Executive Roundtable: Antennas for Comms on the Move Applications

by Bernardo Schneiderman

Los Angeles, California, March 4, 2020--An NSR report on Flat Panel Satellite Antennas (4th edition) forecasts cumulative Flat Panel Antennas (FPA) equipment sales to reach approximately US$ 11 billion by 2028. The report finds aeronautical equipment will drive revenue growth for manufacturers, while fixed broadband applications on Non-GEO satellites will be the main volume market. The report mentioned with Non-GEO satellite constellations from Amazon, OneWeb, SES, SpaceX, Telesat, and others, expected to come online after 2020, the industry has begun taking a strong interest in FPAs. According to the NSR report, currently twenty-three antenna manufacturers are in various stages of development and deployment of FPA solutions.

“Demand for connectivity in commercial aviation continues to grow, and the operating environment requires a low-profile design. This has been a key market driver for development of phased array technology for satellite connectivity,” states NSR Senior Analyst, and report author, Dallas Kasaboski. NSR forecasting 94% of all revenues to come from mobile applications. Leading the way will be the increasingly-competitive aeronautical market, well-established government land-mobile vertical, and the fast-growing, high-potential, commercial land-mobile sector.

Satellite Executive Briefing invited executives from the main manufacturers of satellite antennas to participate in a virtual roundtable and we received responses from the following companies: Tony Wilkey, Senior Vice President- AvL Technologies; Drew Klein,Vice President-C-COM Systems; Roni Stoleru, VP Antenna Products-Gilat Satellite Networks; Brian Billman, VP Product Management-Isotropic Systems; Dave Helfgott,CEO-PHASOR; and Bill Milroy, Chief Technology Officer-ThinKom Solutions, Inc. Follows are excerpts of the exchange:

What is the current satcom antenna portfolio of products that you are offering in the market for commercial and defense segments?

AVL: AvL Technologies provides a broad portfolio of antennas and antenna systems ranging in size from 60cm to 5.0m. AvL specializes in high-performance, rugged-duty antennas that are lightweight, easy to use and transportable via vehicle (driveaway) or case-packable flyaways for military and homeland security, mobile broadband, disaster relief, streaming news, and oil and gas data backhaul customers throughout the world. AvL antennas are extraordinarily sturdy, efficient and reliable, and current AvL products operate with satellites in MEO and GEO orbits.

C-COM Satellite Systems:  C-COM Satellite Systems Inc. is a pioneer and world leader in the design, development, and manufacture of mobile satellite-based antenna systems. The company has developed proprietary, auto-acquisition controller technology for rapid antenna pointing to satellite with just the press of a button, enabling Broadband Internet via Satellite where terrestrial markets have failed, are overloaded or don’t exist.

C-COM has sold more than 8,500 antenna systems, in over 100 countries, through a dedicated dealer network that provides service to a wide range of vertical markets such as Oil & Gas Exploration, Military Communications, Disaster Management, SNG, Emergency Communications, Cellular Backhaul, Telemedicine, Mobile Education, Government Services, Mobile Banking, and others. The product line includes vehicle mount (driveaway), transportable (flyaway), backpack (manpack) and fixed motorized (FMA) antennas. The Company’s iNetVu® brand is synonymous with high quality, reliability and cost-effectiveness. 

C-COM is in late stage development of a potentially revolutionary Ka-band, electronically steerable, modular, conformal, flat panel phased array

C-COM’s iNetVu® 1202 Driveaway Antenna

antenna technology. The Company is engaged in joint cooperation with the University of Waterloo to design this unique antenna such that it can provide low cost, high-throughput mobility applications over satellite for land, airborne and maritime verticals. iNetVu® is a registered trademark of C-COM Satellite Systems Inc.

GILAT: The current product portfolio includes Ku/Ka-band antennas that are either flat panel or parabolic dish-based. The antennas support high-end satellite communications on a variety of platform types, ranging from large trains, commercial aircrafts and maritime down to very small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). 

ISOTROPIC: Isotropic is at an advanced stage of development that utilizes our patented optical beamforming technology to develop the next generation of satcom terminals purposely designed to match the incredible performance levels of emerging next generation satellite systems but in a really clever way that allows end-users to arbitrage that capacity into one fully integrated terminal – a first for the industry.  That heralds a true next generation of ground capabilities pioneered by Isotropic, given that current flat panel technology does not meet the needs of the market as it requires an enormous amount of active components, producing only single connections, huge amounts of power, poor scan performance, limited spectral efficiency and therefore low throughput.  We have solved all of those challenges, adding full performance multi-beam to our standard product, and have demonstrated it with both Ku and Ka prototypes in the test chamber, and Ka with full bi-directional over the air testing, to really back up our claims.  

