NEWS & EVENTS
Note: Due to COVID-19, there has been a nine-month delay on the project.
PAST events
2019
DEC
Periodic Review with the European Commission
The European Commission has validated the work done and the continuation of the project.
2020
june
MID-TERM REVIEW WITH EUROPEAN COMMISSION
​The European Commission has validated the work done and the continuation of the project
2020
july
FINAL VERSION OF SELECTOR SWITCH released
​The main innovative features of the switch were designed before the first prototypes manufacturing.
2021
sep
DETAILED DESIGN OF KA BAND COMPACT REDUNDANCY RING
The proposed detailed design activities have followed sequential steps
• Analysis:
As any pre-industrialisation of product, analysis (EMC, thermal, electrical, radiation) has been previously conducted to check its full compliance of the redundancy slice with space environment.
• Ka band compact redundancy ring circuit board design including telemetry boards. The compact Redundancy Ring slice (with selected topology 4:5) is constituted of one single board, which includes the implementation of 30 GHz signal routing with up to 11 MEMR components, plus SMT microwave passive components necessary for improved matching at Input/Output accesses and loss equilibrium between paths. Microwave part of the redundancy ring slice has been implemented through co- design by TAS and UPV.
2021
oct
MEMR MONO-PARAMETER RELIABILITY STRESS TESTS FINISHED
The objective was to perform mono-parameter stress tests according to the test plan defined. It was the first step for qualification of the developed MEMR component for space applications. The following mono-parameter stress tests was included:
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Temperature-accelerated lifetime (HALT thanks to subcontracting the test means)
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Thermal cycling
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Humidity resistance (including the highly accelerated stress test HAST option)
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Mechanical shock
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Mechanical vibration​
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Electrostatic discharge
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Radiation endurance
2021
sep-nov
MANUFACTURING OF SWITCHES FOR QUALIFICATION
After completion of this pre-industrialization phase, a significant number of MEMR (up to 325 parts from SELECTOR
MEMR) have been produced according to the defined process and testing to supply switches to:
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150 parts for TAS Redundancy Ring slice production of Task 5.3;
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150 parts for CSEM reliability tests, in addition to supply up to 50 parts from Serie
2021
dec
MEMR ACCUMULATIVE RELIABILITY STRESS TESTS FINISHED
The objective was to perform accumulative multi-parameter stress tests according to the test plan defined in the first reliability assessment. This will be the second step for qualification of the developed MEMR component for space applications. Based on the acquired long-term knowledge and space missions experience, the combination of mechanical and thermal loads possesses the most severe impacts on the MEMR devices, especially during the take-off flight phase. Therefore, the following bi-parameter accumulative stress tests are proposed as a starting point:
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Temperature + mechanical shock
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Temperature + mechanical vibrations
2022
april
eumw in london
The consortium participated at the workshop for EUMW in London. See presentations from show.
2022
june
publication in csem magazine
Paper has been published in the CSEM annual technical reports magazine.
2022
sep
ESREF in BerliN​
CSEM and Radiall have published a paper and gave a presentation: Reliability Assessment of Miniaturized Electromechanical RF Relays for Space Applications.
2022
oct
SPCD at ESA
Radiall and TAS have done an oral presentation entitle Miniature RF Switch for Compact Redundancy Ring. The consortium has obtained the price for the best presentation.
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2022
nov
final review with the european commission
Below is a summary of the objectives and features carried out during the project.
The switch's design is finished, most of the specifications have been reached and the industrialization has been started. Indeed several MEMR innovative improvements have been developed. The switch is hermetic IP67, the hyperfrequency performances have been extended (operating frequency: DC-32 GHz, isolation: DC-22GHz: -50 dB max/ 22 GHz-32GHz: -50 dB max, shielding efficiently: DC-22GHz: -40dBi / 22 GHz-32GHz: -40dBi. (pourquoi tu sépares les 2 bandes de fréquences pour mettre la même valeur) ? The selector switch has been designed with the outgassing material list and it resist to harsh environment (Sine vibration 30G (5-2000 Hz), Random vibrations: 50G rms 10 to 2000 Hz). The SMT technology is compliant with the redundancy ring. Regarding the industrialization several tools have been developed and test bench have been put in placed. The evolution of the manufacturing processes of the MEMR (Space vs Telecom) have been defined : manufacturing process (process flowchart), draft work instructions, draft specification of special equipment. At the same time, the architecture of the redundancy ring has been fixed.
Reference to MEMR further development and future research work:
The MEMR developed is now called Quartz-S. This SMT switch is a SPDT (Single port dual Throw) while the most common coaxial switches used in space payload are DPDT or T-Switches. The mechanical systems are much more complicated for these switches. To build more compact and flexible redundancy rings, the use of DPDT could become a real necessity. Therefore the development of DPDT, maybe T-Switch which could be consider like a DPDT with 3 positions instead of 2, would certainly be the next stage for Radiall.
An other market expectation is certainly higher frequency switches. Capability of this MEMR up to 44 GHz has been demonstrated during selector project, showing that the major issue is on the PCB technology. In the future , Radiall could qualify a new version which could cover Q-Band, maybe V-Band , depending on circuit board technology available.