News Release

2004-05-06 12:11:54

Team develops in-car satellite TV

WATERLOO, Ont. -- Your back-seat passengers will soon be able to enjoy their favourite TV shows and movies on the road, thanks to one of the most complex projects undertaken and completed at the University of Waterloo.

Under the supervision of Prof. Safieddin Safavi-Naeini in UW's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), a research group made up of visiting Prof. Mahmoud Shahabadi, University of Tehran, and PhD candidate Dan Busuioc designed a novel high-performance antenna for mobile satellite applications. The project was concluded in April.

The antenna, which is a very low profile system used for Ku-band satellites, is mounted on various types of vehicles. It receives live TV in all of North America where there is a clear line of sight to the satellite. Access to more than 300 channels of TV and commercial-free music is provided in a tiny package less than 81 cm in diameter and 11 cm high.

The project, which took slightly less than two years to complete, was undertaken by a highly focused UW team in RF/Microwave Group in the ECE department.

Working closely with the sponsoring company, the team was responsible for the entire project, from specifications to concept and design to prototyping. Various local and international manufacturers were contracted for development of various parts.

"The system makes use of the newest technologies and implements the highest efficiency structures developed for such applications," said Shahabadi, the technological leader of the project.

State of the art measuring equipment available in the ECE department was used to ensure that the performance of the system met the customer's specifications.

Sponsored by Winegard Company based in the United States, the project has employed a new successful UW startup company -- Farsightech Inc. -- for design of various parts of the mechanical mount.

"We have capitalized on our knowledge and expertise in two-way Internet dish-based system mounts in order to provide the low-profile project with a mount which is not only optimal but also very cost effective," said Hamidreza Karbasi, President, Farsightech.

About Winegard Company Winegard Company, based in Burlington, Iowa, is a leading manufacturer of quality television reception products and consistently meets the challenges of the ever-changing electronics market. Currently, it has over 1,000 products in distributed in all states and worldwide.

About Farsightech Inc. Farsightech was founded in May 2002, as a University of Waterloo spin-off company. The company is fully capable of developing, prototyping and manufacturing special industrial machineries, production lines, robots and automatic assembly systems, as well as automatic testers and production cells.

About the University of Waterloo UW is an innovative institution that responds to the needs of society. With more than 23,000 undergraduate and graduate students, it was the first university in Canada to offer the co-operative system of study through its Faculty of Engineering, balancing theoretical learning with practical experience in the workplace. Waterloo's Faculty of Arts has the largest co-op program in the humanities and social sciences in the world. UW was also the first university in the world to establish a Faculty of Mathematics and the first university in North America to make computers widely available to undergraduates. Today, UW is a research-intensive university, committed to discovering new knowledge and finding ways to use that knowledge for the benefit of society. For more information about UW, go to www.uwaterloo.ca

Eds: Picture of researchers and satellite antenna available

Resources

Contact:
Dan Busuioc, (519) 888-4567, ext. 3099; dbusuioc@uwaterloo.ca
John Morris, UW Media Relations, (519) 888-4435; jmorris@uwaterloo.ca
Release no. 82 -- May 5, 2004

2004-05-06 12:11:54