Maxtena Application Note - Dynamic Aperture Technology
Dynamic Aperture Technology
DAT™ (Dynamic Aperture Technology) is an advanced platform designed for building a new generation of low cost user terminals that will enable higher data throughputs, stronger link integrity, and lower power consumption for aerial, maritime, and land mobile communications.
One of the major impediments in mobile communications is the antenna technology. In order to deliver “rich” data content a new technology is required. The major complication is that in a mobile environment communication happens between moving objects. Things get significantly more complicated with satellite communications where a satellite is also moving with the respct to the end user on Earth. The current state of the art user terminals are still relying on mechanically steered or fixed solutions. These solutions either exhibit poor efficiency or are cost prohibitive. Maxtena has created the DAT™ platform to address these issues.
Watch DAT™ in Action
Watch as our mobile user terminal moves throughout the city of Washington D.C. Our compact land terminal can immediately pick up a signal after going under tunnels and bridges where direct satellite signals are not achievable.
Our DAT™ platform has integrated low noise amplifiers (LNAs), power amplifiers (PAs) and a steering and tracking control unit. DAT™ can operate with or without a modem control.
The neon green line tracks the route our vehicle traveled while maneuvering through the city. The red line appears when the vehicle moves under bridges and through tunnels.
Key Advantages and Features
- Achieves omni-directional coverage with the high performance of a directional antenna
- Single beam or multi-beam in single aperture/multibeam aggregation – higher throughput even on legacy systems
- Software configurable/software controlled aperture for a variety of applications and reconfigurations
- Digital sensor and gyroscopic control for accurate tracking of satellites and platform dynamics
- Interference nulling for better signal to noise
- Tracking and performing interference detection for link integrity and sustained high throughput
- Extremely low power design due to distributed power amplifier approach
- Fast satellite acquisition and tracking from computationally efficient algorithms
- Digitally steered beams eliminate all moving parts
- Scalable platform accommodates wide range of frequencies and satellite networks – L to Ka band
- Mobile platform dynamics over 360 degrees per second turning ratios
Applications
The applications for our DAT™ platform are numerous. The typical applications are for mobile satellite communications on the move, including land, aerial, and maritime applications. However, other applications such as radar and direction finding systems are also possible. Our DAT™ platform allows for low cost, small size, and low weight applications, which could be ideal for high-data terminals for UAV’s and other aeronautical platforms.