Hiltron Communications has finished a turnkey TVRO (Television Received-Only) satellite platform control system for Nilesat.

This installation is a an L-band-over-fibre integrated downlink which covers all satellites in the range of 30° west to 100° east and operates in C- and Ku- bands, simultaneously.

Hiltron’s HMCS monitoring and control application is designed to control all relevant satellite equipment in a master control room. Operators can control equipment from multiple vendors within a unified graphic display. HMCS also provides an SNMP interface to a high-level system. Advanced alarm message handling is included as well as the ability to select stored profiles, transponders and slots from a database.

The Hiltron HMAM is a complete high precision motorized satellite antenna mount for use in professional civil and military satellite systems.

Hiltron’s HMAM is a motorized satellite antenna mount designed for two-way satellite communication or receive-only downlink applications and can be used in a wide range of roles, including broadcast and telecommunication downlinks. An optional motorized feed changer allows the head to be moved quickly to a new position for switching between frequency bands. HMAM comes complete with professional-grade drives for azimuth and elevation plus a high-precision polarization drive. The combined head and drive form a three-axis motorized mount with more than 270 degrees of azimuth adjustment, 90 degrees of elevation adjustment range and fully adjustable polarization.

Nilesat's Head of Ground Segment Engineer, Osama Tantawy, said located at the company's ground station in Giza, the new downlink gives the firm the reliability and flexibility needed for backing up existing fixed TVRO antennas. Incoming signals from all antennas on the new platform, 32 feeds in total, are connected to the master control room via fiber-optic links. Hiltron has produced and integrated a complete solution, including its HMCS monitoring and control software. The company worked closely with the company from initial design directly through to factory acceptance test, onsite installation, commissioning and training. The project was completed successfully and on time, thanks to the experience and teamwork of everyone involved.

Hiltron Managing Director Antonio Monteverde added that the company is very pleased to have been selected to work with Nilesat on this project. The infrastructure Hiltron provided includes a 3.7 meter, motorized antenna, with a Hiltron HMAM motorized mount and Hiltron HACU antenna control unit, RF-over-fiber links from RF Design, plus an LNB power supply and L band switch from ETL.