Micro World 2023

Shaping the Future of Satellite

Calendar of Events

Tyshlek Editors

EDITOR'S

First, I want to wish all our partners a happy and prosperous new year. If there was one word to describe Micro-Ant’s 2022, it would be “purposeful.” It has been a year of ambitious transformation and the first time in our company’s history that we’ve communicated our successes and ideas to the world at large through an email publication.

What most excited me about publishing this magazine was the ability to share our ideas about the direction of technologies, business practices, and innovation processes. My favorite article is the “Autonomous Vehicle Connectivity Technology Review,” written and illustrated by two of our summer interns. It is a wellresearched piece sharing an optimistic glimpse into a potential future technology.

I hope you will find that our Micro-World 2023 Magazine inspires you with new ideas for the new year.

Managing and Editorial Director Dasha

Dasha Tyshlek

MESSAGE FROM THE CEO

Micro-Ant has positioned itself for improved growth and profitability through the development of new technologies that it will use in products for its current and future customers. Consistent with its current focus, Micro-Ant is deploying these technologies in the defense and aerospace markets as well as commercial markets through systems integrator partners many of which have been teamed with Micro-Ant for over a decade.

The satellite market is being transformed through the launching of low earth orbit satellites (LEO) and mid-earth orbit satellites (MEO) which are requiring the development of unique terminals that can track the satellites from fixed land and mobile maritime and airborne terminals. This required Micro-Ant's team to develop solutions that are

high performing with tight tolerances at reasonable cost to meet the latest stringent requirements. These solutions include electronically steered multi-beam antennas mounted on aircraft and maritime vessels that can switch from one beam to another without breaking the signal, so called “make-beforebreak.” Also included are antennas that cover the entire Ka band frequency from 17.7-31.0 GHz with sizes from 30cm to 2.5m.

Micro-Ant has begun making carbon fiber reflectors that enable terminal suppliers to provide the complete antenna that operates at full compliance to the most stringent specifications for satellite operators well beyond what is otherwise available in the marketplace. Micro-Ant continues to dedicate itself to the development of new technologies addressing the ever-

MESSAGE

FROM THE PRESIDENT

We confronted these challenges head on, saluting with one hand while shaking our fist with the other, in a combination of respect and defiance of the tasks which lay ahead. In so doing, we not only successfully relocated to a new building, but also created a ‘new and improved’ Micro-Ant in the process.

The year 2022 was a transformational period for Micro-Ant, beset with challenges and opportunities. These included expanding into a new facility on Baymeadows Way and moving our machine shop and testing facilities out of our Wesconnett campus. And of course, losing our biggest customer without warning or explanation, challenging our team to find new sources of revenue and to forestall the subsequent loss of jobs.

As the Business Development team went to work fashioning a world-class web presence to market the Micro-Ant brand, Engineering was equally active, inventing new designs to meet increasingly difficult requirements imposed by the industry, out of which products like the Ultra Wide Band reflector systems and KaBand flat panel arrays evolved. Additionally, Operations and Test departments worked jointly with Quality Assurance to streamline production lines and to overhaul our manufacturing processes to improve efficiency and overall quality. This cooperative effort facilitated scalability to our production capacity, as exemplified in our volume production of the Iridium HGA antenna, a

sophisticated hybrid of phased array and beam switching technologies integrated in a single package employed primarily in Maritime and Aerospace industries. We must also acknowledge our many vendor partners who went the extra distance to provide materials and goods essential to our manufacturing needs, even as supply chain issues worldwide continued to put pressures on us all. In retrospect, losing our largest customer was a blessing, as it provided the impetus of awakening our resolve to transform threat into opportunity, and opportunity into success.

As our team became unified, our product and customer portfolios diversified, resulting in our company being far more resilient, and less susceptible to the loss of a particular customer or to unfavorable changes in a particular market segment. So indeed, 2022 was a transformational year for us, leading to the transformation of Micro-Ant into a new and improved version of itself, to which all credit and gratitude goes to our capable, and innovative team.

James Francis CEO of Micro-Ant

Charles McCarrick

President of Micro-Ant

changing communication markets.

