Posted 25 March 2010
Skyware Global and UCD team up to provide opportunities for engineering graduates
Skyware Global, the world’s first and only total-solutions provider of satellite terminal equipment, and University College Dublin have teamed up to deliver an industry-focused partnership for top engineering and technology students. The partnership enables students from the UCD School of Electrical, Electronic & Mechanical Engineering to gain applied experience in mechanical and RF engineering in various departments of the multi-national company as part of an internship programme.
The industry partnership aims to provide real-life commercial experience to UCD engineering students and graduates, whilst also seeding Skyware Global with high-potential talent. Skyware Global and UCD engineering are exploring additional collaborations in research and development. Skyware Global will be visiting the UCD campus in April to discuss the projects and meet prospective interns for the summer, as well as interview recent graduates as potential full-time hires.
Professor Tom Brazil, Head of Electronic Engineering at UCD commented: “Through this partnership our students will be able to work with Skyware Global’s engineering teams based in the UK, Germany and the US on cutting edge satellite technology, gaining valuable industry experience and potentially changing how people around the world communicate. This partnership is an excellent industry fit with our strong Science Foundation Ireland-funded research activity in RF and microwave engineering.”
Skyware Global has a proven research and development team with a long-standing reputation in the design and manufacture of leading-edge solutions for satellite broadband antennas and electronic components to cover a wide range of applications. Skyware Global serves the enterprise and electronics markets, as well as the consumer market which includes satellite broadband.
Satellite broadband is expected to grow at a rate of approximately 100% year on year, from 1 million satellite broadband customers worldwide today to more than 15 million in the coming years as the technology becomes cheaper and demand grows.
David C. McCourt, CEO of Skyware Global commented, “Tom Brazil and his team are renowned experts in microwave and RF communications, which is why this partnership makes sense for Skyware Global – our own history has shown the effectiveness of academic and commercial partnerships. The capabilities of emerging satellite technologies are about to grow exponentially around the world and hold the promise of potentially resolving the digital divide by giving those that are currently excluded full access. Skyware Global aims to be part of this seismic change and is pleased to be working with UCD to help ensure that their students are at the forefront of innovation.”
Over the past two decades, Skyware Global has had a tradition of working with educational institutions in bringing innovative products to market. Some of the European institutions that the company has worked with include the University of Liverpool, Edinburgh University and Lairdside Laser Engineering Center (a consortium of European universities that specialises in applying laboratory-based laser technologies into replicable industrial methods for manufacturing and commerce).
Skyware Global
Satellite Holdings, LLC (a partnership between private investment firms Granahan McCourt Capital, LLC and The Edgewater Funds) began a series of high-profile acquisitions to create the world’s first total solutions provider of terminal equipment, Skyware Global.
Starting in January 2009, Satellite Holdings, LLC acquired the Raven Group, a leading provider of consumer satellite broadband antennas and major manufacturer of direct-to-home products. In May 2009, Satellite Holdings acquired nearly half of ASC Signal Corporation’s total business. This included: the Direct-to-Home (DTH), Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT), and Radio Frequency electronics (RF) business units; plus the 100% stock purchase of the Germany-based Skyware Radio Systems, a unit previously owned by Philips (NYSE: PHG). In addition to existing operations in Illinois, USA, Accrington, UK and China, the most recent acquisition added additional facilities in North Carolina, USA and Zhuhai China, as well as engineering offices in England, Scotland and Germany.
With one of the world’s leading research and development divisions, the new merged companies created the only global total solutions provider of integrated outdoor units (ODU) and associated electronics and equipment – Skyware Global.
UCD School of Electronic, Electrical & Mechanical Engineering: RF & Microwave Research Group
Led by Professor Tom Brazil, UCD's RF & Microwave Research Group has almost 30 years experience in advanced device modelling, high frequency simulation algorithms, behavioural modelling, and power amplifier design. It is well-known in Europe and the USA as a centre of excellence in microwave CAD research. Current research themes include physical/equivalent-circuit modelling of MOSFET/MESFET, nonlinear noise analysis, Volterra series based behavioural modelling of RF/microwave systems and broadband power amplifier linearisation using digital pre-distortion. Research on time-domain/frequency-domain discrete convolution techniques and neural networks, as well as non-linear CMOS device modelling is also being carried out.
This group has received a major Investigator Research Award from Science Foundation Ireland to support its research programme. It was also funded by Enterprise Ireland under the Advanced Technology Research Programme. UCD was a leading partner in the EU FP6 Network of Excellence "TARGET" in microwave CAD.
(Produced by UCD University Relations)
