Satellite Universal Mobile Telecommunication Service Processor for improved beamforming capabilities

Future mobile satellite missions will feature ever larger antenna systems and provide higher capacity. As the number of beams grows, improved beamforming capabilities are required in addition to greater flexibility both in routing between beams and in frequency planning. The demands of such complex missions require high-performance digital signal processors (DSPs). An ESA Technology Research Programme (TRP) contract with Astrium UK targeted a DSP design for next-generation mobile missions, targeting a capacity 10 times greater than the current Inmarsat 4 processor. The design implements a downsized architecture of the return processor across three separate field-programmable gate array modules, with 16 input elements and two feeder outlets. The design is capable of emulating a larger 160 element antenna, demonstrating advanced beamforming functionalities, developed within the contract, that will in turn enable the Alphasat Inmarsat XL mission. This R&D work has been paving the way to the follow-up Next Generation Processor development to fly on the Inmarsat XL Alphasat satellite co-funded by the ESA Telecom Advanced Research in Telecommunication Systems (ARTES) programme. Furthermore, the innovative transparent processor architecture devised and prototyped in this contract has been pivotal for other R&D activities related to the design of onboard processors for broadband satellite telecommunication missions, which will benefit from the on-going digital Deep Sub-Micron (DSM) technology development.