The question is no longer whether the industry needs FPA standards, it is how soon can standards can be implemented and who will take the lead in driving them forward.
Helen Weedon, Managing Director, SATCOMs Innovation Group (SIG)
Flat Panel Antennas (FPAs) are at the forefront of innovation in SATCOM offering capabilities that redefine what the ground segment can achieve.
Unlike traditional parabolic antennas, FPAs are compact, scalable, and uniquely suited to support multi-orbit connectivity, mega constellations, and diverse user demands. Their ability to connect simultaneously to multiple satellites across different orbits makes them indispensable in the next phase of SATCOM development.
Yet, as the adoption of FPAs accelerates, concerns about their quality and performance threaten to undermine their potential. This is prompting industry players to call for the rollout of FPA performance standards.
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Standardization: A Crucial Next Step
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The design and technical complexity of FPAs combined with a lack of standardized testing and quality benchmarks, create significant risks for the industry.
A recent SATCOMs Innovation Group (SIG) poll revealed that 88% of participants believe it is time to implement performance standards for FPAs. This sentiment is grounded in the industry’s previous experiences with parabolic antennas, where the absence of clear standards led to a proliferation of poor-quality products, resulting in widespread radio frequency interference (RFI) and operational inefficiencies.
Compounding this issue is the fact that, because of the way that FPAs work, there are several factors that can have a significant impact on their performance. This is particularly the case at larger scan angles.
For example, beams can deviate as scan angles increase which can cause signal quality to degrade, while wide-angle scanning increases mutual coupling, leading to noise and reduced sensitivity. Additionally, active impedance matching also becomes more complex at these scan angles, risking further performance issues.
Without standardizing FPA requirements, performance and testing, there is potential that manufacturers may unknowingly market FPAs with inaccurate specification sheets. Customers, often unaware of the nuances in FPA performance, may then purchase low-quality products that fail to deliver promised capabilities. This lack of standardisation creates an uneven playing field and puts the entire industry at risk.
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Ensuring Quality and Performance
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Ensuring that flat panel antennas deliver acceptable performance quality is a challenge that impacts every part of the SATCOM value chain, from antenna manufacturers to satellite operators and their customers.
Additionally, even if guidelines are available for manufacturers, how do we ensure that they are followed, particularly if they drive production costs up? And also, how can we make sure that operators are choosing the antennas that meet the guidelines, rather than antennas that come in at a lower cost but that also claim to deliver the required capabilities?
This challenge highlights the need for a collaborative approach where all stakeholders contribute to establishing and implementing performance standards, thereby ensuring a fair playing field for all.
Standardized testing procedures are an essential component and would need to be practical and developed in collaboration with key stakeholders, including manufacturers, operators, and testing service providers. Independent verification and grading systems for antennas could also serve as a foundation for ensuring quality.
Such systems could be used to improve transparency by providing clear, unbiased assessments of FPA performance, enabling customers to make informed choices and encouraging manufacturers to prioritize quality.
Another possible strategy could be for satellite operators to incentivize compliance with performance standards by offering preferential agreements to manufacturers of verified high-quality FPAs. This approach aligns commercial interests with the broader goal of maintaining a reliable and interference-free spectral environment.
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Protecting the Future of SATCOM
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The industry has in the past experienced the consequences of neglecting performance standards, and those lessons make it clear that action is needed urgently to address the risks posed by low-quality FPAs flooding the market. Failure to do so could lead to a breakdown in trust, harming the industry’s reputation and undermining its ability to compete in a crowded market. Added to that, FPA’s potential can only be realized if quality is prioritized.
Collaboration is key. By working together to establish transparent, mutually beneficial performance standards, stakeholders can protect the integrity of the spectrum and ensure that the benefits of FPAs are fully realized.
Helen Weedon
This moment calls for decisive action, not only to safeguard the industry’s future but to position it as a leader in delivering reliable and transformative connectivity solutions.
The question is no longer whether the industry needs FPA standards, it is how soon can standards can be implemented and who will take the lead in driving them forward.
Author Helen Weedon is the Managing Director of the SATCOMs Innovation Group.