Octo ReconfIgurable cONverter

Descripción del proyecto

Impulsar la independencia tecnológica espacial de Europa

La dependencia de Europa de la tecnología no europea para las capacidades espaciales plantea una vulnerabilidad crítica. A medida que se amplían las aplicaciones espaciales, aumenta la demanda de componentes avanzados, sobre todo en la conformación digital de haces. Sin embargo, la cadena de suministro existente supone riesgos, como posibles interrupciones y un acceso limitado a las tecnologías esenciales. Para asegurar su posición en el panorama espacial mundial, Europa debe desarrollar sus propias tecnologías innovadoras. Con esta idea en mente, el equipo del proyecto ORION, financiado con fondos europeos, creará un convertidor analógico digital de alta velocidad diseñado para antenas activas y conformación digital de haces. Integrará ocho canales de bajo consumo y admitirá la conversión directa hasta la banda X. En resumen, se espera que en ORION se refuerce la cadena de suministro europea y se mejore la competitividad en el sector espacial.

Objetivo

The ORION project (OCTO RECONFIGURABLE CONVERTER) is a collaborative, technological project proposed in the frame of the Horizon Europe program in a call related to Space technologies for European non-dependence and competitiveness. Its main objective is to develop a new high-speed ADC (Analog to Digital Converter) that will be designed and optimized for active antennas and digital beamforming. Its performances will be validated on a dedicated demonstration board and in a specific use case. The final component will reach TRL7 and will be space-qualified. It responds to the challenges of the digital beamforming application by providing an integrated 8 channels devices with very low power that is able to make direct conversion up to the X-band. It will generate new knowledge on the possibility to move from the X-band to the Ka-band. The new ADC will be highly suitable for a wide range of applications, from telecommunications to Earth Observation and GNSS, and will respond to the future needs of Europe’s flagship programs, such as the Green Deal. The project addresses the issue of the critical components supply chain, by fully assessing the gaps and potential vulnerabilities, and will propose recommendations at the European and industrial levels. The project also focuses on two key elements, which are the wafer foundry and the circuit’s packaging. The ORION project targets a 90% European supply chain, as the manufacturing, test and qualification are already on European, open-to-all, industrial facilities. The ORION project is led by Teledyne e2v, and fosters cooperation between scientific (Fraunhofer IIS and the Polytechnical University of Madrid), and industrial teams (INDRA and THALES ALENIA SPACE). The partners will implement several measures for exploitation of the results and dissemination to the European scientific, industrial and policy communities. It builds upon and is complementary to several other research and innovation activities.