While virtual meetings can be highly productive, when it comes to solving complex challenges, you can’t beat getting all the right people together in the same room. With all the key satellite industry players under one roof, the Satellite Show in Washington D.C. has always been a great opportunity to address some of the most complex challenges currently facing the industry. This year’s show proved especially valuable in driving one of the most important technical conversations of today forward: that being how we address the performance and interference issues arising from the lack of standardisation for flat panel antennas (FPAs).
These issues aren’t new. Over the past few years, satellite operators have been vocal about the lack of consistent performance of FPAs and the problems this creates, ranging from RF interference, reliability and quality of service issues, and reduced customer confidence. But at this year’s SIG and GSOA roundtable, hosted by Kratos, the tone was different. There was a clear sense that the time for simply identifying the problems has passed. The conversation has now shifted to how we take tangible, practical steps to fix the issue.
Where are we now?
The discussions in Washington this year picked up where we left off in 2024, but with far more urgency and direction. A huge number of FPAs are already in operation and as LEO constellations are launched and expanded along with the trend toward multi-orbit and multi-band networks, the number is set to rise steeply. Without agreed minimum performance standards, the quality of FPAs varies wildly. This leads to an increased risk of errors which will result in harmful interference, as well service reliability and quality issues.
It’s evident that the industry needs a simplified and standardised performance dataset that is both practical for operators and feasible for manufacturers to manage. To achieve this goal, we need much stronger collaboration between operators and manufacturers.
We’re now at the point where we have the beginnings of a framework for moving forward. There appears to be broad agreement that the first step should involve clearly defining the relevant performance metrics and initiating independent third-party testing. The need for full hemispherical tests on FPAs is also becoming increasing clear, with accuracy and reliability of data being paramount.
There seems to be increasing confidence in third-party testing methodologies. UAV-based antenna testing, such as that provided by Quadsat, has emerged as a viable solution for gathering the required performance data. This method has been verified against traditional approaches and has proven to be accurate and scalable.
Another key development over the past year is the progress made on defining baseline performance expectations. GSOA has drafted a performance specification template which may help manufacturers and operators visualise what a standardised testing and reporting structure could look like.
Keeping up the momentum
Although we’re not where we need to be yet, we’re at least heading in the right direction. And as an independent membership organisation that spans the satellite ecosystem, including operators, manufacturers, and service providers, SIG is well placed to help drive this effort and guide the industry toward a practical solution. As part of this work, SIG is coordinating some practical activities including another FPA session at the forthcoming SIG Middle East Workshop on 12th May at the Fairmont Hotel in Dubai.
This session will provide a further opportunity to examine the progress made, gather broader industry input, and define the next set of action points needed to keep moving the industry forward. More details and registration can be found here:
https://satig.space/eventlist/sig-x-arabsat-workshop/