Northwood’s phased array antenna system, Portal used in recent tests. Photo: Northwood Space

Ground tech startup Northwood Space has tested its first production-ready phased array antenna system. Northwood announced Wednesday that its phased array antenna system called Portal has demonstrated delivering 1 kilowatt (1kW) of transmit power and receiving sub-picowatt signals within the same face. 

In the tests, Northwood validated antenna performance using public broadcast satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) for receive signals, and tested transmit signals in a lab.

“Importantly, we have validated that transmit and receive can be done simultaneously on the same face. This particular capability is also novel,” a representative for Northwood told Via Satellite.

Northwood says Portal is designed to support satellites in LEO, Medium Earth Orbit (MEO), and Geostationary Orbit (GEO), and for customers to be able to “maneuver in and between orbits,” with one ground system supporting many satellites. The faces can be arrayed in modular configurations to support higher power levels such as six- or eight-array configurations. 

The company explained that its network will be made up of multiple modalities, not just phased array. In this use case, one Portal system can replace multiple traditional 7.3 meter parabolic dishes, “at orders of magnitude lower cost and shorter time to deployment and operational capability,” the representative said.

In October of last year, Northwood deployed a prototype phased array antenna in a field test with Planet Labs satellites. The company says that Portal is “generational leap” over that prototype and operates at over 20 times higher effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP). Northwood reports that Portal was integrated at the company’s manufacturing facility in a five-day period. 

Northwood Space was founded by former Disney Channel actress Bridgit Mendler, is aiming to disrupt satellite ground infrastructure. The company recently raised $30 million in a Series A funding round in April, and now says it has multiple ground sites underway, with plans for global deployment starting in the fourth quarter of this year. 

“Portal is an exciting proof point for how Northwood can introduce critical capabilities to our ground network at a fraction of the cost and schedule of traditional standards,” Mendler said in a release. “This means that systems aren’t just deployed to the network rapidly the first time, but they can also be quickly replaced and reconfigured, so customers can stay connected and scale their operations as needed.”