Ledbury, Herefordshire, 25 March 2026 – Satcoms Innovation Group (SIG), a satcoms industry membership organisation, has announced the winners of the 2026 SIG Awards. The awards, which take place annually and are spread across four categories, celebrate the innovative technologies and solutions being delivered by SIG’s members, as well as exceptional contributions to the satcom industry.
This year’s winners are:
- Innovation of the Year, sponsored by SES: Global Invacom’s XRJ transceiver
- Best Cooperation: G&S SatCom and ST Engineering iDirect
- Educational Project of the Year, sponsored by Integrasys: CanSat
- Young Engineer of the Year: Sebastian Hill, Orbit Fab UK
Helen Weedon, SIG Managing Director, commented: “The exceptional calibre of entries received this year reflects the high levels of innovation and momentum currently being seen across the industry. The quality and diversity of all nominations made selecting the winners no easy task. Congratulations to all the winners, as well as those shortlisted, and a huge thanks to everyone who took part by submitting a nomination.”
Global Invacom won the Innovation of the Year award for its XRJ transceiver. The solution is a breakthrough in cutting-edge Ka-Band VSAT engineering. A GEO/MEO/LEO compatible, ruggedised IP-67 sealed enclosure integrates a BUC, LNB, and TRF in a single unit. The transceiver is highly suitable for the demanding government and defence market, as well as for commercial deployments, and is designed to work in all applications from fixed stations to marine and mobility markets. The XRJ is optimised for high throughput for global enterprise applications.
G&S SatCom and ST Engineering iDirect won the Best Cooperation award. The strategic technology partnership between ST Engineering iDirect and G&S SatCom brings together two complementary industry leaders to deliver a holistic solution for satellite network and service management. By combining iDirect’s next-generation ground system, Intuition, with G&S SatConnect®, a modular and flexible OSS/BSS, operators and service providers gain centralized control via a unified interface across legacy and next-generation networks for operations, monitoring, reporting, automation, and customer management.
CanSat won the Educational Project of the Year award. CanSat is a European Space Agency competition, and in the UK, ESERO-UK organise and run the competition. The CanSat competition provides students with the opportunity to have practical experience working on a small-scale space project. Entrants are tasked with designing and building their own simulation of a real satellite, integrated within the volume and shape of a soft drink can. After building their CanSat, teams are invited to launch events across the UK to launch their CanSats on small rockets, with their CanSats returning to Earth using a parachute designed by the students.
Sebastian Hill from Orbit Fab UK was recognised as Young Engineer of the Year. Sebastian is an outstanding young engineer who exemplifies innovation and technical excellence in satellite communications through his leadership at Orbit Fab UK where he is UK Head of Engineering. At just 30 years old, he is the UK Head of Engineering, with responsibility for leading the technical delivery and roadmap of Orbit Fab’s UK and European programmes. In this role, he is at the forefront of advancing in-orbit refuelling technologies that are transforming the sustainability, resilience, and commercial viability of GEO and LEO satellite communications. Sebastian has not only led cutting-edge technical innovation through Orbit Fab’s programmes, but is also a fantastic team leader who motivates and develops young engineers and always encourages excellence.
SIG is hosting and attending a number of events throughout 2026, which serve as an opportunity for technical operations people working across satcom to come together and generate new ideas. Find out more here.