TAMPA, Fla. — The UK Space Agency has awarded SatixFy funds to develop software to speed up how quickly reprogrammable satellites can adapt to changing needs in orbit, the Israeli chipmaker announced March 5.
The £1.8 million ($2.3 million) program aims to advance digital beamforming software over the next two years, which the company said would enable real-time control and monitoring of satellite payloads powered by its chips.
According to SatixFy, software-defined payloads typically require several minutes of downtime to reconfigure all their capacity, whether to adjust services, reallocate resources or target different markets.
The new software aims to make the payload “self-adaptive,” ensuring it is preconfigured for multiple possibilities without the need to reprogram hardware.
“With its abstraction layer, the software virtualizes the satellite payload, enabling fast adaptation to dynamic market conditions and traffic demands,” SatixFy chief strategy officer Thierry Abraham said via email.
“By qualifying a single standard hardware platform, our customers can address multiple market opportunities simultaneously through software customization.”
SatixFy said artificial intelligence could also be integrated, enabling the satellite to automatically adjust operations based on user demand without requiring intervention from ground teams.
Satellites that rely on software to reconfigure their missions are becoming more popular as operators seek more flexibility to meet changing customer needs in uncertain markets. This approach contrasts with traditional satellite payloads, which are designed with fixed functions that cannot be modified after launch, limiting their ability to respond to evolving market demands.
