Project full title
HydRON DEMOnstration System (DS) PHASE A/B1
ESA HydRON Programme
Invitation to Tender (ITT) ESA AO/1-10945/21/NL/CLP
TAS-I Contract no.: 1550007580
Duration: 12 months
Starting Date: 01 April 2022
Expected Ending: 31 July 2023
Coordinator
Thales Alenia Space Italy (TAS-I)
Consortium
- Thales Alenia Space Italy (TAS-I)
- Thales Alenia Space Switzerland (TAS-CH)
- CGI UK (CGI)
- Deutsches Zentrum für Luft – und Raumfahrt (DLR)
- Ericsson (ERIC)
- GMV Innovation Solutions (GMV)
- Kepler Communications (KC)
- Officina Stellare (OS)
- Consorzio per la Ricerca nell’Automatica e nelle Telecomunicazioni (CRAT)
- Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (SSS)
- Telespazio (TPZ)
- OpenFiber (OF)
CRAT Key Persons
Dr. Emanuele De Santis, Dr. Andrea Wrona, Dr. Francesco Giacinto Lavacca, Prof. Francesco Delli Priscoli
Project Description: HydRON (High Throughput Optical Network) is a project within the ScyLight programme presented at the occasion of the Ministerial Council in November 2019. The HydRON Project is implemented as part of the “Optical Communication – ScyLight ARTES Strategic Programme Line”.
The Agency’s initiative represented in the HydRON vision, is to enable the development and validation of the “Fibre in the Sky” or “Internet beyond Clouds” technology integrated in terrestrial networks at terabit-per-second capacity, led by European andCanadian industries, to support the next generation of institutional and commercial missions requiring advanced communication capabilities currently unavailable. This vision is being developed and coordinated by D/TIA (Telecommunications and Integrated Applications Directorate), in collaboration with the D/EOP (Earth Observation) and the D/OPS (Operations) Directorates. As a result of this initiative, the Agency is now in a position to initiate and implement the first phase of the program, i.e. the Phase A/B1 preparatory activities that will be
performed through up to two parallel competitive industrial contracts. The Phase A/B1 study is intended to be performed through close cooperation and interaction between the Agency and the HydRON-DS Consortium of the Phase A/B1 to define a deployment model for the implementation of the HydRON “Tech-Driven” demonstration and the provision of a MVS, followed by additional HydRON “Service-
Driven” stages targeting the HydRON-DS Service (also addressing commercial markets beyond ESA) that justifies and drives the definition of the associated demo / service infrastructure.