Radiation, vacuum, and substantial temperature fluctuations: extreme conditions prevail in space, presenting a tough challenge for satellite communications. With the Fraunhofer On-Board Processor (FOBP), experiments can be conducted in space to explore whether new technologies are operational under real conditions. The FOBP passed its final tests last week and has begun its service on board the Heinrich Hertz satellite of the German Space Agency at the German Aerospace Center (DLR).
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Satellite communications players are often faced with the fact that higher-performance technologies come into use only once their functionality has also been proven in space. This delays progress and limits the satellite industry's innovation potential. To remove these obstacles, Fraunhofer IIS has opened the FOBP, a laboratory in space equipped with a special feature: the satellite's payload can be controlled from Earth at any time, even at an altitude of 36,000 kilometers, and reprogrammed for different use cases. "You can think of it like a smartphone that installs updates to meet new demands," says Rainer Wansch, Head of the RF and SatCom Systems department.
The opportunities for the industry to use the experimental platform are just as diverse as satellite communications themselves. Their smooth operation depends on disparate elements coming together to form a seamless transmission chain. Such elements include the components installed in a satellite as well as the modems and antennas that enable communication from the ground. For these individual elements to work together in an optimum fashion, research is underway into various concepts that aim to manage capacity as efficiently as possible.
Help in the event of a disaster
Fraunhofer IIS is also conducting its own experiments to find out exactly how more powerful satellite communications could help improve the exchange of information on Earth in the future. One of the projects is an outcome of the disastrous flooding in Germany's Ahr Valley two years ago. Water damage to the infrastructure there was so severe that it knocked out mobile communications for days. The aim now is to investigate how the FOBP's flexibility can help provide rescue services with secure and stable direct access to the satellite. "This would guarantee communication in the event of a disaster, even independently of mobile communications and their commercial providers," Wansch says.