Madrid – CDTI Board has recently decided to award a financial support to the Research and Development Project “MAGELLAN+”, through the granting of a partially reimbursable loan up to 780908 euro, over the 1296329 euro total budget of the project.
SpaceGate® is the Thales Alenia Space solution for the satellite access network system that will be deployed in broadband telecommunications systems or terrestrial telecommunications user segments.

This project refers to ground segment engineering activities (excluding connection) of a very high speed, high capacity, multi-beam, with multiple gateways and multi-service HTS satellite access network, called MAGELLAN (Multi gAteway Ground sEgment satelite Access Network), the development and validation activities of the S-BNG subsystems (Satellite Broadband Gateway Network Management System), Hub (baseband connection stations) and the integration and validation activities of the MAGELLAN NMS.

A High Throughput Satellite (HTS) is a classification for communication satellites that provide at least two times (although it is typically a factor of 20 or more) the total performance of a traditional FSS satellite for the same amount of assigned orbital spectrum. These satellites have this feature by taking advantage of the re-use of narrow frequencies and beams (or "spot") and therefore significantly reducing the cost per bit. The architecture and design of the associated terrestrial network is one of the core elements when optimizing the use of an HTS system.

SpaceGate® product is a satellite IP network solution that ensures connectivity between the Internet network and terminals deployed under the satellite coverage area. Space Gate solution provides Service Providers (SPs) with a communication network that supports multimedia services through the GEO bent-pipe (transparent) satellites.

The objective of MAGELLAN+ project is to generate the new generation of monitoring systems for the SpaceGate® R4 solution in support of the global HTS and Big Data strategy of Thales Alenia Space, in order to maximize the monitoring, supervision and exploitation capabilities of the business of the operators.

In order to achieve this main objective, the following specific objectives are proposed:

• Manage the new decentralized architecture of the SpaceGate® solution in order to provide virtualization capabilities and new business models to operators.
• Manage up to 400,000 subscribers connected to the SpaceGate® solution.
• Support the management of traffic profiles and provide a competitive user interface in terms of usability, interface and user experience, aligned with the latest trends in technological development of the software market.
• Provide technological support for the management of virtual operators in environments of owners of first level service providers.

 This objective has been initiated through the ARTES SpaceGate® R3 and ASTRAGAN programs. The SpaceGate® MAGELLAN+ program will consolidate the development of the new generation of HTS terrestrial user system. The following figure shows the articulation between the different developments.

At the end of the global R4 project, the SpaceGate® solution will be prepared with the main blocks needed in the HTS market, except for the low cost integrated terminal and the modems with ASTRAGAN chipset that will be addressed in another area.

At this moment, the SpaceGate® product, and in particular the NMS, will be ready for deployment in any project that requires a broadband access network, both for commercial programs and for any ESA project.

The current project also covers the post-MAGELLAN development to include a data analytics module managed by the NMS. During 2018 there will be a technological evaluation of Big Data technologies and an applicability analysis to SpaceGate®, which will be evaluated during 2018 in a Proof of Concept (PoC) that will finally allow for a final analytical module, endowing the product with a greater added value to the final customer.

The financial support awarded to this project is locally managed by CDTI, under the Contract Number IDI-20180575.