Technology Archives

Innovation in Motion: Kymeta’s Power-Efficient Solution for On-The-Move, Multi-Orbit Satellite Communications

June Li on December 18, 2024

In October this year, our SVP, Chief Scientist, Ryan Stevenson, attended Array 2024 in Boston to present the paper: “Low Power Metasurface Beamforming Antennas with Dynamic Polarization Control for Multi-Orbit Satcoms.” The paper introduces significant developments in satellite communications technology that demonstrate Kymeta’s leadership in multi-orbit satellite connectivity solutions.

The Current Satellite Communications Landscape

The satellite communications industry is undergoing a fundamental transformation with the emergence of multiple LEO constellations like Starlink, Eutelsat OneWeb, Amazon Kuiper, and Telesat Lightspeed. Each constellation currently operates as a proprietary network requiring specific user terminal hardware. The future of satellite communications demands interoperability, where user terminal hardware can seamlessly operate across LEO, MEO, and GEO satellite networks.

Kymeta's Breakthrough Solution

Our team has developed metasurface antenna technology that enables true multi-orbit connectivity. This technology provides essential capabilities including:

Seamless switching between LEO and GEO networks
Full polarization agility
Full duplex operation in a single physical aperture
Wide scan angle coverage
Significantly reduced power consumption

Superior Power Efficiency

Our metasurface technology demonstrates remarkable power efficiency compared to traditional solutions:

Traditional multi-orbit terminals: > 700 watts
Kymeta’s metasurface solution: < 200 watts
Metasurface beamforming layer: 3-4 watts

This efficiency makes our solution particularly valuable for mobile applications where power consumption is a critical factor. The system achieves this while maintaining high performance across all operating conditions.

Technical Performance

The system delivers:

Full duplex operation in a single, shared aperture capability
Wide bandwidth coverage in either Ku or Ka bands
Comprehensive scan range (360° azimuth, 15°-90° elevation)
Dynamic polarization control from tracking linear to switchable right/left hand circular

Industry Applications

Our technology enables reliable connectivity for:

Mobile platforms
Maritime vessels
Remote operations
Emergency response systems
Connected transportation

Future Impact

As satellite communications continue to evolve, our metasurface technology positions Kymeta at the forefront of the industry. The combination of multi-orbit capability and power efficiency creates new possibilities for global connectivity while addressing critical operational challenges for mobile platforms.

Click here to read the detailed technical paper presented at Array 2024, which provides an in-depth analysis of our metasurface beamforming antenna technology and its applications in multi-orbit satellite communications.

The Multi X Universe: Understanding GEO, MEO, and LEO with Kymeta

June Li on May 2, 2024

When it comes to ensuring reliable communication for military, government, public safety, and industrial applications, understanding the strengths of key satellite orbits is crucial. Kymeta’s user terminals are leading the Multi X Revolution with their family of products for LEO (Low Earth Orbit) and GEO (Geostationary Orbit), including the recently launched Osprey™ u8 ‒ Hybrid-GEO-LEO (HGL), which enables users to switch between orbits and networks seamlessly. Let’s explore these orbits and how Kymeta empowers you with unparalleled flexibility, mobility, and resilience in mission-critical situations.

A Refresher on GEO, MEO, and LEO Satellites:

GEO (Geostationary Orbit): Imagine a satellite hovering permanently over the same spot on Earth. That’s GEO! These satellites orbit at a staggering 35,786 kilometers above the equator, matching Earth’s rotation. This creates a constant, broad signal footprint ideal for applications like satellite TV and fixed communication infrastructure. However, the high altitude introduces signal delay, impacting real-time data needs.

MEO (Medium Earth Orbit): Zone lies between GEO and LEO. MEO satellites offer a balance between coverage area and latency, making them well-suited for navigation systems like GPS.

LEO (Low Earth Orbit): LEO satellites are the closest to Earth (160 kilometers to 2,000 kilometers), resulting in the fastest data transmission speeds. This makes them ideal for real-time applications like mobile broadband. However, individual LEO satellites have a smaller coverage area, and their lower orbit shortens their lifespan. LEO constellations require a large number of satellites for continuous coverage.

