Study and Demonstrator of HEO Payload Architecture Tender - 108208915

Procurement Summary

Country: Netherlands

Summary: Study and Demonstrator of HEO Payload Architecture for 5g-Connected Mobile Services

Deadline: 20 Nov 2024

Posting Date: 05 Oct 2024

Other Information

Notice Type: Tender

TOT Ref.No.: 108208915

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Competition: ICB

Financier: Other Funding Agencies

Purchaser Ownership: Public

Tender Value: Refer Document

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Tender Details

Tenders are invited for Study and Demonstrator of HEO Payload Architecture for 5g-Connected Mobile Services (Artes Spl 5g 5a.084) - Re-Issue
Price Range

500 KEURO
The objective of this activity is to demonstrate the suitability of HEO payloads for 5G-connected mobile services. Key parameter trade-offs like orbit optimisation, maximum achievable throughput shall be analysed. The study shall identify key enabling technologies to support 5G type of services on a regional coverage. Targeted Improvements: - Reduce the complexity and total cost of the required constellation to provide 5G services to mobile users via satellite.- Enable a simpler antenna on mobile platforms.- Identify enabling technologies for a HEO 5G system. Description: Current and future LEO mega-constellations plan to launch tens of thousands of satellites to the sky. This will likely lead to a similar situation of orbit congestion that GEO has been facing for years. On the one hand, a LEO-based solution would require the user antenna to have tracking capabilities, with significant complexity and cost. On the other hand, the latency of a GEO system would be too high for 5G applications. In this context, systems based on highly elliptical orbits (HEO) may be of interest for 5G mobility applications, as the pros and cons of HEO orbits lay in between of those GEO and LEO provide. 5G main features are to provide higher throughput, increase security and reliability, and reduce the end-to-end latency. It is known that one of the technological challenges connected vehicles are facing is the need of a simple, compact antenna.
A HEO system has the advantage of having the satellite right above the users during the operational window around the apogee. This requires minimum or no steering capabilities for the user antenna, leading to a rather simple terminal design. Therefore, a HEO a satellite-based system could be used to provide vehicle-to-network (V2N) connectivity and serve as a 5G backup network, with a simple user terminal antenna. Furthermore, there are only 3 satellites needed per HEO orbit to provide continuous connectivity, which is a significant reduction with respect to LEO-based solutions. However, the technology for HEO orbit is not as mature as for GEO or LEO. HEO multibeam systems face some challenges (e.g., rotation and zooming of beams) that are not relevant to GEO or LEO.

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