The role of the Italian Space Agency in investigating high frequencies for satellite communications: The Alphasat experiment

Abstract

Summary Since the 1970s, satellite communications have been continuously evolving and improving to provide services characterized by increasing complexity and quality. This evolution has been supported by the constant increase in the operating frequency for achieving the necessary high data rates. This contribution focuses on the long‐term key role of the Italian Space Agency in supporting research activities on (and the developments of) high‐frequency satellite communication systems. The Alphasat experiment is the most recent effort of the Italian Space Agency, in collaboration with the European Space Agency, to thoroughly investigate the severe detrimental atmospheric effects impairing radio waves at high frequency (specifically, Ka and Q bands) and the associated fade mitigation techniques (eg, uplink power control, site diversity, and adaptive coding and modulation) required to achieve the typical target quality and availability of modern satellite communication systems.

Tropospheric Attenuation in GeoSurf Satellite Constellations

“…In the present paper, our aim is to estimate, globally, the tropospheric attenuation that can be expected in the GeoSurf links at 39.6 GHz-a frequency experimented with the satellites Italsat [2,3] and Alphasat [4,5]-due to clear-sky (water vapor, oxygen, and clouds) and to rain, in terms of the probability of annually exceeding a given fade level. For link budgets, this fade level is to be considered as the largest power/coding margin that must be available before link outage.…”

“…Let us consider Spino d'Adda. In the countryside of this town, there is a small space station of Politecnico di Milano where, since the 1970s, the Italian National Research Council (CNR) first, and the Italian Space Agency (ASI) later, with the experts of Politecnico di Milano, have conducted radio propagation and telecommunication experiments at Ku and Ka frequency bands, with the satellites SIRIO [6], ITALSAT [7], and currently Alphasat, within the framework of the Aldo Paraboni experiment [4,5].…”

Glue Technologies for Space Systems: An Introduction to a New AESS Technical Panel

“…The most recent trends in broadband satellite data transmissions are considering the exploitation of Extremely High Frequency (EHF) bandwidth portions in order to boost link capacity (see, e.g., ESA Alphasat experiment concerning a Q/V band payload [3]). The synergy between EHF transmission and multibeam satellites could break the wall of terabit capacity in the Sky, paving the road to a plethora of applications, from UHDTV broadcasting [4] to multimedia streaming in 5G scenarios [5].…”

Extremely High Frequency (EHF) Bands for Future Broadcast Satellite Services: Opportunities and Challenges

“…In 2006, ASI proposed to the European Space Agency (ESA) to host an experimental payload in Q/V band aboard the Alphasat geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO) satellite, successfully launched in July 2013. The installed Technology Demonstration Payload number 5 (TDP#5) was named in honor of professor Aldo Paraboni (1940-2013) of Politecnico di Milano (Italy), pioneer of research about the use of high frequencies in satellite communications [33].…”