Multi-antenna procurement contract signed

HITEC Luxembourg S.A. has been selected for provisioning four antenna systems as part of the satellite ground stations to monitor and control the EDRS satellite network.

The project is led by SES TechCom, which recently signed a contract with Astrium to furnish major parts of the ground segment. The contract with HITEC includes the design, manufacturing and on-site installation of the antennas at key sites in Germany, the UK and Belgium.

“The ground infrastructure is an essential part of the European Data Relay Satellite System (EDRS). The high-quality standard in product and service delivery of SES TechCom ensures that all requirements for such an innovative ground segment are met. Relying on the experience gained in several successful accomplished European projects with our partner HITEC Luxembourg, we selected the company to supply the four antenna systems,” said Gerhard Bethscheider, Managing Director, SES TechCom.

EDRS is the European network of geostationary satellites which acts as gateway between low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites and ground stations. The system will allow these LEO satellites to deliver data continuously in broadband quality, even with no line-of-sight to their respective ground station. EDRS will provide opportunities in data acquisition and delivery following disasters and foster applications in the field of environmental protection, security and weather forecasting.

The 6.8 m diameter, limited-motion antennas will play an integral role in the system architecture of the EDRS. The ground stations will consist of two ‘feeder link’ stations (FLGS) and two data stations, all operating in Ka-band. The first satellite ground stations are scheduled to be delivered by year-end 2013, with the last ones being installed by mid-2014.

“Having accurate information in time is crucial nowadays, especially when it comes to disaster response and security applications. The EDRS system will significantly increase the timeliness with which we are able to receive data for communication or monitoring services. Reliability and performance of ground stations is a must in these application fields. Our innovative Luxembourg-engineered antenna systems fulfil these requirements to support faster and more reliable data transmission, and our company is proud to be awarded this procurement contract in the built-up phase of a European space data highway,” said Yves Elsen, Managing Partner and CEO of HITEC Luxembourg.