The QV-LIFT project aims at building the foundation of the Ground Segment Technology for the future Q/V band Terabit SatCom systems. This ambitious task will be undertaken developing core hardware and software technologies addressing urgent physical to network level needs. QV-LIFT intends to demonstrate a TRL6 for all the technologies developed and, significantly, integrating them in a realistic scenario enabled by access to the Q/V band Aldo Paraboni payload, on board of AlphaSat, and by the relevant Ground Segment made available by the Italian Space Agency. QV-LIFT is committed to increase the maturity level of key satellite communication technologies and to contribute to a more competitive positioning of SatCom European manufacturers in the marketplace in many ways. 1)QV-LIFT intends to advance the European RF SatCom technology by developing the following building blocks and systems at Q/V band: i)GaN power amplifier MMICs at V band with up to 5W RF power output ii)a V band power combining High Power Amplifier based on GaN technology targeting up to 15 W power output; iii)a high performance Block Up Converter operating in the V band; iv)a Low Noise Block down converter operating in the Q band; v)Q/V band, Tx/Rx, single aperture antennas for the mobile and fixed terminals; vi)a Q/V band TX/RX single aperture terminal suitable for airborne applications; 2)QV-LIFT intends to develop the first Q/V band Smart Gateways Management System able to counteract the propagation impairments removing one the main obstacle to the deployment of the future Q/V band Ground Segment. 3)QV-LIFT fosters links between academia, large companies and SMES. In doing so, QV-LIFT targets the full and stable integration of SMEs into the SatCom value chain by developing know how in the following key areas which are recognized as strategic for the future SatCom market: -MMIC GaN integrated circuits, -Q/V band RF components, -Ground Segment Infrastructures.

Space activities have increased impressively in the last decades. New actors and concepts are raising new challenges to ensure the security, safety, sustainability and stability of space operations. Initiatives on national and international level aim to tackle this issue through promotion of prevention, understanding the situation, active collision avoidance operations as well as active debris removal. To ensure autonomy and leadership in the field whilst reducing the dependability on U.S. SSA data, the EU started to work on an independent SSA/SST capability. EUSTM is an end-to end activity towards the definition of a future STM capability: • Counting on the main experts in all applicable domains within the team • Consulting the main stakeholders worldwide in relevant domains • Defining the needs in terms of organisation and responsibilities, technology, policy, laws, guidelines, best practices and standards • Elaborating detailed specs, a preliminary design, a reference roadmap and a ROM cost analysis • Developing an innovative collaborative platform for exchange of information inside the team and with external stakeholders • Creating a community of interest on STM be active beyond the duration of the project • Organising workshops and a dedicated European STM Conference anchored to a space event EUSTM is coordinated by GMV, the main European industrial player in the SSA/SST domain supported by European … • industrial players and research institutes from all across Europe • experts in SSA/SST-related technologies • current and future (NewSpace) users (EUTELSAT and many others) • experts in the policy (ESPI), governance & security (SatCen) and legal domains (IDEST), professionals for impact assessment and cost benefit analysis (PwC) and key actors in the air traffic management domain (ENAIRE) EUSTM is supported by 20+ additional stakeholders including operators, industry, emerging NewSpace players and institutions, as well as the Secure World Foundation.

A new generation of completely flexible satellites in terms of mission definition is currently appearing in the space segment as a response to the 5G revolution, resulting in an unprecedented integration of the satellite services with the terrestrial deployments. In this context, the Digital Transparent Processor (DTP) is aimed to constitute the core of these digital payload, providing them with new capabilities unthinkable to achieve with the traditional analogue ones, such as adaptive bandwidth (BW) and power allocation, or flexibility in the connectivity and coverage. As a consequence, the flexibility offered by these kind of satellites leads to the increased complexity in their management. Then, the optimum reconfiguration of these complex payloads to fulfil the users requirements is no longer an achievable task for a payload engineer due to the real-time constraints and the number of possibilities. To solve this, these satellites require new and intelligent tools capable of optimally allocating the satellite resources, while monitoring the interferences in such a dynamic scenario. In this point, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) algorithms appear to substitute the operator decisions and manual operations while configuring the payloads. In atria project, these algorithms will compose an AI/ML module in a Payload optimization Control System (AI-PCS). The algorithms are to be trained with both real data sets of former manual operations and synthetic data. Also, the algorithms will receive information from external services to provide them with inputs regarding meteorology, traffic, availability, etc. in order to achieve the optimum decisions. AI-PCS is to be validated using both a flexible payload emulator and real satellite environments. AI-PCS is aimed to be a generic tool, transparent to the payload, providing the satcom operators with added value and turning it into a cost-effective solution for the future of the ground segment.

Photonic technologies are key enablers to satisfy the requirements of future Terabit/s communication satellites. The ability of Photonics to handle high data rates and frequencies is critical in this scenario, where current purely RF technologies are limited in SWaP and performance. However, the use of photonics devices is currently restricted to a few demonstrations in non-critical equipment and with limited degree of integration. PhLEXSAT will increase the maturity level of several key photonic devices and modules to TRL5, designing, fabricating and testing 1) Photonic sampler, 2) ultra-low jitter photonic clock for precise sampling, 3) Photonic-assisted ADC and DAC for digital channelizers for Q/V-band operation and 4) on-board digital processing firmware. Miniaturization will be achieved by fabricating and integrating a modulator photonic integrated circuit (PIC) and high-linear photodiode PIC with electronics in the photonic ADC and DAC components. PhLEXSAT will integrate and demonstrate such building blocks in a test bed proving the suitability of the proposed architecture for Tbps-like, software defined HTS payloads with hundreds of channels with flexible bandwidth allocation up to 1GHz/channel, demonstrating a flexible photo-digital channelizer for high capacity reconfigurable payloads, enabling flexible frequency plans and channelization and dynamic coverage for Ku/Ka/Q/V operation. PhLEXSAT consortium comprises the multidisciplinary skills needed to achieve its objectives and fully exploit its results, with partners representing the whole value chain, from space-grade hardware developers to communications satellite integrators and operators. PhLEXSAT builds on the results of the previous FP7 project PHASER and is complementary to developments made by its partners in previous and existing ESA and EC Projects. PhLEXSAT success will contribute to enhance EU competitiveness and non-n-dependence by developing critical technologies for the EU satellite industry.