Akoustis Technologies has received its first order from a US based CBRS customer for its RF filters supporting wireless networks and customer premise equipment (CPE). Under the new purchase order, Akoustis will develop and deliver 3.6 GHz BAW RF filters for the CBRS (Citizens Broadband Radio Service) band for testing and qualification. The company plans to deliver the filters in the first quarter of calendar 2019 and expects to receive commercial orders for qualified product later in 2019.
The new filter will be developed and manufactured in the company’s Canandaigua, NY fabrication facility using Akoustis’ new proprietary XB1 single-crystal BAW manufacturing process. The company’s single crystal RF BAW technology was chosen for this development contract over existing options due to the advantage of providing an ultra-small form factor, wide bandwidth, surface mount BAW filter solution that meets the higher power requirements and low insertion loss necessary for CPE systems. The customer is developing CBRS customer premise equipment but will evaluate the filter performance for inclusion in infrastructure equipment as well as CPE.
According to Jeff Shealy, Founder and CEO of Akoustis Technologies, USA’s CBRS market represents another untapped market for high-performance, high frequency BAW RF filters, and they are thus excited to take the lead in this developing market. The CBRS band will enable carriers, enterprises and others to deliver novel connectivity solutions and to enhance existing and emerging networks. This CBRS filter opportunity is synergistic with other 5G product developments at Akoustis and the company expects the filter market will be meaningful over the next several years.
The CBRS band consists of 150 MHz shared spectrum from 3.55 to 3.7 GHz that has been earmarked for access by the FCC. Initial deployments within the CBRS bands have been with LTE, with the expectation that most will transition to 5G cellular over time. The bands will enable existing carriers to provide last-mile data service and augment individual networks. In addition, it will enable enterprises to deliver campus-wide communications and create secure IoT networks. Since there are no other micro filter solutions in the market that can target the CBRS frequencies, it is a greenfield opportunity for Akoustis using its proprietary and patented XBAW technology.
