The Tellurometer is arguably one of SA's greatest inventions ever (see "Tellurometer in a nutshell"). Yet Tellumat, the company that is the custodian of that technology and its related intellectual property, seems ordinary... until you walk into the research and development centre. This hums with the energy of almost 80 bright minds figuring out the next advances in microwave and communications technology.
On three floors of a sprawling building, located somewhere between a railway line and Table Mountain, software engineers, electrical engineers, physicists and numerous technologists concentrate their energies on developing hi-tech electronic products. These include electronic identification units, cryptographic computers for military use, digital microwave radios and radar subsystems for military and civil telecommunications, tactical communication systems and civil communications products, among them the world's first GSM payphone.
Some of these boffins are hard to spot, buried as they are behind stacks of computers, racks of electronic components and devices produced by the company. Some devices, such as the original Tellurometer distance measurement instruments and bulky radios, date back to the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, while others are prototypes for technology still in development. In their midst, table tennis and snooker tables vie for attention.
The fact that Tellumat prefers operating below the radar, so to speak, does not mean that its contribution to SA's electronics sector is inconsequential. The company's stable of businesses will turn over in excess of R300m this year. It invests more than R35m in R&D annually and is one of a handful of local electronics companies still producing products from scratch, rather than licensing the technology from foreign partners. It is the only company in Africa producing microwave radios and dominates the market in the production of GSM payphones and telephone exchange systems.
Tellumat is the authority in SA on electronic identification systems to enable the military to identify "friend or foe" (IFF). These systems are used on fighter aircraft, helicopters, naval ships and submarines and air defence systems. The objective is to avoid shooting at one's own forces and to improve force effectiveness. The heart of this technology lies in advanced encryption elements which give the system a level of security equal to or better than any other. In fact, Tellumat is the world's only manufacturer of complete secure identification (IFF) solutions outside the Nato grouping, which has a closed membership.
The company delivers these identification solutions to various countries in targeted markets around the world and readily enters into co-development ventures with its international partners. It prefers not to elaborate on these, to protect customer confidentiality. "Of course we comply with the SA and international rules governing international trade in armaments," says Tellumat CEO Rasheed Hargey.
The company has recently fended off competition from electronics giant Siemens to win a contract from Armscor to produce these IFF solutions.
The development of tactical communication systems which enable the command and control systems for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is a growing business. Tellumat's clients include SA companies Advanced Technologies & Engineering (ATE) and Denel. UAVs are becoming increasingly strategic to military organisations as technology matures and products become smaller. "UAVs are considered the poor man's army," says head of technology Ian Robertson, "because they offer the possibility of cheaper, more efficient surveillance fighting machines which can be used without risk to aircrews."
Tellumat is collaborating with ATE on the development and integration of stabilisation and navigation technology into the Kiwit mini UAV (its prototype weighs 3 kg), which has potential for peacekeeping or commercial applications.
Overall, developing communication systems for the defence industry is a growing portion of the business. It accounts for about a quarter of turnover now but this is expected to increase.
But Tellumat is much more comfortable talking about the work it is doing for Stellenbosch microsatellite company SunSpace, or for the Karoo Array Telescope, a national project funded by the National Research Foundation which is injecting new energy into the local electronics and software engineering industries. "We have entrenched institutional knowledge in the field of microwave communications and some of the technologies we are developing are in line with, or even slightly ahead of, developments in this field globally," says Robertson.
The company has recently had an order for X-band transponders from the Airports Authority of India. The technology will be installed at remote island airfields to assist in positioning and identifying the landing zone using an aircraft's X-band weather or surveillance radar. The original product was designed and produced by Tellumat in the early 1990s for military special forces.
One technology that Tellumat will not develop from scratch is WiMax, a broadband wireless technology dubbed as 4G, which competes with the 3G (third-generation) offering of mobile network operators. Tellumat is involved in a project to provide WiMax services in the Amatole district of the Eastern Cape on behalf of Amatole Telecommunication Services, holder of a licence for underserviced areas. Local residents and businesses will have access to high-speed Internet access and free voice over Internet Protocol telephone calls within the network by the middle of this year.
"Worldwide, this technology is considered one of the best solutions for last mile' broadband connectivity, but it is too big, too expensive and takes too long to develop this ourselves," says Hargey.
But other areas of the business will benefit from this work - in particular, the contract manufacturing operation, which is adjacent to the R&D centre and specialises in the production of radio frequency equipment and other hi-tech electronic products. Tellumat recently acquired Rhomco, a Cape-based manufacturer of high-end electronic equipment. Aside from boosting output capacity by about 40%, it brings know-how in low-volume production. "This gives us greater flexibility in our customer offerings, which supports the route we have chosen to follow," says Hargey. "That is as a developer and manufacturer of complex, hi-tech communication products in specific market niches."
