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Press release

Labtech, UK
7th April 1999

LABTECH'S PTFE CIRCUITS TO HELP PROTECT THE AMAZON RAIN-FOREST

Circuits manufactured by Labtech, part of the Intelek group of companies, are being used in five Ericsson Erieye phased array radar systems used by the Brazilian airforce to combat smuggling in the Amazon.

The Amazon jungle, home to more than half of the Earth's known species of plants and animals, is being destroyed at a rate of five million acres per year. Illegal farming and mining activity, smuggling of exotic animals, rare hardwoods, gold and diamonds and the trade in cocaine, are all responsible. Once an unauthorized aircraft movement is spotted by the airforce, they can move quickly to stop the illegal activity. Until recently, the airforce relied on ground surveillance radar. The new Erieye radar systems are mounted on five Embraer EMB 145 aircraft, greatly enhancing the airforce's ability to detect smugglers.

Erieye is the first long-range, high performance Airborne Early Warning and Control system which can be installed in relatively small turboprop aircraft. This is because it uses a nonmoving, solid-state antenna, suitable for mounting on top of an aircraft fuselage, rather than a conventional rotodome antenna. This design also delivers improved detection and tracking performance.

Labtech has provided quick turnaround prototype circuits for the development phase of the project and is currently working on the third production set of circuits. The circuits are bonded stripline feeder networks, with each board acting as a divider for signal distribution to the phased array antenna. The circuits are based on a ceramic filled PTFE (Teflon) substrate, with an FR4 rigidiser bonded to one side. Labtech is one of a very small number of printed circuit manufacturers in Europe, capable of supplying this type of circuit board.

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