Orbit	Description	Advantages	Disadvantages	Applications
GEO (Geostationary Orbit)	Stays fixed over one spot on Earth	Broad signal footprint, ideal for fixed applications	Weaker signal at higher latitudes	Satellite TV, Fixed Communication
MEO (Medium Earth Orbit)	Balance between LEO and GEO	Larger coverage area than LEO, lower latency than GEO	More complex and expensive than LEO	Navigation (GPS)
LEO (Low Earth Orbit)	Closest orbit to Earth	Fastest data transmission speeds	Requires a large and constantly maintained constellation of satellites	Mobile Broadband

Unleash Unmatched Connectivity with Kymeta

Kymeta’s innovative solutions leverage the power of multiple orbits, including LEO and GEO, to provide unparalleled connectivity for mission-critical applications. Here’s how Kymeta empowers you:

Unmatched Flexibility: Never miss a beat, anywhere. Kymeta Osprey u8 – HGL seamlessly connects to both LEO and GEO satellite networks, delivering the low latency and high-speed data you need for real-time applications. Gain the information you need, when you need it most, regardless of location.

Mobility Built In: Unlike bulky, stationary dishes, Kymeta user terminal is designed for mobility. Kymeta’s on-the-move capabilities ensure seamless connectivity no matter how fast you are traveling by land, sea, or air. This is a game-changer for mobile command centers, emergency response teams, and remote industrial operations.

Resilient Communication: Built to endure, built to connect. Kymeta’s user terminal is constructed to withstand harsh environments. Extreme weather or challenging terrain will not disrupt your critical communication. Kymeta keeps your connection strong when you need it most.

Kymeta: Your Partner in the Multi X Revolution

By leveraging the power of LEO and GEO satellites and the innovative user terminals from Kymeta, you can achieve a new level of reliable and resilient communication, no matter your location or the demands of your mission. With the deployment of the recently launched Osprey u8 ‒ HGL, Kymeta is leading the way providing multi orbit and network solutions.

Explore all Kymeta’s solutions and discover how Kymeta can transform the way you connect.

Data Sources:

Catalog of Earth Satellite Orbits
Types of orbits
What are the advantages and challenges of using LEO satellites for broadband services?
LEO vs. MEO vs. GEO Satellites: What’s the Difference?

Exploring the Reliability of Large-Size Ceramic Capacitors

June Li on July 31, 2023

Kymeta’s Felix Chen and Curtis Bartosz recently presented a paper entitled “Root Cause and Reliability Predictions of Failed Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors” at the preeminent 69th Annual Reliability and Maintainability Symposium (RAMS) earlier this year in Orlando, Florida.

Advancing the State of SATCOM User Terminals Across the K/Ka and Ku Bands

June Li on July 13, 2023

Mohsen Sazegar of the Kymeta team recently presented two invited technical papers at the European Conference on Antennas and Propagation. Underpinning both papers is the thesis that to meet the ever-growing global demand for uninterrupted high-throughput connectivity, radical technological advancements must be made in user terminals to ensure they’re designed for mobility and strong performance to meet today’s evolving SATCOM needs.

Electronically Steerable Antennas for Future Heterogeneous Communication Networks

June Li on October 14, 2022

Kymeta was recently featured in a report published in the IEEE Journal of Microwaves. The report reviews the current state of electronically steerable antennas for terrestrial and non-terrestrial communication systems and how they can support the rollout of 5G networks and how people and businesses reliably use 5G-powered services.

Within this piece, the potential benefits and limitations of the most relevant technologies are contrasted and put into context with recent system architectures for adaptive beamforming. Their operating principles, experimental implementation, and achievements providing advanced capabilities are discussed throughout. The authors placed emphasis on the review of direct radiating arrays, quasi-optical antenna configurations, and metasurface-based antennas as well.

The development and growth of 5G has transformed modern telecommunication systems and its impact on our day-to-day lives cannot be understated. The key drivers of 5G’s impact are rooted in the need for enhanced mobile broadband, ultra-reliable and low latency communications, and massive machine type communications, which are driving technological advancements across all segments of the network service ecosystem.

As 5G’s expansion is directly correlated with technological advancements in satellite and antenna technology, this paper presents an extensive overview of electronically steerable antennas for a plurality of point-to-point/- multipoint communication applications supporting 5G-powered services in the future. Subsequently, the current key technologies and components for realizing these reconfigurable antenna systems are reviewed highlighting their pros and cons in terms of integration, miniaturization, scalability, and RF performance.

