Ept.Com – Enabling Plasma Technology Towards Satellite Communications

The purpose of EPT.COM is the design, fabrication and testing of an array of plasma antennas that constitute the technological demonstrator, on a reduced scale, of a device for Tx/Rx communications for space applications. The necessary requirements of three different scenarios involving S, L and X bands, are analyzed:
(i) satellite communications (space – ground)
(ii) inter-satellites and interplanetary communications
(iii) navigation system.

The EPT.COM project is aimed at increasing the level of technological development and the knowledge acquired during the STARLET project, solving the identified issues related to the plasma technology generation, up to the realization of a SATCOM antenna demonstrator. Two different plasma antenna architectures are studied and analyzed in order to best meet the requirements imposed by the identified applications:
– a circularly-polarized turn-style plasma antenna
– a plasma-based transmit array with beam scanning capabilities.