Technology

The Monday morning CTO roundtable at SATELLITE 2023 brought together leaders from innovative space companies to convene on buzzworthy developments in laser communications, AI, and system architecture and design. Yet the enthusiasm was tempered with some humility over tech limitations, and market realities, best summarized by speaker Al Tadros, CTO of Redwire, who noted that...

CesiumAstro is jumping into the in-flight connectivity (IFC) market, unveiling a new multi-beam flat panel terminal for aviation on Monday, March 13. It is an active phased array that can support multiple Ka-band constellations for airborne commercial and defense markets.  CesiumAstro designs phased arrays for satellites, this is its first user terminal for the aero...

Kymeta completed the first shipment of its electronically steered Hawk u8 OneWeb Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) terminal, the company announced Monday, March 13 at SATELLITE 2023. Kymeta is the first to commercially deliver electronically steered user terminals for OneWeb’s LEO network.  Kymeta and OneWeb now plan to demonstrate the solution across remote locations in the United...

Gilat Satellite Networks has signed a definitive agreement to acquire DataPath to boost its presence in the U.S. defense market, the satellite ground tech company announced March 9. Gilat said the acquisition will increase its annual revenues by $50 million.  Gilat, based in Israel, supplies technology to the satellite industry including VSAT (very small aperture...

Ubotica Technologies has unveiled a new solution to help in make Earth observation (EO) more efficient. It announced March 7, that it will bring its CogniSAT-CRC solution to market with the aim of maximizing EO asset utilization. Using lossless image compression, and an AI-based Cloud Detection and Removal algorithm, CogniSAT-CRC aims to deliver at least...

Maxar Technologies has awarded L3Harris a contract to design and build reflector antennas for two Geostationary Orbit (GEO) communication satellites, the companies announced Wednesday. The two nine-meter unfurlable mesh reflector antennas will provide high-power signals and are designed to improve service quality across the satellites’ coverage areas. The antennas are designed with a flexible architecture...

Samer Halawi is a well known figure within the satellite industry. He is held many big roles from the CEO of Thuraya, to the CCO of both Intelsat and OneWeb. Halawi left Intelsat last year, and has now become the CEO of AaltonHAPS, an exciting new start-up. It is an Airbus subsidiary that provides services...

Orbit Communications Systems (Orbit) is introducing a new antenna solution targeting the regional aviation market. It announced March 6 that it is launching the AirTRx system that aims to provide continuous communications for regional airlines. The systems are designed to be extremely compact and can be installed either on the tail of the aircraft or...

Globalstar announced a strategic collaboration agreement with Qualcomm Technologies on Tuesday, involving a portfolio of 5G private network technologies. Qualcomm Technologies plans to make select Qualcomm FSM Platforms commercially available that will work with Globalstar’s Band n53 terrestrial spectrum for private networks. Additionally, Globalstar will license its Band n53 spectrum to system integrators supporting the...

Some of the top companies in the satellite sector — Hughes Network Systems, Inmarsat, and Airbus Defense and Space — are now part of the Digital Intermediate Frequency Interoperability (DIFI) Group.  DIFI announced Monday the group now has more than 60 companies. Other companies and entities that joined in the second half of 2022 include:...