Moscow – 07 November, 2011 – SITRONICS (LSE:SITR), a leading provider of telecommunications, IT and microelectronics solutions in Russia and the CIS, announces that the unique scanning millimetre-wave lens antenna for radio-link communication systems has been designed by the SITRONICS LABS R&D center.

An electronic beam-steering scanning lens antenna operating in the E-bands of 71 to 76 GHz and 81 to 86 GHz and intended for radio-relay systems, is without parallel in the world. The antenna has been designed by the radiophysics laboratory within SITRONICS LABS with the support of N. I. Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod. It is a dielectric lens capable of forming a narrow beam by focusing radiation from the primary antenna integrated into the lens end. The lens is made from an inexpensive and widely-used material of low density (to reduce weight), which ensures a stable signal in the millimetre band.

This antenna may be used both in existing and future radio-relay systems with no modification needed. Its uniqueness lies in its design allowing for the real-time automatic adjustment of the mutual orientation of the two antennas, which may have been upset due to vibrations of the supporting construction. With no automatic adjustment in place, such vibrations may impair the reception quality and reduce the wireless channel access. The new antenna offers electronic beam direction steering, or scanning, which is realised using no mechanical systems. Other advantages are the possibility of integration in any existing radio relay systems, the compact size and moderate price of the final product, which will definitely help promote the new product to SITRONICS's partners not only in Russia, but across the world.

"We designed a lens antenna that has huge market potential. Telecommunications operators are dealing with constantly growing traffic, while their existing equipment may fail them. To satisfy the needs of the growing industry, SITRONICS has created a product which is unique in many ways and thus attracts many of our partners and customers," said Mikhail Minkovsky, Vice President of New Technologies for SITRONICS. "We designed this lens antenna independently. We have already submitted application for an invention under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), which will allow us to reserve rights and get priority to the lens antenna itself, the system as a whole and the communication method it provides not only in Russia, but abroad as well. It's worth mentioning that the antenna was completely designed in Russia, by Russian experts, which is driving the research and development resources of our country. At the present time we are about to start testing new antennas in a mobile network, and upon completion of testing we will proceed to mass production and supply of these antennas to E-band radio relay line manufacturers. We are going to further continue research and development in the field of E-band equipment and will definitely get Russian scientists and engineers involved in these projects. 

SITRONICS LABS is an R&D centre created in 2008 by SITRONICS together with the Institute for Information Transmission Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Kharkevich Institute), which specialises in the research and development of fundamentally new technologies with good prospects. The radiophysics laboratory within SITRONICS LABS was launched with the support of N. I. Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod in 2009. It specialises in the design of new wireless communication systems, including next-generation extremely high frequency antenna systems.