aXenic Modulators in Space Application
aXenic is pleased to confirm that its optical modulators are successfully being used in space. They are implemented in inter-satellite optical links in a low earth orbit constellation which have been operated since earlier last year. The deployment of the constellation continues.
Steve Clements, CEO of aXenic said:
“This marks the achievement of another key milestone in establishing our modulators for use in satellite applications and demonstrates their capability and performance in space. The combination of small size and weight and low power, together with their high bandwidth, means they are a compelling case for current and future generations of satellite based optical communications.”
Schools Visit
STFC Space Technology Applications summer school
In September, aXenic welcomed students from the STFC Space Technology Applications summer school as they visited the NETPark site. The visit aimed to give the students a chance to hear about the challenges of working in the space sector, as well as learn about some of the cutting-edge technologies that are being developed here at NETPark.
It was a fantastic opportunity to talk to the students about our company history and introduce them to our modulator technology, and we hope they enjoyed gaining some insight into what we do here at aXenic!
UK Semiconductor Strategy Published
aXenic welcomes the publication of the UK Semiconductor Strategy today, recognising the strength of compound semiconductors in the UK and their importance for the economic growth and wellbeing of the country. It recognises the strength of the North East region across its highlighted priority areas which provide the foundation for the aXenic business with its focus on design and its UK supply chain.
The strategy’s emphasis on infrastructure to catalyse growth is welcomed, for UK business and SMEs in particular. aXenic will press for focus on scale-up as the key step for building on the global excellence of many early-stage companies like aXenic that exist in the UK, which has proven to be the difficult area for UK industry in the past.
The strategy clearly and correctly focuses attention in the important area of scaling up compelling, world competitive, semiconductor based businesses and aXenic looks forward to participating in and advancing this strategy.
aXenic
NETPark, Co. Durham
Contract Announcement
aXenic receives substantial order for GaAs modulators for Satellite based Communications
aXenic have been awarded a contract for the supply of its leading IQ modulator product for a large satellite-based communication application. This will deliver more than 200 parts through 2023. The contract takes advantage of the space compatible technology of the aXenic products, using its gallium arsenide based devices for reliability and performance. It represents state of the art in terms of its use of bandwidth in a real space application, but the extended bandwidth capability of the device makes it of interest for the next two generations of satellite based optical communication.
Steve Clements, CEO of aXenic said:
“This most recent order for one of our world leading IQ modulator family of products marks another recognition of the capability and performance of gallium arsenide devices for space applications. It comes after several other orders and repeat orders, which demonstrate the increased interest from many leading satellite makers around the globe, for the use of our devices in current and next generation optical communication satellite networks.”
aXenic Presenting at Space Optics Conference
ICSO 2022 is the 14th edition of the largest meeting worldwide of experts working in all disciplines of Optical, Optoelectronic and Photonic Technologies for Space Applications. aXenic will participate in the session on Wednesday, October 5, 2022, 17.30-18.30 PM, with its paper Space Grade Gallium Arsenide IQ and Modulator Arrays for VHTS Photonic SatCom Systems.
North East Advanced Material Electronics
GROUP LAUNCHED TO BUILD ADVANCED MATERIAL ELECTRONICS SECTOR
aXenic is one of the founder members of a number of North East based companies working in advanced material electronics which has launched a cluster group at a national conference being held in the region.
The cluster of companies in the North East are developing exciting new forms of semiconductor technologies and applications used in many everyday items from sensors and imaging technologies for internet-connected household objects to satellite and mobile communications.
The sector is projected to contribute £447m Gross Value Added to the regional economy by 2026, with the potential to create and support around 4,500 jobs.
Steve Clements, aXenic Chief Executive Officer said: “NEAME will act as a single voice to work together in this sector and help address their main challenges and opportunities The North East is a remarkably innovative area for many leading companies like aXenic and NEAME seeks raise the profile of the region’s competencies and aid the growth of the cluster members.”
Paul Howell, MP for Sedgefield who officially launched the group said: “The North East continues to pioneer and develop new technologies that can have a huge impact on a global scale. The formation of NEAME highlights the strength of the region’s growing advanced material electronics sector and presents an opportunity to develop the skills and the jobs of the future, establishing the North East as a global hub for this technology.”
NEAME was launched as part of NMI (National Microelectronics Institute) national conference, which was being held at Ramside Hall. During the last 25 years NMI have supported the semiconductor design, manufacturing and supplier communities adding value through collaboration, networking and knowledge sharing.
Details of NEAME can be found on their website including how to join the network at www.neame.org.uk
Other founding companies in the cluster are: Evince, Filtronic , Inex, Isocom, Kromek, Pragmatic, Viper RF and II – VI.
