Lancaster University to develop E-band travelling wave tubes for 5G and 6G data transmission for satellites

The award is for the development of a high power, compact, low-cost E-band travelling wave tube amplifier in an 18-month project titled “E-band Travelling Wave Tubes (TWT) for High Throughput Satellites”.

In a statement, project leader Professor Paoloni from the School of Engineering said: “It is exciting to contribute to the enhancement of one of the most fascinating enterprises of our age, the deployment of constellations of thousands of satellites for internet coverage all over the world. The novel E-band Travelling Wave Tubes we will produce will enable satellite links with tens of gigabits per second requiring portable terminals with small antennas to offer an unprecedented ubiquitous data rate.”

The growth of satellite constellations at low earth orbit (LEO) for internet distribution such as Starlink or Oneweb has opened the third dimension in 6G coverage.

MORE FROM COMMUNICATIONS

Presently, satellites use microwave bands, but the demand of higher data rate can only be met by higher frequency and wider bands. The E-band (71 – 86GHz) has been already adopted in the Starlink Gen2 satellites, however, the high link losses and the low transmission power from solid state amplifiers at this frequency require large terrestrial antennas.