The Diputación of Jaén, through the Instituto de Estudios Giennenses (IEG), will finance 22 studies related to natural sciences and technology with 85,000 euros, all of them with a common link: the interest for the province of Jaén.
These include a joint project between the Advanced Centre for Aerospace Technologies (CATEC) and the University of Jaén to implement an efficient system for measuring radio frequency antenna specifications using drones at the ATLAS experimental flight field. An exciting technological challenge in our flight centres, the first in collaboration with the University of Jaén.
This project introduces an advanced measurement system using drones equipped with high-precision positioning technology, overcoming the limitations of conventional GPS-based systems, to be implemented at the ATLAS experimental flight field. The practical application of this system focuses on conducting antenna field tests in scenarios that replicate satellite antenna operating conditions.
The ATLAS experimental flight centre is the ideal environment for carrying out this type of far-field measurements on antennas, as it has its own Temporary Segregated Airspace (LETS30 ATLAS) of 30x35km, which makes a total of 1000km2 of airspace up to 5000ft AMSL.
The possibility of having an antenna performance measurement system in the province of Jaén, and to do so in ATLAS (with the infrastructures it is equipped with and the segregation of the airspace that allows flying at a higher altitude) is a great opportunity to place Jaén at the forefront of innovation in telecommunications, mainly in the field of satellite antennas.
This project proposes solutions for UAV equipment and low-cost measurement systems, which, together with the possibility of simultaneous measurement of several antennas of different characteristics in a single UAV flight, reduce the costs of the whole process, making it a unique and very attractive system for antenna manufacturing companies, telecommunications service providers, radio frequency signal regulatory authorities, and even institutions such as the European Space Agency.
