QV-LIFT is committed to increase the maturity level of key satellite communication technologies and to contribute to a more competitive positioning of SatCom European manufacturers in the marketplace.
Over the last three years, a variety of partners came together to work on the EC-funded Horizon2020 Research & Innovation Action. As the project reached its conclusion, experts involved in the programme give their insights into key issues addressed.
What are the main outcomes of the programme? How does QV-LIFT contribute to satellite programmes? The ambition was high, was it too high? What are the lessons learned, and visions for the future? A wide range of views from industrial partners and academia have been collected together to gain a complete picture. The important contribution of QV-LIFT to satellite communications technologies is revealed through the experts’ appraisals.
What were the key requirements and key achievements of QV-LIFT?
“The increase in the number of services using satellite communication systems leads to the demand of a larger bandwidth and, consequently, to the increase in the transmission frequency. Unfortunately, the detrimental effects of the atmosphere at such high frequencies are significant, and the complete characterization of the atmospheric channel is fundamental and at the basis of the design of the future systems.”
“The results achieved by the system design, taking into account the different climatic characteristics of the gateways sites, and by using propagation time series to simulate the system operation, prove for the first time the potentialities of future High Throughput satellites systems.”
“The QV-Lift project, funded by the EC, helped achieve a fruitful cooperation between the propagation community and the satellite system design community, thus leading to test the near future smart gateway systems.”
How will your activities contribute not just to the QV-LIFT programme, but to satellite communications in general at a time of increasing demand?
“As a telecom satellite operator, EUTELSAT is always keen to participate in R&D activities to strengthen its capacity for innovation, to improve the impact of its projects and to guide them in line with the developments of our sector. In the case of QV-LIFT, we gained important insights into the use of new frequency bands that will be used in our future satellites.”
“Our activities under the QV-LIFT project have shaped the research and teaching agenda of Heriot-Watt University. By virtue of our participation to the project we have developed a good understanding of the specifics of the feeder link for satellite communications. Our activities are now contributing to further developments in this domain.”
Was the ambition too high?
“Our target was indeed very ambitious in terms of output power taking into account the limitations of the technology at that moment.”
“Our activities under the QV-LIFT project have shaped the research and teaching agenda of Heriot-Watt University. By virtue of our participation to the project we have developed a good understanding of the specifics of the feeder link for satellite communications. Our activities are now contributing to further developments in this domain.”
“QV-LIFT is a research and innovation project: ambitions should be high in this type of project.”
What specifically have you been able to develop through QV-LIFT?
Is another development underway, based on this?
“QV-LIFT was the first demand of such high power in that frequency bandwidth, but we are since receiving similar requests from other customers.”
“QVLIFT brought to our satellite communications system new functionalities that will be also incorporated in our STARFISH line of products. The technical solutions developed in the framework of QVLIFT will be further improved and enriched and contribute to the business success of the technologies demonstrated within the project.”
“Thanks to QV-LIFT, EUTELSAT has developed a direct know-how of the different aspects related to the use of Q/V bands: from the propagation impairments and the mitigation techniques, to the state of the art for RF equipment based on GaN technology and gateway switching algorithms. We are working with partners on the design of future satellites where Q/V bands will be used. EUTELSAT has historically been a pioneer in deploying satcom innovation and will continue fostering the development of new and innovative technologies, improving the efficiency of satellite communication.”
What are the lessons learned from this experience?
“We already knew thermal dissipation was very important in high power devices, but we have experienced first-hand it gets even more critical at 50 GHz.”
“QV-LIFT has been a very complex project, where an important role was played by the coordination and integration of the various parts. During the experimentation phase, we had to face a number of unforeseen issues coming from the adoption of many very innovative and challenging technologies and use of almost unexplored very high frequencies.”
“Collaborative projects are always a challenging experience, especially when tackling complex problems at different levels: future satellite system dimensioning under severe propagation losses, MMIC manufacturing and integration, fix and mobile antenna design, SGMS algorithms implementation, end-to-end experimentation on existing and newly developed modules. You have to solve many unexpected problems at each level. Independent of the results, this is always a useful and enriching experience.”
What is your vision for the future?
“It will be possible to get higher output power levels at higher frequencies with the ongoing development of GaN technology.”
“In the near future Q/V and in general very high frequencies will be adopted in commercial systems. This will still require a lot of effort from industry to develop new products and technologies.”
“Despite the increased attention caught by new types of satellite systems, geostationary VHTS and the use of Extremely High Frequencies will certainly have a major role, either for the development of fixed broadband or for in-flight connectivity businesses.”
“The propagation studies in the future will not be limited to simply characterizing the atmospheric channel, but will address the design of Fade Mitigation Techniques, which were also tested during the QV-LIFT project funded by the EC. There will be a strict relationship between propagation, communication system design and optimization of the Fade Mitigation Techniques.”
“It is our vision to maintain our research activities in the area of satellite communications addressing the technological challenges of ultra-high throughput satellites at the physical layer as well as those of LEO and MEO mega- constellations.”
In three years of the project, have you seen any major changes in the market?
“In the market, the power level is increasing every two years.”
“In the last few years a lot of new technologies have been developed and are now driving the development of telecommunications and in particular satcom. Among them 5G and LEO. Satellite is used much less for media broadcasting and much more for IoT, backhauling and professional services.”
“During the last three years, Eutelsat has launched a Q/V-band experimental payload and has ordered a next-generation VHTS satellite system, named KONNECT VHTS, due to enter into service in 2022, which will make use of advanced smart Q/V bands gateway management techniques.”
