In Broadcast - November 2019 - 24

24

www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 9 - Issue 10 | November 2019

InFocus

Satellite Futures
In the first of this two-part article, Contributing Editor
Andy Stout considers the latest developments in the
Satellite industry...

T

here has been a lot of activity at
boardroom level in the satellite
sector of the industry recently, not
least of which was the fact that last
month Newtec announced it had been
officially acquired by ST Engineering.
The process of integrating the
two businesses into the one unit is
currently underway and by the end
of the year the company promises
to have conducted "a joint deep dive
into our combined products and
technologies. This will enable us to
identify the best offerings from both
entities and options for leveraging
them in ways that most effectively
address our customers' needs."
There's going to be a lot to dive into
as well, Newtec kit being involved
intimately in the first 5G over LEO
satellite demo back in May and its
MCX7000
Multi-Carrier
Satellite
Gateway used in a DVD demo at IBC of
universal OTT services.
These are key areas for the future
of the satellite industry as it seeks
to maintain relevance in the face of
future threats from 5G and there is a
lot of repositioning underway to match
the Newtec purchase. On the corporate
side of things, SES has reabsorbed
its video services division MX1 back
into itself, while Communications
& Power Industries has purchased
SATCOM Technologies, the antenna
systems business of General Dynamics
Mission Systems, and Eutelsat
invested around €10m in a 20% stake
in French CDN vendor Broadpeak.
And new markets are being chased
too. Echostar, for instance, recently
snapped up satellite-enabled IoT
connectivity company Helios Wire
Corporation, and its owner Hughes
Network Systems has been busy
launching a flagship high speed
internet service in Mexico, partnering
with Facebook on launching WiFi
hotspots across Latin America, and
divesting itself of the broadcast
services that powered DISH to DISH
itself.
Nevertheless, while companies
such as Hughes pivot towards
broadband provision, there remains
a lot of optimism about the future
of broadcast satellite. Euroconsult

reckons that of the 1,000 non-OneWeb
satellite launches over the next
decade (the OneWeb project counts
for another 1,000 on its own), 150 are
for communications and broadcasting
services.
As such, there is no shortage of kit
on offer.
AvL has been celebrating its 25th
anniversary in 2019 and is continuing
its focus on smaller, lighter and more
portable antennas. Its latest trioband 75, 98 and 135cm antennas all
pack up into two checkable cases
and showcase the achievements of a
company that has grown from a oneman engineering company making
custom broadcast antennas to one
that has 250 employees and can
produce 100+ every week.
IBC saw the debut of what is billed
as the world's first Portable Radome
from Walton De-Ice. Aimed squarely
at protecting live sports satellite
uplink antennas from extreme weather
conditions, it uses a fabric cover that
is virtually RF-transparent over a
similarly RF-friendly structure, and
the company reckons it can protect
satellite antennas from the elements
and winds up to 85 miles per hour.
Also at IBC this year, a new VSAT
series and low profile BGAN onthe-move terminal were launched
by Cobham SATCOM. The Explorer
6000 Series, which includes the 1m
Ku-band Explorer 6100 and its 0.75m
Ka-band variant, the Explorer 6075LX,
are the first range of Fly-Away VSATs
featuring the stabilization technology
initially developed for the 8000 DriveAway systems. The company says

Walton De-Ice Portable Radome

the
ultra-compact
comms-on-the-move
Inmarsat
BGAN
terminal, the Explorer
323, has the lowest
profile available on
the market today
and is the first BGAN
designed for Inmarsat's new vehicular
service expected later this year.
Arabsat was also in Amsterdam,
highlighting the recent launches of two
state of the art satellites, 6A and HS4.
6A was launched by a Falcon Heavy in
April this year, marking the first time
that SpaceX's new rocket had taken
such a large and heavy payload into
orbit. It's also the largest satellite that
Lockheed Martin has ever produced
and will provide advanced Ka-spot
beam
communications
services
alongside Ku and Ka-band coverage
in addition to other frequency bands.
HS4, meanwhile, was launched in
February and provides Arabsat
subsidiary Hellas Sat with significant
Ku-band capacity at 39 degrees east.

Cobham SATCOM Explorer 6000 Series

The continual rollout of 4K is
inevitably of interest to the satellite
sector, especially given its ability
to bring the format to areas with
poor
broadband
infrastructure.
AsiaSat (the second satellite
operator to pursue privatization
this year after Inmarsat) has been
promoting its newly launched
AsiaSat 9 to the market and is
already carrying the groundbreaking 24/7 4K HDR channel
4KUniverse on it. Spain's Hispasat
was also highlighting its Hispasat

AsiaSat 9 heads to launch

4K service at IBC, as well as its new
Push VoD service aimed at maritime
environments that lets users download
content to a STB.
4K requires more infrastructure
advances too. Advantech released a
new line of solid state power amplifiers
and block up converters earlier this
year that offer high power density and
what the company says is the smallest
form factor in the industry. The Taurus
line features 500W Ku-Band capability,
which the company says is exactly
what is required to meet the new
power requirements of the DVB-S2X
satellite digital broadcasting standard
that is being increasingly deployed as
UHD demand takes off.
Mission Microwave has some
impressively low-profile BUCs in its
latest arsenal. The Flatpack BUC
(available in 12W Ka-band and 25W
Ku-Band) is an impressive mere 2.5cm
thick and weighs only 790g. They are
also completely self-contained with
forced air cooling, a full Monitor and
Control Interface, and suitable for
rugged environments with an IP-67
rating. At the other end of the scale,
the MOAB 400W Ku-Band SSPA/
BUC weighs under 16kg and draws
only 1300 Watts of prime power to
produce 200 Watts of linear power in a
ruggedized outdoor package.
It's been a busy year at ETL Systems,
which started off by acquiring
microwave components and satellite
communication
test
equipment
company Atlantic Microwave with
the aim of strengthening its global
RF product range. Not long after it
released six new models of its fourth
generation Enigma RF Switch Matrix
for routing L-band signals. These
provide signal distribution for up to 32
input and output feeds for downlinking
and uplinking signal management, and
the new units feature

http://www.inbroadcast.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wy1Ye9jP0Nc&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wy1Ye9jP0Nc&feature=youtu.be https://www.cobham.com/communications-and-connectivity/satcom/land-mobile-satcom-systems/news/cobham-satcom-launches-new-vsat-series-and-low-profile-bgan-on-the-move-terminal-at-ibc-2019/ http://www.de-ice.com/portableradome.html http://www.de-ice.com/portableradome.html http://www.de-ice.com/portableradome.html http://www.de-ice.com/portableradome.html http://www.de-ice.com/portableradome.html http://www.de-ice.com/portableradome.html http://www.de-ice.com/portableradome.html

In Broadcast - November 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of In Broadcast - November 2019