Pivotal Commware raised $17 million to advance holographic beamforming tech for satellite and cellular systems
Beamforming, a function of an antenna array, essentially adjusts the phase and amplitude of an RF signal to optimize propagation, albeit with limited dimensional control. Enter 3D beamforming, a technology associated with multiple-input, multiple-output, configurations wherein both elevation and azimuth can be manipulated, which allows for a stronger signal that can more closely track an end user. Coupling advancements in both beamforming and the move to swapping out expansive hardware for off-the-rack equipment running advanced software, Bellvue, Wash., company Pivotal Commware is raising capital to expand the reach of what it calls holographic beamforming.
Earlier this month, Pivotal announced a $17 million Series A funding round with investors including The Thermo Companies, DIG Investment, Bill Gates, Lux Capital and others. The company has an exclusive license for metamaterials technology for communications. Metamaterials are engineered to have a distinct structure capable of changing the characteristics of waves the metamaterials interact with. The company describes in holographic beamforming technology as a combo of “microsecond switching performance with low cost, size weight and power…and rapid fabrication cycles using simple, inexpensive components.” The company says it has been generating revenue for more than a year “as prime contractor to an air-to-ground, in-flight communications service provider,” which CEO Brian Deutsch tied into the company’s expansion plans.
“We think that travel – whether by plane, train or ship — shouldn’t be a broadband dead zone. In this market, broadband connectivity worthy of the name means continuous tracking by high gain beams with electronic-speed beam switching. And the best solution for that is Pivotal.”
In 2016, the company won the Telecommunications Industry Association’s ICT Startup Challenge. At the time, company CTO Eric Black explained how holographic beamforming is distinct from MIMO in an interview with TIA.
“Beamforming is certainly not a new thing. But they’ve always been these defense-grade artifacts,” that are very expensive, he said. “That’s not going to work for something you want to throw up on poles and cell towers across the country especially under a densification scenario like we’re seeing with 5G. The holographic beamforming technique is actually pretty new, especially as applied to the RF domain.”
Black said the technology is an alternative to MIMO. “With a MIMO system, you’ve got a full-up radio chain behind every single radiating element. We just have a very simple, very cheap control element behind every single sub-element in the antenna.”
