[HN Gopher] X-band transmitters on the global marketplace
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       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?
        
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       (page generated 2020-02-27 23:00 UTC)