TRW Velocium and Australian Research Organization Form Strategic Alliance for Use of Indium Phosphide Semiconductors
- InP Chips Boost Radio Telescope Performance - Pact Opens the Way to Further Research Agreements and Scientific Applications
Redondo Beach, CA. TRW Inc. (NYSE: TRW) and Australia s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) have formed a strategic alliance to develop high-performance gallium arsenide and indium phosphide components for radio astronomy, advanced millimeter-wave sensors and telecommunications systems.
Velocium, TRW s telecommunication products company, and CSIRO have already worked together on upgrading CSIRO s Australia Telescope, the Southern Hemisphere s premier radio telescope. InP low-noise amplifiers and digital receiver chips, designed by CSIRO engineers and fabricated by Velocium, were a key part of the upgrade.
The telescope now operates at frequencies up to 100 billion cycles per second (100 GHz) and has just produced new, detailed observations of Centaurus A, the nearest galaxy harboring a supermassive black hole. ``We ll now be able to trace for the first time the path of gas as it feeds the black hole, said Professor Ron Ekers, director of the Australia Telescope National Facility.
``The Australia Telescope is a demanding test bed for our InP chips. The extremely high frequencies allow astronomers to take pictures of new phenomena with greater detail than ever before, said Dr. Dwight Streit, president of Velocium. ``Velocium s InP chips are helping improve the science of astronomy now, and will soon be helping improve the performance of other sensor and telecommunication systems.
CSIRO started working with TRW in 1993, and in 1999 gained early access to TRW s InP technology for exploratory research, which helped expedite the technology s development. Research done under the new strategic alliance will have applications from vehicle guidance to the detection of concealed weapons and contraband.
Velocium is part of TRW Space & Electronics, an operating unit of TRW Inc. TRW provides advanced technology products and services for the aerospace, telecommunications, automotive and information technology markets worldwide. TRW s news releases can be found at http://www.trw.com. Velocium news and information can be found at http://www.velocium.com.
The Australia Telescope is operated by the Australia Telescope National Facility, a division of CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation), Australia s largest national research body.
Contact: Jack Prichett of TRW Inc 310-812-5227, jack.prichett@trw.com or Helen Sim of CSIRO +61 2 9372 4251, Helen.Sim@csiro.au
Jack Prichett of TRW Inc310-812-5227,
jack.prichett@trw.com
or
Helen Sim of CSIRO
+61 2 9372 4251,
Helen.Sim@csiro.au
E-mail: Helen.Sim@csiro.au
Web site: http://www.velocium.com