MICRO-ANT A family of companies

Many technology companies come from humble beginnings and Micro-Ant is no exception. We began in the basement of our founder, and today we enjoy extensive operations at our production and manufacturing facilities in Jacksonville, Florida. To maintain focus on our core capabilities - designing and supplying bespoke antenna solutions which solve specific problems our customers are facing - we established Kore Precision Manufacturing and Kore Composites. These two companies inherit our dedication to quality and customer service but focus on excellence in manufacturing in their respective domains.

Micro-Ant is an ISO 9001 and AS9100 Certified Company

Founded in 2001, Micro-Ant designs, develops and manufactures custom antennas for land, maritime and aerospace applications operating within the Microwave Frequency Spectrum, including UHF, L, S, C, X, Ku, and Ka bands.

Micro-Ant website

Kore Composites develops and manufactures composite reflectors. Custom solutions include solid and segmented, parabolic and offset designs.

Kore Veritas standard series reflectors were launched in 2022 to make high quality segmented antennas available to customers globally, and in commonly used sizes.

Kore Composites Reflectors are proudly manufactured in the United States.

Kore Precision Manufacturing uses cutting-edge machines to manufacture high precision RF products in volumes of 10 to 10,000. The KPM team is trained in RF principles and works closely with MicroAnt engineering and production teams to bring new antenna technologies into reality.

KPM is based in the United States and specializes in microwave grade machining.

ADDRESSING SUPPLY CHAIN CHALLENGES

Manufacturing companies worldwide faced many challenges managing their supply chain in 2022. No one is surprised by long lead times and price hikes. Micro-Ant doubled down on building sustainable relationships and collaborative problem-solving to address these challenges.

Our Commitment to Partnership

Good planning and consistent forecasting is the key to addressing new challenges. While this is sometimes more complicated for brand-new products, joint planning should be an expectation for long-term production with key customers.

Starting in Q3 of 2021 we established a new quarterly forecasting practice. Every department involved in production and engineering is responsible for surfacing risks. Then, we collaborate with our customers to find solutions that serve both of our interests.

For example, we used information gathered in the quarterly deep dives to inform our customers of hikes in resin prices that were affecting their products. Our team presented the situation to the customer with a proposal for pre-purchasing long lead materials while negotiating a price freeze with suppliers, allowing us to execute a new supply agreement.

Our Forecasting Practice

Our commitment to partnership with suppliers serves us well. We succeeded on expediting production on multiple orders in late 2022 where the original lead times looked dismal. By building deeper relationships across and within our supply chain, the team was able to solve the root causes of the issues. Where possible, we now work directly with raw material and component suppliers and provide them with regular forecasts.

It is our strategy to work with smaller suppliers and, in particular, to support local businesses. This provides us with an advantage of being able to foster new capabilities and provide oversight of capacity. In 2022 we hosted in our facilities the first Inventor-Manufacturer Entrepreneurship Convention (I-MEC). The event was attended not only by our vendors but also our customers. A key purpose of the event was to foster a network of partners and to bring focus to the importance of strategy and scalability in small businesses.

Dasha Tyshlek, Director of Business Development, Micro-Ant

WRITING LESSONS MY BROTHERS TAUGHT ME

Reflections on the writing and launching the book

Thegoal of writing Lessons My Brothers Taught Me was to provide guidance to people looking to start a business. There’s a movement going on which started during COVID when people began working more remotely. For some, that translated into working independently. Many people were contemplating going off on their own and starting their own business because they liked that independence. It seemed like good timing for a book that will help those budding entrepreneurs make the leap and take steps to realizing their entrepreneurial dream.

I thought about the things that were challenging during my entrepreneurial journey. At first, it was difficult to articulate the lessons in a way that was meaningful and interesting at the same time. However, a pattern soon emerged: the most important lessons were about situations where something went wrong or where someone would try to take advantage of Micro-Ant because it was a small and vulnerable business. That reminded me of the relationship I had growing up with my brothers. My older brothers would take advantage of me. I, in turn, took advantage of my younger brother and we all took advantage of each other. Through all that adversity we put each other through, there was a gain of a lesson which built character, resilience, and determination. In the book, I tried to juxtapose the lessons from my childhood and derive the same lessons from business. This inspired the title Lessons My Brothers Taught Me and the funny illustrations that accompany the stories.

