Projects

├ FLEXCOM

Objective

FLEXCOM aims at building a new class of phased arrays technology for airborne, spaceborne, and Earth segment satellite communications with an unpreceded level of flexibility and reconfigurability. Precisely, FLEXCOM will deliver a highly integrated antenna tile conceived to be the building block through which several SatCom antenna types can be built. The FLEXCOM tiles are designed to be used in different scenarios and for different applications, responding to the needs of a continuously evolving SatCom market and enforcing a significant reduction of life-cycle costs.
The developed tiles will provide:
• Broadband TX/RX operations at K/Ka-band in a single radiating aperture;
• Possibility to adopt two different beamforming cores, namely Hybrid Analog/Digital beamforming or, for the first time for K-Ka SatCom applications, fully-digital beamforming with direct conversion;
• Electronic steering, multibeam and smart antennas functionalities.
FLEXCOM will develop and integrate into each tile the following beyond the state-of-the-art subsystems:
TX/RX K/Ka band Analog Front Ends (AFE) based on multicore SiGeBiCMOS RFICs, including phase shifters and down conversion stages;
• A Digital Beamforming processor dedicated to SatCom applications;
• Dual-band radiating apertures covering K/Ka SatCom and 5G bands.
The FLEXCOM technology will be demonstrated by building and testing three prototypes relevant to real use cases:
• a prototype for the Internet of Things and Machine to Machine applications;
• a conformal integrated on a UAV platform;
• a feed for a transmit array, intended for High Altitude Platform application.
FLEXCOM will contribute to the development of the European research and technology ecosystem combining in the consortium, a robust industrial partnership covering both the SatCom (THALES and TTI) and the 5G network (NOKIA and SIAE) area as well as key players in the supply chain (TE2V, ANTECNICA, and EVATRONIX). This partnership will include two academic institutions (CNIT-UNICAL, ULM) and a research center (IHP).

Role of ANTECNICA

In FLEXCOM, ANTECNICA designs the SatCom user terminal for High Altitude Platforms (HAP). The design is based on a transmitarray solution.

Partners

• CNIT-UNIVERSITA’ DELLA CALABRIA, Italy
• UNIVERSITAET ULM, Germany
• IHP Microelectronics, Germany
• SIAE Microelettronica, Italy
• NOKIA, DE
• THALES, France
• TTI, Spain
• TE2V, France
• Evatronix, Poland
• Antecnica, Italy

Funding

EU-H2020-LEIT-Space

2020-2023

Project website

https://www.flexcom-h2020.eu/

├ Regional innovation grant

Objective

ANTECNICA has recently won the Regional competition for the innovation grants dedicated to the most innovative SMEs and spin-offs (FESR-FSE 2014-2020). The accelerator project activity will be focused on the development of a K-Ka SatCom fixed beam user terminal

Role of ANTECNICA

Thanks to this project ANTECNICA could develop a light-weight portable SatCom user terminal using both carbon fibre and aluminium.

Partners

• ANTECNICA 

Funding

POR CALABRIA

Project website

├ Multi-port power combiner

Objective

ESA ITT ESA AO/1-9754/19/NL/CLP – Multi-band multiport microwave power combiner for ground terminals.

Role of ANTECNICA

ANTECNICA is contributing to the characterization of the multi-band multiport power combiner and to its possible application to amplifying structures.

Partners

• ANTECNICA
• IT4I

Funding

ESA