Mbryonics Ltd. is an independent Deep tech development company, based in Galway, Ireland, specialising in the design and manufacture of Optical terminals for Optical Intersatellite Links (OISLs) and Optical Ground Station (OGS) and adaptive optics systems. Technology leaders in the application of Freeform Optics for OISLs and Photonic Integrated Circuits in condensed packaging to enable PIC chiplet co-integration with electronics (ASICs/FPGAs) known as ‘co-packaged optics’ or ‘in-package optics’ for technology applications including: Intersatellite links, Telecom, Quantum Networks (QKD), Data Relay, Earth Observation and PNT Pointing, Navigation and Timing and Optical Feederlinks. Established in 2014, with almost a decade of experience developing high-tech solutions through integrated skills in the areas of ICT, photonics, optics, optoelectronics, adaptive optics and aerospace engineering, the team is ideally positioned to deliver advanced optical terminals and photonics solutions for a new era of proliferated space with the advent of mega constellations and a new market for space data over the next decade. Mbryonics are uniquely positioned with an innovative solution based on disruptive application of fibre-coupled free space optical communication (FSOC), silicon photonics and novel application of Additive Manufacturing of Freeform Telescopes and innovation in Assembly, Integration and Test (MAIT) which will overcome previous challenges for volume manufacturing of optical terminals. Mbryonics will utilise a Digital Twin to optimise MAIT and build lean processes to facilitate Sustainability objectives for 2030.

The RAVEN project aims to enable end users to have access to Real-Time Earth Observation imagery and data, whether they be on an aircraft, a sea vessel or in remote locations. Earth Observation is part of a €50 billion geo-information Services market and is used by various market segments, including agriculture, maritime, Oil & Gas, mining and government agencies. The continued unprecedented growth in the satellite-based Earth Observation (EO) market is enabling the imaging of the entire Earth on a daily basis, producing petabytes of data. Copernicus, the European Space Agency’s flagship EO programme, say they are producing more data than the amount of photos uploaded onto Facebook per day with their Sentinel satellites. Compounded with the emerging market of EO Big Data Analytics and Commercial Weather Data (from satellites) forecasts there is an immediate need for Optical Feeder Links in this growing market to enable Real-Time access to this data. A Feeder Link is the connection between a ground station and an Earth Observation/telecommunication satellite and forms the backbone for sending and receiving data such as internet traffic. Current Feeder Links use Radio Frequencies, which is already causing a significant communication bottleneck and potentially limiting the growth of the overall EO market. Optical Feeder Links, which are currently non-existent, offer terabits/second data throughput, are secure from jamming and interception and offer unregulated use. This would greatly benefit communication satellites, such as the European Data Relay System to deliver Sentinel EO data in Real-Time for its growing user base and Value Added Services market sector. mBryonics has developed a complete Optical Feeder Link system which is designed for SwaP-C (Size, Weight, and Power and Cost), industrialised manufacture and at a price point to meet the requirements of the growing commercial space industry and the rapidly growing small satellite market.

The ECO-eNET project will perform foundational research on emerging transmission technologies, to form a new confluent edge network that brings together optical and radio transport to scale to new levels of efficiency and capacity for 6G, by integrating confluent front-/mid-/back-haul (xhaul) with cell-free and distributed multiple-input multiple-output based access networks. The combination of photonic radio fixed wireless and free space optical transmission is used for fixed wireless connections, enabling the creation of an edge mesh network. New monitoring and slice-aware control protocols will unify the radio intelligent controllers with the transport software defined networking to efficiently deliver high-capacity flex grid wavelength multiplexed signals over standard single mode fibre and the fixed wireless links. Radio signals can be flexibly processed at different split phy points throughout the network or remain in analog radio over fibre format end-to-end. The unique ECO-eNET combination of wired and wireless transport is further exploited for wireless control of the wired network segments, enhanced clock synchronization, and optical space and wavelength switching, groomed over FlexE ethernet. AI layer controls are added to orchestrate the federation of edge processing and splitting of AI models for optimum efficiency in executing user applications and smart network control functions. The ECO-eNET project brings together an interdisciplinary team of industry and academic partners to explore the full potential of these important emerging technologies to support the capacity, ultra-high energy efficiency, low latency, and robustness needed in 6G networks.

A revolution is taking place in the field of satellite systems, as more satellites have been launched into orbit in the last 5 years then in the last 6 decades combined. The main reason for this is because satellites are now affordable to manufacture and the new generation of satellites orbit at much lower altitudes – sparking new opportunities in communications and Earth Observations (EO). The MWP4SPACE IDN will train the next generation of specialists in Integrated Microwave Photonic (IMWP) devices and systems in the framework of satellite and space applications. They will gain skills to integrate compact photonic and radio frequency (RF) circuits, and cutting-edge knowledge of photonic integrated circuit (PIC) design, fabrication, packaging, validation and qualification both at the device and system level – competences for which there is a fast-growing demand in the global satellite industry, but that are rarely taught in an integrated training program. Importantly, those skills are deemed essential to achieve the scientific goals of the program, which are to develop, introduce and promote IMWP technologies for secure and reconfigurable networks of LEO- and MEO satellites for telecommunications (SATCOM) and EO. MWP4SPACE will offer a unique education program for 15 young researchers structured in research projects and network-wide training activities and delivered by 6 European Universities, 1 non-profit academic research institutions and 9 companies which are world-class references in both photonics and space technologies. By positioning MWP4SPACE DCs as key actors in the transfer of knowledge developed for terrestrial applications to space applications, our training network will significantly contribute to their employability by placing them as future leaders in the next generation of SATCOM and EO technologies.

STARLight is a major opportunity to establish Europe at the forefront of 300mm Silicon Photonics (SiPho) innovation and thus “Solidify the European photonics ecosystem and accelerate its industrial deployment”. The main STARLight vision is to contribute to European sovereignty relying on the achievement of an efficient and resilient ecosystem and a sustainable society by driving excellence and innovation in the implementation of 300mm silicon photonics manufacturing capacity in Europe (STMicroelectronics, France). The main STARLight goals are: -To offer Europe a realistic solution ensuring its independency on the sourcing of SiPho and other needed optical module compounds (EIC, laser), based on a true European end-to-end value chain, tailored to the global market. -To give Europe the opportunity to move forward with industrial and academic players by joining in the risk-taking necessary for the growth dynamics of SiPho optical modules in Europe, addressing applications such as Data Centers including Hyperscalers, Artificial Intelligence, Telecom, Automotive Lidar, Inter-Satellites communication. -To expand the European photonics technology platform family in terms of accessibility, upscaling and high yield, packaging assembly and providing modelling tools to converge on a mainstream simulation flow. -To be ready for future applications with 200 GBaud (400 Gbps PAM4/lane) by leveraging leading-edge SiPho technology innovations using the integration of heterogeneous non-silicon materials. -To demonstrate the benefit of SiPho optical modules sustainability, providing a better energy-saving, reliability, limited usage of copper and aluminium materials, and reducing the usage of polluting material and water. The STARLight project makes it possible to promote a concept of collaboration, which is based on an ecosystem bringing together the various actors of the supply chain ranging from the technologies, the circuits providers to the manufacturer of modules and systems.