU+IE+IT+LU+NO+PT+RO+SE+GB
Tender Type: C
Price Range: > 500 KEURO
Products: Ground Segment / Ground Station / Antennas / Structure & Thermal, Servo / Mechanics, Reflectors, feeds and diplexers, Antenna Control Units (ACUs), Drive Systems / Ground Segment / Ground Station / RF equipment / Transmitter and Receiver assemblies, Frequency converters, …
Technology Domains: System Design & Verification / System Verification and AIT / Advanced AIT Methods
Establishment: ESTEC
Directorate: Directorate Telecom & Integrated Applica
Department: Telecom Technologies,Product&Systems Dep
Division: Future Projects Division
Contract Officer: Rinaudo, Nicole
Industrial Policy Measure: N/A – Not apply
Last Update Date: 15/12/2020
Update Reason: Loaded a new Clarification(English version)

The objective of the activity is to develop and implement over-the-air 5G satellite system demonstrators that validate ESA-supported 5G technology developments in realistic conditions. Targeted Improvements: Fostering the adoption of 5G satellite technologies. Description: A number of technical developments in the area of 5G satellite already take place as part of the ARTES GPL and SPL WorkPlans. So far, these developments have not always been demonstrated in an end-to-end or system context, which is paramount for attracting the interest of key stakeholders such as terrestrial parties. To fill this gap, the activity will develop and implement a numberof over-the-air 5G satellite system demonstrators that will validate the outcome of various ESA-supported 5G technology developments in a number of 5G satellite architectures. The development of these over-the-air demonstrators will only encompass those elements that are essential to integrate and validate 5G technologies coming from different ARTES contracts. Besides, they will be implemented in an incremental manner to allow incorporating those developments at an early stage. As a minimum, the activity will demonstrate the use of (pre-standard) 5G New Radio (NR) over satellite in different orbits using either transparent payloads or space segment that has some on-board processing capabilities. A number of activities planned for embarkation on the ISS, and a number of existing and planned smallsat payloads could offer such processing capability. Until these become available, the activity will target early 5G NR over-the-air demonstrations using existing space segment and pre-standard 5G Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) developments. Additional demonstrations will be added as soon as technology developments mature following the agile approach proposed for this activity. The activity will take stock of all ongoing 5G satellite developments and propose convincing demonstrations. The activity will seek synergies with the ARTES deliverables and testbeds as well as by various 5G platforms projects from the European Commission that are already being built-up.