We published the book in November and the most common feedback was that people who were in business or were managers resonated with chapters about culture and situations with difficult employees. It turns out many managers have a story or two about managing a very difficult employee, where letting them go was not an option. In the book, I share a few strategies for how to handle those situations. It was great to hear that these ideas were well received.

Another surprising story from launching the book was the number of teenagers and young adults that enjoyed reading it. One of our employees had given her son a signed copy of the book after our launch party and he just loved it! Apparently,

she found him reading it at 1 am that same night. He said that he could not put it down.

The editing process for the book was as gruesome and difficult as most writers describe it. My biggest regret has been yielding to other people’s advice. In editing the book, the publisher wanted to change the flow and re-arrange some chapters. It was painful because when they took a chunk of information and moved it out of sequence, I had to work furiously to stitch it back so that the story continued to flow. I still feel it isn’t quite what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it. As a result, I’m continuing to write content on the book’s website and am working my way up to writing another book.

Charles McCarrick, President of Micro-Ant

Lessons

My

Brothers

Taught Me is now available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Get yours here:

AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE CONNECTIVITY

V2S:

V2V:

V2I:

V2P:

V2C:

V2E:

Motor vehicle fatalities are one of the leading causes of death in the U.S. The development of autonomous vehicles will address the safety concerns of humanmonitored driving. A fully automated and connected car will aim to reduce human bias, fatigue, and error responsible for most, if not all, vehicle accidents. To make such a vehicle a reality will require ongoing innovations in service and data connectivity.

Autonomous vehicles will rely on perception tools such as LiDAR, RADAR, and highresolution stereo and mono cameras to identify objects and movements in the vehicle’s line of vision. Additionally, they will require Line-of-Sight (LOS) and Beyond-Lineof-Sight (BLOS) communication. Each vehicle will receive information from other vehicles and

infrastructure, provide precision GPS tracking, receive over-the-air software updates, enable passengers to have high-speed cellular and Wi-Fi, and receive and transmit reliable road, weather, and traffic condition updates.

Autonomous vehicle antenna systems are still at an early stage, but we’ve already begun the work to explore technologies which combine LOS and BLOS communications in the same antenna” James Messink, CTO of Micro-Ant

Mounting space is a limiting factor to the success of a connected car. Many antennas, such as those for cellular, Wi-Fi, and AM/FM/ Satellite radio connections, require an unobstructed sky view and rigid mounting, making the roof the target location for this technology. However, large sunroof designs and roof racks compete for already constrained roof space. Micro-Ant's technologies for multi-band and multi-use antennas could solve space constraint issues.

“Autonomous vehicle antenna systems are still at an early stage, but we’ve already begun the

work to explore technologies which combine LOS and BLOS communications in the same antenna,” said James Messink, CTO of MicroAnt. “Recently, we’ve worked together with Inmarsat to develop prototypes for antennas that can support both L-Band satellite and S-Band point-to-point communications and which would fit inside the existing ‘shark fin’ on the roof of most cars. It was an opportunity to demonstrate that innovative approaches to antennas would be useful for bringing down the cost and footprint for antennas used in vehicles.”

Micro-Ant has patented antenna technology for L1, L2, and L5 phase center accurate GNSS antennas for millimeter-level positioning which are primarily used for semi-automated and fullyautonomous agricultural machinery. Adapting this technology for the connected car would provide a precise and lane-level accurate position for each car, far better than the 4.9m accuracy [2] provided by traditional car GPS antennas. This technology, along with the dedicated short-range

communications amongst connected cars (V2V) and to smart infrastructure (V2I), would allow vehicles to relay their exact location down to the millimeter to avoid collisions.

Custom antenna designs will be necessary in both vehicles and infrastructure to develop a safe and redundant suite of tools for the autonomous vehicle. Designing the dense mesh network for the fully autonomous connected car requires collaboration between automakers, chipmakers, software developers, mobile operators, and equipment manufacturers. Micro-Ant is ready to engage in this arena and is well-suited to respond to customer needs for a custom and innovative antenna solution, no matter the complexity.