Most recently we demonstrated bi-directional high-speed connectivity over the air with Avanti’s Hylas 4 satellite, proving our optical beam-forming technology is capable of all electronic scanning and tracking well beyond the conventional performance of flat panel antennas and conventional phased array technology, measured in scanning range, scan performance and corresponding throughput.

We are now shifting from a technology phase to a product phase with a focus on delivering our first products in time for the next generation satellite launches. This is an incredibly exciting time for Isotropic.

PHASOR M6 antenna​

PHASOR: Phasor offers a common modular technology core across all of its products for mobile broadband connectivity in aviation, maritime and land-mobility use cases. This “core module” allows for a wide range of product configurations, which will become available commercially later this year, rolling out from 2020 through 2022;                                                                                    

• Maritime and Land Mobility: 40 cm ACT; 70 cm M6 and 100cm M13.                                                                 
•  Aeronautical/Inflight Communications Mobility: 90 cm Aero M10

While Phasor is a commercial/enterprise markets technology and products company, it plans to offer these products for the same use-cases to select government and defense communications markets in the future, as “commercial-off-the-shelf” (COTS) products, via partners and distributors.

Phasor has a 7-year technology roadmap that will enhance and expand the core capabilities of our technology and products, offering even greater “software-defined antenna” functionality, and expanding into additional frequency bands to broaden our offerings.

THINKOM: Our satcom antennas are based on our patented VICTS (Variable Inclination Continuous Transfer Stub) phased-array technology, which combines the technical benefits of mechanically steered and electronically scanned arrays with none of their drawbacks. VICTS provides gap-free pole-to-pole coverage with higher beam agility, low prime power demand and spectral efficiency 2x to 8x better than other phased arrays.  

In the aero market, we are the supplier of Ku-band phased-array antennas for Gogo’s 2Ku IFC systems. At the end of 2019, our Ku3030 antennas were flying on over 1,300 aircraft with 4,400 daily flights and over 13 million hours of accrued flight time – with a mean-time between failure of 100,000 hours – 3x-4x better than competing antenna solutions. Major commercial airline customers include Delta Airlines, American Airlines, Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, British Airways, Air France, KLM, Japan Airlines, Qatar and Virgin Atlantic. 
In 2019, we commenced commercial production of our Ka-band ThinAir Ka2517 IFC antenna system. The Ka2517 systems have been deployed on a U.S. military fleet of aircraft and are nearing introduction on several commercial fleets. Multiple STCs are underway and will be completed in 2020.

We see a significant growth market opportunity for satellite connectivity on regional jets. Adding satellite IFC to regional fleets will make it possible for airlines to enhance customer loyalty by providing a common experience across their large and small jets. For these aircraft it’s imperative that drag and weight be minimized to make it economically viable. To that end, we recently commissioned a third-party industry expert to conduct aerodynamic analysis of the Ka2517 on six major regional jet airframes under representative cruise conditions. In all cases, the drag increase attributed to the antenna was found to be less than 0.4 percent of the aircraft’s cruise drag.

In addition to the aero IFC market, we currently supply a range of X-, Ku-, Ka- and Q-band phased-array antennas for vehicle-mounted, man-portable and fixed solutions for government and commercial customers through partnerships with third-party integrators and prime contractors.

For example, our ThinSat 300 antennas are being used for communications on the move (COTM) by the Indonesian Federal Police on their command center vehicles. We also provided satellite COTM for support vehicles in the 2019 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge in Australia, providing uninterrupted video streaming at highway speeds throughout the 3,000-km race across the Outback.

Do you have any plans to launch new products and/or services in the next two years such as flat panel antennas or any other new or innovative technologies?

AVL: AvL continually updates products with innovations and new technologies. The company has several products launching in 2020 with new reflector designs, new feed designs, new case pack-up configurations and with new ARSTRAT certifications. AvL dedicates significant resources to stay ahead of new GEO constellation technologies, including global coverage with HTS satellites, the vertical integration of products (modems, RFE, etc.), certifications from operators, and changes in global market distribution routes and methods. 
AvL is under contract with the U.S. government to develop a family of next-generation, electronically-steerable flat panel antennas that support operability with existing and emerging LEO, MEO and GEO constellations.

C-COM: Yes, C-COM continues to innovate our existing COTP line of products, as well as work towards an electronically steered flat panel for use with all GEO and non-GEO markets. 

Gilat’s Ku/Ka Aero Edge 6000 antenna

GILAT: Gilat has completed the development of its flat panel, dual band, KuKa aero antenna, AeroEdge 6000 for commercial aviation, as well as its innovative Ka-band RFIC chipset - which is the core building block of our electronically steered antennas. The dual band AeroEdge 6000 aero antenna is DO-160 qualified and we expect to see it flying commercially within 2020. On the ESA front, Gilat has just demonstrated its new electronically steered Ka-band aero antenna technology in a first-ever commercial aircraft flight setup.  This exciting solution meets the communication needs of the aero market including both commercial and smaller jets that until now could not be served efficiently by existing solutions and opens up a great opportunity for Gilat both over GEO satellites and Non-GEO constellations.

