EADS Astrium

Company: EADS Astrium
Project: Head of Advanced Payloads
Dates: 1999 - 2005
Investment: £7m

ARTES funding helped EADS Astrium to develop ground breaking digital signal processor technology for Inmarsat's 4th generation satellites.

Background
Astrium, a subsidiary of EADS, is a world leader in the design and manufacture of satellite systems.

In the late 1990s, the company was awarded a research grant for £7m to build and validate their Digital Signal Processor (DSP). The funding from ESA's ARTES programme matched the company's own contribution to the project.

The DSP itself is like a switchboard in the sky, routing signals on-board satellites. DSP was significant in that it was a real technological step forward, using digital technology to improve performance in an area that had previously been analogue.

Approach
With the ARTES grant, EADS Astrium was able to develop the DSP and successfully bid for a $700m contract with Inmarsat, the satellite network operator.

Dave Robson, Head of Advanced Payloads at EADS Astrium, says: "I think Inmarsat chose us for this project for several reasons.

• Our digital signal processor had been in development for four years, meaning we had had time to validate the technology and test it.
• We had secured a good reputation for the performance of the Inmarsat-2 spacecraft , the first of the Eurostar family, and the Inmarsat-3 payloads.
• The Eurostar E3000 - our proposed spacecraft for Inmarsat 4 - had an 18-year operational lifetime.
• And, finally, we pride ourselves on our transparency. Inmarsat knew that their representatives could work alongside our engineers on the project from start to finish."

Results
The Inmarsat contract was one of the first sales of EADS Astrium's new Eurostar E3000, and it was designed to carry the DSP. For its first sale to be on a contract of this size was a testament to the success of the development work funded by ARTES.

The processor is the heart of the satellite that will bring great benefits to businesses and citizens. Providing broadband high speed internet access from a mobile terminal virtually anywhere in the world, Inmarsat 4 satellites can help relief workers in remote parts of the world identify possible crisis areas; aid navigation at sea; and greatly improve existing mobile communications.

For EADS Astrium's client, Inmarsat, the satellite network will be a major revenue generator - worth hundreds of millions of pounds per year.

The project also has a knock-on effect: top-level engineering staff employed on the project will deliver technological innovations that can be used in other areas of UK industry.

Challenges
"The real challenge," according to Dave Robson "was the payload development. Achieving technical advances whilst successfully concluding E3000 development, and coordinating a vast number of subcontractors to deliver 160 different types of equipment, on time and on budget, was a great achievement.

"We also had to develop new test methods and procedures. For example, some RF testing had never been done before and the mix of digital and analogue technologies was also a first for us."

EADS Astrium also had to build demonstration models of the payload and fully validate them. "Unless you can prove the technology will work in space," Dave points out, "the customer simply won't buy it."
 
Looking forward
More recently EADS Astrium's work on the DSP helped it to secure another large contract, this time on Skynet 5, the next generation of the UK's military satellite communications system.

Dave Robson acknowledges: "There are various opportunities for the future. We are developing the next generation processor which relies on semi-conductor chips. Technology advances rapidly and we need to develop up-to-date products to stay competitive in the market."

Final words
"The BNSC funding is absolutely crucial in developing the technologies we require," adds Dave. "Without ARTES funding it is unlikely that we would be able to compete with the US and China in the marketplace of the future."