Filtronic wins £1.2m funding to develop amplifiers

RADIO frequency and microwave technology innovator Filtronic has secured a £1.2m funding package to develop high power amplifiers that will be used to communicate with satellites.

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The County Durham-based firm - known for its work with SpaceX - has been awarded the money through the UK Space Agency's National Space Innovation Programme (NSIP) for a project to develop a high-power 550W ka-band solid-state power amplifier (SSPA).

The work will build on Filtronic engineers’ already successful SSPA designs and is seen as important to the development of Ka band technology which is required for the expansion of non-geostationary satellite constellations that carry broadband and internet of things services.

Those constellations rely on high capacity, low-latency feeder and user links. In an update to investors on the London Stock Exchange, Filtronic said Ka band must be adopted to pave the way for “next generation” services including in-flight connectivity and 5G non-terrestrial networks.