141 - Antenna Technology, Exponential Growth and Adapting to the “Multi’s”

In this Constellations Podcast, we’ll discuss the need for more terminals to be interoperable, including working on different frequency bands, different orbits, and different types of constellations. How the need is handled is less of a technology decision than a business discussion.  During this episode of Constellations, Bill Milroy, Chairman and CTO, of ThinKom Solutions, discusses the business case for the types of capabilities needed in an antenna. He addresses the challenges of creating antennas for deployment in space vehicles, especially in the unique environment of space. He touches upon the idea of a software-defined antenna, which in the case of antennas would mean reconfigurable hardware that can work using different software on different systems. However, he also gave a different example of a software-defined antenna that included a phased array antenna mimicking a parabolic dish for one application while creating multiple beams to service a large number of satellites when the need for the parabolic dish passed. Bill thinks the market is moving towards a fusion of GEO and LEO to help shape IP traffic and giving solutions that are the best of both worlds.