C-COM Announces Successful Satellite Test Of Its Ka-Band Phased Array Antenna

May 11, 2021

C-COM Satellite Systems Inc. has successfully tested its electronically steerable phased array antenna over the Telesat Anik F3 satellite.

“We are excited to have reached this critical milestone in our development of a fully electronically steerable Ka-band, Phased Array, Mobile Satellite Antenna,” said Bilal Awada, CTO of C-COM Satellite Systems Inc. “The 1024-element prototype antenna has performed better than expected. We were able to stream video, surf the net, perform speed tests and conduct an uninterrupted video conference over Webex,” added Awada.

“Measured over-the-air results have demonstrated the high performance of the compact, scalable antenna modules and validated our simulation model of the architecture for larger panels,” said Professor Ali Safavi-Naeini, Director of CIARS (Centre for Intelligent Antenna and Radio Systems) at the University of Waterloo.

“This modular, intelligent technology platform provides a cost-effective solution for a wide range of applications—from fixed to mobility satellite broadband services, and for the rapidly emerging millimeter-wave 5G cellular services”, he added. 

These successful initial tests are a significant development for C-COM. The Company can now move forward with confidence and continue testing over several different satellites to confirm interoperability of this new antenna design. Ensuring interoperability with satellites is a key step before the Company dedicates additional resources needed to develop a commercial product based on this new technology. The new phased array Ka-band antenna is expected to open new mobile vertical markets (land based, marine, aero) for the Company. The prototyping of a 4000-element antenna using the same building blocks used to build the 1000 element antenna is in progress and so is the planning of the commercialization phase of this new antenna.

“Today, we are much closer to achieving our objective of delivering an affordable, electronically steerable antenna system capable of operating over the latest constellations of LEO, MEO and GEO satellites, which will play a significant role in delivering broadband solutions to consumer and enterprise markets worldwide,” said Dr. Leslie Klein, President & CEO of C-COM Satellite Systems Inc.