How LEO and MEO is Changing the Market for High Power Amplifiers

With the boom of LEO (Low Earth Orbit) & MEO (Medium Earth Orbit) satellites being launched over the last 12 months and the packed future launch schedules being announced, I wanted to explore how this was impacting the Ground Segment of the satellite industry, namely High Power Amplifier, and the challenges this brings.

I recently sat down with Colin Bolton, Co-founder and Director of Business Development at SpacePath Communications (SpacePath), to discuss the effects of the changing market on the business and what the future entails.

Q: Firstly, for any of our readers that aren’t aware of SpacePath, give us a bit of background on the company and the types of products that you offer

A: The nuts and bolts of an uplink terminal rarely make the news. Interestingly though, without our products, you wouldn’t be able to control satellites and constellations or convey data, telephony and video to satellites which are then re transmitted down providing the communications and services we all expect in our everyday life.

SpacePath is a privately held Company focused on customer solutions. We design a comprehensive range of high power, high frequency amplifiers and subsystems which provide the “beating heart” of every earth station or mobile uplink terminal installation.

Q: Given that you are offering a wide range of products, are you starting to see any trends forming due the new generation of LEO and MEO constellations?

A: As new markets develop, its important that our product offering matches the needs of these new applications.  There is a definite shift towards high power, high frequency amplifiers needed for LEO & MEO Gateways.  With the demand to uplink more traffic, requires broader instantaneous bandwidths. SpacePath offer a range of  Ka Band (27-31GHz) and V Band (47-52GHz) amplifiers which meet the system architecture required to handle this traffic.

Q: How have you had to adapt your product offering to meet the demands in the ‘Ka’ and ‘V’ band frequencies?

A: . SpacePath have developed, from the ground up a unique range of product designs, specifically suited for these applications, where high power Ka & V Band products are deployed.  Small, lightweight efficient amplifier designs, utlising a unique carbon cooling structure enables the mounting of amplifiers as close as possible to the antenna feed, eliminating expensive power losses.

Q: What do you see being the immediate challenges that will be faced with this shift?

A: The technology required to design and manufacture high power, high frequency amplifiers demands immensely complex, precision components. The balancing act in building these products is to build to cost, in order to meet the commercial demands. We have achieved this whilst not compromising on  performance and reliability, which are still the main driving factors behind our products.  Having a long and successful pedigree in providing amplifiers for broadcast markets, where commercial considerations drive demand has helped SpacePath utilise cost savings initiatives adapted now to new Ka & V Band amplifier products.

Q: With the large demands of traffic that these new services are providing, resilience and  reliability will be in the forefront of operators design considerations. How does the SpacePath product range meet these requirements?

A: As I have mentioned, performance and reliability are still key driving factors in our product designs. Today,  are products are modular in design improving long term cost of ownership. We are also incorporating new product features to maximise product life and to provide constant monitoring on the operation and long-term health of our amplifiers. To compliment and ensure we offer a flexible system architecture, our universal redundant/phase combined systems can be easily installed and maintained and when required offer a future proofed upgrade possible with minimum disruption or further major investment.

Q: Do you still see there being a future for the ‘traditional’ frequency range products (‘C’ ,’Ku’ , ‘DBS’ band), or is the industry focus now on higher bands offering the larger bandwidth?

A:Having a broad breadth of products is a key driver for our business. SpacePath are still building “traditional” frequency products for mobile and fixed broadcast and teleport markets. Although we expected a slow down of some of the products we originally built the success of the Company on, today a good percentage of our monthly output includes C, Ku and DBS products.  Having a modular platform approach to our product designs allows us to benefit from economies of scale and enable us to adjust the mix of products according to market changes.

Q: To finish, what can we expect from SpacePath over the next few years?

 A: Having modern, modular product designs allow us to adapt and move with new market changes dynamically. We will continue to listen to our customers, open new markets and grow our product offering over the next few years. The greatest thing about being smaller, but technology led, over our heavy and slow competitors, means we are able to be more flexible and more customer reactive.

SpacePath will be at the Satellite 2023 Conference & Exhibition, March 14th-16th in Washington DC - Booth 2833