Millimetre-Wave Phased-Array Calibration Recovery Leader — Satellite Terminals

The mandate

The RF systems leader departed after outdoor terminals showed beam-pointing error, sidelobe excursions and link loss during rapid temperature change and partial element failure. Factory calibration passes at one thermal state, while firmware repeatedly retunes around package and antenna variation without preserving the underlying error. The interim leader must recover an explainable array calibration system without allowing field optimisation to conceal unstable RF hardware or measurement.

Nine months provide a fixed recovery window. The first six weeks secure unit genealogy, chamber and range calibration and field-failure evidence. Months two through five isolate RFIC, antenna, package, thermal and algorithm mechanisms and rebuild production calibration. Months six through eight prove mixed-lot and degraded-element operation. The final month installs a permanent leader and transfers operator, supplier and release decisions.

Handover is achieved when beam pointing, gain, sidelobes, polarisation and acquisition time remain within approved limits across temperature, scan angle and declared element loss for eight production weeks. The successor must chair one terminal-lot disposition, approve a calibration-model revision and defend residual link margin to the operator. Per-unit expert tuning and favourable range orientation cannot count as volume capability.

The leader may quarantine terminals, stop field trials, approve bounded calibration and firmware changes, allocate antenna-range capacity, direct supplier containment and commit EUR 4 million within the recovery envelope. They decide terminal readiness within approved radio and product specifications. Satellite-network policy, spectrum certification, customer service commitments, product pricing and long-term RFIC awards remain with accountable executives.

Excluded are redesigning the constellation, changing regulated emission limits, controlling live satellite beams, owning network capacity or replacing the full terminal architecture. The mandate covers array calibration, degraded operation and sustainable manufacturing test for the selected terminal. Public interference attribution, warranty settlements and operator commercial actions remain outside interim authority.

Why this seat is open

Large arrays turn small element, package and thermal errors into direction-dependent link behaviour that one factory calibration cannot capture automatically. The departure left hardware and firmware teams trading compensations without a common physical model. Temporary leadership can protect field trials now and leave a permanent owner with reproducible beam evidence across production variation.

What you will own

• Reconcile RFIC lot, antenna panel, package, thermal path, calibration file, firmware and field-test genealogy for each terminal.
• Separate gain and phase drift, coupling, element failure, radome effect, measurement error and algorithm adaptation.
• Build calibration models across temperature, scan angle, frequency, polarisation, ageing and realistic failed-element populations.
• Correlate chamber, near-field, far-field and live-link measurements using controlled reference units and uncertainty budgets.
• Redesign factory calibration for takt, observability, reference maintenance, bounded retest and predictive field performance.
• Direct degraded-array and recovery testing around acquisition, handover, link margin, interference and thermal transients.
• Transfer physical error models, production limits, field monitors, supplier actions and successor-led release evidence.

Candidate qualifications

• Led mmWave phased-array calibration or RF system industrialisation for satellite, radar or advanced communications hardware.
• Can evidence a field beam defect traced through element, thermal, package, calibration and algorithm interactions.
• Understands phased-array RF, antenna patterns, coupling, scan loss, polarisation, calibration and measurement uncertainty.
• Has converted range-based expert procedures into repeatable production tests and stable field behaviour.
• Directed RFIC, antenna, firmware and operator teams through shared unit genealogy and physical evidence.
• Developed a successor able to reject adaptive software that merely masks unstable hardware calibration.

Non-negotiables

• Will lead onsite in Madrid and attend all Barcelona and Toulouse range and operator sessions.
• Has personally released volume phased-array hardware across temperature and degraded-element conditions.
• Accepts no authority over spectrum certification, satellite control, operator capacity or customer commercial terms.
• Will disclose RFIC, antenna, test-equipment, satellite-operator and terminal-vendor relationships before appointment.

1. 49 words maximum. Which phased-array field defect remained invisible during nominal factory calibration?
2. 49 words maximum. How would you distinguish adaptive correction from concealment of unstable RF hardware?
3. 49 words maximum. What must the successor prove before releasing a mixed terminal lot?