VICTS evolves into smaller footprint

17th March 2021 - 16:27 GMT | by The Shephard News Team

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New antenna design offers flexible installation options for special-purpose aircraft.

ThinKom Solutions has developed a new variant of its Variable Inclination Continuous Transverse Stub (VICTS) antenna for the government and military BLoS SATCOM markets.

Limited low-rate production of the new VICTS antenna product is under way for a US government customer. Initial units are currently going through integration, with formal qualification scheduled to start later in 2021.

The company claimed on 16 March that the new development enables more flexible installation choices for satellite communication antennas and ‘smaller distributed and embedded phased-array applications’ on platforms such as special mission aircraft.

The new variant integrates the VICTS antenna, antenna control unit (ACU) and power supply (PS) electronics into a single low-profile, small-footprint package. This eliminates the need for a separate line-replaceable unit for the ACU/PS.

‘This new design is part of our strategy to become the preferred satellite antenna choice for smaller volume-limited and power-limited platforms,’ said Bill Milroy, ThinKom chairman and CTO.

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