I agree with OBrien!
Thanks for your inside info & expertise.
A fabulous story about disgroaned employee that teaches all of us to not be greedy and foolish, is now out in public and only because we have an insider who gets real truth direct from company which miraculously spent merely 2 years to invent a bicycle... err, I mean PowerAmps already on the market by that time from RFHIC, Amplifier.Research (AR), or even the "WalMart" of RFMW Industry - MINICIRCUITS Corp. themselves!
We appreciate the info.
And now we know the fool employee got even fired, THAT's WHAT I MEANT by "cut off all the junk employees" which Amplitech executed marvelously losing 4 engineers in 3 1/2 years all of whom quit leaving none on board. I do believe education is a negative, that's why AmpliTech only has had (for years) 1 University educated engineer - Owner himself. Owner is very smart, it seems the only one in his role at AMPG and that's why it's the good news - saves money, improves margin, focuses all the R&D design work for EVERYTHING from LNA's to 10-Megawatt TWT tower poweramps to circuit PCB layout to mechanical packaging and facilities maintenance (kitchen is important) all in one person.
No other engineers are necessary, as "people are the biggest burden for a company's margin" - that's why it's important to get a couple High.School diploma assemblers & no more, but to make it proper P.R./News announcements however should mention a "team of talented engineers", "hired new brains" (old brains were flushed out, about 3-4 engineers in as many years), and such.
That's why AMPG will be rising into In-flight WiFi via Satellite.
Only one thing remains murky - why did Revenues spike up exactly in 2016, then subsided? What was it about 2016 rise?
Was it new customers on the WestCoast, Europe, etc. that somebody brought in... OK if you're insider you obviously will find out :)
Why did Revenues also happen in 2007?, 2011?, hrrm? We need this clarifed. Do bring us inside info direct from the ccompany.
As of myself, I suspect a Resonance in those years dueto parasitic feedback or let's label it "back-beating" from the wall at RFOUT port.
As of your question regarding Amplitech developing own MMIC's - for sure Obrien.
That's been in development since 2009 - 8 years to be exact. Forget about all those "Custom MMIC Corp." of Chelmsford MA founded by former Hittite engineers (acquired by Analog Devices Inc.), forget about ADI - they're too old & their products are too bad.
Forget about custom mmwIC's from OMMIC of France (& UMS also of France), I'd say Qorvo is junk vs. AmpliTech and the advantage that Amplitech has over the rest of the world is they're FabLess - they planned (since a decade ago, still trying) to rent Triquint/now known as Qorvo's fab in Oregon & Texas.
But alas, it requires a physical semiconductor-layout engineer with CAD expertise in Cadence Virtuoso, typically 0.3-26GHz experience, SpectreRF for simulation (but you may get away with rudimentary facilities in Keysight's ADS or NI AWR 2.5D on chip-level, and it's good to know HFSS or CST Studio.
Ohh that's too hard!
Instead, Amplitech has been working hard for merely 8 years with the help of a smoke pipe to enter a market which is already "done".
"Custom MMIC Inc." of Massachussetts? - no no no!, they're too bad, too soon, too many products.
Instead it would be AmpliTech's MMIC's to beat up Minicirctuits MAR1 6GHz offering for InFlight WiFi or WhyFry. MAR1 was the bechmark of performance since Last Supper.
Special ultra-low NoiseFigure. Not even Mitsubishi or Toshiba can figure it out with their pHEMT GaAsInP discretes.
And Space Qualified + radiation hardened too! Expect these designs to roll out in the next 20 years.
What we really need is to spend 15 years to develop a single MMICto to makesure it's the best in the world (as of 15 years ago).
More like "The Last Will" or the "Last of the Mohicans"
Seriously,
There's nothing to invent in GaAs low-power LNA's with this kind of "expertise". There's much opportunity in GaN on SiC + qualified for space.
Right now my company in Alabama needs & is developing 40-Watt KuBand GaN-based Space-qualified amps with emphasis on Space qual which NOBODY offers on the market yet.
Problem is it seems simple on surface - IC's have been available a long time ago from Qorvo, ADI, MaCom, etc. but IC's Datasheets for these GaN MMIC's do not translate into real-life performance.
Nobody knows exactly why & how to make this work well in a practical Space-qual amp, yet.
That's an opportunity to innovate. It must be radiation-hardeneds and survive extreme accelerations/shock/vibration/temperature cycling beyond normal.
UAV's require their own qualifications
Navy requries own. And so on.
Not what Amplitech has been fooling around for a decade + with "P.R. & Tweets"
Maybe P.R. in Puerto Rico is impressive
One mad scientist tried to push it in 2010 to Amplitech but was rejected.
Maybe it was that evil gnome who got supposedly busted for selling super-patented secrets of how to make a bicycle to North Korea and got supposedly fired ? After all you got the TRUTH, Inside info !
And we appreciate sharing it.
Thanks.
