Lightweight SATCOM On-The-Move

Group 2 UAVs, and those weighing around 100 lbs, generally lack the surface area and payload for mounting standard-sized phased arrays for SATCOM connectivity. However, Toyon has shown that compact and lightweight active phased array antennas can be distributed about the UAV to successfully close a SATCOM link. Toyon proposes adding SATCOM to these UAVs by distributing a number of active electrically scanned phased array antennas (AESA), configured with novel beamforming integrated circuits to send and receive signals from the array elements on the UAV. We will efficiently combine these arrays with our software-defined Digital Distributed Array Combiner System Modem (DDACS‑M) that we developed under prior work for the Army and Navy. The phased array’s wide-angle-scanning capability maximizes the downlink and uplink signals, despite the UAV’s orientation. The DDACS-M will contain a high-performance System-on-a-Chip (SoC) containing an FPGA and multi-core CPU. This system will be able to establish high-data-rate “primary” LEO/MEO links and low-data-rate “secondary” GEO links. The proposed system offers (1) an increase in downlink G/T through coherently combining the receive phased array panels, and (2) smooth make-before-break transitions between satellites. This system could be used on other SWaP constrained platforms to provide reliable satellite communications.