In order to provide the reader with the latest technical advances in direct radiating arrays, various implementations of array elements as well as active antenna modules and systems were subject of this contribution, including Kymeta’s holographic antenna for Ku-band SatCom user terminals and metamaterials innovations.

Because holographic antennas with their subwavelength sized unit cells actually exacerbate the requirements on the integration of electronic components, significant efforts have also been devoted to the use of liquid crystals as a tunable dielectric. By leveraging flat panel display manufacturing techniques for high-volume production, Kymeta developed this LC-based holographic antenna for Ku-band SatCom user terminals. The radial aperture of the metasurface antenna consists of interleaved TX and RX elements which are specifically distributed to maintain full polarization control, but also to enhance the isolation between both communication directions while operating in full duplex.

To view the full paper, click here.

An Innovative Solution for Mobile Satcoms

June Li on September 8, 2022

Recently, members of the Kymeta team contributed to a white paper presenting a full duplex Ku Satcom user terminal, which uses a metasurface antenna and holographic beamforming.

A new age of satellite connectivity has emerged in the last few years and a new space race is on with advanced GEO and MEO satellites and large LEO constellations. Given some of the prominent satellite internet plans proposed in recent years, we may not be far off from tens of thousands of satellites orbiting overhead.

The metasurface antenna explored in this paper is operated through holographic beam forming that has been developed to meet performance, size, weight, cost and power requirements for mobile use cases. One of the key advantages of the metasurface antenna technology used in the Ku Satcom user terminal compared to traditional ESA technologies is the design flexibility it provides when it comes to integrating multiple frequency bands within the same physical aperture.

The terminal is ruggedized and enclosed for environmental protection with a radome and backshell from the front and back. The metasurface design was manufactured using flat panel display technology with liquid crystal as a tunable dielectric.

The unique ability the Tripleband Metasurface Antenna offers is that it allows the developed user terminal to cover the entire Ku Rx and Tx bands in a single aperture for full duplex operation, making the user terminal an innovative solution for mobile SATCOM use cases.

To read the full paper authored by Kymeta’s Mohsen Sazegar, Ibrahim Nassar, Chris Eylander, Amin Momeni, and Ryan Stevenson and learn more about its findings, click here.

Filling a Critical Gap in Addressing 5G Non-Terrestrial Networks

June Li on August 2, 2022

Members of the Kymeta team – in partnership with Fraunhofer IIS – recently contributed an invited technical paper at the International Microwave Symposium titled “Dynamically Reconfigurable Metasurface Antennas for Mobile Connectivity in 5G Non-Terrestrial Networks”. The paper details Kymeta’s novel approach in its advanced electronically scanned array (ESA) technology to enable reliable mobile satellite communications. This antenna technology utilizes reconfigurable holographic metasurfaces that fills a critical gap in addressing 5G non-terrestrial networks (NTN).

In the report, authors Alex Bautista, Ryan Stevenson, and Mohsen Sazegar of Kymeta, along with Thomas Schlichter and Thomas Heyn of Fraunhofer IIS, explore the latest advances in this technology. They also examine the results of the demonstrations of direct access over GEO satellite with the 5G New Radio Release 17 waveform and enhancements for mobile environments.

A mobile demonstration was conducted using a geostationary satellite with a user terminal antenna mounted horizontally on a vehicle that was driven around Kymeta headquarters in Redmond, Washington. The test demonstrated that a reconfigurable holographic metasurface antenna can reliably enable land-mobile connectivity to 5G NTN. The tests also supported future development of 5G NTN standards for mobile environments.

Ultimately the goal is to be able to provide people and organizations with 5G connectivity anywhere in the world regardless of geographically challenging terrain, remote regions, across seas and oceans, as well as filling any voids in communications and broadband network coverage. Enabling continuous connectivity can be of tremendous benefit for delivering critical communications services across industries ranging from healthcare, logistics and transportation, and energy to emergency management, first responders and military needs.

To read the full paper and learn more about its findings, click here.

Kymeta and Partners Support Student Engineers and Environmental Sustainability in Innovative Solar Challenge

June Li on April 12, 2022

Kymeta, Intelsat and ST Engineering iDirect provide ubiquitous connectivity to the Agoria Solar Team as they raced across the Moroccan mountains in their self-built solar car

In a race that spans more than 1,500 miles across Northern Africa, the Solar Challenge brings together engineering teams from universities around the world to compete for gold by driving self-built solar cars through the mountains of Morocco.

