Satellite Hardware Providers Offering Ka-band Equipment are Optimistic

As the number of Ka-band payloads grows, the vendors of terminals and other vital ground components are seeing continued growth in the volume of Ka-band sales. Ka-band RF (radio frequency) product show a strong demand for solid- state high power amplifiers (HPA) for powers up to 50 watts and 100 watts, he says. Due to the high frequencies, almost all applications are for outdoors close to the hub of the antenna.

Solid State Power Amplifiers (SSPAs) for Ka-band Use

The industry has noted an increased demand for Ka-band high power amplifiers throughout the last several years in both the commercial and the military markets. One of the most significant advantages of operating in Ka-band is that it offers additional operational bandwidth, which gives operators more capacity. The high capacity in Ka-band drives the requirement for greater linear power. This is described as the output power of the HPAs as increasing from 120 watts to greater than 250 watts throughout the last few years. The integration of block up-converters into HPAs is common in C-band and Ku-band, and there is an increase in requests to integrate these devices into the Ka-band HPAs, too. The advantage is decreased system integration complexity, reduced system cost, and a direct L-band input into the HPA.

Ka-band RF Products and Terminal Hardware

Besides lower cost of RF products and terminal hardware, service providers want a system that scales easily and supports automated subscriber provisioning, facilitates subscriber and traffic management, and allows unmanned operation of satellite gateways. There is no significant difference in network management of Ku-band versus Ka- band systems. Spot beam Ka-band satellites enable networks that can exceed the size and scale of local cable or [digital subscriber line] networks and require commensurate network management systems.

Network Management in the Ka-band Range

There are significant network management challenges with Ka-band due to such things as adaptive coding and modulation functionality, a complex hub infrastructure and complex service level agreement management stemming from the real-time monitoring of the receive conditions at all the terminals, as well as data traffic bandwidth variability.

Selling the Ku-band to the Satellite Consumer

To access the consumer market on a larger scale, there is continued need for more satellites with Ka-band spot beams. The failure of a Ka-band satellite also could leave the user without much back-up capacity at his disposal. In the United States specifically, Ka-band capacity is better positioned to serve specific parts of the market, such as large VSAT networks for Internet services or consumer broadband services than it is in some other parts of the world. This puts less pressure on Ku-band in regions where Ka-band is currently available.