[HN Gopher] X-band transmitters on the global marketplace ___________________________________________________________________ X-band transmitters on the global marketplace Author : kartikkumar Score : 23 points Date : 2020-02-27 20:05 UTC (2 hours ago) (HTM) web link (blog.satsearch.co) (TXT) w3m dump (blog.satsearch.co) | nimbius wrote: | https://www.endurosat.com/cubesat-store/cubesat-communicatio... | | Am i reading this correctly?? the x-band cubesat transmitter is | the cost of a Telsa??? | kartikkumar wrote: | Everyone is focused on the precipitous drop in launch costs, | but the supply chain is really where the biggest opportunities | now lie. | | Many suppliers are struggling with finding the right balance | between economies of scale, lead time, | modularity/standardization, reliability, and (backwards) | compatibility. | | As industry volume increases, this should start straightening | itself out. The challenge is that there's a bit of a chicken- | and-egg problem at the moment: there's a severe lack of | transparency, meaning that commercial market forces are largely | missing. | | So greater transparency = greater competitiveness = better | price/value ratio = faster, better, cheaper satellites | someguydave wrote: | How much are you willing to spend to make sure that your | bespoke satellite actually has working comms? | Rebelgecko wrote: | I don't think you can get a Tesla for $22,000 (USD). | | But these low volume (both in terms of # of units sold and | SW&P) things get really expensive as high R&D costs are mostly | amortized by people who are willing to ride the cutting edge. | If you don't have high bandwidth requirements you can get away | with some $20 transmitters using LORA or some cheapo ~900mhz | transmitters that use amateur frequencies | someguydave wrote: | Your low-cost LORA/whatever plan would be foiled by lack of | regulatory approval for using those frequencies and those | waveforms. | mNovak wrote: | If they're already ISM do they need special approval to use | in space? | someguydave wrote: | Yes. https://www.space.com/40001-four-cubesats- | unauthorized-launc... | Rebelgecko wrote: | I'm not a radio guy so I may be missing some nuances, but | in my experience that's not a problem. If you're | broadcasting over the whole world, you may have trouble | using 915mhz. But if your ground stations are in places | where 915mhz is lightly regulated it is no big deal. I | think that is the case for the entire western hemisphere. | The FCC lets you do pretty much whatever you want in the | neighborhood of 915mhz as long as you're not pumping out | more than a couple watts. | | We've mentioned frequencies and transmitter power in ODAR | paperwork but it hasn't been an issue (ODAR is a form that | the FCC gets which is mostly there to make sure you don't | litter while you're in space). | dfox wrote: | I would not be too surprised if components used in this device | come out to total price range of 5kEUR-10kEUR in one-off | quantities, which paints the price in different light. | ohazi wrote: | The individual transistors that are used for the LNA and | power amplifier stages of these transceivers usually sell for | tens to low hundreds of dollars a piece in single unit | quantities. A good design will probably use 4-10 of them, | depending mostly on output power requirements. | | Throw in a few mixers for up/downconversion, some expensive | ADCs, an FPGA, a CNCed aluminum enclosure, and you quickly | end up at around $1000-$5000 in parts. There's definitely | demand for these radios, but it's no consumer product, so the | markup is going to be painful. | | There's definitely opportunity here, but it will be difficult | to get the prices down significantly when there are like five | semiconductor companies that are doing most of the gouging. | They're very happy with their current "sell you a specialty | part for $45 that costs them $2 to produce" business. | Reelin wrote: | > They're very happy with their current "sell you a | specialty part for $45 that costs them $2 to produce" | business. | | How difficult is it to design these parts and successfully | fabricate them? Are they expensive simply because they're | uncommon, or is the R&D process for them nontrivial? ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2020-02-27 23:00 UTC)