How Can We Enable the Next Generation of Antennas to Ensure the Industry Can Move Towards a Multi-orbit, Multi-network Environment?

By Helen Weedon, Managing Director, the Satcoms Innovation Group

Flat Panel antennas are absolutely crucial to enabling the next generation of satellite. However, manufacturers are challenged with a lack of clarity on performance and test requirements for these antennas. Moving this forward will require industry collaboration to determine an agreed set of criteria and that will need input from all stakeholders.

At Satellite 2024, we worked with GSOA to bring together the people dealing with these challenges, from manufacturers, operators, test entities, and regulators to discuss how we can move this forward.

The Crucial Role of FPAs

As the satellite environment continues to evolve, new antenna technology is more important than ever. Flat Panel Antennas (FPAs) are lightweight and easy to implement anywhere, which makes them of course perfect for comms on the move. They also deliver a number of other benefits, such as the ability to rapidly scan, as well as being highly reliable with low latency, all of which is vital for multi-orbit and multi-band environments.

It is not surprising therefore that widescale adoption has already taken place, with thousands of FPAs already in service. Indeed, according to BIS research FPAs already represent 25.19% of the global antenna market. When you consider that by the end of this decade there are predicted to be 65,000 satellites in orbit, with much of those attributed to LEO and MEO, it is clear the role of FPAs is set to get even bigger. The same research from BIS predicts that the global flat panel antenna market will reach $24.31 billion in 2033, a CAGR of14.49% between 2023-2033.

However, there remain some challenges. For one thing, a more lossy distribution network means that FPAs are less efficient. They are also more complex than traditional parabolic antennas, coupled with the inherent complexity of LEO / MEO networks. At the same time, manufacturers are under pressure to deliver a system at low cost. While there are many systems in operation, very few perform as needed and many are prohibitively expensive. All of this makes for a larger potential for error and of course that could lead to interference.

Existing Standards Don’t Work for FPAs

There are a number of regulations and industry-wide standards relating to antenna performance. All of the satellite operators also have their own guidelines for manufacturers. However, all of these currently in existence are focused on parabolic antennas. The way FPAs operate is so vastly different that the same criteria simply doesn’t work for these type of antennas. For one thing, the radiation pattern changes depending on the steering angle, which means you need to test and collect data for the entire radiation pattern. This is both complex and time-consuming.

And yet standards are important because without them, it is difficult to develop new systems and innovate. A lack of standards increases barriers to entry and causes problems for compatibility. This is making it challenging for all FPA manufacturers to provide the right performance data to operators. Often it means they have to just provide everything possible but that also makes it difficult for operators who then have too much data to trawl through in order to assess performance.

The question is however, do we need regulations or just an agreed set of requirements from operators? The Satellite Operators Minimum Antenna Performance (SOMAP) group previously were able to align on minimum acceptance levels for parabolic antennas. A similar exercise for phased array could be beneficial but only if it is possible to both reach agreement and then instigate those requirements. The challenge for operators of course is finding the balance between setting expectations and their own commercial pressures. That said, regulation that doesn’t take into account what the operators actually need and expect will not make sense, the industry needs to help drive and define those.

Who Takes Responsibility?

Moving this forward needs to be a collaborative effort and every part of the industry has a role to play. While the operators need to define the performance they require, and this may vary depending on location and application, the manufacturers likely have an idea of the type of data that would be useful to fully demonstrate performance. At the same time, we need test entities to help define testing methods that are better suited to flat panel antennas.

The result should be standards or regulations that define minimum performance requirements for different scenarios, the data that needs to be provided to the operators, as well as how that is collected and presented.

The Satcoms Innovation Group (SIG) and Global Satellite Operators Association (GSOA) are working together to spearhead action on this. If anyone wants to be involved in defining these standards, please get in touch with info@satig.co.uk or info@gsoasatellite.com.