SATCOM NAVAL TERMINAL TNM-180D: SATCOM Naval Terminal for Simultaneous X/Ka Band Operation

Project Description

Definition, development, manufacturing and testing of a Naval Satellite Terminal for communications on the move, simultaneously operating in X Ka bands. Antenna with 1.78 m diameter, including the following elements:

• Antenna
• Radome
• Positioner
• Radio Frequency

Collaborating Companies or Organisations

Subcontracted:

Indra's Role

Indra is the leader of the project. Indra performs the project management activities, defines, designs, manufactures and tests the prototype terminal with the help of subcontractors.

Universities and Technological Centres

Subcontracted

Technologies used

There are three key developments :

• Antenna. There are already on the market numerous X-band antennas and some Ka band antennas, but there are very few antennas in the world that can transmit and receive to and from the satellite in both frequency bands simultaneously. An antenna capable of transmitting and receiving on the X and Ka bands is in the state of the art for satellite communications.
• Positioner. The antenna positioners for ships in motion and for X band are already widely deployed. There are fewer examples developed for Ku-band, and just a few for Ka-band because they require pointing accuracies of several orders of magnitude. This is because the Ka main lobe has a much narrower electromagnetic communication diagram, in order to point to a satellite that is about 36,000 Km.
• Radome. It is very important to have a radome to protect the antenna against inclement weather but allowing the transmission and reception of electromagnetic signals, not only in the X band but also in the Ka band with small losses.

More information

This Project , under reference nº 20140160, has been co-financed by CDTI through the European Social Operative Found of the Community of Madrid (2007-2013)