Written by: Jessica Malosh Infographic by: Ron-Ron Menorias

[1] TE Connectivity. “The Road to Autonomous Driving.” TE Automotive Trend Paper, 2018, p. 8, chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/ https://www.te.com/content/dam/te-com/documents/automotive/global/ TE-TP-Autonomous-Driving-0218-FINAL-EN.pdf.

[2] U.S. Space Force. “GPS Accuracy.” GPS.gov, 3 March 2022, https://www. gps.gov/systems/gps/performance/accuracy/. Accessed 11 August 2022.

Cellular Backhaul (V2C) expected to generate multiple terabytes of data per day [1]

SHAPING THE FUTURE OF SATELLITE

BENEFITS OF PARTICIPATING IN THE SATCOMS INNOVATION GROUP

As an open forum that brings together the technical operations people from across the satellite industry, the Satcoms Innovation Group (SIG) is in a good position to generate innovative thinking and find ways to solve the current, and future, challenges facing the industry. By working at this level, SIG aims to promote innovation that improves operational efficiency and reduces impact, saving time and money.

The group provides its members with an opportunity to discuss the operational and technical impact of the changing satellite ecosystem, allowing them to address issues within the industry to maintain satellite communication as a leading form of connectivity. Our aim is to foster relationships between operators, manufacturers, and solutions providers by providing a forum for debate. Becoming a member allows organizations to be part of the solution.

Our regular workshops bring together leading satellite operators, such as SES, Eutelsat, Intelsat, and Arabsat, together with solution providers, such as Kratos, QuadSAT, Integrasys, and Work Microwave, and manufacturers like Micro-Ant, ETL Systems, and Vialite. These workshops are technical and discussion-led, addressing the most important challenges at the time and ways in which we can work together to resolve those. It is also an opportunity for companies to bring a current problem or solution.

By: Helen Weedon Managing Director the Satcoms Innovation Group

SIG also celebrates the impressive contributions that companies, individuals, and educational institutions have made to help the satellite communications industry over the years with its annual awards.

PARTNERS HIGHLIGHT

Teledyne Labtech and Rogers Corporation have been indispensable in the launch of our most difficult and complex product to date, the Astrum: Ka Flat Panel Antenna and the Solaris: Ku Flat Panel Antenna, both of which are used in “Special Operations” applications.

The design of this flat, lightweight, high-gain antenna depends on RF materials developed by the Rogers Corporation team and the technical expertise of Teledyne Labtech. There is no doubt, that of all of our inventions, the Ka and Ku Flat Panels are some of the most difficult to manufacture. Their commitment to quality and a willingness to partner with the Micro-Ant team resolved challenges that come with developing a disruptive product. Micro-Ant and our customers have the confidence that we will be able to scale up manufacturing of these products to match the growing demand of the industry and our customers.

When Comtech first approached us to develop their small aperture troposcatter antenna, they told us that others considered their requirements impossible to achieve. We were proud to prove Comtech right and to develop a centerfed system that overcame the challenges of center-beam blockage and spill-over losses. Comtech was developing the smallest and most compact troposcatter radio to date and needed an equally innovative antenna system to pair with it. The inventions came together beautifully and enabled the first Compact Over-the-Horizon Expeditionary Terminal, the COMET. Since then, neither of our teams

have rested on our laurels and continue creating break-through products as never existed before. Their commitment to working with us inspires us to innovate and advance the antennas in the COMET. Together, we conducted a successful demo in February of 2022, showcasing the final product in action to over 70 defense industry attendees.

Watch our interview with John Ekis of Rogers Corporation about their innovation process.

TECHNOLOGY

The Ultra Wide-Band (3.5 GHz) Ka Antenna System enables operations over extended frequency bands at Ka Band and includes features such as simultaneous or switchable polarization. This enables satellite roaming across global operations, including for GEO, MEO, and LEO orbits, and across multiple satellite operators.

This technology has been validated in apertures as small as 30cm airborne reflector requirement, our smallest and toughest, and we have successfully overcome the dual challenge of achieving a stringent axial ratio (x-pol) specification while achieving ortho-circular polarization for both Tx and Rx in one elegant design. This can now easily be scaled to any size, any market (commercial and government) and, in fact, we are already doing this for several customers in aviation and terrestrial markets.

