EADS Deutschland GmbH (EADS), Germany
Dr. Volker Ziegler
volker.ziegler@eads.net
Partner description (non technical)
EADS is a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services. In 2009, EADS generated revenues of € 42.8 billion and employed a workforce of about 119,506. The EADS Group includes the aircraft manufacturer Airbus, the world's largest helicopter supplier Eurocopter, the satellite manufacturer Astrium and the joint venture MBDA, the international leader in missile systems.
The EADS Innovation Works are the corporate research facilities of EADS, with sites in Germany, France, Spain, Singapore and Russia. They provide world-class capabilities in aeronautics, defence and space research topics consistent with the EADS research & technology strategy. Covering the skills and technology fields that are of critical importance to EADS, the EADS Innovation Works are organized in five trans-national Technical Capability Centres (TCCs). The EADS Innovation Works foster technological excellence and business orientation through the sharing of competences and means between the various partners of the EADS Group and they develop and maintain partnerships with world-famous schools, universities and research institutes.
Description of the background (technical)
EADS Innovation Works was and is involved in several European-funded and German nationally funded research projects dealing with aeronautic and space applications of emerging microwave technologies including new devices, module technologies and related system aspects. Several of them focused on electronically scanning antennas (e.g. “RF-Platform”, “Retina”) based on RF-MEMS for satellite communication in Ka-Band and Ku-Band. Others like “3Dµtune” were related to the development of frequency-agile filters using silicon and LTCC material. Since, the EADS-own RF-MEMS switch technology demonstrated outstanding performance under high RF-powers, the logic consequence is to develop RF-MEMS based matching circuits in conjunction with solid-state microwave power amplifiers (based on GaN) to enhance the basic T/R module functionalities and hence the application portfolio as it will be pursued in the SATURNE project.
