SATCOM Market Update Part 3 - User Terminal Success Stories

	Ryan Jennings
	SATCOM, Active Antennas

For investments in SATCOM infrastructure to realize a return, cost-effective access to the satellite signals is fundamental. Operators and terminal providers are in a race to reduce terminal costs, as the price to the consumer directly relates to the adoption of the service.

Anokiwave’s silicon-based SATCOM ICs are the key enabling technology making electronic beam steering in flat panel active antennas commercially viable at both volume and cost points.

This new blog series provides a complete overview of the SATCOM market drivers, how the market is defining the user terminals for the systems, how Anokiwave enables SATCOM terminals, and a look into the future of coexistence and new generations of solutions.

Download our latest whitepaper with a deeper discussion on this topic.

Part 3 – SATCOM User Terminal Success Stories

In this blog, we describe:

The Anokiwave Ku and Ka -band silicon ICs, tools, and support options to help SATCOM OEMs develop high-performance, cost-effective solutions for active antenna-based user terminals.
Success stories of customers developing and delivering high performance SATCOM terminals using Anokiwave technology.

In this blog, we look at the antenna terminal performance considerations including thermal, architecture, and cost and Anokiwave's solutions

Solutions that Enable Success:

Anokiwave is delivering high volume production beamformer ICs (BFICs) for SATCOM user terminals that support transmit and receive functions for Ku- and Ka- bands. The ICs are built on a commercial silicon process designed for volume RF device production and are the key enabling technology making electronic beam steering in flat panel active antennas commercially viable at both volume and cost points.

Anokiwave's customers have had great success implementing Anokiwave's BFICs into their terminals. The ICs have been demonstrated in multiple live satellite links globally, in multiple applications, across multiple constellations, and in multiple orbits. Their performance, cost-effectiveness, and availability in volume enables customers to design, build, and deploy SATCOM systems with confidence.

In this blog, we look at the antenna terminal performance considerations including thermal, architecture, and cost and Anokiwave's solutions

Case Study 1: Smartellite™ Teminals^1:

Collaboration with our customer has enabled them to develop a low-cost voice, data, and internet-of-things (IoT) family of terminals. They operate in either Ku- and Ka- bands and are compatible on multiple LEO (Low Earth Orbit), MEO (Medium Earth Orbit), and GEO (Geostationary Earth Orbit) constellations

Our customer has successfully integrated Anokiwave BFICs into their small form factor terminals that have been demonstrated on multiple GEO satellites and have achieved Ku-band compliance with FCC (US Federal Communication Commission) and ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) standards.

In this blog, we look at the antenna terminal performance considerations including thermal, architecture, and cost and Anokiwave's solutions

Case Study 2: Modular, Scalable AESAs^{2, 3, 4:}

Our collaboration with our customer, a leader in creating innovative antenna solutions, has led to the development of modular, scalable AESAs (active electronically scanned antennas) to support a variety of applications and markets in the Ku- and Ka- bands. These AESA products are designed to support the rapid growth in demand for SATCOM terminals, including the proliferated LEO SATCOM constellations.

The units are fully electronic, have no moving parts or special materials, and are modular, allowing customers to meet their design and cost requirements. These AESAs are found in many commercial products supporting multi-orbit capabilities, with in-flight connectivity (IFC) leading the commercial demand.

In this blog, we look at the antenna terminal performance considerations including thermal, architecture, and cost and Anokiwave's solutions

Case Study 3: ESA SATCOM Terminals⁵

Our collaboration with a Sweden based customer who delivers fully integrated terminal solutions for LEO, MEO, and GEO connectivity, has allowed them to develop a range of products to be used over multiple satellite constellations. The ESA (Electronically Scanned Antenna) family of products support both manpack deployable and SATCOM-on-the-Move (SOTM) terminals.

ESA terminals provide full duplex communication and is capable of GEO, LEO, and MEO operation with single beam fast switching and scanning. ESA terminals are provided in various levels of integration including up to a fully integrated terminal with embedded modem, Antenna Control Unit (ACU), beacon receiver, GPS, Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), up and down conversion. The ESA terminals can also be integrated with Wi-Fi and Cellular communications.⁶

Today, Anokiwave has multiple generations of SATCOM, Aerospace and Defense, and 5G products in volume production. Anokiwave’s ability to scale in volume across different our market segments (5G, SATCOM, and A&D) is good news for SATCOM terminal manufacturers.

With a significant reduction in launch costs, improvements in satellite manufacturing, broad adoption of cloud computing, and a growth in private capital fueling innovation, the SATCOM industry is poised to transform how a modern internet experience can be delivered on a global scale, and terminal providers need cost-effective solutions to make the connections to the satellites.⁷

Anokiwave SATCOM ICs enable this exciting market with high-performance, cost-effective solutions for user terminals that are available in high volume today.

For additional information on our SATCOM products, tools, and resources, please visit our SATCOM page to learn more.

Stay tuned for part 4 of this series featuring flat panel antenna success stories coming soon.

In this blog, we look at the antenna terminal performance considerations including thermal, architecture, and cost and Anokiwave's solutions. In this blog, we look at the antenna terminal performance

¹Anokiwave/HiSky Press Release, "Anokiwave, Inc. and HiSky Collaborate to Enable Smartellite™ SATCOM Terminals for High Volume Commercial Applications", June 25, 2020. Press Release
²Anokiwave/Ball Aerospace Press Release, "Anokiwave, Inc. and Ball Aerospace Collaborate to Enable Flat-Panel Phased Arrays for Air, Land, and Sea Applications", April 28, 2020. Press Release
³Anokiwave/Ball Aerospace Press Release, "Anokiwave and Ball Aerospace Add Ku-Band Options to Portfolio of Flat- Panel Phased Arrays for Air, Land, and Sea Applications", May 27, 2020. Press Release
⁴Article Published in SatMagazine "Enabling Scalable + Affordable SATCOM Solutions", by Bill Nevius, Anokiwave, and Paul Freud, Ball Aerospace September, 2020. Article Link
⁵Anokiwave/Requtech AM Press Release, "Anokiwave and Requtech AB Collaborate to Enable High Performance SATCOM-On-The-Move User Terminals", March 15, 2022. Press Release
⁶Requtech website. Web Site
⁷Space Capital SatCom Playbook, Published February 1, 2022. Article Link Anokiwave/Ball Aerospace Press Release, "Anokiwave and Ball Aerospace Add Ku-Band Options to Portfolio of Flat- Panel Phased Arrays for Air, Land, and Sea Applications", May 27, 2020. Press Release