Achieving the stringent axial ratio requirement across the full band is a complex engineering challenge because of the risk of generating higher order

PERFORMANCE

modes within a waveguide system. The design must be elegant and simple to avoid unnecessary features that would excite higher order modes. Because of this, the design is also a manufacturing challenge. An elegant and complex design must be executed with precision to ensure the purity of the modes. Micro-Ant’s engineering and manufacturing teams have been developing the necessary designs and manufacturing processes for over 2 years to achieve a repeatable and consistently compliant design. MicroAnt's design success has been recognized by the Satcoms Innovation Group with the Technology of the Year award.

Early adopters of the Ultra Wide Band requirements among the satellite operators include SES, Telesat, and ViaSat. Micro-Ant is the first and only antenna manufacturer who has achieved a compliant design to date.

Micro-Ant’s current developments of the Ultra Wide-Band Ka system include 30 cm, 60cm, 80cm, 1m, 1.3m, and 2.35m sized systems and are compatible with Kore Composities segemented reflectors.

INTERNS: TEAM-MEMBERS OVER THE SUMMER AND BEYOND

Our internship program is becoming a key part of our talent strategy.

Every year we look forward to welcoming a class of interns to help our team get on top of improvement projects and to expose a new group of young professionals to the communications industry and manufacturing operations.

Our approach to internships is unique. Instead of posting a set of jobs to fill, we accept all resumes and review each intern on the merit of their academic performance, involvement in extracurricular activities, and level of passion. If they are a responsible and engaged individual, then we match them with a project and a manager that aligns with their specific interests and skills. There’s always enough work to do that we have something meaningful for them to contribute to and learn from.

Over the last few years, our internship has grown, and most managers have at least one student on their team during the summer. Students have participated in testing new products, analyzing Quality metrics, automating RFI processes, researching new markets, completing technical documentation, and participating in customer calls as project managers (just to name a few). Most importantly, anyone who wants to join the Antenna Lecture Series taught by our Chief Science Officer and learn about antenna science in a fun and supportive environment.

"Interning at Micro-Ant allowed me to pick up

- Ron-Ron Menorias

Our class of 2022 was our greatest success yet in that it was our biggest internship class size, that we had returning interns from previous years, and most importantly, that one of our interns stayed on as an

intern through the completion of his degree and recently joined us as a full-time employee.

Now our program includes some structured activities such as lunches with our managers, career coaching, and community events. In 2023, we're looking forward to hosting our first out-of-state interns.

"Working in Micro-Ant is an excellent opportunity for me to have a better view of exploring my career path, accumulate valuable work experience, and soft skills."

- Emmie Ngo.

Identifying exceptional people to join our team early is an important part of our talent strategy and we do everything to ensure that the internship is a meaningful learning experience and a fun and supportive program. We hope some of these interns will come back and join us right after graduating college or sometime later in their careers.

Internship Perks

• Paid internship

• Catered lunches on Wednesday with the whole company

• Unlimited craft coffees and healthy snacks in our Café

• Classes with our Chief Science Officer

• Manager led career lunches

• Company events and parties

Tess Relampagos, CFO & HR Manager: tess@micro-ant.com

a variety of skills and experiences that I would not have learned even at school."

Ron-Ron Menorias Graphic Designer Intern

Emmie Ngo Accounting Intern

Ken Caldeo Engineering Intern

Jessica Malosh Technical Writer Intern

MICRO-ANT GIVES BACK

Micro-Ant’s employees select different fundraising and volunteer events every quarter and the team rallies to make a big impact.

Heart Walk

At Jacksonville Fairgrounds, the company attended our very first 5K Heart Walk. This event supports survivors of heart disease and stroke and promotes a healthy lifestyle. The team and their families wore matching shirts designed by graphic designer Ron Ron Menorias. Donnie, our Facilities Manager, spearheaded this event. He has been attending the Heart Walk with his family every year.

Rethreaded

Rethreaded is a locally founded nonprofit organization that renews hope, reignites dreams, and supports survivors of human trafficking. The Micro-Ant team volunteered by disassembling airplane seats. The material is repurposed by survivors into new products such as bags, keychains, jewelry, etc. Funds raised by the organization help survivors with employment, counseling, and career development. “Human trafficking is a terrifying reality and our team was proud to support such an important mission. “ said Tess, CFO, who organized the event.

