In June, we headed to Denmark for the latest Satcoms Innovation Group workshop. For anyone who has never attended one of our events, they are a unique gathering of technical operations people who are able to get together, discuss their challenges and ways to solve them. It always makes for lively and engaging conversation. This latest event was no exception, but the plane ride organised by our hosts, Quadsat, might be hard to beat at future events.
Antenna design and approvals
Given it took place at Quadsat, which has developed a unique way of testing satellite antennas using a drone-based system, it is not surprising that antenna design and approvals was a key topic of the day.
This led to a great deal of discussion around the importance of testing and approvals, and perhaps even more importantly, the necessity to have a common industry agreement on minimal acceptance levels. This is something that has begun through the Satellite Operators Minimum Antenna Performance (SOMAP) group, which was established by a number of the major satellite operators. The group has further challenges ahead, adapting that initial work to a much more complex and multi-orbit environment. Finding that common agreement is no mean feat and is likely to be extremely time-consuming, but it will ultimately benefit every part of the industry. Crucially it will allow antennas to be tested once, rather than being re-tested for every operator.
Continuing on the theme of testing, we were treated to a demo of a few different testing scenarios by Quadsat. This included a demonstration of satellite path emulation for tracking and pointing performance.
Virtualisation of the Ground Segment
The transition to cloud and virtualisation of the ground segment has been a hot topic recently and has made it onto the agenda for all our recent workshops. Markus Eslitzbichler of Kratos highlighted the need for the ground to keep up with an ever more powerful, flexible, and dynamic space segment. He made the point that virtualisation will be a key enabler in adapting the ground segment dynamically to changing satellite payload configurations and changing user demand.
However, we often talk about virtualisation. Markus pointed out that we should instead be aiming for cloud-native to truly maximise the efficiencies that the cloud provides.
Troubleshooting Interference
Although we no longer only talk about interference, it is certainly high on the priority list and always makes its way onto the agenda. On this occasion, it was great to witness a discussion between the operators about their process of troubleshooting interference cases, led by Intelsat’s Angela Wheeler. We also heard about some innovative solutions and experiments for tackling RFI. Valentin Eder of Space Analyses presented a solution using data and AI to predict interference before it happens. The solution also looks at other areas of satellite operations, such as systematic RF mapping of space objects and RF monitoring.
Quadsat’s Andrian Buchi presented an interference project the company has been working on using its drone-based solution to enable geolocation of an interfering carrier.
Talent Acquisition
Talent acquisition is a topic that has surfaced frequently at recent workshops, with much of the industry concerned with how we can encourage more young engineers into the satcoms industry. It was once again addressed, however this time around we had the pleasure of welcoming in young engineers from the University of Southern Denmark. The team talked about the Danish Student Cubesat programme.
This project includes 100 students from 4 Danish universities, fostering a collaborative learning environment. It was also encouraging to hear the students talking about the STEM outreach programmes they have been leading to engage youngsters from across the country and get them excited about satcoms.
As always, the SIG Workshop sparked meaningful discussions and addressed crucial topics for the satcoms industry. SIG workshops continue to serve as a platform for industry professionals to exchange knowledge, explore new ideas, and collectively advance the satellite industry. We are busy planning our next workshop, so stay tuned for more information coming soon.