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.

The Hi-FLY project aims to develop and validate innovative technologies to remarkably improve space on-board data handling and transfer capabilities, primarily for Earth Observation and partly also for Telecom future missions. To achieve this goal, Hi-FLY will make substantial advances in all major elements of the data chain including inter-satellite and on-board network, payload processing, data compression, protection, storage and transmission. Whilst individual advances can only enable incremental improvements, the breakthroughs in satellite data management required to support the next generation of data intensive missions can be achieved only by jointly designing the complete data chain architecture and considering the overall system performance. . The Hi-FLY project will provide a comprehensive demonstration incorporating all the critical elements of the payload data chain from instrument to ground-station; aiming to substantially increase the payload data-rates that can be supported in future space-based data networks and Earth Observation missions. It will allow an aggregate instrument data-rate of at least 50 Gbps to be supported in the near term together with a roadmap to achieve even higher performance in the future. The Hi-FLY consortium brings together world-leading experienced experts in all the required fields to deliver the objectives and outputs of the project. Industrial leaders, large organisations and SMEs, are joining forces with influential academic to ensure that the research efforts translate into market-ready and industry-aligned technologies. By delivering breakthrough innovation designed to respond to the future space missions’ needs, the Hi-FLY project will ensure that the internationally competitive position of European spacecraft primes and equipment manufacturers is maintained and enhanced in the strategically important area of satellite systems.

Nowadays there is a shared vision among industry, operators and academy that beyond 5G wireless networks will have to provide wideband wireless access and ubiquitous computing anywhere and at any time. The human life of the majority of the EU citizen will be surrounded by intelligent wireless sensors, which will bring radical changes to the way we live and do things. Supporting this scenario is a challenge for network operators and wireless network infrastructures and it will demand a tremendous performance improvement of medium range wireless infrastructure. This challenge needs to be addressed by a convergence of advanced semiconductor nanotechnology and a robust wireless infrastructure meshed network with seamless fiber performances. The DREAM project, through the exploitation of the radio spectrum in D-band (130-174.8 GHz) with beam steering functionality, will enable wireless links with data rate exceeding current V-band and E-band wireless backhaul solutions by at least a factor of 10 and thus, it will bring wireless systems to the speed of optical systems. The DREAM project vision and objectives rely on a power efficient and silicon based BiCMOS transceiver analog front end, operating in D-band and enabling cost efficient deployment of meshed networks with seamless fiber performance. A beam steering integrated antenna array using an intelligent low-cost packaging technology prototype will be developed for the implementation of the beyond 5G network proof of concept in a realistic environment. The DREAM consortium has a well-balanced and complementary known-how in the relevant areas for designing and demonstrating the feasibility of a small cell cellular network architecture based on meshed D-band backhaul links. DREAM will therefore secure Europe’s industrial leadership and pave the way towards the beyond 5G telecommunications networks.