The young teams of student innovators used only solar energy to power the car throughout the five-day race. They faced countless tests while en route due to the country’s vast geography that includes sea and mountains, desert sands and green plains, and an over two-thousand-year-old history.

To ensure that crucial communications would not be an issue, from the densely populated city of Agadir to the remote foothills of the Atlas Mountains, Kymeta, Intelsat, and ST Engineering iDirect partnered to deliver ubiquitous connectivity to the Belgian Agoria Solar Team.

The team’s uniquely designed and efficient solar car, called the Blue Point Atlas, was followed by a communications vehicle fitted with satellite connectivity that utilized the innovative Kymeta Hawk™ u8, an iDirect modem and Intelsat’s resilient FlexMove network.

“This bright and dedicated team traveled across more than 10,000 altitude meters on solar power alone,” said Rash Jhanjee, Vice President of Sales, EMEA, at Kymeta. “The need for reliable and robust high-speed internet access while on the move was absolutely critical for the students to examine weather patterns, analyze terrain, and keep family and fans informed on social media. Kymeta was proud to support this innovative initiative.”

Through global partnerships and with breakthrough technology, Kymeta continues to unlock the potential of broadband satellite connectivity to offer total solutions that enable applications and programs like the Solar Challenge to continue enhancing environmental sustainability.

Kymeta is proud to once again work alongside key partners to bring ubiquitous connectivity to racers participating in the upcoming 2022 Sasol Solar Challenge in South Africa this September.

“In every race, there’s always a lot of information coming in, especially in Morocco with all of the mountains,” said Agoria Solar Team race strategist Frederik Vanmaele in a video interview. “It’s a great luxury to have this reliable connection… we knew for sure that we could always inform the solar car.”

The Agoria Solar Team ultimately took home the silver medal after crossing the finish line on day five of the journey in second place.

“I feel fantastic,” wrote team manager Victor Verhaert. We survived the challenge in Morocco. The whole team did a fantastic job!”

To see a video recap of the race from start to finish, click here: https://www.kymetacorp.com/resources/#videos

FAST COMPANY NAMES KYMETA ONE OF WORLD’S MOST INNOVATIVE COMPANIES IN 2022

Kymeta Corp on March 19, 2022

The company making mobile global joins the ranks of SpaceX and Microsoft in the annual list honoring businesses from around the globe who are transforming industries and shaping society

Kymeta Corporation has been named one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2022 by Fast Company.

For over a decade, the business magazine’s prestigious list has selectively recognized companies from around the world each year who are making the biggest impact on their industries and culture as a whole—ultimately thriving in today’s ever-changing world. These companies are creating the future today with some of the most inspiring accomplishments of the 21st century.

“We are excited and proud to not only be on this list, but to have earned the standing of number 5 on the 10 Most Innovative Space Companies of 2022,” said Walter Berger, President and Co-CEO of Kymeta. “Our company has many of the brightest minds in the industry and our flat panel electronic beam-forming antennas and terminals for satellite communications are truly impacting society in a positive way by making this world as connected as possible.”

Fast Company uniquely focuses on innovation in leadership, design, and technology. Kymeta was chosen by a team of editors and reporters who individually evaluated organizations ranging from startups to many of the largest companies in the world.

“The world’s most innovative companies play an essential role in addressing the most pressing issues facing society, whether they’re fighting climate change by spurring decarbonization efforts, ameliorating the strain on supply chains, or helping us reconnect with one another over shared passions,” said Fast Company Deputy Editor David Lidsky.

The World’s Most Innovative Companies is Fast Company’s signature franchise and one of its most highly anticipated editorial efforts of the year. It provides both a snapshot and a road map for the future of innovation across the most dynamic sectors of the economy.

Kymeta joins technology giants including Microsoft and Space X in the impressive ‘World’s Most Innovative Companies’ lineup and will appear in the March/April 2022 print edition of the magazine, available on newsstands beginning March 15, on FastCompany.com, and in-app via iTunes. In addition to the World’s Most Innovative Companies, 528 organizations have been recognized this year across 52 categories. View all the companies who earned a spot on the #FCMostInnovative list here: //www.fastcompany.com/most-innovative-companies/2022