Microwave Technology for Broadband Satellite Communications Interlligent RF & Microwave Design Seminar, Møller Centre, Cambridge
Ralph Green RT&D Manager and Institutional Liaison Communications Products
1st November 2018 Topic Areas
Space and Telecommunications
Satellite Parts and Terms
Communication Frequencies and Links
Communication Products (What we make)
Example of Technology Benefits and Challenges
Eutelsat KA-SAT coverage over Europe showing frequency reuse by different colours KA-SAT was manufactured by Airbus, based on the Eurostar E3000 platform, with a Summary total weight of 6 tons
2 1st November 2018 Interlligent RF & Microwave Design Seminar Satellites in Earth Orbit
LEO,MEO,GEO Orbits
63% 6 % 0.5% 30% 1,886
includes launches through 4/30/18
3 1st November 2018 Interlligent RF & Microwave Design Seminar Status of the Communication Satellite Market
Rapidly Changing Sat Com Business Models
• Market Evolutions – Introduction of 5G Low latency systems • Demand for massive Very High Throughput Satellites (vHTS) • More Complex Payloads (Processors and Active Arrays) • Increasing Bandwidth and Capacity (Tbps) OneWeb • Use of Higher frequencies • Reducing Cost for Launch • Constellations of Smaller Platforms
• Introduction of High Altitude Platforms
After taking off on 11th July 2018 in Arizona, USA, Zephyr S logged a maiden flight of 25 days, 23 hours, and 57 minutes, the longest duration flight ever made Airbus Defence and Space Zephyr HAPS
4 1st November 2018 Interlligent RF & Microwave Design Seminar
General Dimensions (Approx to Scale) Velocity relative to a fixed 7.5 km/s 0.5 km/s 0 km/s point on the Earth LEO MEO GEO
10.094°
35,756 km
km
12,742 km 2000 km 33,756 km 35,786 km GPS GPS km 20,180
Galileo Galileo 23,222
GLONASS km GLONASS 19,100
5 5 1st November 2018 Interlligent RF & Microwave Design Seminar Why Space is Challenging
1. Launching into Space can imposes significant stress on components due to – Physical Vibration – Mechanical Shock – Extremely High Sound Levels
• 2. Space Hazards – Radiation – Trapped Radiation – ‘Belts’ of energetic electrons and protons – Cosmic Rays (Energetic Ions) – Solar Event protons - composed mainly of protons with minor constituent of alpha particles, heavy ions and electrons
Sources of ionizing radiation in interplanetary space • 3. Operation – Temperature Control – Cooling only possible by Conduction and Radiation – High Efficiency Circuits needed to limit heat generation
6 1st November 2018 Interlligent RF & Microwave Design Seminar Satellite Payloads and Microwave Technology
Microwave Technology is used in the Payloads of a satellite, Payloads make a satellite work. They do the hard stuff !
Satellites range in sizes from Cube Sats which are made up of multiples of 10×10×10 cm cubic units and have a mass of no more than 1.33 kilograms per unit
Small Satellites with a mass of <500Kg
Large Satellites with Mass of 10 Tonnes
Ultra Large Satellites with mass of up to 64 Tonnes (Falcon Heavy)
Telecom Satellites are Photons Money converter machines
7 1st November 2018 Interlligent RF & Microwave Design Seminar
Anatomy of a Telecommunication Satellite
15 years operational life in Geo- Stationary orbit
Airbus Eurostar Neo Platform • 3 propulsion options available, from fully electric to fully chemical, including hybrid configuration
Solar Power 15KW-20KW
Payload consisting of communication equipment’s • TV Direct Broadcast • Mobile • Multi-media • Military Comms
8 1st November 2018 Interlligent RF & Microwave Design Seminar Airbus Telecommunication Satellite in Assembly Integration and Test Area
9 1st November 2018 Interlligent RF & Microwave Design Seminar Satellite Communications Frequencies
• Most of the communication satellites operate in microwave frequency band. There are some satellites which operate in UHF and VHF range, for example one more military application satellites operate in 200-400 MHz UHF frequency range. The other amateur radio OSCAR satellites operate in VHF/UHF range.
• Satellite applications include FSS,BSS and MSS. FSS stands for Fixed Service Satellite, BSS stands for Broadcast Service Satellite and MSS stands for Mobile Service Satellite.
