Ekto Comms provides end‑to‑end space communication solutions, covering hardware and software across the physical, link, network, and operations layers.
Funding
Funding not disclosed
Founders
Product
Problem
Small satellite missions require reliable, low‑latency communication links that can operate across multiple frequency bands while providing detailed link performance data. Existing solutions often separate hardware and software development, leading to integration challenges, limited bandwidth flexibility, and insufficient diagnostics for ground operators. Additionally, testing and validating new radio hardware can be time‑consuming and error‑prone.
Solution
Ekto Comms delivers a complete, end‑to‑end space communications stack that spans the physical, link, network, and operations layers. The company designs and manufactures full‑duplex radios covering UHF, S‑band, and X‑band, supporting data rates from 10 kbps to 250 kbps with dynamic modulation and coding schemes. Custom link‑layer protocols expose real‑time metrics such as RSSI, packet error rate, and support packet fragmentation and Reed‑Solomon error correction. The radios run on embedded FreeRTOS for Cortex‑R4F, with Ethernet, SPI, CAN, and RF drivers, and integrate seamlessly with a software suite written in Python, C, C++, and GNU Radio. Continuous‑integration pipelines and Docker‑based deployment automate testing, firmware updates, and service orchestration, while metrics are visualized through InfluxDB and Grafana dashboards. This integrated approach reduces development effort, accelerates ground‑station integration, and provides operators with actionable performance insights.
Target Audience
Primary customers are small‑satellite operators and ground‑station providers such as Satlab, Gomspace, Astrodigital, and Satellogic that need integrated radio hardware and software for reliable uplink and downlink communications.
Features
- Full‑duplex radio hardware (UHF, S‑band, X‑band) delivering 10‑250 kbps with custom schematics, PCB design, and on‑site commissioning
- Embedded FreeRTOS firmware for Cortex‑R4F with Ethernet, SPI, CAN, and RF driver stack
- Proprietary link‑layer protocol offering real‑time RSSI, packet error rate, dynamic MODCOD selection, and packet fragmentation
- Custom PHY protocol featuring high‑autocorrelation start‑of‑frame detection and Reed‑Solomon forward error correction
- Software toolkit (Python, C, C++, CFFI, GNU Radio) for signal conditioning, USRP integration, and DVB‑S2 demodulation
- CI/CD pipeline with automated hardware testing scripts that generate diagnostic statistics for each board
- Dockerized services for scalable deployment and orchestration of ground‑segment applications
- Full‑stack metrics collection and visualization using InfluxDB and Grafana dashboards