The SANTANA project

Abstract

Smart antennas employing digital beamforming (DBF) at Ka-band frequencies will be key elements for the next generation of broadband satellite communication systems. This frequency band offers high bandwidth and therefore high data rate capability, whereas digital beamforming provides a high degree of system flexibility. Within the SANTANA (Smart Antenna Terminal) project, key elements of advanced DBF satellite communication terminals at Ka-band frequencies have been developed. SANTANA is a joint project of IMST GmbH and TU Hamburg-Harburg with DLR Oberpfaffenhofen, EADS Astrium GmbH. Industrial support is provided by Lewicki Microelectronics GmbH, RHe Microsystems, and EPAK GmbH. The project is funded and supported by the German Space Agency (DLR) on behalf of the German Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi). Within the SANTANA project framework of phase 1 (2001 - 2003) and phase 2 (2003 - 2007), a complete medium size DBF system has been realised. It consists of separate transmit (30 GHz) and receive (20 GHz) units with 64 antenna elements each. This DBF system has been successfully demonstrated by establishing bidirectional communication links to moving platforms (car and aircraft) equipped with a conventional transmit/receive unit. The aim of the current project phase 3 is the adaptation of the present technology towards large arrays, the verification of the terminal within a moving environment, and the further industrialisation of several building blocks. The paper describes the whole system and reports the essential experimental results obtained during the field tests