Keysight and CesiumAstro Accelerate Space Communications Validation

As satellite communications systems grow more complex, validation infrastructure must keep pace. CesiumAstro designs and builds active phased-array communication systems for satellites, aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and other platforms. As demand increased, the company recognized that its test environment needed to evolve from development-focused benches into a production-ready, automated ecosystem built for precision, repeatability, and scale.

Because space offers no second chances, CesiumAstro places a strong emphasis on rigorous validation and mission-critical performance. To support this standard, the company partnered with Keysight to develop a production-ready, automated test ecosystem capable of supporting high-throughput manufacturing while maintaining precision and traceability. The result is a production-ready validation environment that improves measurement consistency, reduces manual overhead, and supports scaled delivery of high-performance communications platforms across space, air, and ground domains.

Keysight’s RF test platforms integrate advanced instrumentation, automated calibration, and modular switching to support mission-grade RF validation across CesiumAstro’s hardware. These systems enable precise measurement of complex RF behavior, including signal integrity, noise performance, and conversion characteristics. Supporting software provides signal generation, demodulation, and standards-based compliance testing, along with environmental telemetry capture and power analysis.

Through this partnership, CesiumAstro cut test software development time by 40% and completed three unique unit qualification test sequences in nine months. The company automated testing across a diverse product portfolio of modules in six months, deploying nine RF test stations within a year.