Funding Body: H2020 Research and Innovation action (RIA), Maturing satellite communication technologies
Coordinator Organisation: Agenzia Spaziale Italiana
Partner: Prof. George Goussetis (Heriot-Watt University)
Period: 1st Nov. 2016 – 31st Jan. 2020
Total Funding: € 3.7M

QV-LIFT is a Horizon2020 Research & Innovation Action (Call: Leadership in Enabling and Industrial Technologies – Space COMPET-2-2016) committed to increase the maturity level of key satellite communication technologies and to contribute to a more competitive positioning of SatCom European manufacturers in the marketplace.
QV-LIFT smart gateway network (QV-SGN) relies upon existing assets: the satellite link from/to Alphasat and upon Earth Station 1 operating in Tito Scalo (Italy) and Earth Station 3 operating in Spino d’Adda (Italy) both made available by ASI and the STARFISH gateway SW/HW made available by MBI.
QV-LIFT will develop and integrate the following subsystems: Earth Station 2, the mobile airborne terminal, the smart gateway management system.
The QV-LIFT project aims at developing the foundation of the Ground Segment Technology for the future Q/V band Terabit SatCom systems by providing core technologies at both hardware and network levels of the communication stack.
At hardware level, key RF building blocks and subsystems in the Q/V band will be developed that will fill a specific and well known European technology gap; at network level, QV-LIFT will develop a Q/V band smart gateways management system able to counteract the propagation impairments which presents one of the main obstacles in the deployment of the Q/V band feeders system.
Hardware and network developments will be demonstrated in a unique and realistic test environment where a mobile Q/V band terminal and three Earth stations will be linked to the Alphasat payload to create the QV-LIFT smart gateway network.

The project has its dedicated website, access here.