OPTIMA - Towards Demonstration of Flexible Photonic Telecom Payload J. Anzalchi 1 , Joyce Wong 1 , V. Polo 2 , T. Mengual 2 , M. A. Piqueras 2 , E. Prevost 3 , K. Ravel 3 , N. Parsons 4 , M. Enrico 4 , J. Bauwelinck 5 , M. Vanhoecke 5 , A. Vannucci 6 , M. Tienforti 6 (1) Airbus Defence and Space, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, SG1 2AS, UK Email: javad.anzalchi@airbus.com, joyce.wong@airbus.com (2) DAS Photonic, Camino de Vera, s/n 46022 Valencia, Spain Email: vpolo@dasphotonics.com, tmengual@dasphotonics.com, mapiqueras@dasphotonics.com (3) SODERN, Avenue Descartes, 94451 Limeil-Brevanne, France Email: eddie.prevost@sodern.fr, karen.ravel@sodern.fr (4) HUBER+SUHNER Polatis Ltd, Cambridge Science Park, Milton Road, Cambridge, UK Email: nick.parsons@hubersuhner.com, michael.enrico@hubersuhner.com (5) imec - IDLab, Department of Information Technology at Ghent University, Belgium Email: johan.bauwelinck@ugent.be, michael.vanhoecke@ ugent.be (6) Cordon Electronics, Via Guido Rossa, Cornate d'Adda 20040, Italy Email: antonello.vannucci@cordongroup.it, marcello.tienforti@cordongroup.it INTRODUCTION Incorporating flexibility in communication satellite payloads enables a given satellite on command to support different frequency plans, re-configure coverage in response to changing traffic demands and re-configure interconnectivity between coverages. In general flexibility would enable a satellite system to adapt to changing circumstances over its lifetime and thereby maximise its usefulness and profitability. With Telecoms payloads based on traditional RF equipment, increase in capacity and flexibility has always translated into a more or less linear increase in equipment count, mass, power consumption and thermal dissipation. The main challenge of next generation of High Throughput Satellites (HTS) is therefore to provide a ten-fold-increased capacity with enhanced flexibility while maintaining the overall satellite within a “launchable” volume and mass envelope [1], [2], [3]. Photonic technology is a key enabler to tackle these issues. The use of Photonic technology in telecommunication satellites is a very promising technique to overcome the challenges to provide the capacity and flexibility to dynamically manage future telecommunication satellites payloads. The ability of Photonics to handle high data rates and high frequencies is critical in this scenario, with the added benefits of reduced size, mass [4], immunity to EMI and ease of harness routing (by using optical fibre). In addition to the above mentioned characteristics, photonic technology will allow multiple and simultaneous signal mixing in a single device, which enables the reduction of the number of required equipment. Photonics technology has already contributed to the revolution in Information Technology for terrestrial applications. However, a great deal of effort is required to bring these benefits to the world of telecommunication satellite payloads, as all of the photonics equipment used in space applications need to be adapted to endure the mechanical stress during launch and survive for at least 15 years in the harsh environment of a geo-stationary orbit (vacuum, thermal excursion, radiations). This paper describes activities and progress in the OPTIMA project. OPTIMA is funded by the EU commission under Horizon 2020, COMPET-2-2016, maturing satellite communication technologies.