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Newtec Provides Key Satellite Communication Technology for EURO HAWK®
Satellite specialist Newtec’s IP traffic enhancement and shaping technology Cross-Layer-Optimization™ has been implemented in the flagship EURO HAWK® Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) which detects and collects information. The Newtec technology is required in order to secure the downlink via satellite.
EURO HAWK is a joint programme between Cassidian, an EADS company, and Northrop Grumman. It is a UAS which signals a new era for Germany’s Federal Armed Forces – the debut of the largest unmanned aerial system in German airspace.
“It’s a milestone for us,” said Rüdiger Knöpfel, the head of the unmanned project department at the German Federal Office of Defence Technology and Procurement (BWB). “It represents nearly 10 years of concept preparation and development. At 15 metres long, a wingspan of 40 metres and take-off weight of approximately 15 tons, the Euro Hawk by far outstrips other UAS types.”
The EURO HAWK can stay airborne for more than 30 hours and fly more than 20,000 km before needing to refuel. Technicians have equipped the EURO HAWK with German sensors and intelligence technology.
From an altitude of 20,000 metres – which is above the altitude at which civil aircraft fly – the EURO HAWK’s SIGnals INTelligence (SIGINT) system detects and collects information from ELectronic INTelligence (ELINT) radar emitters and communications emitters. It then transmits this information to the ground stations in real-time for analysis and dissemination.
In order to secure the downlink of the recorded data, satellite communication leader Newtec provided its IP traffic enhancement and shaping solution: Cross-Layer-Optimization, www.newtec.eu/cross-layer-optimizationtm.
The Newtec Cross-Layer-Optimization solution seamlessly enhances the TCP communication and at the same time includes comprehensive shaping and compression techniques. All technologies interact in order to optimize the communication link. The system can be tailored to provide the maximum availability and bandwidth efficiency to any application running for the EURO HAWK interaction and data transmission.
“The EURO HAWK is an important asset for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance operations for Germany and its partner states and has Newtec technology at its core,” said Serge Van Herck, CEO of Newtec. “Key to this project was providing expertise and the right solution to ensure the satellite link for Beyond-Line-of-Sight communications. Newtec technology allows the most data and video as possible through the satellite link whilst providing optimal availability to assure mission critical communications.”
Newtec has a track record of installations on both manned and unmanned intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft. The company has 27 years’ experience dealing with high data rates and video transmissions over satellite.
Comtech Telecommunications Corp. Receives $1.5 Million Award for High-Power Ka-band Amplifiers
Comtech Telecommunications Corp. announced that its Santa Clara, California-based subsidiary, Comtech Xicom Technology, Inc. received an order for $1.5 million for the company’s Ka-band high-power amplifiers serving the emerging High Throughput Satellite communications market.
“Our products are instrumental to high-power uplink gateways for interactive satellite services. We are proud to be selected, once again, to supply gateway amplifiers to the High Throughput Satellite market.”
Comtech Xicom’s systems represent the state-of-the-art in Ka-band amplifier production. These TWT-based amplifiers feature 500 Watts of output power at 30GHz. The amplifiers are designed for high reliability and superior technical performance and meet the long life requirements for the High Throughput Satellite communications markets.
“We continue to see strong demand for our Ka-band product line,” said Fred Kornberg, President and Chief Executive Officer of Comtech Telecommunications Corp. “Our products are instrumental to high-power uplink gateways for interactive satellite services. We are proud to be selected, once again, to supply gateway amplifiers to the High Throughput Satellite market.”
Comtech Xicom Technology, Inc., a world leader in high-power amplifiers, manufactures a wide variety of tube-based and solid-state power amplifiers for military and commercial satellite uplink applications. The product range encompasses power levels from 8 W to 3 kW, with frequency coverage in sub-bands within the 2 GHz to 45 GHz spectrum. Amplifiers are available for fixed and ground-based, ship-board, and airborne mobile applications. Please visit www.xicomtech.com for more information.
Comtech Telecommunications Corp. designs, develops, produces and markets innovative products, systems and services for advanced communications solutions. The Company believes many of its solutions play a vital role in providing or enhancing communication capabilities when terrestrial communications infrastructure is unavailable, inefficient or too expensive. The Company conducts business through three complementary segments: telecommunications transmission, RF microwave amplifiers and mobile data communications. The Company sells products to a diverse customer base in the global commercial and government communications markets. The Company believes it is a market leader in the market segments that it serves.
Transform an Idea into Your Own Company with the ESA Innovation Prize
As part of the European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC) 2012, the European Space Agency (ESA) is offering an Innovation Prize for the best business idea based on the use of satellite navigation systems. ESA is looking for ideas for applications that exhibit significant market potential and can be implemented shortly. The winner will receive EUR 10,000 and the chance to realise their idea at a European business incubation centre.
For the fourth year running, ESA – represented by its Technology Transfer Programme Office (TTPO) – is using the ESNC as a platform to search for new application areas and innovative business ideas in the commercial use of satellite navigation. To promote the practical implementation of these ideas along with their innovative quality, the EUR 10,000 ESA Innovation Prize also includes the opportunity to realise the winning proposal at one of the six ESA Business Incubation Centres (BICs) in Europe or a facility within the European Space Incubators Network (ESINET).
“For us, the ESNC is a fantastic source of innovative business ideas that can be brought to market maturity at our incubation centres. A third of the 165 start-ups that have been incubated at our ESA BICs so far have come from the competition,” says Frank Salzgeber, Head of ESA’s TTPO. “From the very beginning, we knew the ESNC had considerable potential to serve as a bridge between the development of ideas and our founder programme. We’re very pleased to see the numbers confirm this belief.”
The main objective of the TTPO is to make the breakthroughs ESA has achieved in research and development accessible to Europe’s citizens by encouraging the commercial use of aerospace technologies in other areas of the economy. In recent years, the ESA Innovation Prize has unearthed new potential applications that the TTPO has helped implement at the ESA BICs. For example, this year’s entrants into the incubation programme at ESA BIC Harwell have included the team that won the United Kingdom’s regional prize in 2011 with an innovative mobile app designed to support the creation of accident reports, as well as the ESNC’s overall winner (the Galileo Master) of 2008 with a project meant to promote safety at sea. Meanwhile, Timo Friesland and the rest of the team that won last year’s ESA Innovation Prize are set to begin their own incubation programme at ESA BIC Bavaria. Their project, twofloats, is a satellite navigationbased application that adjusts to customers’ individual needs and facilitates efficient solutions for grouping people together based on their geographic proximity. “These are just three current examples of successful company foundations that have taken place following the ESNC, but they already provide a glimpse of the diverse possibilities the commercial use of aerospace technologies offers. The more than 50 start-ups that have been accepted into the ESA BIC programme after participating in the ESNC are now applying satellite navigation technology in a wide array of industries – including automotive engineering, medical technology, the Internet, and mobile communications, to name just a few,” Salzgeber reports. “We’re looking forward to big participation numbers and are excited to see the areas in which ideas are submitted for this year’s ESA Innovation Prize.”
Anyone with an innovative business idea for using satellite navigation that can be realised in short order can enter the competition for the ESA Innovation Prize until 30 June 2012 at www.galileo-masters.eu.