HITEC, SES TechCom team up for EDRS ground station project

HITEC Luxembourg S.A. will be joining the European Data Relay Satellite System (EDRS) satellite network project led by SES TechCom.

HITEC's role will be to provide four antenna systems for the satellite ground stations that will control and keep an eye on the EDRS satellites. It will design, manufacture, and installation those satellite antennas at key sites in Germany, the United Kingdom, and Belgium.

HITEC earlier delivered a 13m full-motion Ka-band antenna to SES TechCom for use in the DLR's EDRS project.

The DLR (German Aerospace Center) subcontracted the EDRS project to SES TechCom. In addition, DLR recently contracted Astrium to provide major parts of the ground segment.

EDRS's fleet of geostationary satellites link together terrestrial stations and Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites. The LEO satellites can pass broadband-quality data to the EDRS platforms, which will then pass it to a ground station, obviating the need for direct line-of-sight between the LEO satellite and the ground station.

In addition, EDRS will offer new opportunities in data acquisition and delivery following disasters. It will also bring about new applications in the fields of environmental protection, security, and weather forecasting.

Each EDRS ground station has two ‘feeder link’ ground stations (FLGS) and two data ground stations. Both feeder link and ground data stations will tap Ka-band frequencies and use 6.8 meter limited motion HITEC antennas of an innovative design. The ground stations will be delivered from 2013 to 2014.

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