Breast Cancer Walk

The Micro-Ant team reunited at TIAA Field-East Club Plaza to support Breast Cancer Survivors. They joined thousands of Jacksonville residents to walk the 3.1 miles to raise money for the American Cancer Society. Camille, Event Manager, lead the fundraising and organizing for this event.

EMPLOYEES WHO INSPIRE US

Every employee is helping to write the story of Micro-Ant. We want to honor their commitment and effort by highlighting some of our employees and their experiences, learning, and growth in the company.

Camille Frisby

Creating opportunities to

connect

Connecting with our customers and building relationships outside our facilities is a priority for MicroAnt. Coordinating all the logistics behind every event requires effort and talent. Camille Frisby is the Event Manager, she's in charge of this process and she enjoys the creative freedom of her role.

lot of ambiguity and set up many new processes from scratch.

“The most challenging thing about my job is the things that I can’t control. It involves working collaboratively with people to have clear communication and good planning.”

"Making connections is a priority"- Camille Frisby

Diana Lee

Camille started at Micro-Ant in Accounts Receivable. She is the first person to join our new Marketing team so she has had to wrangle a

Camille loves going to the gym, cooking, hanging out with her friends, and playing with her dogs.

Inspecting every raw material for the best quality

Quality is the essence of our designs and the only way to achieve it is by having the most talented people. Diana Lee is the Quality Inspector and Metrology Technician. She is in charge of inspecting every raw material that comes from our providers until the final product goes to the customer.

Her background and experience that she brought from her country, Colombia, helped her to get her position now. Like other immigrants, she had to confront the language barrier. Time, effort,

and a positive attitude allow her to continue learning and growing with the company. “One of the most important things in this job is constant learning,” Diana says.

Diana is grateful to her team who supported and encouraged her to do her best. “Micro-Ant has a very caring staff. They are easygoing, and fun people”.

Diana likes to read, play basketball, and make decorations in her free time.

Hortencio Enguerra The face behind our testing process

Testing every product is one of the most important processes at MicroAnt. For Hortencio Enguerra, our RF test engineer, testing is not only a job but it’s also a gratification. His daily commitment proves it.

“I like the immediate satisfaction of seeing something work in front of me on the test bench and in creating a positive impact on the products that we sell to our customers,” says Hortencio when

we asked him what he likes most about his work.

Hortencio has a meticulous and sharp way of confronting the challenges his job represents “My approach is to divide the problem into smaller, more manageable portions until the root cause of the problem is revealed.”

An internet fan and gardener in his free time, he’s grateful for the valuable learning experiences from his co-workers.

“Everything we do should be done with the best attitude possible” - Diana Lee

Thanh Dang Quang and Huong Le

Family has a special meaning at Micro-Ant. Thanh and Huong are married and both are assemblers. Thanh is Assembler III - Waveguide Line and he has worked at MicroAnt since 2016. His wife, Huong, is Assembler - Antenna & Waveguide and joined the team in 2020. They share with us their experiences from working together.

They both agree that the best part of working together is having the same schedule and lifestyle. However, “planning vacations

Supporting each other in and out of the office

together in the same department is not easy,” Thanh says. Even so, Thanh and Huong always try to find a way to enjoy their work while they spend time at Micro-Ant by having lunch and taking coffee breaks together.

They also have some recommendations for other married couples who work together: “Do not bring personal problems to work,” and “help your partner and do the right things” are lessons that they offer to others.

Peggy Dangler and Sabrina Suss

Another good example of working together as a happy family is Peggy and Sabrina. Peggy started working here nine years ago and then she recommended her daughter, Sabrina, for an open role this year. You may think it’s hard to work with your mother, but they both love the 4 -10 schedule.

Peggy and Sabrina are assemblers in the Cable Element and Sonic Welder lines for our water meter antenna (lovingly dubbed the “Pit Lid”). Peggy enjoys seeing

Spending quality time with their kids and grandkids

her daughter every day. Sabrina says that working with her mom helped her catch on faster by taking advantage of her mother’s experience at the company.

They both agree that the most important thing about working together is having enough time to spend doing what they like most. On Fridays, they go to the park together with Sabrina’s kids and Peggy’s grandchildren: Skylar and Peyton.

