RF Engines of the U.K. and a leading U.S. Defense Contractor, close major Pipelined Frequency Transform (PFT) design and licensing deal

Innovative PFT Signal Processing technology delivers performance advantageIsle of Wight, UK, 20^th May 2002 -- RF Engines Ltd. (RFEL) based in the U.K. and one of the leading U.S defense prime contractors, have announced the signing of a major modification and licensing deal for RFEL’s innovative Pipelined Frequency Transform™ (PFT) technology. The initial phase of the contract will be to modify the existing core technology to meet the demanding requirements of a next generation electronic system for defence applications. The second part of the contract licences the customer to use the design on a royalty basis. Whilst precise contract details cannot be disclosed due to the confidential nature of the project, based on projections for product deployment, the contract is valued at around $1.5M over a five-year period.

Initial collaboration work commenced in the summer of 2001 when a PFT software Evaluation Licence was purchased, so that a better understanding of the new technology could be gained and its performance could be modelled in the early system design. After U.S. State Department approval, the two companies entered a detailed technical dialogue, which culminated in the contract being signed on 4^th February 2002.

This news comes on the back of RFEL’s recent announcement of a UK government award to develop a tuneable version of the PFT and licensing deals with several other major companies. John Summers, RFEL’s VP Sales and Business Development, commented: “We are delighted to be working with another of the leading U.S. defense companies. This is yet another validation of our innovative technology that enables our customers to significantly enhance the performance of their designs in a number of major market areas. Due to the unique capabilities of the PFT technology, we were also able to save on high cost componentry, therefore saving real estate, power and cost. We are extremely pleased that, as a UK, advanced technology company, we are successfully expanding and winning even more significant contracts in the current economic climate.”

RFEL licenses its technology, called Pipelined Frequency Transform, in the form of IP blocks or “Engines” that are incorporated into chips to form single chip solutions for applications that require real time, simultaneous processing of a wide band of RF (Radio Frequency) signals. These include base stations, wireless and wireline broadband communications systems, satellite communications systems, test and measurement instrumentation, as well as defence and surveillance systems.

A spokesperson for the customer commented. “We are very excited to be introducing this new technology to our products. The unique features of the PFT have enabled a very power efficient and compact design to be achieved, which will lead to both system performance enhancements and reduced silicon costs to the benefit of our end users. We are obviously pleased to be sourcing the latest technology, in order to maintain our leading position in defense electronics.”

RF Engines
RF Engines Limited (RFEL) is a UK based designer of high specification signal processing cores, sold as intellectual property (IP) for inclusion in SoC and semiconductor devices in the defence, communications and instrumentation markets. More specifically it is a solutions provider for projects requiring complex front end, real time, wide and narrow band, flexible channelisation. RFEL provides a range of standard cores covering multiple FFT and unique PFT techniques, as well as design services for specialist applications.