ISOTROPIC: Isotropic’s first product launch will be a range of wideband, multi-beam, all-electronic Ka-band terminals for Land and Maritime

Isotropic 70 cm antenna

Mobility applications both commercial and defense. Plug-and-play functionality along with low skill install is offered as the terminal integrates the BUC, LNB, antenna controller, power supply, and in and includes two integrated modem bays (external modems are also supported).  For defense applications, the terminal offers rapid deployment, multiple layers of resiliency in contested environments, and interoperability between LEO/MEO/GEO and commercial and defense frequency bands. In addition to that, we plan to make some major announcements this year on a new set of capabilities for the defense markets, more of that to follow!

PHASOR: The term “flat panel antenna” is a bit too general and includes a very broad range of technologies, products, frequency bands, and capabilities.  Phasor is a broadband (wideband) active-scanning phased array technology, employing a unique ASIC-based beamforming technology in concert with an industry-leading modular system design. This results in a dynamic, enterprise-grade electronically steered antenna (ESA), capable of providing highly reliable connectivity at very high bandwidths across multiple use -cases, (sea, air and land mobility) 

THINKOM: Late in 2019, we unveiled a totally new concept for multi-beam reconfigurable gateways that will provide a superior alternative to the current “antenna farms” of large parabolic dish antennas. We have proposed a totally new paradigm, which we describe as an “array of arrays,” consisting of multiple, tightly arranged phased-array antennas, which are coherently combined. The multi-antenna array is constructed in a fixed convex shape to provide maximum low-elevation coverage and minimize signal blockage. It is less than two meters in height with a total footprint of seven square meters. The reconfigurable antenna units work together to track multiple LEO, MEO and GEO satellites simultaneously with look angles between 5 and 90 degrees in elevation and 360 degrees in azimuth. The software-defined solution is capable of supporting multiple links, modifying the number of beams and radiation properties dynamically to meet the link budget and throughput demands of the ever-changing number of satellites in view. Importantly, the power consumption required for the array of arrays gateway is much lower than that needed for electronically steered arrays – a critical benefit for locations with power constraints.
Additionally, we have made significant investments in developing and proving antenna designs for the consumer user terminal market. We have worked with a Tier 1 contract manufacturer to incorporate proven high-volume manufacturing processes into the unique and differentiated RF design of the antenna to minimize costs without sacrificing performance. The initial prototype is a Ku-band pilot that combines a CTS flat-panel antenna with a two-axis gimbal that has been optimized to work with the new LEO constellations. 

Any other market segments or applications that you are currently or planning to serve in the next few years? 

AVL: AvL’s serves many markets and enables many applications, but AvL’s largest market segment is, by far, military communications. AvL is well known for providing adept customization to meet specific needs and requirements, and the AvL team works collaboratively with customers to innovate, add features and/or capabilities, and enable new applications for our products to meet customer needs. AvL’s rugged and MIL-qualified Ka-band and X-band antennas and systems operate with global MIL satellites, including U.S. DoD WGS, Luxembourg GovSat, U.K. MoD Skynet and others.

C-COM: Agriculture, connected vehicles, 5G, eSports, automotive radar – all are very interesting to use with our new and existing products.  Our focus will continue to be on commercial grade antennas for oil & gas, military, government, emergency response, broadcast, and many other markets. 

GILAT: Satellite communications for mobility and cellular backhaul have been and will continue to be in our strategy for growth. New advanced modem waveforms as well as our customizable and flexible electronically steered antenna technology open many opportunities in the changing satellite constellations environment, for both our existing growth engines as well as new potential ones.

ISOTROPIC: The Lens Modules designed for our first product will be the core building block to launch a series of products across multiple market segments very rapidly.  Aero platforms in particular will benefit greatly from the low power consumption as well as extreme scan performance which is far better than existing flat panel technology.  We have already proven our Ku optics in the test chamber and plan on launching a similar Ku product line as well.

We will also be releasing a suite of value-added-services, unlocked by the capabilities of our digital beamformers, fully software and firmware defined that create incredible opportunities for our customers who look to Isotropic for help to differentiate their services even further and most importantly match their investments in space infrastructure with new demand from various end-user segments in commercial and defense applications. 

PHASOR: Phasor is focused on the enterprise mobility markets today – aeronautical, maritime and land-mobile – which is served by GEO and GEO-HTS constellations and networks. Phasor is also prepared to serve these markets (as noted above) when non-Geosynchronous satellite networks (MEO and LEO) are fully online and operational, and to work interoperable between and among this various network.

