{"id":91975,"date":"2026-11-10T01:11:31","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T17:11:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/swissto12-completes-critical-design-review-for-univity-5g-satellite-antennas\/"},"modified":"2026-11-10T01:11:31","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T17:11:31","slug":"swissto12-completes-critical-design-review-for-univity-5g-satellite-antennas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/swissto12-completes-critical-design-review-for-univity-5g-satellite-antennas\/","title":{"rendered":"SWISSto12 Completes Critical Design Review for UNIVITY 5G Satellite Antennas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">RENENS, Switzerland \u2014 <strong>Satellite payload developer SWISSto12 has completed the Critical Design Review (CDR) for the dual-band S- and Ka-band active phased array antennas destined for UNIVITY\u2019s 5G non-terrestrial network (NTN) demonstration satellites, the company announced on Monday, Nov. 9, 2026. <\/strong><\/p>\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"579\" height=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/satnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/swissto12_univity_antenna.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-127708\" style=\"aspect-ratio:0.9046851729778559;width:367px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/satnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/swissto12_univity_antenna.png 579w, https:\/\/satnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/swissto12_univity_antenna-271x300.png 271w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 579px) 100vw, 579px\"><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Passing the milestone clears the antenna subsystems for flight hardware production, advancing UNIVITY\u2019s planned constellation toward providing combined satellite broadband and direct-to-device connectivity from a unified spacecraft bus.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Shared Space Infrastructure and Spectrum Convergence<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The antenna systems form a core component of UNIVITY\u2019s uniShape demonstration initiative, backed institutionally by the French Space Agency (CNES) and the France 2030 investment plan. The mission targets a shared, neutral-host orbital infrastructure in very low Earth orbit (VLEO) that allows commercial telecommunications operators to deploy branded 5G broadband and direct-to-device coverage using their existing terrestrial spectrum allocations. The demonstration builds on early orbital validation conducted when UNIVITY launched its initial regenerative 5G payload aboard an orbital transfer vehicle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>HummingLink 3D-Printed Antennas and Beamforming Specifications<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Manufactured at SWISSto12\u2019s facility in Switzerland under its HummingLink product line, the dual-band suite incorporates vertically integrated radio frequency (RF) hardware:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>S-Band Direct Radiating Array:<\/strong> Operates as an active direct radiating array (DRA) engineered for direct-to-device connectivity, linking unmodified commercial 5G smartphones directly to orbital nodes.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ka-Band Direct Radiating Array:<\/strong> Functions at 26 GHz to deliver high-capacity user broadband services and feeder links.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Additive Manufacturing:<\/strong> Employs proprietary 3D printing to fabricate passive radiating front ends with integrated miniaturized, low-loss filters, paired with in-house beamforming printed circuit boards (PCBs) and digital control electronics, expanding on SWISSto12\u2019s additive manufacturing capabilities developed for sovereign and commercial payloads.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Hardware Production and Environmental Verification<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201c<em>Reaching Critical Design Review in less than one year was possible due to SWISSto12\u2019s proprietary and differentiated payload and antenna technology and a vertically integrated delivery model,<\/em>\u201d said Emile de Rijk, CEO and founder of SWISSto12. \u201c<em>It\u2019s a significant milestone for the program and the start of the next phase as we move into hardware production and an extensive verification and acceptance campaign.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With CDR approval finalized, SWISSto12 will initiate flight-model assembly and environmental acceptance testing ahead of UNIVITY\u2019s planned prototype satellite launches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>RENENS, Switzerland \u2014 Satellite payload developer SWISSto12 has completed the Critical Design Review (CDR) for the dual-band S- and Ka-band active phased array antennas destined for UNIVITY\u2019s 5G non-terrestrial network (NTN) demonstration satellites, the company announced on Monday, Nov. 9, 2026. Passing the milestone clears the antenna subsystems for flight hardware production, advancing UNIVITY\u2019s planned [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91975"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91975\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}