Having successfully completed NSF SBIR Phase 1, i5 Technologies, Inc. has now received the NSF SBIR Phase 2 award. For details, you may visit the NSF site.
i5 Technologies' mission in this project is to extend its revolutionizing intelligent MRA and MRA array technology to practical systems. i5 will continue developing and commercializing its MRA arrays for use in 802.11ac/ax WLAN (a.k.a. Wi-Fi) systems and 5G mm-wave systems based on 3GPP's 5G new radio specifications.
i5 Technologies, Inc. has been awarded the prestigious NSF SBIR Phase 1 award.
i5 Technologies' mission in this project is to revolutionize the 5G system performance to unprecedented levels with its intelligent MRAs and MRA arrays.
i5 high-gain directional antenna successfully tested
i5 Technologies' high-gain directional antenna boosted the Starix Technology's state-of-the-art Air-to-Ground wireless solutions for emergency health applications. A successful demo indicated an extended high-quality signal coverage distance of 1 km over a highly-mobile wireless access channel.
i5 Technologies and Starix Technology have engaged in a long-term project to develop i5 multifunctional reconfigurable antenna (MRA) systems targeting highly-dynamic air-to-ground wireless communication platforms.
i5's high gain antenna creates continuous connectivity and increased coverage for highly mobile air-to-ground communications.
i5's high-gain directional antenna (> 10 dBi)
Block diagram for Starix wireless solution employing i5 antenna technology
The locally collected data within the aircraft is forwarded to the ground station through i5's high gain antenna.
i5 MRA on Fox13 news
LOGAN, Utah – Researchers at Utah State University are working on a project to improve cell phone service and data streaming using a new type of antenna that can change its properties.
Bedri Cetiner is an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Utah State University, and he said they are developing smarter antenna technologies that offer improvements over the traditional set ups.
“The difference here is we have an antenna technology that enables a single antenna to dynamically change its properties,” Cetiner said. “Mainly, there are three properties: frequency, polarization, and radiation pattern."
The idea is that if a signal changes then the antenna can adapt itself to work best with the wireless channel.
"Chameleon is a reptile of which--skin is smart, so the chameleon is capable of dynamically changing the color of its skin in response to the changes in the environment that is living [in],” Cetiner explained. “You can think of our antenna same way. So, when changes happen in the channel, we respond to those changes by adapting our, skin color, let's say."
Cetiner said a chameleon adapts as a matter of survival, but these antennas would adapt for better performance.
He said: “The reptile of course does this to survive, right? But here, we do it in order for you to not lose your signal, to get better data rate, higher capacity, all [of] those."
A circuit board allows the antenna to morph its dimensions to better function with the varying signals. Tim Brenner is an undergraduate researcher on the project, and he said they’ve taken care to create a quality system.
“This is a cover that I 3D printed,” he said. “I modeled it in a CAD software, made sure all the dimensions were correct and then had it 3D printed. I did a little prototype thing, and cleaning up the thing to get the fit on there, but this now protects it from water, rain and that kind of stuff."
The goal of the research is to be able to maintain optimum performance at all times on all wireless devices. The project has attracted the attention of the U.S. Air Force, which recently gave USU a grant for $1 million to expand the research.