ISO9001 and Cyber Essentials
aXenic achieve accreditation
Once again aXenic has achieved full accreditation to the ISO9001:2015 standard following audits with SGS as our accreditation body. This has also been supplemented by meeting the requirements of Cyber Essentials to demonstrate our ability to operate with good practice with regards to information security. These measures help us assure security to operate with our partners, both customers and suppliers, as our business continues to grow across our target markets.
More information, and a link to the accreditation certificates, can be found on the accreditations page
European “Flexible-HTS” project launched
A European R&D project increasing the maturity (TRL) of space grade photonic components for the next generation of flexible high throughput satellites
aXenic is pleased to announce the launch of PhLEXSAT (Photo-Digital Channelizer for Flexible Digital High Throughput Satellites) a 30-month EC-funded H2020-SPACE R&D project which started on 1st November 2020. aXenic will receive funding of nearly €400k over the period of the project.
Photonic technologies are key enablers to satisfy the requirements of future Terabit/s communication satellites. PhLEXSAT will increase the maturity level of several key photonic devices and modules to TRL5, designing, fabricating, and testing 1) Photonic sampler, 2) ultra-low jitter photonic clock for precise sampling, 3) Photonic-assisted ADC and DAC for digital channelizers for up to W-band operation and 4) onboard digital processing firmware. Miniaturization will be achieved by fabricating and integrating a Mach Zehnder Modulator photonic integrated circuit (PIC) and high-linear photodiode PIC with electronics in the photonic ADC and DAC components.
PhLEXSAT brings together a team of leading European innovators with complementary expertise in commercial satellite operation, photonic satellite payload design, electronic and photonic integrated circuit design, optoelectronic assembly, and packaging. The consortium members are DAS Photonics (Spain), MDA Space and Robotics (UK), aXenic (UK), Fraunhofer (Germany), Argotech (Czech Republic) and Eutelsat (France).
aXenic modulator used in Breakthrough Ultra-High-Speed Demo
- published in ECOC2020 post-deadline paper
In a Post-Deadline paper at the foremost European Conference on Optical Communications in Brussels it was highlighted that our QPSK modulator (aXSD2050) had been critical in a breakthrough ultra-high-speed transmission experiment to achieve 220GBaud. The authors, based at Huawei’s Munich optical network team, stated that this was a world first, beating previous best of 95GBaud in commercial products and 192GBaud in previous academic research. Our congratulations to the team for achieving this result.
The experiment took advantage of the outstanding high bandwidth of our modulator which was shown to achieve close to 50GHz in a 3dB bandwidth. The stable operation of the modulator makes it an excellent option for achieving the highest transmission speeds and has attracted great interest amongst our customers.
Huawei’s paper is published here and the paper was SC5 PD24 presented at ECOC 2020 in Brussels.
European “Photonic-VHTS” project launched
A European R&D project developing space photonic components for the new telecom satellite generation
aXenic is pleased to announce the launch of SIPhoDiAS (Space-grade Opto-electronic Interfaces for Photonic Digital and Analogue Very-high-throughput Satellite payloads), a 3-year EC-funded H2020-SPACE R&D project which started on 1st January 2020. aXenic will receive funding of €400k over the period of the project.
SIPhoDiAS is focusing on the development of space-grade opto-electronic (O/E) modules and sub-systems for next generation, very high throughput telecom satellites (VHTS). The O/E interfaces developed by the project are digital transceivers, analogue photodetectors and modulators which are deployed in the highest volumes and are used to interconnect equipment at the edge and within the satellite payload. SIPhoDiAS targets the development of this space photonic component generation by leveraging reliable manufacturing, assembly and packaging technologies that exist within Europe. The project drives its component design around the upgrade of opto-electronic performance and the shrinking of size and power consumption. The component functional performance will be demonstrated through their integration into digital processor and analogue photonic-RF conversion sub-systems. Reliability will be demonstrated through a rigorous validation test campaign.
aXenic contributes high bandwidth optical modulators as arrays, for global leading performance in terms of size weight and power for satellite compatible optical networks.
SIPhoDiAS brings together a team of leading European innovators with complementary expertise in electronic and photonic integrated circuit design, optoelectronic assembly and packaging, system integration and space qualification testing. The consortium members are: ALBIS Optoelectronics (Switzerland), ALTER Technology (Spain), ALTER Technology (UK), IHP Microelectronics (Germany), LEO Space Photonics R&D (Greece) and Thales Alenia Space (France).
