County Durham-based Filtronic plc, a designer and manufacturer of products for the aerospace, defence, space and telecoms infrastructure markets, announced a new contract to develop cutting edge-feeder link technology as part of the European Space Agency (ESA) and Viasat’s Direct-to-Device (D2D) initiative.

Filtronic said it will work closely with Viasat “to define the optimal feeder link requirements and develop high-power RF solutions key to the success of this proposed, next-generation satellite network.”

“The contract falls under ESA’s Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES 4.0), a programme that stimulates research and development within ESA’s Connectivity and Secure Communications directorate,” said Filtronic.

“Viasat and its European partners, including Filtronic, are working towards the design and procurement of an Open Architecture LEO network capable of delivering 5G non-terrestrial services directly to handheld devices.

“Filtronic’s contribution includes advanced feeder link technology for both satellite payloads and ground stations. These feeder links enable high-throughput satellite communications, support both uplink (Earth-to-satellite) and downlink (satellite-to-Earth) transmissions.

“Filtronic’s expertise in high-performance solid state power amplifiers will also be instrumental in enabling high data rate feeder links.

“This work builds on Filtronic’s ESA ARTES-contract award in 2023, with additional support from the UK Space Agency, a sponsor of both the ARTES programme and Filtronic’s participation in the D2D framework.”

Filtronic CEO Nat Edington said: “We are proud to contribute our expertise in high-power RF technology to this groundbreaking project.

“As demand for seamless, global connectivity grows, our advanced mmWave solutions will play a vital role in enabling high-capacity, non-terrestrial networks. We are excited to work alongside Viasat and ESA to shape the future of space-based communications.”