Roadmap to flight

The impact of the proposed research and development will be that relevant and competitive key photonic payload equipment will become available and mature (TRL5) before the end of 2020. This will be the time that satellite manufacturers and operators can start choosing to incorporate this key enabling technology in the architecture of their advanced OISL-based constellations.

Such a short path from lab to market is possible because the SODaH project has built-in design to cost, design to manufacturing and SWaP targets. The first commercial order triggers a detailed product development and qualification phase that typically lasts 2 years. Thus, the first serial hardware could be delivered as soon as late 2022 before production ramps up.

Roadmap of the SODaH project

Timeline of H2020 SODaH project

“Fiber in the sky” OISL-based constellations

This roadmap shows the direct benefit of SODaH: facilitating the emergence of advanced “Fiber in the sky” OISL-based constellations.

These constellations:

  • Use the satellite as the node in a photonic network (“photonic repeater function”)
  • Enable the implementation of a ubiquitous, stand-alone, secure and robust communication infrastructure
  • Benefit from the SWaP saving provided by the P_MRD Unit (one single centralized unit to interact with 4 OISLs)
  • Benefit from the easy integration of feeder links in the architecture thanks to the versatile P_MRD unit.

Benefits of these constellations

Consequently, the benefits of such “Fiber in the sky” constellations enabled by SODaH are:

  • Seamless integration in the 5G network
  • Serving unserved or underserved (rural) areas, catalyzing their economic development by providing access to online services such as tele-education, tele-medicine, etc.
  • Providing highly secure and robust communication infrastructure to industry for machine to machine communication, the Internet of Things, and to governments – especially in case of natural disaster or human crisis.

World leaders in communication satellite constellations

From the industrial and economic point of view, the SODaH project:

  • Will give European technology a leading position in communication satellite constellations
  • Places this expertise in small and medium-sized equipment manufacturers, which are able to sell not only to prime European companies, but also to their worldwide competitors. This ensures that European funding opens the doors to the global market.