PAGE CONTENTS
Objectives
In the project, a test bed for antenna tracking systems of earth stations operating in the QV-band is developed. The test bed emulates the antenna servo system, the ground station RF front end, the ACU and the tracking receiver, as well as the propagation properties of the channel including scintillations, fading and refractive effects in the atmosphere. Aim of the project is to verify the tracking performance with respect to different station setups and control algorithms in order to support the design of antenna tracking systems in QV-band.
Challenges
The challenge of this project is to build a flexible system that is able to support the design process for ground stations in terms of antenna tracking operated on different sites considering local tropospheric effects and various tracking methods.
System Architecture
The basic architecture of the Q/V-band antenna tracking system test bed is shown in the diagram below.
Plan
This project consist of the following tasks:
- State-of-the-art review of channel models for Q/V-band and identification of necessary improvements
- State-of-the-art review of earth stations including antenna tracking systems and RF front ends
- Architectural design
- Definition of an operational scenario for verification of the test bed (Reference system is the Alphasat TDP5 Q/V-band earth station in Graz)
- HW implementation and software development
- Test case execution and performance verification against the reference system
Current Status
This project is successfully completed.