Benjamin Baggett

Principal antenna engineer and hot sauce connoisseur

Ben Bagget is Micro-Ant’s Principal Antenna Engineer. Every one of our customers requires a unique solution so he is always working on new challenges. He has become an expert in antennas through constant troubleshooting and teamwork with others. “ Working effectively in a team environment is critical to what we do here”.

His thesis research and early career were focused on antenna arrays, it’s still his favorite technology.

One of the most challenging experiences he had was working

with tri-band solutions with small electrical apertures. Ben comments that “designing a set of optics to satisfy the pattern requirements across all three bands is a challenge, and even more so, is the feed network that accompanies these optics”.

He likes brewing beer, making home projects, gardening, football (especially the Tennessee Titans), and hanging out with his dogs and friends.

“Troubleshooting. No one ever learned anything without making mistakes first”Benjamin Baggett

Written by: Samantha Suarez

FORWARD LOOKING STRATEGY

James Messink Chief Technology Officer of Micro-Ant

Director

Where do you see the greatest challenges for antenna development in the near future?

James: Gathering requirements and executing the correct antenna solution is always a challenge but especially prominent with emerging LEO/ MEO constellations. The ability of antenna developers to demonstrate compliance with specifications is key but the true challenge for antenna development is the regulation of inferior antenna technology by the regulatory agencies. Smaller, lighter, more conformal antenna technology is in demand but must be held to a rigorous standard of performance and product integrity for a satisfactory user experience.

Dasha: Flat Aperture technologies have significant commercial potential but low-cost commercial variants have not yet been proven viable, even when subsidized by satellite operators. We believe a lower cost flat panel is possible through continued investment into RF materials and greater specificity in requirements. Most likely the reduction in manufacturing costs will come gradually, as new mid-tier applications increase volume and drive investments into usecase specific variants of the flat antenna.

What are the most exciting opportunities you see in the SatComs industry?

James: I believe there is a huge opportunity for the O3b mPOWER network when compared with traditional GEO as well as long-standing LEO constellations. The ability of the network planning to respond to demand through versatility and scalability opens new possibilities for commercial, military, and aerospace applications. This level of performance will rely solely on a highly efficient, well-integrated, and rock-solid platform of quality antennas to drive innovation.

Dasha: I am impressed with the potential of LEO constellation to become an alternative to GNSS/GPS positioning. Interference and jamming of GNSS in aviation and defense settings continues to show up in the news. The LEO based positioning technology looks to be more resilient and opens up opportunities for positioning technologies in multiple frequencies. This is a novel and compelling application of LEO constellations that could solve an otherwise intractable problem.

Dasha Tyshlek

of Business Development of Micro-Ant

What are the emerging applications of Precision GPS/GNSS antennas that look the most promising?

James: Emerging automated systems particularly in quasi-remote environments will rely on multiple forms of mm positioning accuracy to perform autonomous activities as well as monitor human life safety systems. Autonomous aerial vehicles will rely heavily on the 3-dimensional accuracy as many more payload delivery systems emerge in the combined commercial and military airspace.

Dasha: Semi-autonomous vehicles (land and air) will require highly accurate positioning that is both resilient and interference-proof. I believe there will be tremendous opportunities for cm and mm level accuracy once more land-based and aerial vehicles require redundant systems and lane-accuracy positioning.

James: We are continuing to invest in automation within our engineering, testing, manufacturing, and quality workflows in order to increase our speed in new product development and launch. Increased automation in testing is going to have the greatest impact for continued development of switched beam ESAs while increased automation in engineering design is going to impact new waveguide components by reducing the amount of time it takes to program new designs in our machine shop.

Dasha: Micro-Ant's talent and culture strategy is the most important to our customers. They rely on our company continuing to innovate and on our dedication to quality products, quality communications, and quality relationships across the supply chain. To maintain our excellence we have to be able to attract people who care and love learning. Our culture and investment into their development is what will attract and retain that great talent.

What was the most exciting industry event of 2022 you attended?

James: SOFIC in Tampa FL was an eye-opening event and combined a well-rounded mix of DOD, Military, and Commercial demands within the SatCom industry. Conformal ESA antennas and the Ultra Wide band 3.5GHz capability were of key interest to multiple government and civilian entities both domestic and foreign. Platform versatility, low profile performance, and antijamming capability peaked interest, especially in these times of global conflict.

