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Atheras Analytics to Improve Ka-band Link Outage Predictions

11 September, 2023

Atheras Analytics has announced its successful award of a co-funded ARTES development contract, for its TEMPESTAS project. The project will be carried out under ESA’s Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES) Core Competitiveness programme with the support of UK Space Agency (UKSA) and SES, a leading provider of global satellite connectivity solutions.

This 18-month project will enable Atheras Analytics to enhance the accuracy of its Ka-band and Q/V-band link outage predictions through the use of satellite weather imagery and low-cost rain-radar installed at gateway locations worldwide. SES will support the development by providing Ka-band link propagation data and hosting the rain-radar at its teleport sites where possible.

John Yates, Managing Director, Atheras Analytics, commented: “With the support of ESA’s ARTES programme, we will be able to further improve our ability to accurately predict weather related outages for multi-gateway Ka-band and Q/V-band satellite networks. This is a vital requirement because these networks have become essential to deliver high throughput satellite (HTS) and Very High Throughput Satellites (VHTS) services globally.” 

Constantin Siriteanu, the TEMPESTAS Technical Officer at ESA added “The ARTES Core Competitiveness Programme is designed to help industry develop innovative product or service ready for the commercial market. With ESA’s support, Atheras Analytics will be able to further improve the efficacy of its product and service, to bring benefit to the satellite industry.”

Joel Grotz, Senior Manager of Technology Development, SES, added: “The development of reliable near-term weather predictions for gateways for the operation of Ka-band as well as Q/V-band links in the context of high system availability and high throughput requirements is of great relevance for the industry. We welcome this ESA-supported initiative and are happy to take part in developing measures that enable enhanced accuracy of the results.”

As the satellite industry moves towards the use of higher capacity satellites operating in higher frequency bands, there is an increasing need to effectively plan and manage the large number of gateway networks required to support these services, in particular the management and mitigation of weather-related events. The ESA ARTES programme will enable Atheras Analytics to further enhance and refine its technology enabling satellite operators to effectively manage these complex multi gateway networks.