As featured in SatMagazine

 

Twenty twenty-two has proved a very positive and buoyant year for Flann Microwave, a market-leading designer and manufacturer of precision RF Microwave and Millimetric products, solutions and services. 

A year of steady growth and development from its base in Cornwall, UK, backed by a workforce of highly skilled engineers and professionals, has seen exports of products and services top 80 percent in 2022. The company says it is already benefiting from the burgeoning smallsats market and expects to further capitalise on it.

Flann has been trading for over 60 years and its ability to design, manufacture and validate on site gives it the advantage of being able to take new designs from prototype to deliverable instruments within short time frames.

This expertise lies behind Flann’s long-established global reputation for delivering high quality, highly repeatable, standard and bespoke instrumentation and systems for a wide range of different customers across various industry sectors.

Key customers include businesses working in the ground-based and orbital satellite communications sectors, aerospace, 5G & 6G communication networks, radar, guidance systems, air traffic control, security systems, metrology, medical, research & academia. The company also supports government agencies in the compilation of industry standards documentation.

 

During the past year Flann Microwave’s fine tuned bespoke processes have allowed development of a new range of seamless precision waveguide operating up to 1.1THz and suitable waveguide applications requiring straights, bends, twists or custom built assemblies consisting of a combination of these. The sub-millimeter waveguide can be manufactured up to a length of 400mm in a choice of thin or ultra-thin wall thickness, and is available in either copper or nickel with an internal surface finish <0.2um Ra.

Orders received in 2022 include from the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), a world-leading centre of excellence that provides cutting-edge measurement science, engineering and technology to underpin prosperity and quality of life in the UK.

Flann Microwave operates from a purpose-built factory and business premises on the edge of Bodmin, Cornwall, where it employs around 60 specialist and highly experienced staff.

 

The year has seen the business further consolidate its position across key markets as the needs for ever-higher data capacity and transfer speeds rise in tandem with the global post-pandemic demand for connectivity global broadband capacity.

Moreover, Ian Burnage was appointed CEO in the summer and has brought to the company a wealth of experience from more than 25 years in business and industry. Prior to joining Flann Microwave as General Manager at the end of 2021 in order to facilitate a smooth transition from Ian Crane the previous CEO, he ran his own transformative business consultancy for five years.

“With our world class design team, extensive in-house capabilities, over 50 years of waveguide engineering experience combined with global reach, we have been ideally placed to support the revolution in small satellite technology that is driving demand for ever higher frequency microwave switches to transmit data to ground antennas.

“Flann Microwave’s on-going ambition to maintain the highest standards ensures that the Company’s global reputation for quality, reliability and performance will continue into the future,” he says.

Throughout 2022, Flann has also maintained a high-profile business presence at major industry conferences, including Space Tech Expo, European Microwave Week, Space-Comm Expo and the International Microwave Symposium.