• The most popular frequency bands available on satellite are L band, S band, C band, X band, Ku band, k band and Ka bands. C band Satellite will usually will have 5.925 to 6.425 GHz frequency range in the uplink and 3.7 to 4.2 GHz frequency range in the downlink. Ku band satellite will have 14 to 14.5 GHz range in the Uplink and 11.7 to 12.2 GHz frequency range in the downlink
10 1st November 2018 Interlligent RF & Microwave Design Seminar Typical Link budget
11 1st November 2018 Interlligent RF & Microwave Design Seminar Communication Products
. Digital Products . Transparent processors for telecommunications missions . Regenerative processors for telecommunications missions MRO . Advanced on-board cryptographic processors (Master Reference Oscillator) . Specialist spin-off processors for military and science missions . Processor MLO (Master Local Oscillator) . Amplifier Products . Solid State Power Amplifiers for Telecommunications DTP
. State-of-the-Art amplitude and phase tracking (Digital Telecom
Processor) . Solid State Power Amplifiers for Navigation Signal
Pre LNA Post . Solid State Power Amplifiers for Inter Satellite Links Gen3 SSPA Frequency Amplifiers) Frequency Adjustment) Adjustment) Processor Processor (Receive . Solid State Power Amplifiers for Remote Sensing Gen4 (Transmit Signal (Solid State Power (Low Noise Amplifiers) Gen5 . Advanced RF Products PCS Flexible RF . Agile / Flexible Frequency Converters (Processor Crypto (GFP +) (Cryptographic Control (Analogue Signal . Analogue Signal Processing Processing) System) Processing) . Pre/Post processor for Telecommunications . Analog Beam Former Networks Secure TCR Beacons (Telecommand & Oscillators (Signal Ranging) (Frequency . Frequency Products Beacons) Generation) . Beacons S, C, X, Ku & Ka Bands . Master Reference Oscillators for Telecom, Radar & Navigation . Master Clocks for Digital Processor Applications
. Quartz Products . High Purity Quartz . Ultra Stable Oscillators
12 1st November 2018 Interlligent RF & Microwave Design Seminar Communication Products Portfolio
. Digital Products .Amplifier Products . Advanced RF Products . Frequency Products . Quartz Products
Digital Transparent and Navigation Bea\mforming processors Analog Beam Former Networks Single Frequency High Purity Quartz Beacon
Option with integrated RF 4 x Single Channel Agile Dual Frequency OCXO section for MSS processing MSS / FSS Communications Converter Equipment Beacon
MSS, FSS, Security, Pre/Post Processor Ultra Stable Oscillator Inter-Satellite Links Master Reference Navigation and Radar Master Unit Oscillator 13 1st November 2018 Interlligent RF & Microwave Design Seminar What are the basic building blocks of a Microwave Payload 1
Antenna Input Low Noise Mixer and LO Filter Channel High Output Antenna Filter Amplifier Amplifier Power Filter Amplifier
Receiver (all systems) Transmitter (Comms & RADAR)
14 1st November 2018 Interlligent RF & Microwave Design Seminar What are the basic building blocks of a Microwave Payload 2
Antenna Input Low Noise Pre Processor / Post Processor / Channel High Output Antenna Filter Amplifier ADC DAC Amplifier Power Filter Amplifier
DSP
Digital Signal Receiver (all systems) Processing Transmitter (Comms & RADAR)
15 1st November 2018 Interlligent RF & Microwave Design Seminar Frequency Conversion - Pre/Post Processors C Band Post Processor Block diagram • 0.875 GHz to 1.375 GHz to 3.4 GHz to 4.2 GHz • High Side LO • Gain of ~20dB
(Size 260mm x 220mm x 120mm)
16 1st November 2018 Interlligent RF & Microwave Design Seminar • Public
Airbus Telecommunications Processors: Evolution Roadmap
1997 Reconfigurable Regenerative Digital Payload Demonstrator 100k-gate FPGAs
1988 Beginning 2005-2008 2007- 2012 of Digital Signal 2013 2019 SkyNet 5 F1,2,3,4 Processor Inmarsat 4 F1,2,3 Alphasat I-XL Inmarsat 6 F1, F2 Developments 1988 2000 2005 2013 2020 2025
2007 2013 2005 2016 2021 SkyNet 5 Alphasat Inmarsat 4 Gen 4 Processor Gen 5 Processor Gen 1 Processor Gen 2 Processor Gen 3 Processor
800 nm 1999 ASIC EU ACTS project Technology WISDOM ? 3.5 nm COTS or 650 nm ASIC 180 nm ASIC 90 nm ASIC 28 nm ASIC nano wire Technology Technology Technology Technology Technology Digital Signal Processor Long heritage, continuous product line development for more modular, R&D Activity more capacitive and lower cost/GHz solutions 17 1st November 2018 Interlligent RF & Microwave Design Seminar Use of GaN Technology
Employed in Microwave Power Amplifiers from MHz to GHz
Enhanced Remote Sensing (Radar) NovaSAR-S, SSTL / Airbus Defence and Space Active Array Antennas (Communications)
DC DC Power Regulation Multi Beam Coverage
Airbus Active Array Antenna
18 1st November 2018 Interlligent RF & Microwave Design Seminar Why is GaN an improvement on other semiconductors for Space?
