MDA Unveils its New Software-Defined Satellite Product Line at World Satellite Business Week

MDA Unveils its New Software-Defined Satellite Product Line at World Satellite Business Week

MDA, a provider of advanced technology and services to the rapidly expanding global space industry, revealed at the World Satellite Business Week conference initial details about its new software-defined digital satellite product line as the market continues to transform from analog to digital software-defined satellites.

“The satellite industry comes together at World Satellite Business Week to define the new technologies that will determine the next generation of global satellite connectivity and business, and that discussion has never been more dynamic than it is right now,” said Nathan de Ruiter, Managing Director of Euroconsult Canada. “We are at the very beginning of a long-term transition from analog to digital satellite technology that in the decade ahead will drive new business models, revenue streams, and competitive advantages for operators, manufacturers, and commercial end-users alike. Companies like MDA who are making smart and strategic investments in new satellite innovation and infrastructure are at the forefront of that transition.”  

The technology transition from analog to digital satellite solutions offers significant benefits to satellite operators looking to improve performance while at the same time driving time, cost, and complexity out of their LEO constellation networks.

“As we considered next-generation technologies for Telesat Lightspeed we revisited MDA’s digital solution and it was a game changer. It is much more efficient than the analog solutions we had been considering previously and capable of delivering roughly three times the number of beams,” said Dan Goldberg, President and CEO of Telesat. “MDA has continued to invest in their digital satellite technology, resulting in our ability to decrease our satellite bus size without compromising our service performance, resiliency, or overall usable capacity in our network.”

Telesat has selected MDA as the prime satellite contractor for Telesat Lightspeed, the operator’s revolutionary LEO constellation. MDA is developing a fully integrated portfolio of modular digital products and components for space-based communication solutions, with Telesat as the anchor customer.

“Next-generation satellite technology is the catalyst for industry transformation – from analog to digital, programs to products, and one-offs to hundreds,” said Mike Greenley, CEO of MDA. “Our MDA Satellite Systems team is strategically focused on developing the digital satellite products and the advanced manufacturing capability and capacity to help lead that change with and for our customers.”

To support increasing customer demand as the industry transitions from analog to digital satellite technologies, MDA is bringing to market a new software-defined digital satellite product line, providing critical new solutions to satellite operators and prime manufacturers. The fully integrated portfolio includes a complete range of modular digital products and components for space-based communication solutions coupled with advanced high-volume manufacturing capable of producing two satellites a day – dramatically reducing production costs and schedule.

Key features of MDA’s software-defined satellite product portfolio include:

  • A new class of standardized and modular software-defined satellites enabled by a suite of innovative digital payload technologies that meet multiple non-geostationary orbits and frequencies, with dynamic in-orbit reconfiguration, maximizing delivered capacity and quality of service to users with unprecedented power efficiency.
  • A scalable regenerative on-board processor with a built-in software-defined packet router, optimizing communication routes within a constellation between user links, gateway links, and optical inter-satellite links.
  • A family of digital beamforming-enabled electronically-steered direct radiating arrays addressing multiple non-geostationary orbits and frequencies, with direct RF conversion and native beam hopping capability compliant to DVB standards.
  • An innovative constellation software suite comprised of advanced onboard flight telecom software, a real-time digital payload simulator, and a scalable constellation network manager.
  • An efficient and modular digital payload solution designed for manufacturing to enable faster delivery at substantially reduced cost using MDA’s industry-leading Satellite Manufacturing 5.0 capabilities leveraging automated production lines and AI-enabled robots, cobots, and high-skilled assemblers using augmented reality to accelerate mass production.

According to market research firm NSR (an Analysys Mason company), software-defined satellite (SDS) orders have seen a steady rise over the past couple of years. Driven by technological improvements offered by satellite manufacturers on new platforms using software that gives satellite operators control of mission planning, payload operations, and better capacity management, SDS is narrowing the gap between satellite and terrestrial networks. NSR forecasts nearly 26,000 partially or fully flexible SDS satellites will be ordered over the next decade with the entire satellite manufacturing and launch industry working to accommodate the growing trend for high-volume production, lower costs, and standardized offerings.

Click here to learn more about MDA's Satellite Systems.


Publisher: SatNow

GNSS Constellations - A list of all GNSS satellites by constellations

beidou

Satellite NameOrbit Date
BeiDou-3 G4Geostationary Orbit (GEO)17 May, 2023
BeiDou-3 G2Geostationary Orbit (GEO)09 Mar, 2020
Compass-IGSO7Inclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)09 Feb, 2020
BeiDou-3 M19Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)16 Dec, 2019
BeiDou-3 M20Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)16 Dec, 2019
BeiDou-3 M21Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)23 Nov, 2019
BeiDou-3 M22Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)23 Nov, 2019
BeiDou-3 I3Inclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)04 Nov, 2019
BeiDou-3 M23Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)22 Sep, 2019
BeiDou-3 M24Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)22 Sep, 2019

galileo

Satellite NameOrbit Date
GSAT0223MEO - Near-Circular05 Dec, 2021
GSAT0224MEO - Near-Circular05 Dec, 2021
GSAT0219MEO - Near-Circular25 Jul, 2018
GSAT0220MEO - Near-Circular25 Jul, 2018
GSAT0221MEO - Near-Circular25 Jul, 2018
GSAT0222MEO - Near-Circular25 Jul, 2018
GSAT0215MEO - Near-Circular12 Dec, 2017
GSAT0216MEO - Near-Circular12 Dec, 2017
GSAT0217MEO - Near-Circular12 Dec, 2017
GSAT0218MEO - Near-Circular12 Dec, 2017

glonass

Satellite NameOrbit Date
Kosmos 2569--07 Aug, 2023
Kosmos 2564--28 Nov, 2022
Kosmos 2559--10 Oct, 2022
Kosmos 2557--07 Jul, 2022
Kosmos 2547--25 Oct, 2020
Kosmos 2545--16 Mar, 2020
Kosmos 2544--11 Dec, 2019
Kosmos 2534--27 May, 2019
Kosmos 2529--03 Nov, 2018
Kosmos 2527--16 Jun, 2018

gps

Satellite NameOrbit Date
Navstar 82Medium Earth Orbit19 Jan, 2023
Navstar 81Medium Earth Orbit17 Jun, 2021
Navstar 78Medium Earth Orbit22 Aug, 2019
Navstar 77Medium Earth Orbit23 Dec, 2018
Navstar 76Medium Earth Orbit05 Feb, 2016
Navstar 75Medium Earth Orbit31 Oct, 2015
Navstar 74Medium Earth Orbit15 Jul, 2015
Navstar 73Medium Earth Orbit25 Mar, 2015
Navstar 72Medium Earth Orbit29 Oct, 2014
Navstar 71Medium Earth Orbit02 Aug, 2014

irnss

Satellite NameOrbit Date
NVS-01Geostationary Orbit (GEO)29 May, 2023
IRNSS-1IInclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)12 Apr, 2018
IRNSS-1HSub Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (Sub-GTO)31 Aug, 2017
IRNSS-1GGeostationary Orbit (GEO)28 Apr, 2016
IRNSS-1FGeostationary Orbit (GEO)10 Mar, 2016
IRNSS-1EGeosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)20 Jan, 2016
IRNSS-1DInclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)28 Mar, 2015
IRNSS-1CGeostationary Orbit (GEO)16 Oct, 2014
IRNSS-1BInclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)04 Apr, 2014
IRNSS-1AInclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)01 Jul, 2013