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Telecommunication Satellites
H. Fenech1, S. Amos2, T.Waterfield3
1
Eutelsat: Director of Future Satellite Systems, Paris, France
2
Eutelsat: Communication Mission Manager, Future Satellite Systems, Paris, France
3
Airbus Defence & Space: Senior Specialist, Antennas, Stevenage, UK
Abstract— Array antennas have been employed on must provide a cost efficient solution comparable to Direct to
commercial satellites for a number of years, however as the Home services. One way of improving the cost per bit is
technology from the military sector makes itself commercially increasing the spectral efficiency of the system. Single Feed
available and attractive, we see an evolution of the role of the
array as they respond to ever increasing demands from satellite Per Beam (SFPB) array antenna designs utilize the increased
operators. Improved volume footprints that aid accommodation antenna gain from smaller spot beams that are tessellated over
of multi-band payloads, reduction in hardware for additional a defined coverage.
beams, flexibility in coverage definition and the ability of Launched in 2010 and positioned at 9° East, the KA-SAT
interference mitigation are all key aspects that have seen an [1] is an example of such a SFPB design providing over
increasing demand for array antennas, and phased arrays on- 90Gbps over 82 spots. Utilising a 4-colour reuse scheme that
board commercial telecommunication satellites. This paper
achieves a 20-times frequency reuse factor, the design employs
highlights some of the key steps from both an operator and
manufacturer perspective and how it has ultimately led to the a four antenna configuration. Each antenna is fed by a cluster
fully flexible satellite in production of Eutelsat Quantum by of feed arrays that are specifically designed to provide the high
Airbus Defence and Space. performance and good C/I over the densely covered user area.
The satellite provides a wide range of applications and delivers
Index Terms—Array antennas, phased array, Single Feed Per high-bandwidth services to users beyond range of terrestrial
Beam, Multi-Feed Per Beam, Flexibility, anti-interference, networks.
geolocation, beam hopping
I. INTRODUCTION
Array antennas are becoming more prevalent in
commercial telecommunication satellites. As applications and
requirements become more diverse, satellite operators and
manufacturers are finding new ways to utilise the flexibility
offered by arrays and phased array antennas.
Typically maligned as having complex configurations,
limitations in antenna gain and expensive, this paper highlights
through direct examples how antenna arrays on-board the
Eutelsat fleet can answer critical demands in terms of
performance, satellite accommodation, coverage flexibility and
more novel applications such as interference mitigation, Fig. 1. Ilustration of KA-SAT Single Feed Per Beam satellite and antenna
geolocation and beam hopping. design [1]
It is clear that the role of the antenna array is becoming
more influential as satellite operators and manufacturers push
the boundaries of technology and dynamic reconfiguration.
III. REDUCING THE SATELLITE FOOTPRINT -
II. ANSWERING A DEMAND FOR INCREASED PERFORMANCE EUTELSAT 36C
– KA-SAT The previous section highlighted KA-SAT, a very powerful
In telecommunication satellites, large fixed beams provide satellite offering high capacity through colour re-use schemes
a shaped coverage that adequately serve broadcast demands. formed by SFPB antennas. MultiFeed Per Beam (MFPB) array
However, as demand for capacity increases satellite technology antennas utilize beam forming techniques to generate the
multi-spot coverage from a multi-feed cluster arrangement, shaped/spot beams (4H, 4V) anywhere over the visible Earth,
where each beam is formed by seven feeds, as illustrated in Fig with full RF power sharing between the four beams in each
2 and summarised in [2] and [3]. In doing so, the uplink and polarization and the capability to reconfigure on-board the
downlink antennas may be separated, providing two direct pointing, shape and spectrum of the beams. The beamforming
advantages: 1) number of antennas reduced to two for a four- occurs at low power and the array coefficients must therefore
colour reuse scheme 2) the uplink and downlink antennas may be carried intact through the combination and common high-
be independently optimized to best serve the frequencies of power amplification stages, through to the radiating array. For
interest. Constructed by Airbus Defence and Space for Eutelsat thermal reasons the HPAs are mounted on the spacecraft Y-
and RSCC, the EUTELSAT 36C / Express-AMU1 satellite, walls, and to maintain coefficient tracking each Y-wall set is
launched on December 24th 2015, will further extend Eutelsat’s dedicated to one co-polarised set of beams. To this end, a fifth
Ka-band HTS missions and the diverse set of antennas being beam is provided on each polarisation to allow in-orbit
employed in order to serve a variety of applications. calibration of the common output section without interruption
to service.
[1] H. Fenech et al “KA-SAT and Future HTS Systems” IVEC May 2013
[2] R; Gehring et al, “Trade-off for overlapping feed array configurations,”
ESTEC 2007
[3] “Flexible Payload Technologies for Optimising Ka-band Payloads to
Meet Future Business Needs” N.Porecki, G.Thomas, A.Warburton,
N.Wheatley, N.Metzger,
[4] N.Gatti, P.Gabellini, L.Russo, T.Waterfield, J.Hinds, S.Amos, H.Fenech
Fig. 8. Eutelsat Quantum flight-path coverage with & without beam hopping “Ku-band Downlink Reconfigurable Active Antenna for Eutelsat
Quantum Mission” Joint ICSSC, AIAA Conference 2015
[5] H..Fenech,S.Amos “Eutelsat Quantum: A Game Changer” Joint AIAA
ICSSC Conference 2015
The beam hopping of Eutelsat Quantum is not limited to
contiguous paths. In using array antennas, coverages that are
spatially diverse can be hopped in a time-synchronous manner