Ball Aerospace has demonstrated the communication capability of its electronically steered flat panel antenna with Telesat’s LEO Phase 1 satellite.

The testing was carried out at Telesat’s Allan Park ground station in Ontario, Canada.

During the demonstration, the electronically steered antenna tracked and established a link with the satellite and streamed real-time video, displaying the low-latency features of the Telesat LEO system.

Designed to facilitate non-stationary satellite tracking, electronically steered antennas are also capable of supporting fast and efficient switching between satellites, especially for large LEO constellations.

The easy-to-install antennas can improve reliability as they do not include any moving parts and can be produced in bulk at reduced costs.

Ball Aerospace Tactical Solutions vice-president and general manager Rob Freedman said: “For decades, Ball Aerospace has been developing and building electronically steered flat panel antennas for military and government customers.”

The company has partnered with Telesat to develop satellite communications (SATCOM) terminals using its advanced antenna technology.

“Ball has demonstrated that their electronically steered antenna technology is fully compatible with our system architecture.”

Telesat Engineering director Michel Forest said: “By successfully tracking our LEO Phase 1 satellite through multiple passes, Ball has demonstrated that their electronically steered antenna technology is fully compatible with our system architecture.

“Ball is an industry leader in advanced antenna technology and has proven expertise in the development of user terminal solutions that will allow us to meet our objective of providing fibre-like broadband and worldwide connectivity.”

Telesat launched its LEO Phase 1 satellite in January last year with an aim to provide an in-orbit platform for its global constellation of low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites.

The satellites are developed to provide low-latency high-throughput data services.