Akoustis has shipped 3.6 GHz filter samples to its first Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) customer, against an order announced in August of 2018.
Akoustis previously announced the receipt of a purchase order whereby the Company committed to develop and deliver 3.6 GHz CBRS filters to the customer by the end of March 2019. With this successful delivery to the customer, the Akoustis expects to receive commercial orders for qualified products later in 2019, which aligns with the current roll-out schedule for CBRS infrastructure, which is expected by the industry to begin in the September quarter of 2019. Furthermore, the development of this 3.6 GHz CBRS filter is synergistic with the Company’s development of filters for 5G New Radio (NR) frequency bands residing higher in the radio frequency (RF) spectrum compared to 4G LTE.
This first CBRS customer is evaluating the 3.6 GHz filter for inclusion in customer premise equipment (CPE) targeting infrastructure. The filter was developed and manufactured in Akoustis’ Canandaigua, NY fabrication facility using its proprietary XBAW process. Akoustis was chosen for the development of this filter given advantages which include an ultra-small form factor, wide bandwidth, high-power handling, and surface-mount packaging.
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. Given the lack of micro filter solutions in the market that can target this frequency spectrum, CBRS represents another new opportunity for Akoustis using its proprietary and patented XBAW technology.
Akoustis has introduced several new filters over the past six months including its 5.2 GHz and 5.6 GHz WiFi co-existence filters, the 3.8 GHz filter for phased-array radar military applications and the Band 25 downlink and uplink filters for LTE infrastructure. The Company is also developing several new filters for the sub 7 GHz bands including multiple 5G mobile filters for the mobile device and mobile infrastructure markets, CBRS infrastructure market, WiFi device and infrastructure markets as well as military markets.
