ESA Open Invitation to Tender AO8908
Open Date: 18/08/2017
Closing Date: 03/11/2017 13:00:00

Status: ISSUED
Reference Nr.: 17.1TT.64
Prog. Ref.: CC for Advanced Tech
Budget Ref.: E/0505-01C – CC for Advanced Tech
Special Prov.: BE+DK+FR+DE+IT+NL+ES+SE+CH+GB+IE+AT+NO+FI+PT+GR+LU+CZ+RO+CA
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, …
Techology Domains: Ground Station Systems and Networks / Ground Communications Networks / Communication Network Technologies and Protocols
Establishment: ESTEC
Directorate: Directorate Telecom & Integrated Applica
Department: Telecom Technologies,Product&Systems Dep
Division: Technologies and Product Division
Contract Officer: Engels, Wilhelm
Industrial Policy Measure: C2 – Activities in open competition, significant partecipat…
Last Update Date: 18/08/2017
Update Reason: Tender issue

The objective of this activity is to design, develop and test programmable modem hardware architecture for ultra-wideband VSAT terminals leading to future solutions exploiting the extended-Ka frequency band. Targeted Improvements: Modem architecture concept with high degree of flexibility for fast hardware and software upgrades and re-usability. Enabling technology to allow easy integration of new functionalities, like new air interfaces, interference management solutions and system scenarios such as beam hopping. Description: Traditionally, satellite terminals used to benefit from implementations that were primarily developed for the Direct-To -Home (DTH) market. Recent developments of broadband air interface based on High Throughput Satellite (HTS) demand more sophisticated techniques such as interference mitigation or the use of ultra-wide band signal for beam-hopping scenarios which are considerably different from the main stream DTH technologies. Classical modem designs have been suffering from early obsolescence due to low level of software flexibility and component re-usability. Furthermore, any new architecture had often required a complete redesign. Recent hybrid technologies based on core signal processing building blocks, implemented in hardware and combined with a programmable set of functionalities running in software, can provide fast implementations, design flexibility and upgradability in its lifetime. This technique is particularly attractive to be used in VSAT terminals requiring non-exclusive frequency bands and flexible interference management solutions. The objective of this activity is to make use of recent hybrid technologies to design, develop and test a programmable modem hardware architecture for ultra-wideband VSAT terminals leading to future solutions exploiting the extended-Ka frequency band. The expected deliverables are:- List and evaluation of the latest techniques available for the design of terminal architecture functionality with above concepts. – Analyses to identify the capability and performance of the proposed architectures.- Investigation of innovative solutions that allow accommodating 1 GHz or more bandwidth in extended Ka-band frequency modem.- Inclusion of interference mitigation management in the implementation. Simulations and tests will demonstrate the capability and performance of the proposed architectures. 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”.

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