Antenna Certification: Innovation to Streamline Testing Solutions
Within the ground segment, the ability to streamline the testing and qualification of antennas is critical to allow it to keep up with the increasing demand from the LEO / MEO constellations. I recently caught up with Joakim Espeland, CEO and Co-founder of Quadsat to find out how its drone-based antenna and RF equipment test and measurement solution can transform the testing process.
Q: You recently announced that your technology is being implemented by Viasat for equipment qualification
A: We’ve been working with Viasat for a long time. A couple of years back we focused on the SOMAP (Satellite Operators Minimum Antenna Performance) requirements which is a collaboration between SES, Eutelsat, Intelsat, Viasat & Asiasat, focusing on harmonizing the antenna requirements. The goal of this is to make it so that as an antenna manufacturer you don’t need to get an individual approval with every satellite operator. You have to do that today to connect but the ambition is to test your antenna once and then get it on any operators’ network.
As is the same for every operator, Viasat has its own mandatory test requirements (MTR) that value added manufacture has to comply with to get their equipment qualified on the Viasat network. We have developed a version of this process using our drone-based technology, which Viasat Government has started to implement internally for antenna testing and qualification of new terminals alongside its existing infrastructure. Now that it has adopted the technology, we have the framework in place to allow Viasat to bring new value-added manufacturers onto the network.
Q: What benefits does drone-based testing provide over other antenna qualification processes?
A: Traditionally, if you test large antennas, you transmit over the satellite which would be carrying live traffic. One of the challenges with this is that you have a high chance of generating interferences for other customers when doing these tests, so with our system you can now test and qualify without using the satellite, allowing a safe approach to the testing.
Another challenge to testing on-satellite is that you only have access to a limited amount of frequencies, so you may end up testing a frequency that you are not planning on using. Meanwhile with our system testing off the air, you can test the precise frequencies that you’re planning to use.
With the smaller antennas, today they go into laboratories, anechoic facilities or far field test ranges. Now you have to ship your antenna to where the test is going to happen and these test ranges are often operated by professors at universities and research facilities. Some companies will have their own at their facilities but these can be multi-million euro test setups.
Our approach is significantly more cost efficient and it also frees up time for professors to focus on working on groundbreaking technology, rather than having to work on standardized testing. With the Quadsat system you program a test plan, the drone will make sure you have no obstructions before it flies out and does the measurements. The data is imported into the software and then you can run your analytics to generate your test results.
Q: Can you also use your platform for Flat Panel Antennas?
A: Yes, flat panel antennas are now coming the market and these are known for being notoriously difficult to test, because every beam state is different. When you are in a laboratory, you need to organize and aim the antenna to cover all possible angles. With a drone you have the flexibility that you can just move it around which allows you to test across the whole domain of the antenna in one go.
Q: Another good use case is with LEO / MEO constellations with the need for tracking?
A: Absolutely, O3b is a great example of that. The constellation orbits around the equator. If you’re in North America manufacturing an antenna, you have to get a beam allocated. You can only test the same tracking journey every time. But then once you’ve shipped out your antenna to your customer and they are going use it at the equator, so now you need to test the keyhole, which wasn’t possible on the beam available at the factory.
Now you can emulate any possible O3b trajectory in one location. You don’t have to move around to do all the testing. You could be building antennas for multiple sites and carry out all the testing at the factory, by programming in the different test paths required, saving a huge amount of cost and time.
You can also run handover tests from one satellite to another. We can use 2 drones to simulate handover, if you want to test continuous connections, you would use 3 and they are all synchronized using their own TLE’s (Two-Line Elements). These are very hard scenarios to emulate in the traditional test environment, and this is why the Quadsat solution is a much more flexible approach to antenna testing. It’s not a fixed physical test range, you can configure the drone with the tests that you want to carry out.
Q: Do you see your platform expanding into Q/V-Band?
A: Currently, we have 3 different payloads that cover from 2GHz to 31GHz, S-Band all the way to Military Ka-Band. For Q/V-Band there has been a lot of interest at these frequencies.
As a test & measurement company, the bands we cover will always expand following customer requests and needs. Right now, we are working with multiple customers that have Q/V antennas and are working with them on solutions that will meet their timelines.