SARAS - The system speeds up and widens the reception range of signals from satellites

Receiving a signal from a satellite flying at speeds of over 28,000 km / h is not an easy task. And to double the effective range of receiver antennas, which help catch the signal faster, a Spanish-based company recently introduced a new system called SARAS.

>>> Video: SARAS Satellite Receiving System

When a satellite begins transmitting after separation from the rocket, the ground-receiving station needs to correctly orient towards the satellite to capture the narrow, high-focus beam sent from The satellite is flying very fast.

"If the antenna is not perfectly positioned or the satellite moves out of the field of vision before it catches up, the signal may be missed. antenna pans with diameters of 15m and 35m, they are only the most sensitive on the curve several degrees along the basin, "said Magdalena Martinez de Mendijur, a systems engineer at the ESA operations center in Germany.

The new SARAS system was developed by Isdefe (Spain) with support from ESA's general technology support program. The system consists of 8 small radio frequency sensors located around the periphery of the antenna pans.

"The signal received by these sensors is combined and the system can estimate the direction of the beam of radio signals, and the antenna pan can be reoriented to satellites with a degree of accuracy." The body is taller, even when the signal is weak or disturbed. "

Klaus Juergen Schulz, technical monitor for ground tracking stations, said the system could double the field of view of the antenna and could receive a signal from a new satellite in less than 12 hours. seconds. The next version of the system is expected to improve performance, shortening this time to 2 seconds.

The SARAS system was mounted on 15m diameter antenna pans at ESA's Space Observatory in Spain last year and is being tested for signals from many satellites including CryoSat-2, XMM, GOCE and SWARM.

Isdefe's next move is to make the system a commercial product. SARAS is currently registered in Spain and has just been patented in Europe.