Arralis, one of the leading Irish tech manufacturers, has entered into a €400k research development agreement with Tyndall National Institute, to develop next-generation mmWave fabrication technology for use in applications such as autonomous vehicles, satellite communications, 5G and radar imaging. Tyndall is a leading European research center in integrated ICT (Information and Communications Technology) materials, devices and systems.
Welcoming the collaboration and investment, Tyndall’s Senior Staff Scientist Dr James Rohan said they are delighted to work with Arralis on this exciting project which combines Tyndall’s micro-fabrication expertise in thick-film electrochemical simulation, processing, integration and testing with the design capabilities of Arralis for the rapidly developing mmWave device market.
Supported by Enterprise Ireland through the Innovation Partnership program, the development of new Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits (MMICs), is vital given the growth of data-centric traffic, increased demands on our current communications networks and future Internet of Things (IoT) application requirements including autonomous vehicles and satellite communications.
As autonomous vehicles require unimpeded data access to connected vehicles, Ka and W band wireless communications are essential. Ka band supports high data rates, device connectivity, data collection and traffic handling capacity at lower latency than current technologies, leading to the expectation that 5G will be up to 60 times faster than 4G networks.
The combination of world-class research at Tyndall, and market leading manufacturing expertise of Arralis should ensure that this will be a highly effective collaboration as well as a timely one, given the proposed testing of autonomous vehicles on Ireland’s road infrastructure in the coming years. Tomorrow’s cars will be computers on wheels and will require Ka band mmWave technology to simplify and support the communication protocol between the car and its environment. Arralis is a leader in the field of mmWave design and together with Tyndall, will accelerate innovation in this and other areas.
