ESA, EnSilica partner to enable resilient GNSS

In partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA), EnSilica, a maker of mixed-signal application-specific integrated circuits, will design and develop a key silicon component to enable resilient multi-band global navigation satellite system (GNSS) capabilities. These are vital to ensuring the world’s critical infrastructure and services remain robust and secure in the face of evolving global threats, according to the company.
The ESA NAVISP Element 2 program helps to increase the competitiveness of participating European states in the global market for satellite navigation and enables these countries to be positioned to capitalize on emerging market opportunities across positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) technologies and services.
“As we and our infrastructure become ever more dependent on PNT services in everyday life, it is important to have highly integrated, resilient and precise technology sourced in Europe and the UK,” said Paul Morris, vice president of RF and communications business unit at EnSilica. “This collaboration will allow us to accelerate such technology, starting with a next-generation radio design enabling our partners to focus on integrating their custom algorithms.”
EnSilica has a growing satellite communications market footprint and is working with support from ESA and the UK Space Agency (UKSA), with the latter organization awarding the company £10.38 million ($12.8 million) in February 2025 for a development project under its Connectivity in Low-Earth Orbit program. Part of the company’s expertise is in architecting and implementing systems-on-chip with high-performance RF, including mmWave, and complex baseband processing.
Ian Lankshear, CEO of EnSilica, added, “I am extremely proud of our team to have been secured this agreement under the ESA NAVISP Element 2. This project will enable us to further enhance GNSS technology and continue to develop commercial solutions that are critical for resilient and reliable satellite navigation. We are grateful for the ongoing support from ESA and the UKSA, and we continue to focus on PNT and the broader satellite communications market as a key growth driver of our business.”
Follow Us