Standardized products and high-volume
manufacturing on pace to deliver two satellites a day, improving
constellation performance at reduced cost and time to market,
changing the game for operators
PARIS, Sept. 11,
2023 /CNW/ - MDA Ltd. (TSX: MDA), a leading provider
of advanced technology and services to the rapidly expanding global
space industry, today revealed at the World Satellite Business Week
conference initial details about its new software-defined digital
satellite product line as the market continues to transform from
analog to digital software-defined satellites.
"The satellite industry comes together at World Satellite
Business Week to define the new technologies that will determine
the next generation of global satellite connectivity and business,
and that discussion has never been more dynamic than it is right
now," said Nathan de Ruiter,
Managing Director of Euroconsult Canada. "We are at the very
beginning of a long-term transition from analog to digital
satellite technology that in the decade ahead will drive new
business models, revenue streams and competitive advantages for
operators, manufacturers, and commercial end-users alike. Companies
like MDA who are making smart and strategic investments in new
satellite innovation and infrastructure are at the forefront of
that transition."
The technology transition from analog to digital satellite
solutions offers significant benefits to satellite operators
looking to improve performance while at the same time driving time,
cost and complexity out of their LEO constellation networks.
"As we considered next-generation technologies for Telesat
Lightspeed we revisited MDA's digital solution and it was a game
changer. It is much more efficient than the analog solutions we had
been considering previously, and capable of delivering roughly
three times the number of beams," said Dan
Goldberg, President and CEO of Telesat. "MDA has continued
to invest in their digital satellite technology, resulting in our
ability to decrease our satellite bus size without compromising our
service performance, resiliency or overall usable capacity in our
network."
Telesat has selected MDA as the prime satellite contractor for
Telesat Lightspeed, the operator's revolutionary LEO constellation.
MDA is developing a fully integrated portfolio of modular digital
products and components for space-based communication solutions,
with Telesat as the anchor customer.
"Next generation satellite technology is the catalyst for
industry transformation – from analog to digital, programs to
products and one-offs to hundreds," said Mike Greenley, CEO of MDA. "Our MDA Satellite
Systems team is strategically focused on developing the digital
satellite products and the advanced manufacturing capability and
capacity to help lead that change with and for our customers."
To support increasing customer demand as the industry
transitions from analog to digital satellite technologies, MDA is
bringing to market a new software-defined digital satellite product
line, providing critical new solutions to satellite operators and
prime manufacturers. The fully integrated portfolio includes a
complete range of modular digital products and components for
space-based communication solutions coupled with advanced
high-volume manufacturing capable of producing two satellites a day
– dramatically reducing production costs and schedule.
Key features of MDA's software-defined satellite product
portfolio include:
- A new class of standardized and modular software-defined
satellites enabled by a suite of innovative digital payload
technologies that meet multiple non-geostationary orbits and
frequencies, with dynamic in-orbit reconfiguration, maximizing
delivered capacity and quality of service to users with
unprecedented power efficiency.
- A scalable regenerative on-board processor with a built-in
software-defined packet router, optimizing communication routes
within a constellation between user links, gateway links and
optical inter-satellite links.
- A family of digital beamforming-enabled electronically-steered
direct radiating arrays addressing multiple non-geostationary
orbits and frequencies, with direct RF conversion and native beam
hopping capability compliant to DVB standards.
- An innovative constellation software suite comprised of
advanced onboard flight telecom software, a real-time digital
payload simulator and a scalable constellation network
manager.
- An efficient and modular digital payload solution designed for
manufacturing to enable faster delivery at substantially reduced
cost using MDA's industry-leading Satellite Manufacturing 5.0
capabilities leveraging automated production lines and AI-enabled
robots, cobots and high-skilled assemblers using augmented reality
to accelerate mass production.
According to market research firm NSR (an Analysys Mason
company), software-defined satellite (SDS) orders have seen a
steady rise over the past couple of years. Driven by technological
improvements offered by satellite manufacturers on new platforms
using software that gives satellite operators control of mission
planning, payload operations, and better capacity management, SDS
is narrowing the gap between satellite and terrestrial networks.
NSR forecasts nearly 26,000 partially or fully flexible SDS
satellites will be ordered over the next decade with the entire
satellite manufacturing and launch industry working to accommodate
the growing trend for high-volume production, lower costs, and
standardized offerings.
For more information or to book a meeting at WSBW, please
contact Giovanni D'Aliesio, Director of Business Development at MDA
(giovanni.daliesio@mda.space, +1-514-546-4511)
ABOUT MDA
Serving the world from its Canadian home and
global offices, MDA (TSX:MDA) is an international space mission
partner and a robotics, satellite systems and geointelligence
pioneer with a 50-year story of firsts on and above the Earth. With
over 2,800 employees across Canada, the US and the UK, MDA is leading the
charge towards viable Moon colonies, enhanced Earth observation,
communication in a hyper-connected world, and more. With a track
record of making space ambitions come true, MDA enables highly
skilled people to continually push boundaries, tackle big
challenges, and imagine solutions that inspire and endure to change
the world for the better, on the ground and in the stars. Learn
more by visiting mda.space.
ADDITIONAL LINKS
Telesat Lightspeed Constellation
Announcement
Globalstar Constellation Announcement
SOCIAL MEDIA
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YouTube: youtube.com/c/mdaspace
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SOURCE MDA Ltd.