Aero-WAVE: A First Step Towards the Characterization of W Band

It is recognized that W band will be one of the frontier of satellite communications. Pioneering work on the scientific testing of high frequency satellite communications have been DAVID (data and video interactive distribution) mission and WAVE (W band analysis and verification) project, both of them funded by the Italian Space Agency (ASI). The WAVE project was a feasibility study carried out in 2004 for the design and development of a W band geostationary payload. However, a key step towards the exploitation of the W band is the channel characterization. So far, there are no experimental works on W band channel characterization because of the pioneering state of W band communications. This characterization is one of the objective of the second phase of the WAVE project (funded by ASI, started in March 2007) and it will be carried out through two demonstrative missions: 1. mission #1: a payload embarked on a high altitude platform (HAP), Aero-WAVE mission; 2. mission #2: a payload embarked on a LEO nano platform, IKNOW (in-orbit key-test and validation of W band) mission. In this paper, an overview of the first demonstrator, Aero-WAVE, will be outlined on the basis of the preliminary results obtained within phase A2 of WAVE project.