ESA Open Invitation to Tender AO10202
Open Date: 21/09/2020
Closing Date: 07/12/2020 13:00:00

Status: ISSUED
Reference Nr.: 20.1TT.22
Prog. Ref.: CC-AT 4.0.1
Budget Ref.: E/0534-01G – CC-AT 4.0.1
Special Prov.: BE+DK+FR+DE+IT+NL+ES+SE+CH+GB+IE+AT+NO+FI+PT+GR+LU+CZ+RO+CA+HU+PL
Tender Type: C
Price Range: > 500 KEURO
Products: Satellites & Probes / RF / Microwave Communication (Platform and Payloads) / “Communication – BB (Antennas excluded)” / Other
Technology Domains: RF Systems, Payloads and Technologies / Telecommunication Systems/Subsystems / Telecom Signal Processing
Establishment: ESTEC
Directorate: Directorate Telecom & Integrated Applica
Department: Telecom Technologies,Product&Systems Dep
Division: Technologies and Products Division
Contract Officer: Glandieres, Florence Odette Jeanne
Industrial Policy Measure: C1 – Activities in open competition limited to the non-Larg…
Last Update Date: 21/09/2020
Update Reason: Tender issue

The objective of the activity is to develop and validate Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based signal processing techniquesfor satellite communication such as signal identification, spectrum monitoring, spectrum sharing or signal demodulation using an Off-the-Shelf AI chipset. The activity will develop a laboratory testbed to validate and demonstrate the developments in both on-groundand on-board scenarios. Targeted Improvements: Enabling on-board satellite signal processing techniques not possible without specific AI processors. Description: Artificial Intelligence (AI) has proven its value in several fields. In the case of satcoms, it isapromising tool for applications like spectrum sharing or cognitive radio. However, AI algorithms can be very computationally intensive,thus power hungry and slow when run in standard processors. These issues seriously limit their use in a variety of devices (from mobile phones to satellite payloads) and therefore applications. To solve this, industry has developed specific AI processors capable of running complex algorithms in real time and consuming a fraction of the power. These processors are now available as Off-the-Shelf AI chipsets. The availability of such chipsets has enabled the practical use of AI for satellite applications both in on-ground and on-board scenarios. ESA has experience with such AI chip for an Earth Observation satellite. In this particular case, the chip will allow the fast execution of machine learning models for image recognition on board satellites. Nevertheless, the same chip could also be used for satellite signal processing if the right AI techniques are developed. To this end, the activity will developAI-basedsignal processing techniques for satellite communications such as signal identification, spectrum monitoring, spectrum sharing or signal demodulation using an Off-the-Shelf AI chipset. The activity will also develop a laboratory testbed to validate the techniquesand serve as a development environment of AI-based techniques for satcoms. The testbed will therefore support on-ground and on-board scenarios and count with the tools required for model learning and control. Procurement Policy: C1: Activities in open competition limited to non-Large-System Integrators (LSIs)) as prime. LSIs are allowed to participate as sub-contractors. For additional information please go to EMITS news “Industrial Policy measures for non-primes, SMEs and RD entities in ESA programmes”.