Carillon Technologies, a developer of advanced technologies that span commercial and government markets, announced a breakthrough in phased array antenna technology that promises to dramatically reduce the cost and complexity of satellite communication terminals. This achievement creates a path to mass adoption of broadband Direct-to-Device (D2D-HD) connectivity for smartphones, laptops, and other consumer devices.

Developed by Carillon's ReflecTek Inc. spinout, ReflecTek is a novel reflecting phased-array antenna technology (reflect-array) that eliminates all discrete components at the element level. With a manufacturing process based on standard RF printed circuit boards (PCBs) and liquid crystal materials, this technology enables scalable manufacturing without the cost and size constraints of traditional semiconductor-based phased arrays.

"This development advances Carillon's mission of bringing next-generation dual-use solutions to commercial and defense markets," said Dr. John D. Evans, Chief Executive Officer of Carillon. "Today, providing broadband connectivity to numerous devices in a geographic area is not technically or economically possible due to the cost, size, and power requirements of existing phased array antennas. By dramatically reducing antenna cost and complexity, ReflecTek™ technology promises to unlock mass adoption of broadband satellite communications by enabling direct integration of antennas with consumer devices such as smartphones and computers."

"This type of performance is not typically achievable with conventional phased-array design approaches," said Dr. John R. Sanford, Chief Technology Officer at Carillon. "Realizing a system that meets stringent requirements for cost, scalability, and beamforming performance simultaneously is extremely challenging. At Carillon, we combine advanced modeling, optimization, and machine learning techniques to explore a much broader design space and identify solutions that would be difficult to discover through traditional methods alone. The result is a practical architecture that enables high-performance, electronically steered connectivity at a cost point suitable for large-scale deployment." 

ReflecTek™ Key Technical Highlights

• Ultra-Low-Cost, Scalable Manufacturing: Built using standard radio frequency PCB processes and liquid crystal materials, eliminating all pick-and-place components at the element level and enabling production at nearly any commercial RF board house.
• Low-Cost Control Electronics: Can be controlled using inexpensive and widely available, off-the-shelf liquid crystal display (LCD) drivers, eliminating the need for specialized beamforming ICs.
• Dual-Band Capability: Demonstrated multi-frequency capability (e.g., 20 GHz and 28 GHz) within a single interleaved reflect-array antenna, enabling transmit and receive with a single aperture.
• High-Frequency Scalability: Inherently extendable to 100 GHz. Unlike semiconductor-based phased-array technology, ReflecTek™ antenna elements can shrink as the wavelength is increased. Since ReflecTek™ antenna cost scales with antenna area, and not number of elements, performance increases and cost decreases at higher frequencies.
• High Efficiency: Demonstrated efficiencies on par with current transmit phased-array systems with a clear path to integration with battery-powered devices.

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