For Sivers Semiconductors, a company specialising in photonics and RF technology, the announcement that they had been chosen for to develop millimetre wave (mmWave) technology as part of a big project with a Tier 1 telecom company was testament to the 70 years Sivers has spent refining its technology. Vickram Vathulya, President and CEO spoke to IoT Insider about their expertise in this area, mmWave technology and what they were observing in the IoT space.
Founded in 1951 by an engineer, the company has shifted its focus in the last 10 years to what it is “best at,” according to Vickram Vathulya, President and CEO. This refers to their two lines of business: photonics, where they produce lasers, and wireless, where they produce mmWave and beamforming solutions.
Based on what Sivers has observed in the market, they’ve had to be selective in where they engage with their technology.
“There was a lot of excitement around 5G for several years,” said Vathulya. “Because beamforming technology is also applicable in cellular infrastructure, a lot of push from Sivers was finding these 5G sockets to go in. 5G was thought to be hugely successful for millimetre wave. That was the thesis.”
However, Vathulya said he saw the majority of 5G deployed in the Sub-6GHz space, which resulted in less traction for mmWave than hoped.
“There are a couple of areas within 5G for mmWave for 5G that are starting to show promise. Fixed wireless access is a key area where people think millimetre wave can do a better job than Sub-6GHz, but it’s yet to be proven,” Vathulya explained.
What is mmWave technology?
mmWave technology operates between 15 and 50GHz. It has a couple of advantages related to size and performance.
“What happens is, as you migrate higher in frequency, your ability to deliver higher bandwidth and capacity increases,” explained Vathulya, “because at a much higher frequency, even a fraction of that is a bigger bandwidth than at a low frequency. That’s number one.
“Number two, the higher in frequency you go, the more these components shrink in size because they’re related to the wavelengths associated with those frequencies … and as you go higher in frequency, the wavelengths are smaller which means you can deliver components at a much more compelling form package.”
This is partly being driven by the skyrocketing number of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites being launched with the hopes it will expand coverage and provide non-terrestrial (NTN) connectivity for applications that historically don’t get good coverage from terrestrial infrastructure. These satellites are shrinking in size, and therefore require components just as small. But the satellites are not alone.
“These ground units are increasingly mobile and they need smaller devices. These are all kinds of attractive traits for people to move towards mmWave in these types of markets,” said Vathulya.
An interesting use case for mmWave has been in electronic warfare. “A lot of the foreign nation threats have migrated in higher frequencies to avoid detection, so in NATO countries, in the US, they’re wanting countermeasures and higher frequency solutions.”
Telecoms contract
For Vathulya, winning the contract represents its tireless work into maturing its technology and proving the usefulness of their technology in target markets.
“A big tier one type customer saw the potential in our technology. A lot of conversations went on [about] how we could help them address a specific problem in telecoms,” he said. “We went out against bigger companies too, because the technology was attractive enough, the proof points were compelling.”
As part of the contract, Sivers will develop a beamforming transceiver for mmWave telecom applications, and will run until Q4 2026.
“We go up against big companies and small companies, and we have to hold our own,” Vathulya concluded, in an apt mission statement that characterises the company and its continued drive forward.
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