Feature: Satellite technology
Antenna development for future satellite services
By David Tanner, Business Development Director, Novocomms G
lobal navigation satellite services (GNSS) are indispensable to any organisation that needs accurate, real-time positioning. Whether
it’s the location of infantry units in the field, passenger planes in the sky or utility service units on an estate, they can only be found using PNT (position, navigation and timing) data sent from satellites. Users in the UK have been accessing
either the European Galileo or a legacy GPS system, allowed for general use in the 1980s by the US government. Since then, this infrastructure of about 30 satellites (per system) has been leſt to degrade (in the case of GPS), as the US Space Agency outsourced its maintenance to third parties – putting into question its long-term viability. Te ongoing war in Ukraine also highlighted the susceptibility of GPS to malicious attacks, with satellite networks the subject of unwanted attention from those determined to block signals or even completely disable them. Since 2023, entrepreneurs like Jeff Bezos
and Elon Musk have committed resources to developing their own, flexible, low-cost, low-orbit satellite communication systems, to provide connectivity “wherever you can see the sky”. Te idea is to move away
from fragmented, outdated geo-stationary systems, replacing them with high volume (some several thousand planned) of smaller, smarter mobile satellites. Musk’s Starlink already has over 5,000 satellites in orbit, but Bezos’s Kuiper network is fast catching up.
New programmes Te UK Space Agency Connectivity in Low-Earth Orbit (C-LEO) programme was launched in March this year, with £160m available to UK companies and researchers to develop innovative satellite communications technology over the next four years. Tis is a much needed catalyst to the UK space and electronics sector; however, there are significant challenges facing the use of C-LEO satellites for PNT applications. Te first problem is the cost of production, which must be a lot lower but without sacrificing quality or reliability. Previously, the design and manufacture of GPS or Galileo orbiting satellites, which were universally reliable, had the luxury of low volumes and significant government-backed budgets. Conversely, today’s new generation of satellites need to be manufactured in much higher volumes, with good reliability and at lower cost. Te second challenge relates to the
technical aspects of sending relatively low 44 July/August 2024
www.electronicsworld.co.uk
volumes of data without a satellite dish to focus the signal. Tis is where the next generation of (UK-designed and -built) mobile antennas can play a crucial role. Ten, there are the associated costs.
Traditionally, the cost of production of space-proof hardware is extremely high. Initially, with the limited number of space- based satellites that were good and with long-term reliability, they commanded high prices. Specialised FPGAs alone could cost up to £50,000 for a space-qualified part. Tis might have made sense at the time, when satellites were expected to last 25 years, but, now, units are designed to be replaced within five years.
Handling GNSS challenges Whether it is GPS, Galileo or even BeiDou (China’s satellite navigation system), GNSS networks all face the same challenges. Given their relatively small numbers (i.e., GPS and Galileo operate about 30 satellites each), these systems are increasingly exposed to denial-of-service discruptions and even ‘satellite killers’, when they are made inoperable by laser or kinetic attacks. As OneWeb/Eutelsat, Starlink and
Kuiper are some of the most well-known entrants to the satellite market, these LEO operators are positioning themselves as solution providers to military, defence
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