Advanced MMICs for SOTM and satellites constellations

Project Information

SATELLITE IA

Grant agreement ID: 957151

DOI

10.3030/957151

Project closed

EC signature date 15 September 2020

Start date 1 October 2020

End date 31 December 2021

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

€ 109 500,00

Coordinated by

WIRELESS INNOVATIVE MMIC SL
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SATELLITE IA (Advanced MMICs for SOTM and satellites constellations)

Reporting period: 2020-10-01 to 2021-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Wireless Innovative MMIC is a Spanish company specialised in the design of Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits (MMICs) for the telecommunications, space and defence sectors.

WIMMIC developed a new MultiSingle-MMIC that reduces production costs of SOTM phased array antennas extremely which is one of the burdens for SOTM phased array antennas adoption. Further development of this MMIC was funded by an Horizon 2020 SMEInst Phase 1 project in 2018. By collaborating with an antenna manufacturer, the company studied the integration of MMICs in real antennas and gained expertise in this area. WIMMIC is now also working in MMICs development for terrestrial systems, developing a beamforming system in a Silicon Germanium (SiGe) technology to be implemented in the first Ka-Band phased-array ground antenna in the market.

The company next step at the time of IA proposal submission was the development of beamformers based on its MMICs for the space sector, a booming area with the expansion of constellations of satellites and nanosatellites. Therefore, one of the main objectives of the Horizon 2020 Satellite IA Project was to fasten our current developments and get in close touch with the European satellite antenna market. As a result of this project, this goal was achieved.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

In a previous report (deliverable), some of the most critical circuits for the development of the proposed RX and TX beamforming architectures, like the phase shifters, phase slope control circuits, DAC and SPI, were presented. In addition to those designs, other circuits were also developed, including different versions of the Low Noise Amplifier (LNA), Driver Amplifier (DA), Variable Gain Amplifier (VGA), High Power Amplifier (HPA) and passive structures.
Throughout this project, an analysis of the status of the Innovation Associate project has been performed. At this final stage of the project, the obtained results were satisfactory, proving that the concept presented by WIMMIC so far is working correctly and is ready to be implemented in a bigger scale, joining the individual circuits to conform the complete proposed MMICs.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The success of the project is directly linked to the Innovation Associate joining WIMMIC. His previous expertise and knowledge of the field allowed the company to make advances both in the technical and management sides of the company including in matters like supplies and customers search, business development ,and culture development. The results obtained through this work have had a great impact on the day to day activities of the company.

Therefore, we consider that after the development of the SATELLITE IA project and the collaboration with the Innovation Associate, WIMMIC has been able to meet the main objectives targeted.

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