SI2’s focus on providing innovative products to the DoD and to defense prime contractors is evident in our ability to deliver turnkey solutions to our customers. Our capabilities include those required to deliver antenna, array and signal mitigation products for production programs, and span from design and simulation to assembly and test to manufacturing. SI2 integrates these capabilities via SIDM (System Integrated Design and Manufacturing), our engineering process roadmap that delivers custom designed and manufactured products for the unique platforms and applications where they are needed.
Design
SI2 Technologies is an ISO 9001:2015 certified company with very high IP velocity. We leverage economies of scale by focusing our efforts within the DoD and RF domain, using the same computational tools. We design 8-12 custom RF antenna and electronics solutions within our area of expertise each year, and our portfolio of existing IP often allows us to jump start our design and be months ahead of the competition at the beginning. We pride ourselves on design velocity.
Antennas/Arrays
SI2 designs and develops antenna and array systems to help the warfighter win. We utilize state-of-the-art electromagnetic design tools and manufacturing processes to develop wideband, highly efficient antenna systems for Size, Weight and Power (SWaP) constrained platforms. Our portfolio spans space, airborne, ship and ground systems for government agencies and defense primes. Our main area of focus is wideband Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) systems and ultra-low profile, ruggedized antenna systems for munitions and other SWaP-constrained platforms.
Electronics
SI2 provides both active and passive solutions for sensor platforms, antenna interfacing and control, and flex hybrid electronics designs. These designs range from radar front-end electronics to Software Defined Radio and Digital RF Memory back-end processing, to power harvesting and embedded designs for low-power sensors. SI2 has facilities for simulation and design of RF and microwave circuits and systems, embedded processing systems and waveform generation circuits. SI2’s facilities also enable prototype development and testing of conventional and flex hybrid circuits from DC through 50 GHz.
Packaging
SI2’s expertise and state-of-the-art software tools enable our team to design the packaging for our RF and electronic equipment that’s suitable for use in both aerospace and military platforms. Working in tandem across engineering groups, our packaging designs offer maximum RF and electronic performance while satisfying the customer requirements for strength, durability and interfaces. Our designs are analyzed for structural, thermal and other environmental performance measures to ensure suitability for the intended platform.
Computational Capabilities
In addition to several proprietary numerical tools, SI2 utilizes the following state-of-the-art engineering design and analysis software.
CST Microwave Studio
– Time Domain and Frequency Domain Simulation of 3D RF Systems
HFSS by Ansys, SpaceClaim
– Finite Element Method (FEM) and FE-BI Simulation of 3D RF Systems
AWR Microwave Office
– RF/Microwave circuit design
CREATE-RF SENTRi
– AFRL-designed FE-BI EM Simulation of 3D Scattering, Antenna Designs and RF Systems
OrCAD by Cadence
– Electrical circuit design, documentation and component data management
MATLAB™ and Simulink™
– Modeling, simulation, analysis
SolidWorks/Simulation
– 3D CAD solid modeling
Manufacturing
SI2 utilizes in-house conventional and digital/additive capabilities for manufacturing of prototypes thru production. We also use certified outside vendors for high volume, assured repeatability and reliability. All our manufacturing efforts comply with our ISO 9001:2015 certified Quality Management System.
Conventional
SI2’s conventional manufacturing capabilities focus on prototyping of our designs. This enables us to design, build or assemble, and test in rapid cycles to quickly converge on a validated design which meets our customer’s requirements. These capabilities include a circuit board milling machine, semi-automated pick-and-place equipment and solder reflow oven, among others. For volume production, we leverage qualified high-volume manufacturers for build and assembly of our designs.
Digital and Additive
Since our founding, SI2 recognized the value of the rapid design and flexibility offered by digital and additive manufacturing. Going into production on the same machine as the prototype eliminates an entire step required for conventional manufacturing and enables lower quantity production at a reasonable cost. In addition, in some cases digital and additive manufacturing dramatically expands the design space well beyond what is feasible to build conventionally.
We fabricate digitally in 2D on flexible substrates using roll-to-roll industrial grade inkjet printers which incorporate inline drying ovens with inline sensors to measure the manufactured attributes in near-real time during production. We also use what we call 2.5D manufacturing, where an existing complex (e.g. doubly curved) part is modified on the interior or exterior surface by added RF features printed directly on the surface. Lastly, we use a number of state of the art 3D printers to build entire RF assemblies from the base plate up.
Testing
SI2 has unique in-house capabilities to test both conventionally and digital/additively manufactured antenna, array and signal management systems. On-site test equipment at SI2 enables our team to rapidly iterate between designs. It is also used to characterize unique materials and determine their RF properties. This, in turn, allows us to more accurately model and increase the performance of our antenna, array and signal management system designs.
Waveguides
Multiple waveguide systems for measurements from 160MHz – 12GHz.
R-Coax Measurement System
R-Coax System for measuring the sheet impedance (ohms/square) from 90 to 680 MHz. Sample sizes can range from 6 x 6 inches to 36 x 36 inches.
Compact Free Space Measurement System
Compact Free Space System for measuring the sheet impedance (ohms/square) from 90 to 680 MHz. Sample sizes can range from 6 x 6 inches to 36 x 36 inches.
RF Capacitor Measurement System
RF Capacitor System for measuring the dielectric properties of 3 inch cubes of RF absorbing material from 86 to 800 MHz. Measured data agrees very well with waveguide measurements, but uses 1/20th of the material.
