Mercia Technologies (LON:MERC), the AIM-listed incubator, has made a follow-on investment in a university spin-out that could revolutionise smartphone and tablet antenna market.
It has stumped up £1.2mln of the £1.5mln being sought in the latest funding round by Smart Antenna Technologies, or SAT for short.
The cash will be used to fund the continued development of the product while SAT holds discussions with several “major mobile and laptop partners”.
Developed at the University of Birmingham, the technology overcomes the restrictions of the traditional hardware.
Currently manufacturers of mobile devices use around six different antennas, yet none is able to achieve the desired antenna performance in a size that fits the cellular handset package at acceptable volume production costs.
The likes of Samsung and Apple are now seeking a means of overcoming these problems as they plan for the widespread adoption of 4G. SAT reckons it has an efficient and low cost solution.
The opportunity is huge if SAT gets it right for the antenna market is said to be worth around US$20bn annually.