Hatfield, UK – 13 April 2016 – Antenova Ltd, manufacturer of antennas and RF antenna modules for M2M, has expanded its design and development facility in Taipei’s technology quarter Nei Hu District, Taiwan. This is in direct response to the increasing demand from customers for antennas for M2M and IoT applications.
Antenova’s engineering resources cover the USA, Europe and Asia, with a specialist RF team in Taipei leading the company’s antenna design and development operations. As well as designing the company’s antennas, the same RF engineers also provide support to Antenova’s customers, assisting by providing antenna integration and matching services throughout the entire design process. This work has increased since 2015 when Antenova introduced three new families of antennas manufactured from new materials, and increasing numbers of customers began to use these antennas in their designs.
The new product families are: lamiiANT SMD antennas for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, ZigBee, Cellular and GNSS, manufactured from dielectric constant laminate substrates, ceriiANT ceramic antennas scaled down for small connected devices, and flexiiANT, FPC (flexible printed circuit) antennas which can be folded and inserted within an electronic device.
Antenova’s Director of Antenna Design, Chris Tomlin explains: “The new families of antennas are more suitable for today’s devices and co-exist well with other major components. However, our customers don’t always have their own test equipment or may be integrating an antenna for the first time, especially if it is a new IoT application. We provide architecture and Gerber reviews, passive and active testing, OTA (Over the Air) testing and SAR, which are all extremely important, especially when a customer’s product requires network approval, so we have expanded our anechoic chamber and test and measurement facilities in response to the demand for these services.“
The expansion of Antenova’s engineering facility in Taiwan follows the opening of a sales and support office in the Santa Rosa, USA, last year, where the building also houses an engineering laboratory which undertakes antenna testing and matching for Antenova’s USA customers who need certification for their antennas.
Antenova’s new families of antennas are being used in M2M and IoT applications such as healthcare, retail, smart metering, smart homes, wearable technology and automotive – all of which are using increasing numbers of wireless and remote controlled devices.
Antenova’s CEO, Colin Newman adds: “Analysts predicted fast growth in the M2M and IoT markets, and Antenova is growing consistently as sales of our antennas increase. Our new flexiiANT FPC antennas are particularly popular, as they are easy for customers to integrate, and they shorten the lead times for a new wireless design. We are constantly developing new antenna solutions as novel uses emerge for them in M2M and IoT, and we have a lot more planned for this year.”