THINKOM: Building on the prototyping work we have done on the consumer user terminal, we will continue to evaluate bringing to market low-cost enterprise and consumer user terminals. Target markets could include business/enterprise, government communications, consumer broadband, cellular backhaul, remote cable and DSL networks, and Wi-Fi hotspots. The small lightweight antennas, to be available in Ka- and Ku-band versions, will deliver higher throughput rates and lower bandwidth costs with 60 percent lower power consumption than traditional parabolic dish antennas. They will be 60 percent smaller in height and 75 percent lighter in weight. They will be fully compatible with GEO, MEO and LEO satellite networks. These consumer and enterprise terminals will have options and upgrade paths to be ruggedized for all types of mobility applications.             

Considering the new wave of LEO and MEO constellations during the next 5 years how are you addressing this market with your products or services?

AvL's Antenna for O3b MEO Constellation

AVL: AvL currently manufactures a family of conventional, mechanically-steered parabolic antenna systems certified to operate with O3b’s MEO constellation. Additionally AvL is bringing a new LEO/MEO tracking enabled 1.3m X/Y antenna to market soon, and the company is under contract with the U.S. government to develop a family of next-generation, electronically-steerable flat panel antennas that support operability with existing and emerging LEO, MEO and GEO constellations.

C-COM: We are building antennas that work over NGSO constellations. 

GILAT: Gilat is focusing its roadmap efforts on new waveforms, RF as well as antenna technologies that would best meet and leverage the advances and advantages of the new satellite constellations. Multi beams, seamless satellites transition, wide carriers and mobility are but a part of the mandatory features to be supported on the upcoming LEO and MEO constellations - our planned terminals are developed to do  that efficiently, achieving high performance and throughput-rates while maintaining low power consumptions. As part of these roadmap activities, Gilat is developing its next generation baseband platform which got chosen by SES to power its next satellite constellation, O3b mPOWER. Gilat's electronically steered antenna technology is being developed to match and support these features as well as additional customer demands.  

ISOTROPIC: Isotropic is responding to the rising need for high-throughput ground systems and infrastructure capable of fully unleashing the power of new constellations and multi-band multi-orbit fiber-like bandwidth being launched into space. The full capacity and capabilities offered by the new wave of constellations in all orbits will lay untapped without a generational change in terminal technology.  Our terminal offers the flexibility of digital beamforming to match the digital payloads but at a much lower power consumption.  Add the ability to use multiple simultaneous beams, each at the full performance of the terminal, and a whole world of interoperability, handovers, and sky mapping features are now available to unlock the full potential of these new constellations.  That’s why we are working night and day with our partners to have our products available in time for these launches and optimized for their constellations.

PHASOR: Phasor’s ESA is designed to anticipate any SATCOM wideband network architecture whether that be GEO, GEO-HTS, MEO or LEO.  If the commercial vehicle is moving and the satellite is fixed at a geosynchronous orbital slot, or if the satellite is moving across the sky from horizon to horizon in minutes, or both, Phasor’s ESA can acquire, track and communicate with great precision and fidelity.

- the Phasor ESA is inherently interoperable between GEOs, MEOs and LEOs

- Phasor’s instantaneous beam-switching and dual-beam architecture will allow “make before break” connections within non-Geosynchronous satellite constellations (MEOs, LEOS) and will also allow links to two separate GEO satellites from a single antenna.

THINKOM: Even if only a small percentage of the proposed new LEO and MEO satellite constellations are actually deployed, they have the potential to be a major disruptor to the satellite communications industry, offering lower latency and polar coverage. At the same time, GEOs are not going away and will continue to be an important part of the technology mix.  Clearly, what is needed is a truly integrated solution in which mobile satcom antennas have the ability to switch rapidly and seamlessly between beams, satellites and constellations. Our position is that users and sellers of satellite connectivity should not be compelled to gamble their futures on an either-or choice. End users should have the best of all three worlds. To that end, in 2018 and 2019 we successfully conducted on-air tests with our Ka2517 antenna system on multiple GEO, MEO and LEO constellations, including Inmarsat Global Xpress, HYLAS 4, Telesat’s LEO1 and – most recently – SES GEO and O3b MEO.

The SES O3b in-flight tests, conducted in October 2019, provided ThinKom’s first live demonstration of airborne communication with the SES O3b MEO satellites and included rapid handovers between MEO and GEO satellites during flight. The in-flight demos used the Thales FlytLIVE connectivity network and incorporated the Hughes JUPITER™ ModMan modem. The demonstration further establishes that ThinKom has the only proven antenna solutions that can support seamless global satellite communication in the air with automatic roaming among GEO, LEO and MEO constellations. This will allow IFC service providers and their airline customers to roam between GSO and NGSO networks, providing resiliency and “future proofs” the antenna solution – without any compromises.

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Bernardo Schneiderman is a correspondet of Satellite Markets and Research and  the Principal of Telematics Business Consultants.  He can be reached at: info@tbc-telematics.com