NICE_DRS_presentation_060710 (1)

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NICE DRS Program / Presentation to National Space Agencies

File: NICE DRS presentation to NSA

Developed in cooperation with: FDC, F; Global Communication and Services, A (GSC); QinetiQ, B; SpaceSys, I

SCOPE: to present to National Space Agencies the development of a new product based on an advanced system concept in the area of satellite communication. Intention is to obtain any suggestion and support for the implementation phase in the ESA scenario

CONTENTS

1. ESA Context

2. Proposed activity

3. System description

4. System attractiveness

5. Industrial Organisation and responsibilities

6. Financial dimension and schedule

7. Plan for C/D phases




The acronym:

“NEARLY INSTANTANEOUS, CHEAP, EARTH FULL COVERAGE, DATA RELAY SATELLITE SYSTEM”

NICE DRS




1 ESA ContextARTES 5.2 Telecom-Technology (non competitive industry-initiated

activities);

AO/1-6000/09/NL/US; ESA/IPC (2009)11, 09.153.66

1 Proposed activityDevelopment of the 18 months Phase A/B1 of the NICE DRS System leading

to a System PDR consolidation level, to develop a communication service model simulator, and to the definition of cost, schedule and industrial organisation capable to carry out the Program implementation phases (C/D).




3. System description

Data Relay Satellite orbit radius: 16768 km

intersatellite distance 29050 km

depression angle: 30 °

LEO S/C height: around 700 km

Earth’ edge angle: 25°

Earth’ body

• Constellation of 6 microsatellites (100-120 kg class) injected in two polar orbital planes at 90°. Each microsat triplets in ICO ( 16768 km radius) is interconnected via unobstructed Ka_band ISL, to the adjacent microsats. There are no ISL between satellites injected in different planes.

• Each microsat exchanges data at Ka_band with LEO observation satellites or any low-flying or ground mobiles ; and reroutes data to /from ground terminals at X_band independently from where the ground terminals are located.




3. System description (cont)

X_band DRS - Earth links

Ka_band ISL links

Ka_band Inter Orbit links

• In each triplet any pair of adjacent microsats provides the path required to reach any point on Earth from any LEO spacecraft. In most cases two possible paths exist enabling to connect a LEO satellite to a given Ground Terminal.

•With two triplets in orbital planes at 90° and using the ISL, a 100% Earth coverage is achieved, including the polar caps and other portions of the Earth not visible from a geostationary orbit.




3. System description (cont) • The communication system is based on Ka_band for both the ISL and the IOL with LEO satellites.

• Within the Ka_band different channel frequencies are planned to avoid interferences

• The frequency plan is the same for the two orbital rings at 90°, since mutual interference is avoided due to the geometry.





• Showing the effectiveness of the ISL in providing a 100% coverage of the Earth :

- the table confirms the severe limitation of direct visibility data transfer;

-With a single hop nearly a 50% coverage can be achieved;

- exploiting the ISL, providing about 40% to 50 % of the coverage , a 100 % connectivity is achieved independently from the ground station latitude

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• With a full connectivity between any LEO spacecraft and any Data Receiving Station, independently from its latitude, one can exchange time for bandwidth. In brief, one can dimension all radiolinks for bitrates in the 20 to 60 Mbps range. This brings lower technology risk and a reduced demand for precious bandwidth. Relaying data at lower bitrates increases the latency, but in relative terms this fact is almost negligeable. Examples:

a) For a direct transmission to a data station during overpasses: latency can go up to 12 hours ;

b) One geostationary satellite as DRS: latency can be up to half orbit period ( 40 to 50 minutes); besides half of the world is without coverage (two geos do not still provide 100% coverage)

a) With the NICE DRS operating at 40 Mbps, transmitting an image of 9 Gbit to ground takes 225 sec, which is quite acceptable

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Communication payload block diagram





When the LEO satellite and the Earth terminal are both ‘seen’ from the NICE DRS microsat, the payload operates in a simple mode and the two symmetrical ISL transponders are not operative.





When the LEO satellite and the ground terminal are not simultaneously seen by a NICE DRS microsat, then it’s time to call the ISL into service. The microsat nearest to the LEO receives the data flow which, after regeneration, is retransmitted to the next microsat of the triplet which has the ground Station in view, and then the data are downloaded towards that Station .





Simplified block diagram of the X_band transponder (for feederlinks)





Simplified block diagram of the Ka_band transceiver for IOL and ISL

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3. System Description (cont)

Simplified Block Diagram of an Earth Station for TTC and Data Retrieval


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4. System Attractiveness (cont )

The constellation system offers several operating modes:

- bulk data relay : typical of remote sensing observation satellites - serving either governmental or commercial Bodies - equipped with optical or radar instruments , where timeliness is an essential requirement;

- Light data relay : typical of governmental or commercial Bodies characterized by temporary absence of communication means, or between fixed or mobile terminals spread over vast land or sea areas.

Examples:

- in flight airlines and passenger comms - comms from/to distress areas - out-of-area remote comms for defense and peace-keeping operations - wide area sensors’ data gathering





1. System attractiveness (cont ) With respect to traditional DRS systems based on GEO Satellites the

NICE-DRS system offers the following main advantages:

• Very significantly lower cost than that required to build and maintain a GEO-based system of approximately equivalent performance ( 3-4 large satellites equipped with long distance ISL and IOL )

• better Earth coverage (the polar caps are included),

• Small delays in relying data (order of minutes for terabit data volumes)

• Very high robustness: the loss of 1 NICE DRS S/C can cause a system interconnectivity loss lower than 5%




1. System attractiveness (cont )

• No need to utilise limited resource constituted by the GEO positioning slots (and no obbligation on S/C’s end of life graveyard manoeuvre, basing on present international regulations)

• No need to implement very high frequency bands (NICE DRS utilises lower transmission bit rates for longer transmission times)

• Use of more mature, lower risk and cost, technologies throughout

Note: a qualifying element of the proposed activity is the business evaluation quantitative analysis to be performed by the FDC Partner.




5 Industrial Organisation (phase A/B1) and responsibilities

Role: Study PrimeELV (I)includes: service level architecture; Constallation launching and orbit positioning strategy

Role: Communication System ArchitectureSpace Syt (I)includes: Constellation Control Center and "bulk data relay" ground control station

Role: Business evaluatorFDC(F)

Role: Ground segment /"light data relay" ground control stationGSC (A)includes: data dissemination and users teminal

Role: Space SegmentQinetiq (B)




5 Industrial Organisation (phase A/B1) and responsibilities

Industrial Participants key data:

ELV (I): Vega Launch Vehicle Prime Contractor and presently developing several services linked to the utilisation of Launch Vehicles

FDC (F): an independent engineering and consultancy company operating in the fields of Localisation, Navigation and Timing, Communication and Information Technologies, Security and Defence and Environmental Monitoring.

GCS (A): technology research, development and product engineering for systems providing Multimedia Internet Broadcast Services. GCS develops and markets hardware and software components as well as complete solutions for turn-key systems and provides consulting and support services.

QinetiQ (B): former Verhaert Space: design and build of small satellites, space mechanisms, on-board computers and scientific instruments for research in space.

SpaceSys (I): Communication systems design and (technical and cost) sizing




1. Financial dimension and schedule (preliminary)

Total activity cost is around 2 Meuro

Cost sharing between organisation (%)

24,54

19,01

16,13

17,28

23,04ELV

Space Sys

GSC

FDC

QinetiQ

Cost sharing between Countries (%)

43,55

16,13

23,04

17,28

Italy

Austria

Belgium

France




1. Financial dimension and schedule (cont)




7 Plan for C/D phases

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