9/3/2003 9:36:00 AM
BOTHELL, Wash.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Sept. 3, 2003–Microvision, Inc.
(Nasdaq:MVIS) and Lumera Corporation, its majority owned subsidiary,
announced today that it has demonstrated two technologies that it
believes may form the basis for a family of unique “smart” antennas
that can address a broad range of wireless network applications
including both “Wi-Fi” 802.11b and “Wi-Max” 802.16 wireless Internet
access.
The company says that it has demonstrated an innovative antenna
design using proprietary patch array technology to form single beam or
multi-beam disbursement patterns. According to Lumera, the compact
antenna — measuring about 3 inches on a side and 1/4″ in height — is
very versatile and can support low power applications such as Wi-Fi,
as well as applications that require up to 10 watts.
The company says that it has also demonstrated major advances in
the design of proprietary polymer-based radio frequency (RF) phase
shifters that can result in dramatically reduced cost and power
consumption for smart antennas — potentially key enablers for the
most cost sensitive wireless Internet applications.
According to Tom Mino, Lumera’s CEO, the company plans to couple
the two developments in order to develop low-cost smart antenna
products that can address emerging requirements in a variety of large
and growing markets for wireless communication systems.
“Wireless network bandwidth can be highly sensitive to antenna
placement or positioning,” offered Mino. “A network with its
antenna(s) improperly positioned may have difficulty carrying
high-resolution video and digital audio reliably, whereas the same
network with just a minor change in the antenna position could carry
such media rich streams flawlessly. Smart antennas improve signal
quality and range and can improve bandwidth availability and network
coverage by electronically steering and/or shaping the antenna pattern
to more precisely aim it where it is needed.”
The technique can be applied in all manner of RF communication
ranging from satellite communication to GPS to cellular telephone
networks and Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) such as Wi-Fi.
Wireless Ethernet or “Wi-Fi’ has taken hold as a standard for
wireless broadband access to the Internet. When a computer equipped
with a Wi-Fi card comes within range — usually 100 feet or so — of a
Wi-Fi access point it can access the Internet with the same kind of
broadband performance as a hard-wired broadband network or up to 11
megabits per second. Wi-Max is a next generation wireless standard
that promises to increase available bandwidth up to 70mbps and to
extend broadcast range up to several kilometers to enable wireless
Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs).
The market for Wi-Fi equipment has experienced strong growth
during the last two years as companies and individuals have installed
wireless infrastructure in homes, office buildings, retail locations
and public places in order to enable low-cost (and in some cases free)
wireless broadband access to the Internet.
According to a recent issue of Business Week, “Wi-Fi spending on
hardware and subscriptions is expected to reach $3.4 billion this year
and is growing at a 30% clip. Network buildouts over the next two
years will chip in $8.2 billion more.”
Research analysts at the Gartner group say that by 2006, there are
expected to be 89,000 public Wi-Fi network access points and more than
99 million Wi-Fi users worldwide.
Consumer electronics makers and cable operators have been eyeing
the rise of Wi-Fi as well with plans emerging for Wi-Fi enabled
televisions, monitors and game consoles as well as handheld devices
that could all be connected with a single high-speed Internet
connection. Analysts at Allied Business Intelligence expect that by
the end of 2008 there will be over 80 million wireless enabled video
and host devices.
Wi-Fi has appeared in three major markets: residential, enterprise
and public “hot-spot” networks that are owned and operated by third
parties. Lumera says that smart antennae are likely to be increasingly
important in all three of these segments, because they can potentially
increase network reliability — critical for high-bandwidth audio and
video content — and because they can allow for either automated or
remotely-controlled optimization of network performance. Such
characteristics are key to making sure that networks are user-friendly
and to controlling the cost of operating and maintaining such
networks.
In February of this year Lumera first demonstrated an RF phase
shifter based on its proprietary electro-optic polymer technology.
This device allows the RF beam of an antenna to be steered and/or
shaped in order to more precisely aim it. The low voltage required to
drive Lumera’s proprietary polymer components enables the design of
phase shifters that feature fully integrated electronics and allow for
the elimination of expensive and bulky power supplies.
The company says that its phase shifters have consistently
demonstrated very high quality beam steering with extremely linear
response. However, the company’s latest designs exhibit dramatic
improvement in angle, shifting through as much as 120 degrees — as
compared to the 45 degrees previously attained — using only 20 volts
of power.
The newest Lumera designs also make innovative use of readily
available printed circuit board technology, enabling the antenna to be
produced at a dramatically reduced cost. As a consequence the company
says that it can now focus on more cost sensitive high volume markets
that are experiencing impressive growth.
“This is a very promising product direction for Lumera,” said
Mino. “With our most recent development, we now believe we have the
ability to design and build antenna systems that can deliver high
performance beam steering and shaping at costs that can be compelling
in virtually every segment of the wireless market. Our particular
focus is to enable a level of network functionality previously not
affordable for many of the highest growth applications including the
most cost-sensitive high volume markets like residential Wi-Fi. We are
actively working with prospective customers and partners to fully
define our product strategy, and we expect as a next step to
demonstrate fully functional smart antennas for one or more of these
applications later this year or very early in 2004.”
About Lumera www.lumera.com
Lumera, a majority owned subsidiary of Microvision, Inc., is
developing and commercializing a new class of electro-optic materials
and devices that utilize proprietary polymer compounds and processing
technologies. These new devices and materials are expected to
dramatically improve performance and reduce costs of electro-optic
components for telecommunications, phased array antenna systems,
optical computing, optical signal processing and optical
interconnects. The properties of these materials are also expected to
enable new applications in other technologies such as organic light
emitting diode displays, low k dielectrics and coating materials.
Lumera expects to be able to sell and license its technology in a
variety of forms, including custom polymer materials, coated wafers,
and discrete and integrated component devices, both packaged and
unpackaged. Additional information can be found at Lumera’s web site
at http://www.lumera.com.
About Microvision: www.microvision.com
Headquartered in Bothell, Wash., Microvision, Inc. is a world
leader in the development of high resolution displays and imaging
systems based on the company’s proprietary silicon micromirror
technology. The company’s technology has applications in a broad range
of military, medical, industrial, professional and consumer products.
Microvision has been working with Canon, BMW, the Electronics
Research Lab of Volkswagen of America, Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon
Endo Surgery subsidiary and others to develop a number of display and
image capture product applications based on its proprietary scanned
beam technology.
Forward Looking Statement
Certain statements contained in this release, including those
relating to future business prospects, expected component and product
performance and cost reduction, enabling of new applications, ability
to build new antenna systems, development plans and product
applications, as well as statements containing words like “believe,”
“expect,” “plans” and other similar expressions, are forward-looking
statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Factors
that could cause actual results to differ materially from those
projected in the company’s forward-looking statements include the
following: market acceptance of our technologies and products; our
ability to obtain financing; our financial and technical resources
relative to those of our competitors; our ability to keep up with
rapid technological change; government regulation of our technologies;
our ability to enforce our intellectual property rights and protect
our proprietary technologies; the ability to obtain additional
contract awards and to develop partnership opportunities; the timing
of commercial product launches; the ability to achieve key technical
milestones in key products; and other risk factors identified from
time to time in the company’s SEC reports, including in its Annual
Report on 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2002 and its Quarterly
Reports on Form 10-Q.
CONTACT: Microvision, Inc.
Matt Nichols, 425-415-6657 (Media)
Brian Heagler, 425-415-6794 (Investors)
SOURCE: Microvision, Inc.