Alcan Systems

Alcan Systems GmbH, a German telecommunications company, was a developer of smart antenna systems for satellite and cellular communications. The company was liquidated in 2023. The firm's technological foundation was laid by research initiated in 1999 at the Institute for Microwave Engineering and Photonics at Technische Universität Darmstadt by Professor Rolf Jakoby. This research was advanced by Onur H. Karabey, who joined the team in 2009 and developed the core technology for his PhD thesis. Alcan began as a university research project in 2014 with €650,000 in seed funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. In 2016, the project spun out into an independent company founded by Onur H. Karabey, A. Burak Olcen, Esat M. Sibay, and Rolf Jakoby. By late 2016, Alcan had secured €7.5 million in a Series A funding round from a consortium including Merck, SES, and SPC.

Alcan's core business involved developing electronically steerable, flat-panel phased-array antennas using a patented liquid crystal (LC) technology. This approach aimed to provide high-performance beam-steering without any moving parts, resulting in an ultra-thin, low-power, and cost-effective antenna. A key manufacturing advantage was the ability to leverage existing LCD production lines to produce the antenna's liquid crystal panels, significantly reducing costs. The business model focused on a B2B approach, developing antennas based on requirements from satellite operators and service providers. The company targeted both enterprise and consumer segments, with applications for moving vehicles (maritime, aviation, land), fixed ground stations for cellular backhaul, and enterprise networks. These antennas were designed to be compatible with GEO, MEO, and LEO satellites on Ku and Ka bands, as well as future 5G networks.

The product is a smart antenna that uses a liquid crystal layer controlled by an electric field to change the direction of a transmitted or received beam. This solid-state design eliminates the need for physical movement, enabling rapid switching between satellites in under 50 milliseconds, a critical feature for LEO and MEO constellations. The technology was also adapted for the 5G market to address mmWave deployment challenges, offering a low-profile, cost-effective solution for customer premises equipment (CPE) and repeaters. Alcan successfully demonstrated its antennas' capabilities, including tracking LEO satellites and maintaining stable internet connections via GEO satellites in live tests. In 2023, the company was officially liquidated.

Keywords: liquid crystal antenna, phased array antenna, satellite communications, 5G mmWave, beam steering, flat panel antenna, mobile connectivity, satcom, ground terminal, telecommunications hardware, Darmstadt, Onur Karabey, TU Darmstadt, Ka-band, Ku-band, LEO, MEO, GEO, smart antenna, cellular backhaul