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Objectives
The MTA supports the (simultaneous) communication of any information by employing a Ku and/or a Ka Band geostationary satellite. It will have a stabilized compact lightweight architecture capable of working on these frequency ranges without the need of any manual change or handling of the system.
The MTA includes the structure, parts, elements and associated software contained within a radome. Its main subsystems are:
Optics
Feed
o Horn
o Front-end
Radiofrequency assembly
Platform
o Stabilized positioner
o Tracking control
The MTA has been designed with a maritime market in mind although it’s evident that it could be used in many more (less stringent) scenarios.
Challenges
Having chosen to go for a large diameter antenna (1.35m) instead of a smaller diameter allows us to achieve better antenna patterns and gain due to reduced sub-reflector blockage; better link budgets are also obtained, which means lower power BUCs for transmission and better side lobe levels. On the contrary, the pointing at Ka-band becomes really challenging, requiring the use of a monopulse approach to overcome the stringent requirements of maritime applications. Also, shaping techniques will be applied to further improve the side lobes envelope and achieve higher efficiencies.
Plan
MTA intends to cover a market niche by developing state of the art technology.
MTA will allow the (naval) mobile end-users to use both Ku and Ka services indistinctly without the need of modifying the payload of the antenna itself in order to switch operating bands.
MTA will allow a customer to leverage their investments in satellite technology by currently operating at low price broadly available Ku-band services while still retaining the ability of transitioning to future Ka-band services without further investments and go back and forth between both types of services around the globe whilst Ka-band services become widely spread.
Current Status
The project has been successfully finalized.
