https://www.engineeringnews.co.za

South African antenna company now established in US market

21st August 2015

By: Keith Campbell

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

  

Font size: - +

Specialist South African company Alaris Holdings is engaged in acquiring US business Antenna Research Associates (ARA). The deal was originally announced in February. Alaris Holdings was previously known as Poynting Holdings and is listed on the AltX of the JSE. It owns Alaris Antennas, which developed from a small consultancy that had emerged from the University of the Witwatersrand in 1990.

“ARA is a logical extension of the Alaris Antennas business and all parties are excited about the apparent culture fit between the companies,” affirms Alaris Holdings CEO Jürgen Dresel. “In combining our business and product development expertise, we aim to grow into a significant industry leader in the antenna market.”

Hitherto, only 10% of Alaris’s revenues were generated in the US. The acquisition of ARA will provide the South African company with a foothold in the huge US market. The American defence budget last year was about $610-billion, Alaris points out in its press release, or larger than those of the next nine countries combined. The potential of the US market is thus huge.

ARA produces radio frequency (RF) and antenna systems mainly for the US defence and homeland security sectors. It is also active in the satellite communications and very small aperture terminal (better known as Vsat) sectors. Ninety per cent of its sales are in the US.

Even before the ARA deal, 75% of Alaris’s business was in the form of exports. And, for the past five years, the South African company has demonstrated an annual average growth rate of more than 20%. Alaris’s business is specialised wide band antennas and other related RF products. These are employed in communications, electronic warfare, frequency spectrum monitoring, test and measurement and other specialised systems.

“The single most integral part of any wireless communications hardware is arguably the humble antenna,” argues the company. The defence and consumer electronics industries are the forces behind modern antenna design. “Their enduring need for innovation and specialisation has driven the antenna’s multiple application evolution, making it one of the most crucial pieces of hardware for all secure communication and monitoring needs.

“Today, more than ever before, the military and homeland security forces rely as much on their communication devices and networks as the weapons in their arsenals.” In the realm of defence, “antenna applications are almost endless”. They include radio communications, radio monitoring and radio direction finding. Another key area of use is in jamming – not only hostile communications and radars but also remotely controlled improvised explosive devices (RCIEDs). And, of course, there is radar.

Alaris Antennas has products for all these missions, except radar. For communications, it has high-frequency/very high frequency, ultrahigh frequency and modern data network antennas, typically optimised for use in the field from fixed, vehicle or hand-held mounts. For monitoring, the company has vehicle- and fixed-mounting high-sensitivity wide band antennas. Regarding direction finding, it can offer a wide range of specialised antennas, including those suitable for ground-based applications, from major fixed installations to man portable systems, as well as antennas for aircraft and submarines.

For jamming operations, Alaris has high-power wide band antennas which provide “localised domination of the electromagnetic spectrum”, thereby disrupting hostile or unauthorised radio communications. Counter-RCIED jamming is a specialised subset within the jamming category. These antennas are intended to be man portable or vehicle mounted and need to operate over a wide bandwidth.

Note that antennas are human- designed and -manufactured products. Antennae are naturally occurring appendages found on insects and other animals.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

Comments

Showroom

Booyco Electronics
Booyco Electronics

Booyco Electronics, South African pioneer of Proximity Detection Systems, offers safety solutions for underground and surface mining, quarrying,...

VISIT SHOWROOM 
Booyco Electronics
Booyco Electronics

Booyco Electronics, South African pioneer of Proximity Detection Systems, offers safety solutions for underground and surface mining, quarrying,...

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.129 0.183s - 164pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now