C-COM & NSERC toInvest $6.1m into R&D of Next Gen Mobile Antenna

January 10, 2017

C-COM Satellite Systems Inc.  announced that it is co-funding an Industrial Research Chair in Intelligent Antenna and Radio Systems for the next Generation Millimeter Wave Mobile Communications at the University of Waterloo.

The five-year project, co-funded by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and C-COM, goes to the Industrial Research Chair held by Professor Safieddin (Ali) Safavi-Naeini, who leads a team of researchers at the University of Waterloo, faculty of Engineering in the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The primary goal of the research will be the development of a new modular, low-cost, intelligent antenna for next generation of mobile satellite communications.   C-COM will provide total cash funding of $3,055,000 payable in installments until the end of 2020 which will be matched by NSERC.

C-COM will also provide $751,000 of in-kind support to the project. Under the terms of the agreement relating to the project, C-COM will own the intellectual property resulting from the research conducted.

“Our main objective has always been to deliver the very best in Canadian-made satellite communications technology to the world,” said Dr. Leslie Klein, President & CEO of C-COM Satellite Systems Inc. “C-COM and the University of Waterloo have had a long standing partnership to fulfill these goals and we look forward to working with them to create the most advanced next generation antenna systems for the global satellite marketplace.”

“Digital technologies are playing a major role in what many have referred to as the fourth industrial revolution,” said B. Mario Pinto, president of NSERC. “NSERC is proud to further drive innovation in wireless communications by supporting this research partnership in advanced satellite antenna systems. Dynamic collaborations between industry and academia are vital to transformative advances and breakthroughs in this field.”

Professor Safavi-Naeini is also the Director of the Centre for Intelligent Antenna and Radio Systems, and has partnered with C-COM in the patenting of modular scalable millimeter-wave phased array technology. “Once you have a low-cost, ultra-thin, light-weight, smart, and highly modular active antenna (intelligent radiating skin), you can have mobile high performance internet connection everywhere,” said Safavi-Naeini. “We have the potential to make this technology affordable and bring it to many parts of the world that have been left behind.“