User Terminal RF Systems Architect UT Modem Antenna - OneWeb Next

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We are looking for an RF systems architect to own the radio chain of Eutelsat's next generation LEO, multi-orbit and IRIS² user terminals, from the data converters of the modem SoC to the radiating aperture of an electronically steered array in Ku and Ka band. The centre of gravity of the role is the modem to antenna interface: the document that defines it, the budgets that sit behind it, and the discipline of keeping both consistent as two subsystems are developed in parallel by different organisations.

Much of the hardware is designed by external partners and integrators. Your role is to understand their designs well enough to own the outcome: to hold the RF budgets, to allocate impairments between the radio and the physical layer with our modem architect, to review and challenge what is proposed, and to accept it on measured evidence. You will work daily with the modem architecture and verification engineers, and you will be the RF counterpart in every technical review with our partners.

This is a founding role in a capability under construction. The budgets, the interface documents, the measurement plans and the review practices are still to be created, in a programme that moves at constellation pace. Regulatory conformance and type approval are handled elsewhere in the organisation, so the focus here is engineering performance rather than certification.

What you'll do

• Own the modem to antenna interface control document and keep it alive through the programme: digital and analogue signal interfaces, JESD204D/E lane rates, subclass and deterministic latency, analogue IQ alternatives, sampling and clocking plan, reference and 1PPS distribution, control and telemetry plane, beam pointing and beam switching commands with their latency, calibration data flow, gain and AGC partitioning between antenna and modem, power sequencing, and the thermal and mechanical boundary conditions;
• Own the end to end RF budgets and their traceability to service performance: G/T and EIRP at terminal level, noise figure and gain cascade, linearity and intermodulation, power amplifier back-off and efficiency, spurious and harmonics, image rejection and IQ imbalance, frequency and LO plan with spur analysis, and filtering and selectivity against adjacent systems;
• Own the phase noise budget across reference oscillator, PLL and synthesisers, converter clocking and SYSREF distribution, and translate it with the modem architect into its effect on carrier phase tracking, EVM and demodulation margin;
• Allocate the impairment budget between the radio chain and the physical layer, and arbitrate the trade-offs that follow: how much correction is done in silicon and how much must be paid for in hardware;
• Assess and challenge the electronically steered antenna design: array architecture and beamforming approach, element and array patterns, scan loss, sidelobe and grating lobe behaviour, polarisation and axial ratio, calibration strategy and its drift over temperature, pointing accuracy, beam switching time, and their consequences on link availability during satellite transitions;
• Review the modem module radio chain: transceiver and RFIC selection, up and down conversion, filtering, amplification, gain distribution and control range, converter interfacing, isolation and coexistence between transmit and receive, and layout and shielding constraints;
• Assess thermal, power and mechanical constraints as RF performance limits: dissipation of the amplification stages, derating, thermal drift of gain and phase, and their effect on the budgets under real operating conditions;
• Define the RF and over-the-air measurement plans, supervise campaigns run internally or in external facilities, and verify measured results against the budgets rather than accepting summary reports: conducted measurements, anechoic or near-field pattern characterisation, EIRP and G/T verification, EVM and spectral behaviour;
• Define acceptance criteria and milestone entry and exit conditions for RF deliverables, and lead the technical reviews with partners and integrators, arbitrating on measured evidence and analysis;
• Contribute to architecture and sourcing decisions: comparison of RF front end and antenna options, SWaP-C trade-offs, and the technical assessment that supports supplier selection and dual sourcing;
• Build the in-house RF competence: the budget models, the interface documentation, the measurement practice and the review discipline that the growing team will work by, and secure that partner know-how and data land inside Eutelsat in usable form.

Qualifications

• Engineering degree or MSc in electronics, radio frequency engineering, electromagnetics or telecommunications;
• 7+ years in RF systems or RF hardware engineering, with responsibility for the architecture or the budgets of a transceiver, radio front end or antenna subsystem taken to measured performance;
• Solid command of RF system budgeting: noise figure and gain cascade, sensitivity, linearity and intermodulation, dynamic range, EIRP and G/T, frequency and LO planning, spur and image analysis;
• Working knowledge of phase noise and jitter, their sources across oscillators, synthesisers and clocking, and their impact on modulated signal quality;
• Understanding of antenna fundamentals and of phased array behaviour: element and array patterns, beamforming, scan loss, sidelobes, polarisation and calibration;
• Experience working at the interface between RF hardware and digital baseband, including data converter interfacing, sampling plans and clocking distribution;
• Practical measurement experience: spectrum and vector signal analysers, network analysers, noise figure and phase noise measurement, and the hygiene that makes results trustworthy;
• Ability to build and maintain quantitative budget models in Matlab, Python or a system simulation tool, and to reconcile them with measurement;
• Experience writing and maintaining interface control documents, and holding two organisations to them;
• Proven ability to review and challenge a design produced by another organisation, and to substantiate a position with analysis or measurement rather than opinion;
• Comfortable building a capability rather than inheriting one: little existing tooling or process to rely on, decisions taken with incomplete information, and close daily work with modem architecture and verification engineers;
• Eligibility under applicable European and United States export control regulations;
• Fluent professional English.

Assets

• Experience in Ku or Ka band, in satellite terminals, gateways or payload equipment;
• Experience with electronically steered arrays: beamforming integrated circuits, distribution networks, calibration methods and production test;
• Familiarity with 3GPP non-terrestrial network operation, or with DVB-S2X and DVB-RCS2 waveforms and their RF implications;
• Experience with digital pre-distortion and power amplifier linearisation, and with crest factor management;
• Experience with GNSS reception and its coexistence with the transmit chain in a compact terminal;
• Anechoic chamber, near-field or compact range measurement experience, and over-the-air test of active antennas;
• Exposure to high volume hardware: design for manufacture, production calibration and test time, and cost driven component selection;
• Experience of mobility platforms and their constraints: vibration, environmental range and dynamic pointing;
• Experience of supplier technical assessment or due diligence on RF components and subsystems.

Where You'll Be:

Paris, London or Turin.

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This role is a Eutelsat job opening; all of our open roles are posted on the current OneWeb and Eutelsat websites. Please note that when you are applying, your application may be seen by both teams.