| PROPOSAL NUMBER: | 02-II H3.03-9695 (For NASA Use Only - Chron: 022304 ) |
| PHASE-I CONTRACT NUMBER: | NAS10-03019 |
| SUBTOPIC TITLE: | Spaceport/Range Instrumentation and Control Technologies |
| PROPOSAL TITLE: | Ka-Band PAA for Satellite Telemetry System for RLVs & Aircraft |
SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN:
(Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Paratek Microwave, Inc.
6935N Oakland Mills Road
Columbia , MD 21045 - 4719
(443 ) 259 - 0140
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER:
(Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Cornelis du Toit
cdutoit@paratek.com
6935G Oakland Mills Road
Columbia , MD 21045 - 4719
(443 ) 259 - 0140
TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The development and implementation of passive phased array antennas (PAAs) offers significant performance benefits over the current active arrays. The keys to successful development are the low-loss phase shifters and the integration of these phase shifters into a modular and scaleable antenna architecture for broad utilization for high data rate communications. The Phase 1 effort demonstrated a 3.0 dB 360-degree finline phase shifter at 25.25 to 27.5 GHz. The proposed effort will build on this Phase I phase shifter development and include the design, simulation, testing and integration of the rest of the antenna design and packaging for ease of manufacturing and scalability such that ~15dBi gain antenna is built and delivered to NASA for evaluation.
POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The proposed application is for reusable launch vehicles (shuttle), international space station (ISS) and specialized spaced-based scientific platforms. When the aperture is integrated with the platform, it will enable high data rate connectivity with the TDRS Satellite system for retransmission to NASA via their earth stations.
Alternatively, the aperture can be integrated with NASA and other government aircraft (including balloons & lighter-than-air craft) for air-to-ground or air-to-air broadband communications as well as the TDRS network.
POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The antenna, as designed and prototyped in this Phase 2 effort, will provide sufficient performance to support the fixed broadband wireless access (FBBWA) market, specifically the LMDS systems at the 28 GHz band. The 2-D scanning with gain of ~15 dBi, will support point to multipoint (PMP) and mesh networks on both sides of the link (hub and client).
The Phase 3 scale-up and commercialization effort to large arrays (~22 dBi and ~27 dBi) would also meet the needs of the FBBWA market but also provide a means to continuously transmit flight recorder data from the commercial air fleet in real-time and as well as provide broadband access to/from the aircraft for passenger connectivity, much like the Boeing?s Connexion system at Ku-band. The array could also be scale-designed to the Ku-band for DBS and 2-way applications.