Satcoms Innovation Group announced Winners of 2023 Awards

The Satcoms Innovation Group (SIG) has announced the winners of the prestigious 2023 SIG Awards. The awards celebrate the standout innovative technologies and solutions being delivered by individuals, companies, and institutions within the SIG membership. This year’s winners are: Ashram (Engineering Program Manager, Micro-Ant), Atheras Analytics’ SGD Design Tool,Digital Intermediate Frequency Interoperability (DIFI) Consortium, and Valentin Eder (Space Analyses). 

The categories were: Cooperation of the Year, Innovation of the Year, and Young Engineer of the Year.

Helen Weedon, Managing Director, SIG, commented: “This is the third year that the SIG awards have been running and, as usual, the high calibre of the entries has made it incredibly difficult for the board of directors to select the winners. The entries have each demonstrated tireless effort, bold vision, and an unwavering commitment to the satcom industry. Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to everyone who submitted an entry.” 

Digital Intermediate Frequency Interoperability (DIFI) Consortium has won the Cooperation of the Year award for its work in providing a simple, open, interoperable Digital IF/RF standard that replaces the natural interoperability of analogue IF signals and helps prevent vendor lock-in, thereby enabling the digital transformation of space, satellite, and related industries.

Atheras Analytics has won the Innovation of the Year award for its SGD Design Tool that applies AI and ML techniques to optimise the design of the ground network by mitigating the effects of adverse weather and ensuring maximum network availability. It incorporates hybrid Q/V-band/Ka-band network modelling and enables network designers and engineers to determine the optimum number and locations of gateways needed to meet specific network availability targets.  

Ashram, Engineering Program Manager, Micro-Ant won the award for Young Engineer of the Year for his work leading the development of the Iridium High Gain airborne antenna (Micro-Ant Airborne LeoDome). While working on the project, Ashram, who graduated in mechanical engineering in 2018, identified incongruencies in the integrated assembly then quickly resolved with practical solutions that would have been expected from someone with years of experience in the satcoms industry. 

The SIG Board also chose to award a special individual award to Valentin Eder of Space Analyses in recognition of his contribution to furthering innovation in satcoms. Valentin founded Space Analyses in 2014 to dig into the convergence of Big Data with the Space-Time Continuum, applying the results to domains such as Satellite Communication and Space Debris Management. 

Martin Coleman, Advisory Board, SIG responded “Valentin has been instrumental in developing unique holistic data analytic solutions for satellite payload and spacecraft operations. His highly important and innovative work has supported the industry to better understand and clarify situational awareness in both physical space and RF spectrum environments.”

A summary of the achievements of the winners and other shortlisted companies is available here: https://satig.space/the-sig-awards/