The use of GaN enables more than a factor of two improvement to output power, and improvements in : • Power Amplifier Efficiency 35% typically obtained with GaAs, • Power Amplifier Efficiency 50% with GaN • 50% less Mass per Watt Allowing increased payload capability • Improved DC Power Regulation Efficiency Less Heat Dissipation
25 Active Tx Array Satellite Power Available 500 x 10W 20 DC-DC 95% 15 Satellite Power Available - High RF in PA RF out 500x 5KW Satellite Power Available - Low 10W 10 Power (KW) Power DC Power Required from Satellite Dissipated heat 5 Dissipated heat Minimum PA 0 Efficiency 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 Needed ! PA RF Efficiency (%)
19 1st November 2018 Interlligent RF & Microwave Design Seminar GaN Technology Challenges for Design
There are several challenges associated with the use of GaN in Space
Design challenges • Thermal Management • Peak and Average heat flux density • Multipaction Critical Connection • Memory Effects
Manufacturing challenges • Avoidance of human exposure to non-ionising radiation • Use of high power RF terminations, RF loads, RF Screening • Electrical Safety - Higher Voltages • Insulation and Interlocked covers for Power Supplies
Commercial Challenges • Price, Supply Assurance, Export Controls
20 1st November 2018 Interlligent RF & Microwave Design Seminar GaN Benefits - More Radiation Tolerant
Compared to similar AlGaAs/GaAs HEMTs, GaN-based HEMTs are ten times more tolerant of radiation- induced displacement damage this is because of its internal structure*.
The robustness of GaN to radiation and the reliability of these devices has been established through testing. Radiation Single Event Effect (SEE) burn out performance has been measured under two conditions • with RF drive at a normally biased condition • without RF, biased to high voltage pinch-off conditions. .
The Safe Operating Area has been established to be below VDS = 195V 175V with margin
• ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology, • 'On the Radiation Tolerance of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs' • http://jss.ecsdl.org/content/5/7/Q208.full
21 1st November 2018 Interlligent RF & Microwave Design Seminar GaN Cost and Reliability
Cost and Reliability continue to be vital factors when producing products for space applications
Typical Reliability Life Testing on GaN Devices is summarised in the table below
Mean Time To Failure (MTTF) is 1.84x109 hours under High Temperature Operation with RF signals with a corresponding channel temperature Tch = 160ºC (Significantly higher than GaAs)
£ MTTF
22 1st November 2018 Interlligent RF & Microwave Design Seminar L-band GaN SSPA produced by Airbus
ALCOMSAT 1 L-Band GaN SSPA is shown • Launched in December 2017 measures 112.5mm x • Located at the 24.8°W orbital position for Algeria 290mm x 60.7mm and has a Manufacturer mass of 1.6 Kg • China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) 65W 45% Efficiency
GLONASS-K2 • Expected launch debut in 2020 4 Power Amplifiers per Satellite Manufacturer L-Band GaN SSPA 110W • Developed by ISS Reshetnev (Reshetnev Information 50% Efficiency Satellite Systems)
EUTELSAT 5 West B • Under Construction Manufacturer 4 Power Amplifiers per Satellite • Airbus Defence and Space will build the satellite’s L-Band GaN SSPA 65 W payload while the platform will be manufactured by Orbital ATK. Efficiency 45%
INMARSAT 6 • Under Construction 126 Power Amplifiers per Satellite Manufacturer L-Band GaN SSPA 26W • Airbus Defence and Space 42% Efficiency (Multicarrier)
23 1stFebruary November 2018 2018 Interlligent RF & Microwave Design Seminar
L-band GaN SSPA Example Performance
Measured primary RF performance characteristics for a complete GaN L-band SSPA, including the EPC
24 1stFebruary November 2018 2018 Interlligent RF & Microwave Design Seminar Summary
This presentation has featured some of the Microwave Technology used by Airbus for Broadband Satellite
Communications such as on Very High Capacity Telecommunications Satellites (vHTS).
An overview of some of the challenges associated with producing communication payload products for today’s Satellite Communications markets has been outlined including examples of the technology choices, performance and cost.
These Microwave Technologies are being used on Large Geostationary Platforms down to Smaller Sized Medium and Low Earth Orbit Satellite constellations.
Space presents many unique challenges for microwave products such as: • Launch Survival, • Operating Efficiency & Heat removal, • Radiation Effects, • Reliability • Reducing Cost and Time to Market
25 1stFebruary November 2018 2018 Interlligent RF & Microwave Design Seminar
Thank you
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