More information on this project is available at:
New Publication
Optical and Wireless Convergence for 5G Networks
Chapter 2 of this book summarises the work of the EU Seventh Framework project IPHOBAC-NG and is written by members of the project consortium, including aXenic’s Rob Walker and Steve Clements. This chapter describes the development of enabling technology leading to a successful field trial of an E-band (71-76GHz) hybrid fiber/wireless link, for which aXenic developed specialised Single Sideband (SSB) modulators antecedent to the current aXSD2050 IQ product.
Optical and Wireless Convergence for 5G Networks
Edited by
Abdelgader M. Abdalla, Jonathan Rodriguez, Issa Elfergani, Antonio Teixeira
John Wiley & Sons, August 2019
The book can be previewed on Google Books
UK Space Conference
aXenic Presents
In September 2019 aXenic presented at a Showcase event during the UK Space Conference held at the International Convention Centre in Newport, Wales. Rollo Hutson described an 8 week intern project he carried out at aXenic this summer investigating methods of extending the temperature range of aXenic’s Gallium Arsenide optical modulators. aXenic’s modulators already operate over a wide temperature range but some space applications require further extending the operating temperature to temperatures as low as -45C.
Rollo’s work investigating methods to deliberately apply controlled stress to the chip to compensate the thermal stress added at low temperatures showed up very promising routes for further investigation.
Rollo joined 48 other interns at the showcase event who were funded by the UK Space agencies SPIN intern scheme, to share their experiences of working in the space sector.
Seraphim Space Camp
New Graduates
aXenic has just graduated from Seraphim Space Camp. The only hardware based company to be selected for this years cohort, aXenic pitched our story - Transforming high capacity data links for satellite communications - at Seraphim Capital, London during June.
Europas Finalists - June 2019
Techcrunch Europas Spacetech Finalists
aXenic have been selected as finalists in this years Europas event
in the SpaceTech Startup category.
Find out more at the Pathfinder site
Innovate UK win - May 2017
aXenic and Optocap partner to develop Innovative Low Loss Microwave Interconnect for GaAs Modulators
aXenic Ltd and Optocap Ltd have won a competition for a 12-month collaborative research project awarded by Innovate UK under the recent Compound Semiconductor Applications fund.
The aim of the Innovate UK fund is to speed up the use of compound semiconductors in areas such as power electronics, RF/microwave, photonics and sensors.
In this project: the partners aim to develop a novel low loss microwave interconnect assembly process, so as much of the intrinsic compound semiconductor chip performance can be achieved in the packaged module as possible. The new assembly process is expected to be applicable to a wide range of compound semiconductor devices and not just the high-speed photonic modulators based on Gallium Arsenide produced by aXenic.
Steve Clements, CEO of aXenic, commented “the new assembly process will allow us to realise optical modulators with reliable broadband performance above 50GHz, which compares to constraints of around 40GHz with conventional processes”. Such high performance, high reliability optical modulators are required for demanding applications in satellite communications and in aerospace markets where photonic systems are prized for their high bandwidth, small size and lower weight than conventional electronics.
aXenic have extensive experience in GaAs optical modulators which they have developed over many years for application in fibre optical telecommunication systems. aXenic currently offer a range of optical modulators for digital communications and RF over fibre.
Optocap Limited, owned by the Alter Technology Group TUV Nord S.A.U., is a technology oriented company active in the field of optoelectronics & microelectronics package design and assembly services. Optocap offer a full design and assembly of custom Photonic products and is experienced in harsh environment applications, specifically the Space sector. Optocap has 34 staff all based at the Livingston facility in the UK.
Innovate UK is the UK’s innovation agency. It works with people, companies and partner organisations to find and drive the science and technology innovations that will grow the UK economy. For further information visit: www.innovateuk.gov.uk
News article
24th Nov 2016
From the Northern Echo:
A thriving technology cluster has developed in Durham in recent years and it is the strength of that like minded community which has been key to the success of aXenic, a company producing high-speed modulators for the telecoms markets.
Farnborough Air show 2016
22nd June 2016
aXenic exhibiting at the Farnborough International Airshow
aXenic will be presenting their GaAs optical modulator technology and products in collaboration with the North West Aerospace Alliance in Hall 1 on Stand B140 from the 11th to the 17th of July 2016. Please come by our booth to discuss your needs based on our standard products or any custom requirements you may have for radio over fibre or optical communication and networks in space and aerospace applications.
ECOC 2016
24th Sept 2015
aXenic will be represented at ECOC.
One of our devices will be demostrated on the Tektronix stand (Stand 435)
Bibliography
A little Light Reading
A more detailed description of GaAs modulators and their properties has been published by Rob Walker of aXenic in a recent book: Broadband Optical Modulators.
This is a link to the book in the Google books project