ESA Open Invitation to Tender AO10657
Open Date: 19/02/2021
Closing Date: 14/04/2021 13:00:00

Status: ISSUED
Reference Nr.: 21.112.02
Prog. Ref.: Technology Developme
Budget Ref.: E/0901-01 – Technology Developme
Special Prov.: AT+BE+CH+CZ+DE+DK+EE+ES+FI+FR+GB+GR+HU+IE+IT+LU+NL+NO+PL+PT+RO+SE
Tender Type: C
Price Range: > 500 KEURO
Products: Ground Segment / Ground Station / Baseband equipment / Telemetry and Telecommand equipment, Tracking, Ranging and Doppler measurement equipment, CODECS, …
Technology Domains: Ground Station Systems and Networks / Ground Station System / TT&C, Radar and Optical Signal & Data Processing
Establishment: ESOC
Directorate: Directorate of Operations
Department: Ground Systems Eng. & Innovation Dept.
Division: Ground Station Engineering Division
Contract Officer: Bednarek, Maren
Industrial Policy Measure: C2 – Activities in open competition, significant partecipat…
Last Update Date: 19/02/2021
Update Reason: Tender issue

Current missions use RF communications that are reaching the technology limits in terms of data return. Optical communications is to be considered for missions requiring a significant increase in the data return.In order to prepare in a timely manner the supportto the upcoming optical missions and validate the protocols that are being standardized, it is essential to develop the corresponding High Photon Efficiency (HPE) optical modem as one key element of the optical ground station. Missions where the received optical signal is weak will require an optical terminal with a HPE modem. The modem shall be capable of supporting the optical coding schemes SCPPM (Serially concatenated convolutionally coded pulse position modulation) in the coding and synchronisation CCSDS-142.0-B-1. Technology developments are required given the challenging Gbps data rates and very short PPM slot-widths; existing RF modems cannot be simply reprogrammed. An efficient modem architecture needs to be designed and validated, and the critical technologies need to be bread-boarded.The modem breadboard includes the demodulator, synchronizer and decoder at Gbps rates for the downlink, as well as the encoder and modulator for the uplink.The modem will interface, in the downlink direction, with the optical detector at one end of the modem (Photon counter), and with the received transfer frames interface at the other end. For HPE a more elaborated interface will be required than the one for O3K (Optical On-Off Keying), to take into consideration the photon counting and soft decision, but at lower rates.In the uplink direction, it will interface with the beacon and optional Advanced Orbiting Systems (AOS) transfer frames at one end of the modem, and with the modulator of the intensity of light pulses interface at the other end.This activity encompasses the following tasks:- Design and breadboard a HPE optical demodulator and synchroniser with an interface to the optical detector.- Design and breadboard the SCPPM optical decoder.- Design and breadboard the uplink transmitter part of the HPE optical modem.- Integrate the breadboard elements and validate the result performances (bit rates and Frame Error Rate FER)Theresulting breadboard will be tested in Ground Segment Reference Facility (GSRF) Laboratory with corresponding on-board breadboards.To be started in 2021, complementarity with T717-601MM.Procurement Policy: C(2) = A relevant participation (in terms of quality and quantity) of non-primes (incl. SMEs) is required. For additional information please go to EMITS news “Industrial Policy measures for non-primes, SMEs and RD entities in ESA programmes”.