Dr. Piero Angeletti

The landscape of satellite communications is undergoing a dramatic transformation,
driven by the rise of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)
constellations like Starlink, OneWeb, mPower and Kuiper. These constellations and
their evolutions demand unprecedented flexibility and capacity, moving away from
traditional, fixed-beam architectures towards dynamic, software-defined solutions. At
the heart of this revolution lies advanced beamforming, encompassing analog,
digital, and hybrid techniques, enabling the creation and manipulation of hundreds,
even thousands, of simultaneous beams.
This lecture will delve into the cutting-edge advancements in analog and digital
beamforming for multibeam antennas (MBAs), focusing on its critical role in enabling
the agility and high throughput required by modern satellite systems. We'll explore
how advanced analog and digital beamforming architectures overcomes the
limitations of traditional approaches.
Key topics covered will include:
 The shift from analog to digital beamforming: Understanding the advantages
of digital processing in generating and controlling large numbers of beams.
 Architectures for high-density beamforming: Exploring analog, digital and
hybrid solutions, and their hardware and software implementations enabling
the creation of 100-200+ beams on satellite payloads.
 Advanced signal processing techniques: Discussing algorithms for beam
steering, interference mitigation, and dynamic resource allocation in digital
beamforming systems.
 Integration of digital beamforming with active phased arrays: Examining the
interplay between antenna elements, digital processing units, and
beamforming algorithms.
 Applications in LEO/MEO constellations: Highlighting the specific challenges
and solutions related to digital beamforming in these dynamic environments,
including examples from current and future satellite systems.
 Future trends and research directions: Discussing emerging technologies and
potential advancements in digital beamforming for satellite communications.
This lecture will provide a comprehensive overview of the theoretical foundations and
practical implementations of advanced analog and digital beamforming for multibeam
applications, catering to both antenna and microwave engineers, as well as those
involved in communication systems and signal processing
The material draws upon the speaker’s extensive experience and is informed by the
highly successful course co-instructed with Dr. Giovanni Toso on “Multibeam
Antennas and Beamforming Networks,” delivered to over a thousand participants at
leading IEEE conferences (AP-S, MTT-S, EuCAP, EuMW, etc.) over the past
decade.

Biography:

Piero Angeletti received the Laurea degree in Electronics Engineering from the
University of Ancona (Italy) in 1996, and the PhD in Electromagnetism from the
University of Rome “La Sapienza” (Italy) in 2010.
Since 2004 he is with the European Space Research and Technology Center
(ESTEC) of the European Space Agency (ESA), in Noordwijk (The Netherlands).
He has been recently appointed Head of the Secure Connectivity Space Segment
Office, with responsibility of the ESA design, development and deployment
activities related to IRIS2 (Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and
Security by Satellite) multi-constellations space segment.
His 25+ years experience in RF systems engineering and technical management
encompasses conceptual/architectural design, trade-offs, detailed design, production,
integration and testing of satellite payloads and active antenna systems for
commercial/military telecommunications and navigation (spanning all the operating bands and set of
applications) as well as for multifunction RADARs and electronic counter measure systems. This has been
acquired through direct industrial experience in several aerospace companies (i.e. Agusta-Westland, Thales
Alenia Space, Boeing, Elettronica, Airbus Defence & Space) in different job roles (research and development,
innovation, production, procurement, integration) and matured in the privileged position at the ESA, at the
cross-road of all major European developments.
In particular he oversaw ESA Research and Development activities related to flexible satellite payloads, active
antennas, RF front-ends and on-board digital processors.
Together with Dr. G. Toso he is the co-organizer of the EurAP-ESoA course on Active Antennas (2021, 2023,
2025) and instructor of the short courses on Multibeam Antennas and Beamforming Networks during
international conferences (which has been attended by more than on thousand participants).
In 2022 he received the S. A. Schelkunoff award by the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society for the best
IEEE TAP paper published in 2021, “Traffic Balancing Multibeam Antennas for Communication Satellites”.
Piero is an IEEE active member contributing to the various events/conferences with tutorials, invited/keynote
speeches, papers, special sessions and workshops’ organization. He has been appointed 2023 IEEE MTT-S and
AP-S Inter-Society Distinguished Lecturer by the Inter-Society Committee of the IEEE MTT and AP societies.