Evolution of Ka-Band On-the-move Terminals for Land and Maritime Broadband Communications
Marshall Lewis1, John Ness1, John Logan1, Tomoshige Kan2, Takashi Takahashi2, Naoko Yoshimura2, and Morio Toyoshima2
1EM Solutions, 55 Curzon Street, Tennyson, QLD 4105, Australia
2National Institute of Information and Communication Technology (NICT), 4-2-1 Nukui-Kitamachi Koganei, Tokyo 184-8795 Japan
Keywords: SOTM, Ka-band, electronic polariser, EM Solutions, autonomous
Abstract
The development of three SATCOM On-the-move (SOTM) terminals designed to operate on the WINDS satellite is discussed. All three terminals were able to achieve a tracking error of less than 0.2 degrees and uplink data rate of at least 9Mbps when operated under worst case motion. Key design choices and improvements between the earliest and later designs are presented.
1. Introduction
EM Solutions, along with Japan’s NICT and JEPICO, developed three types of SOTM terminals specifically for operation on the Ka-Band WINDS satellite (decommissioned in 2019) under different operational conditions. The three terminals were:
- WINDS on the Move (WOTM) – Designed in 2012-2013 for operation on top of a mobile van, with a 650mm diameter main reflector.
- Research Vessel (RV) –Designed in 2014-2015 for operation on a larger maritime vessel, with a 850mm diameter main reflector.
- Autonomous Surface Vessel (ASV) – Designed in 2014-2015 for operation on a small autonomous maritime vessel, with a main reflector diameter of 540mm. The autonomous vessel dimensions are 4.4m x 1.9m x 1.8m [1]. The ASV terminal and vessel are shown in Fig 1 and Fig 2. Target transmission speed for the ASV was 5Mbps.
