Skynet 5 Satellite Earth Station Switching

Sematron UK were invited to tender for the receive/transmit switch matrix for within the New UK Military Skynet 5 anchor satellite ground stations which were being installed as part of a £2.5bn Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract awarded to Paradigm Secure Communications Ltd a wholly owned subsidiary of EADS . The requirements for the system were: □ 32x4 switch matrix □ L-Band - 950MHz to 1450MHz □ High Isolation between signal paths □ Linear RF Performance and low spurious response □ High MTBF and low MTTR □ Through Life Support

Sematron worked with their partners Aeroflex Weinschel, who as well as being one of the oldest companies in the world within the coaxial attenuator business, also offer the ability to produce bespoke RF sub Systems. We came up with a solution tailored to Astrium's specifications which included full maintenance, repair and support by Sematron from our service centre in Basingstoke. Post contract award, we worked closely with Astrium's project team to ensure that delivery and installation of the matrices was on schedule.

Due to our success in delivering this solution, Sematron/Aeroflex Weinschel have since been awarded two further contracts from Astrium for switching systems, one for calibration switch units, for testing the signal paths through the earth stations and the other is a 70MHz Matrix allowing them to integrate legacy architecture products into the new system.