Click on the advert above to visit the company web site

Product category: Antennas and Feeders
News Release from: ERA Technology
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial Team on 20 May 2003

Research aims to improve propagation

A team led by ERA Technology has won a one-year, GBP 0.5 million plus contract from the Radiocommunications Agency to evaluate affordable techniques for improving radio reception in buildings.

A team led by ERA Technology has won a one-year, GBP 0.5 million plus contract from the Radiocommunications Agency to evaluate affordable techniques for improving radio reception in buildings that currently block or degrade transmissions, including mobile phone signals The new study aims to devise inexpensive panels, based on technology known as frequency selective surfaces (FSS), that can be applied to existing buildings in the form of wallpaper, coatings on windows, as well as floor and ceiling tiles

It will also examine the possibility of incorporating FSS structures into the fabric of new buildings and could well influence future building regulations and standards.

Further investigation of a novel technique invented by ERA to bend radio signals around corners, up and down stairs and into basements by using a simple low cost conformal wall covering could herald a major breakthrough for in-building communications.

Current radio systems, including mobile phone networks, are designed to give coverage of the vast majority of building interiors despite blocking effects.

So if buildings can be made more transparent to the signals, it will be possible to use fewer basestations to cover a given area or to radiate less power from existing sites.

This, in turn, will reduce radio "pollution" and enhance spectrum efficiency.

In securing this contract, ERA, with its many years of experience in the design of frequency selective structures for military applications, has teamed with the Building Research Establishment, which will provide expertise on building construction.

Work will also be subcontracted to QinetiQ, which has developed a novel manufacturing process that could be applied to large-scale fabrication of conducting patterns on paper and glass.

Prof Ted Parker, from the University of Kent, a respected expert in the field of FSS technology, is also part of the team.

Dr Robert Pearson, Head of the ERA Antenna Systems business, said, "Potential uses range from helping emergency services to communicate in smoke filled rooms, to improving mobile phone coverage in large buildings.

This work was anticipated, at least in part, in Alexander Korda's classic production, 'Things to come', adapted from the novel 'The shape of things to come' by HG Wells, published in 1933.

This foresaw not only the widespread use of lightweight and unobtrusive apparatus such as portable radio, but also revolutionary new buildings.

Whilst its foresight in anticipating mobile communications was certainly remarkable, the development of new materials and buildings for the reconstruction of the fictional 'Everytown', has influenced architects and designers ever since.

Though it is far from clear that the exploitation of new technology will really take the stress out of our daily lives, as predicted in the film, this new research should make it easier to use a phone in large buildings and, in emergencies, make our lives a little safer.

ERA has a track record of innovative research and exploitation of new technology spanning almost 30 years and this work continues the theme".

• ERA Technology: contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Electronicstalk email newsletter
• Electronicstalk Home Page

Search the Pro-Talk network of sites

Put your news on Electronicstalk  |   Advertise  |   Get the free Electronicstalk newsletter  |   Electronicstalk Home
About Electronicstalk  |   Copyright © 2000-2008 Pro-Talk Ltd, UK