Cutting-Edge Advanced Channel Emulator Addresses the Evolving Needs of SATCOM Testing

Cutting-Edge Advanced Channel Emulator Addresses the Evolving Needs of SATCOM Testing

dBm Corporation, a pioneering force in RF test equipment and components, has introduced the Advanced Channel Emulator (ACE9600) to address the evolving needs of satellite communications testing.

The dBm Advanced Channel Emulator (ACE) is one of the most advanced non-terrestrial RF channel emulation solutions to date. Its capabilities encompass the emulation of critical impairments such as delay, signal Doppler, attenuation, phase offset, AWGN, frequency hopping, payload, and multipath fading.

This state-of-the-art instrument can accommodate up to four 600 MHz instantaneous bandwidth channels, offering unparalleled flexibility. Impairment emulation can be set to fixed values in Static mode or continuously changed in real time in Dynamic mode without any phase discontinuities.

Meeting the Challenges of Testing SATCOM Systems

As global interest in space exploration intensifies, nations like the United States, India, Russia, and China aiming to return to the moon, with a short-term objective of uncovering water to sustain long-term manned missions.  Along with the renewed interest comes the development of new technologies to support the exploration, including new communications systems for spacecraft in lunar orbit and for communicating with earth-based relay stations.

The challenge lies in testing satellite communications systems in laboratories before launch. Satellite channel emulators are used to emulate the impairments the signal will encounter during its travel, including time delays, Doppler, and multipath reflections, and typically have a maximum RF link emulation time of 1.2 seconds. Considering the vast distances of the moon from the Earth; round-trip communication takes 2.56 seconds. Additionally, one-way communication time to the first Lagrange point (L1), where the gravities of the Earth and the sun balance, takes 7.5 seconds.

dBm's ACE9600: A Game-Changing Solution

Enter dBmCorp's revolutionary ACE9600, a state-of-the-art satellite channel emulator designed to redefine the landscape of communications system testing. The ACE9600 employs innovative decimation techniques, extending the delay time to an unprecedented 11.2 seconds. This accomplishment translates to four times the round-trip time to the moon and back, and 1.5 times the duration to reach the first Lagrange point (L1). With the ACE9600, dBm facilitates comprehensive and realistic communications system testing in laboratory environments, for renewed space exploration applications.

Features and Benefits

  • Ephemeris data generation using SATGEN
  • Remote instrument control through the ACEClient application
  • Payload Emulation including:
    • IMUX/OMUX amplitude and group delay distortion
    • Amplifier Compression (AM/AM and AM/PM)
    • Phase Noise
  • Link Emulation including:
    • AWGN and Eb/No
    • 12 tap (path) multipath fading with Rayleigh, Rician & CW. Angle of Arrival (AOA), k-factor, and correlation controls
    • RF frequency agile up/down converters

Click here to learn more about dBm's ACE9600 Satellite Channel Emulator.

Click here to view other Satellite Link Emulators listed on SatNow.


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