A Step Closer to FPA Standardisation

By Helen Weedon, Managing Director, Satcoms Innovation Group

Flat Panel Antennas (FPAs) have been at the forefront of discussions for several years. The problems that the industry is grappling with in terms of these antennas, and the challenges it’s experiencing with poor performance and interference are well known. It’s widely accepted that to address these challenges and maximise the potential of the next generation of antennas, there is an urgent need to establish a standardised set of performance metrics for FPA manufacturers to use, to ensure that FPAs are produced to a minimum performance standard. At the recent Satellite 2025 Show, SIG and GSOA once again co-organised a roundtable discussion on this critical topic, bringing together key stakeholders from across the industry. This time, the discussion was very much focused on identifying what practical steps need to be taken to get the industry to where it urgently needs to be.

Recap of the Problem

There’s no disputing the fact that FPAs are critical for the next iteration of satcom. They’re compact, high performing, and are suitable for various applications including COTM, as well as for LEO, multi-orbit and multi-band networks. Thousands upon thousands of FPAs are already in operation and this number is growing rapidly in line with the increasing number of satellites in orbit. The problem comes because unlike parabolic antennas, there are no clear minimum performance standards for manufacturers to follow. This creates a number of problems.

Firstly, the FPAs already on the market do not provide guaranteed levels of performance so their quality can vary significantly from one antenna to the next. Secondly, there follows an increased risk of errors which can result in harmful radio frequency interference. This is becoming an increasingly important issue, especially given the large number of FPAs already in operation for LEO constellations. Thirdly, operators don’t have the guarantee they require that equipment will operate as they expect, so this introduces potential reliability and QoS issues that could damage customer confidence in satellite.

Lastly, the lack of clarity around performance and test requirements is challenging for manufacturers who naturally want to meet the needs of their customers. FPAs are technically complex and a whole host of factors can impact how they perform. As such, the testing process of these types of antennas is also highly complex, much more so than with parabolic antennas, and manufacturers can’t realistically measure all radiation patterns for all possible scenarios. Yet, operators need to ensure that antennas will function correctly in their network and orbital environment, which of course differs from one application to the next. Consequently, its critical for all parties that the minimum required measurements that manufacturers must provide are clearly defined.

Working Collaboratively Towards Solutions

It’s clear that we need a simplified, streamlined set of data, presented in a set format, that meets the needs of operators, and that is manageable for manufacturers. However, to reach this point, we need to strengthen collaboration between operators and manufacturers. As an independent membership organisation operating across the satellite industry, working with operators, manufacturers, and service providers, SIG is in a unique position to help the industry to do this, to reach a workable solution. There seems to be a consensus that a good starting point is to establish what these performance metrics should be and to conduct some independent third party testing. Getting a full hemispherical test on FPAs is more important than ever but data must of course be reliable and accurate.

One approach is to use UAV-based testing. Antenna testing and RF measurement solutions provider Quadsat has been working with satellite operators and coordinating with various entities including ITU/ETSI to get to the point where its UAV-based solutions can be reliably used to test FPAs from all angles and including multi-orbit and multi-beam testing. Its results have been compared against traditional testing methods, as a means of verifying their reliability and accuracy, and this has shown that the testing method is both reliable and accurate.

Potentially, digital twins could be useful in enabling more widescale testing, but this would obviously need to be verified first. It would need to be benchmarked and the data that populates the digital twin would need to be carefully described.

Another consideration is the frequency of testing, specifically, how often testing would need to be repeated given the frequency of the software updates. This issue is being considered by SIG’s FPA working group and although the frequency of testing has not yet been determined, there will be a requirement to track when testing needs to be carried out again.

Key Takeaways

Products need to be tailored to fit different and specific platforms, and it’s critical that specification sheets are accurate because these metrics help operators to determine where on the network to locate an antenna. It will be critical moving forward that testing is carried out by third parties as this will help to ensure integrity and consistency of data.

We need to find a method that gives operators the data they need and that is at the same time also doable for manufacturers. GSOA has made strides creating a performance specification template that could potentially be used by manufacturers to record test data for presenting to operators. Although this will no doubt be subject to many revisions before it’s at the stage when it’s accepted by all stakeholders, having a draft is a major step forward because it allows everyone to visualise processes, identify gaps, and further refine details.

It will hopefully help to focus forthcoming discussions, so that we can speed up decision making and reach a solution that is workable for both operators and manufacturers. The next step is to establish which parameters we should be asking for in said specification document. Important to note is that test entities obviously need to be authorised by the required regulatory bodies, and for the whole process to work, they must also be recognised by operators as being trustworthy.

SIG will be organising some practical activities over the coming months to support this process such as an FPA update session during the upcoming SIG Middle East Workshop to be held on 12 th May at the Fairmont Hotel in Dubai. Visit https://satig.space/eventlist/sig-x-arabsat-workshop/ for more information and to register.

We need to get this right to ensure a ensure a sustainable and efficient ground segment. The future of the satellite industry depends on it.