Cailabs is taking part in the communications optiques project “co-op” for the french space recovery plan
Cailabs announces that it will join the Communications Optiques project “CO-OP” for the French Space Recovery Plan, lead by Airbus and operated by CNES, whose objective is to develop and structure the optical satellite industry.
Rennes, France – Cailabs, a French deep tech company that designs, manufactures and sells innovative photonic solutions announces that it will join the Communications Optiques project “CO-OP” for the French Space Recovery Plan, lead by Airbus and operated by CNES, whose objective is to develop and structure the optical satellite industry.
The purpose of this project, headed by a coalition of 17 ¹ SMEs and major groups, is to structure the French industrial sector for satellite laser communications. The consortium focuses on geostationary orbit (GEO) satellites, at an altitude of 36,000 km, used to relay very high-throughput communications with other satellites or users on the ground.
The introduction of ground-GEO optical links will increase the capacity of HTS/VHTS satellite feeder links, lower their acquisition and operating costs, and eliminate the regulatory constraints associated with radio frequency links.
Cailabs will focus on raising the optical link power up to one kilowatt in order to guarantee the very high throughput (up to one terabit per second) required for these satellites.
The throughput requirements for space observation and telecommunications applications continue to increase. Both the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in her State of the Union speech in 2020 and the French President, Emmanuel Macron, in the France 2030 investment plan have reaffirmed the need for satellite constellations and a European satellite internet.
Optical networks are proving to be the technology of the future to guarantee this connectivity of space communications by ensuring an almost unlimited throughput with discrete propagation. Within the framework of the CO-OP project, Cailabs is contributing to the development of very high power sources which are essential to supply data to satellites. During the 3-year project, Cailabs will develop two technology building blocks (spatial and spectral) for beam combining, allowing the consortium to propose a very high-throughput station as early as 2024.“For a young SME like Cailabs, this is a long-term project. It targets complex architectures with very high added value for GEO VHTS satellites that will not be deployed before 2026”, explains David Allioux, laser communication product manager at Cailabs. “This study fits perfectly with our developments around compact and easily deployable stations for low earth orbit satellite constellations and for embedded applications that are emerging.”
Cailabs is also the winner of a Bpifrance Deeptech grant aimed at accelerating the industrialization of its compact stations.
Over and above its technical developments, the CO-OP project contributes to the industrial structuring of a French optical space communication sector.
“The availability of a secure satellite communication network is essential to guarantee both the industrial and geostrategic independence of France and Europe,” explains Jean-François Morizur, President of Cailabs. “The investment dynamic for 2021 is clear: optics is the technology of the future. France has a role to play. By joining together all these companies and articulating their developments in a coherent manner, the prime contractors and CNES perform their role as architects. The project will hence promote the development of a French, and even European, optical space telecom industry.”
About Cailabs:
Cailabs was founded in 2013 and is a French deep-tech company that designs, manufactures and sells innovative photonic products for telecommunications and industrial lasers. A world leader in complex light shaping, its technology is currently covered by 19 patents. Its innovative components are used in various fields, from aeronautical wiring to factory local area networks, including additive manufacturing. They have contributed to several world records (in particular, the fiber optic throughput record held by the Japanese operator KDDI).
[1] List of “Communication Optique” consortium partners: Airbus Defence & Space – lead manager (Occitanie / Ile de France), Thales Alenia Space (Occitanie / Sud PACA), SAFRAN Data Systems (Ile de France / Nouvelle Aquitaine), Thales SESO (Sud PACA), COMAT (Occitanie), BERTIN Technologies (Ile de France), CEDRAT Technologies (Auvergne Rhône Alpes), CILAS (Centre Val de Loire / Sud PACA), MecanoID (Occitanie), NOKIA (Ile de France), IXBLUE (Ile de France / Bourgogne Franche Comté / Nouvelle Aquitaine), Lumibird (Bretagne), OGS technologies (Sud PACA), Reuniwatt (La Réunion / Occitanie), Miratlas (Sud PACA), Alpao (Auvergne Rhône Alpes), Cailabs (Bretagne)