Radio Frequency (RF) element provider SWISSto12 has been awarded a $10 million contract by an undisclosed European aeronautical OEM. Below the settlement, the Swiss firm will provide 3D printed RF gear to boost security at sea.
The parts will probably be produced utilizing the agency’s proprietary 3D printing applied sciences, together with its Radio Frequency Additive Manufacturing (RFAM) course of.
Based on Frank Schreckenbach, SWISSto12’s Chief Product Officer, legacy antennas are restricted by standard manufacturing and meeting constraints. 3D printing overcomes these points by producing extremely advanced, light-weight antenna designs that improve protection flexibility.
Compact and sturdy, the 3D printed RF parts are well-suited to harsh situations at sea.
“This introduces a brand new class of antenna efficiency which has broad advantages for security functions in maritime, airborne and floor environments,” added Schreckenbach.
This new contract follows the corporate’s current cope with Northrop Grumman Company to ship 3D printed RF antenna feed chains for the GEOStar-3 industrial satellite tv for pc program.
SWISSto12 claims to own the world’s largest 3D printing mental property (IP) portfolio for RF product functions.
SWISSto12’s 3D printed RF gear portfolio
Based as a spin-off from the Swiss Federal Institute of Expertise in Lausanne (EPFL), SWISSto12 presents a broad vary of 3D printed antenna programs. Specifically, it makes a speciality of high-performance RF parts for communications and radar functions within the aerospace sector.
The corporate’s journey into 3D printing started with stereolithography, which it used to make elements for radiofrequency parts. Now, SWISSto12 leverages steel additive manufacturing, notably powder mattress fusion (PBF), to provide waveguides, antenna parts, and arrays.
In a current interview with 3D Printing Business, Mathieu Billod, a mechanical engineer at SWISSto12, defined how the agency’s 3D printing strategy has yielded spectacular outcomes. He famous that consolidating assemblies and integrating capabilities into single elements has resulted in optimized efficiency and diminished prices throughout a number of initiatives.
In its partnership with Northrop Grumman, an American international defence agency, the corporate’s 3D printed antenna feed chains have been designed as absolutely built-in monolithic assemblies. Diplexers, filters, polarizers, horn apertures and mechanical interfaces have been 3D printed as a single piece, minimizing measurement and weight. This SatComm undertaking was the primary to be carried out by St12 RF Options Inc., SWISSto12’s newly included US Enterprise entity.
In 2022, protection big Lockheed Martin’s House unit chosen SWISSto12 to 3D print phased array antennas for future satellite tv for pc missions. Working with CAES (Cobham Superior Digital Options), the agency sought to make 3D printing extra simply accessible to US protection producers like Lockheed.
Within the undertaking, SWISSto12 performed the preliminary growth of the phased array antennas. CAES then manufactured the end-use elements at its 3D printing laboratory in Exeter, New Hampshire.
Equally, SWISSto12 delivered a ‘giant batch’ of 3D printed waveguide sign interconnects to aerospace producer Thales Alenia House in 2020. These parts have been used within the Eutelsat KONNECT Very Excessive Throughput Satellite tv for pc (VHTS) program.
The corporate leveraged its 3D printing and electroless plating to provide the waveguide parts. This reportedly enabled weight and price financial savings whereas enhancing RF efficiency.
3D printing enhances satellite tv for pc manufacturing
Given some great benefits of additive manufacturing when creating customizable, light-weight designs with advanced geometries, 3D printed satellite tv for pc antennas are rising in popularity.
3D printer producer 3D Techniques has beforehand partnered with Australian satellite tv for pc developer Fleet House to 3D print RF patch antennas. These have been designed for the latter’s Alpha satellites, and produced by 3D Techniques’ Utility Innovation Group (AIG).
The collaboration noticed AIG take Fleet House’s design to small batch manufacturing in simply three weeks utilizing the DMP Flex 350 steel printer. The 3D printed antennas have been essential to the satellites in Fleet House’s Alpha constellation, which launched into low earth orbit (LEO) final 12 months.
Elsewhere, the Portland State Aerospace Society (PSAS) 3D printed essential subsystems of the OreSat0 CubeSat satellite tv for pc, which launched to LEO in October 2023.
The subsystems included a deployer for his or her tri-band turnstile antenna, a star tracker lens and sensor meeting, and a compact battery pack. The crew leveraged a low-cost Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) 3D printer for prototyping, earlier than producing the parts from Windform LX 3.0 glass fiber composite materials utilizing Selective Laser Sintering (SLS).
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Featured picture exhibits the kind of boat that might undertake SWISSto12’s 3D printed RF antennas. Picture by way of SWISSto12.
