EmTroniX is designing and producing advanced electronics and embedded software for the New Space industry. Using state-of-the-art components, their engineers are able to offer the most objective and cost-effective solutions to all customers’ technological needs.
The company has the significant advantage of gathering in-house all the skills and experience required to handle different technical aspects of engineering development projects.
With a strong orientation in Radio-Frequency (RF) & Telecommunication domains, EmTroniX is developing products based on FPGA and is implementing complex Digital Signal Processing (DSP) systems.
EmTroniX is also producing their own space products in Luxembourg as On-Board Computer, Software Defined Radio, LNB, LNA, Power Amplifier and even more to come.
Interview with Cedric LORANT, CEO of EmTroniX.
Easy Engineering: What are the main areas of activity of the company?
Cedric LORANT: The (New) Space industry represents more than 90% of EmTroniX’s business. Coming from the automotive industry, we have a strong know-how in developing reliable and state-of-the-art electronics with COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) component.
We have currently 7 fields of expertise: Electronics, Software, FPGA, Mechanics, RF, DSP and production. This is the core of EmTroniX and by gathering all the competences together, we are able to offer a complete solution to our customer.
E.E: What’s the news about new products?
C.L: EmTroniX is currently at a corner stone of its development, we were a service provider for the Space industry and now we are becoming a product provider. The first phase has allowed us to deeply understand the need of the market and to be able now to create generic solutions that can be adapted quickly and at a lower cost to different missions and customers. Our latest development is our second generation of Software Defined Radio (SDR) product. This product will be release in 2024 and can be adapted to a customer payload. By using state-of-the-art components and having a design based on a powerful FPGA, we are meeting the New Space market requirements.
E.E: What are the ranges of products?
C.L: EmTroniX is developing products for the New Space industry. For now, we are focusing on the telecommunication and radio frequency payload market, but we are also developing part of the avionic of satellite like an on-board computer.
E.E: At what stage is the market where you are currently active?
C.L: More and more companies are entering the New Space market as the demand for highly reliable product with low-cost approach is booming. Nevertheless, the competences needed are very specific and the level of expectation very high, that’s why it is still considered as a niche market.
E.E: What can you tell us about market trends?
C.L: Payload and avionic product markets are growing fast and volume will increase over the next decades due to constellations or clusters launch of small satellites in variety of applications: Earth Observation, Communications, IoT/M2M, Security, Exploration etc.
However, due to the need for high-power processing, reconfigurability & autonomous operation in-orbit and high-speed data downlinks, and given the shortage of space frequency resources, they are still at an early stage of development. Furthermore, the satellite manufacturers and integrators are looking for highly reliable and profitable products. This means, they are looking for companies that have already developed successful payloads, products and have a recognised know-how. This is especially the case for high end SDR products that are one of the most useful and versatile systems for a variety of space missions and applications.
E.E: What are the most innovative products marketed?
C.L: That’s a good question as we have developed lots of products. Participating in the first private mission that was able to manage a moon fly by was quite innovative, as well as developing an on-board computer for a new generation of LEO (Low Earth Orbit) micro-satellite platform. But I would say the SDR we are currently developing is the most innovative one. Indeed, we have based our design on a multi-channel architecture with a powerful FPGA to give a high-speed & powerful signal processing capabilities to our product. This allows our product to have the ability to solve complex challenges imperative to meet today’s most daunting mission objectives e.g. Jura CubeSat radar payload for ESA’s Hera mission.
E.E: What estimations do you have for 2023?
C.L: EmTroniX confidence for 2023 is high and perspectives are promising. The company intends to develop its 2nd generation of SDR flexible payload with more bandwidth and power processing capabilities for civil and defence customers at an industrial competitive cost. Challenges ahead are in software complexity, vulnerability and power consumptions improvement.