Dasha: GlobalMilSatcom this year in the UK was a focused but extremely well-attended event. We learned about new capabilities and challenges emerging from the competition between multiple space-capable nations. This event put into full context the importance of Micro-Ant's Ultra Wide Band Ka Technology to interoperability and resiliency.

SIG Workshop 16-17 March, 2023 Washington, DC

Iridium Partner Conference 2023 27-30 March, 2023 Palm Desert, CA

What part of Micro-Ant’s future strategies do you think are most valuable to current Micro-Ant customers?

WHAT WE STAND FOR

Our philosophy is that customers rely on our inventiveness and perseverance and that we derive creativity and innovation from their ever-evolving requirements. In 2022, we were honored with three awards recognizing the depth of our partnership, our exciting new technologies, and our contribution to the community through great culture and ongoing job creation.

Inc.’s Inaugural Power Partner Awards

We’ve always seen ourselves as ultimately and relentlessly committed to satisfying the customer - persevering through the topmost technological and operational challenges to ensure excellent products and service. In fact, we always refer to both our customers and our suppliers as our partners in business. We were delighted to learn that our partners thought the same of

us - by nominating and voting for us to receive the Inc Power Partner Award.

The award, celebrated in November, honors B2B organizations across the globe that have proven track records supporting entrepreneurs and helping other startups grow. Of the 252 firms that received this award, Micro-Ant was the only company in manufacturing.

Satcoms Innovation Group Awards

Our cutting-edge technologies have also received tremendous industry attention this year as Micro-Ant received the Innovation of the Year Award for the successful development of its Ultra Wide Band (3.5 GHz) Ka Antenna System. This technology is critical to enabling connectivity over extended frequency bands in Ka for satellite roaming across multiple satellite operators in all orbits and the first center-fed design that complies with the SES O3B requirements.

Dasha Tyshlek, Director of Business Development, accepted this award on behalf of the team: “Developing this technology required rigor and tremendous teamwork between our engineering and manufacturing teams. This is an important advancement for the defense industry in particular, where resilience through multiconstellation capability has become an important area of development. The antenna has been the most difficult and critical component to develop

12th Annual GrowFL Florida Companies to Watch

Micro-Ant was selected as one of the 50 companies for the “12th Annual GrowFL Florida Companies to Watch.” The award honors secondstage Florida companies for developing valuable products and services, creating quality jobs, enriching communities, and broadening new industries throughout Florida.

“We are honored to be a finalist for the GrowFL Award. Many people within our company have worked with us for 5,10, and even 15+ years and have seen us grow from a small operation to a world-class engineering firm with great processes and relentless pursuit of excellence in design and manufacturing,” says Charlie McCarrick, President of Micro-Ant.

for this new requirement.”

The awards were held in March, 2022 at the Satcoms Innovation Group Workshop.

There are many unique challenges to developing segmented reflectors that optimize for signal strength, compliance, ease of use, and reliability in difficult field conditions. Developing a complete solution is an expensive investment and requires deep expertise in systems integration, RF materials, composite manufacturing processes, antenna design principles, and customer requirements.

On February 8th, Micro-Ant and Kore Composites will be presenting the "Design Considerations for Field Ready Manpack and Flyaway Terminals" Webcast to share best practices and answer questions about the new Kore Veritas reflector solution.

During this virtual session, you will learn about

• Requirements for a field-ready and reliable product

• Critical-to-compliance design elements and features

• Testing and validation principles to de-risk your product

• Latest developments in MEO/LEO compatible components for parabolic systems When Wed, Feb 8, 2023 · 10:30 AM Eastern Time (US & Canada) (GMT -5:00) Register

22.6" x 20.2" x 7.5" (57cm x 51 cm x 19 cm)

21.0" x 15.5" x 7.0" (51cm x 40 cm x 18cm)

19.0" x 12.7" x 6.0" (48cm x 25 cm x 13 cm)

17.4" x 10.0" x 5.0" (45cm x 15 cm x 13 cm)

A CLEAR SIGNAL IN A NOISY WORLD