W-BAND TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENTS TOWARDS FIRST BEACON-BASED PROPAGATION CAMPAIGN
23, November 2015

ESA Open Invitation To Tender AO8380
Open Date: 18/11/2015
Closing Date: 27/01/2016

Status: ISSUED
Reference Nr.: 15.1ET.05
Prog. Ref.: TRP
Budget Ref.: E/0901-01 – TRP
Special Prov.: BE+DK+FR+DE+IT+NL+ES+SE+CH+GB+IE+AT+NO+FI+PT+GR+LU+CZ+RO+PL+EE
Tender Type: C
Price Range: > 500 KEURO
Establishment: ESTEC
Directorate: Directorate of Technical & Quality Manag
Department: Electrical Engineering Department
Division: RF Payload Systems Division
Contract Officer: Karl, Heinz-Uwe
Last Update Date: 18/11/2015
Update Reason: Tender issue

The objective of the mini-project (this activity goes hand in hand with the ”Characterization of W-band propagation channel through ground-based observations” activity) is to develop the technological building block needed to start characterising the W-band propagation channel. The use of higher frequencies is becoming necessary for supporting feeder links of High Throughput Telecom Satellites due to the larger bandwidths available. Q and V bands are now being considered as a baseline for next generation systems. The next step will be to look at W band. In order to understand the system sizing, it is necessary to have a good modelling of the propagation channel. So far no measurement campaign has been done, therefore it is needed to start characterizing the W-band satellite propagation channel. This project will consist of 3 parallel activities: 1) Design of a W-band beacon payload; this core activity shall start from the identification of launch opportunities (GEO or non-GEO), and then designing a W-band payload for characterising the W-band Satellite propagation channel. This activity shall define the specifications of the main W-band component for the beacon transmitter. Timeframe: T0 – T0+12m 2) Design of the propagation terminal and identification of technological developments. Timeframe: T0+6m – T0+18m 3) Technological development of the key components for the beacon transmitter and propagation terminal receiver (i.e. Wband SSPA, W band LNA with high gain stability, low phase noise W band Frequency Generation unit). Timeframe: T0+12m – T0+30m

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