Adiabatic Logic wins £45,000 Smart Award to test silicon chip power reducing concept.
CAMBRIDGE, England, December 20, 2002
– Adiabatic Logic Limited, a company spun out of Cambridge-based technical design consultancy, Cambridge Technology Consultants (formerly OptionExist), has won a £45,000 Small Firms Merit Award for Research and Technology (SMART) from Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)'s Small Business Service.The Smart feasibility award will enable Adiabatic Logic's design team to test its patented technique, which it believes could reduce, by up to 35%, the power consumption of silicon chips used in PCs, handheld computers/PDAs and mobile phones.
The novel technique focuses on reducing power during the communication between chips and Adiabatic Logic plans to prove that the concept works by designing and manufacturing silicon chips which incorporate its technology.
Geoff Harvey, Adiabatic Logic's chief technology officer, speaking at the Awards event at the Welding Institute, near Cambridge, said: "The next generation of silicon chips are expected to consume proportionally more power communicating with each other than they will during their core computing activity. We aim to use the SMART award to demonstrate the feasibility of our technique ahead of exploiting what we believe is a significant sales opportunity."
The global market for silicon chips and integrated circuits that could benefit is worth in excess of US$100 billion a year, based on market projections (Source: Gartner, December 2001).
"The need to reduce power consumption, particularly in battery operated portable electronic devices such as the latest generation of wireless-enabled PDAs and smartphones, will be paramount," added Harvey. "The telecoms and IT industry is banking on these new devices renewing sales growth for operators and equipment vendors alike - but they need to solve the power issue otherwise products will have to become heavier and bulkier, which will be unacceptable to today's aesthetically minded consumers."
In its November 2002 report on the Mobile Device Market in Western Europe, telecoms and new media consultants, Analysys, states that the number of 'feature rich' smartphones in the market could reach over 278 million in five years. The vast majority of these 2.5G and 3G handsets will have colour screens, Java gaming capability, picture messaging and digital cameras built in.
"This is a huge market opportunity for us as many of these new features will require additional processing and battery power," added Harvey. "Our solution will reduce the power levels required and enable operators and device manufacturers to pack in more features without compromising on price or form factor."
The Smart scheme has been running for more than 14 years and aims to boost innovative or exploratory ways of solving practical problems. Grants are given for three types of project:
- up to £10,000 for a micro project to develop a low cost prototype
- up to £45,000 for a feasibility study into innovative technology; and
- funding of up to £150,000 for the development of a new product or process up to pre-production prototype stage.
About Adiabatic Logic Limited (www.adiabaticlogic.com)
Founded in 2002, Adiabatic Logic Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cambridge Technology Consultants, was set up to exploit a portfolio of secured patents in the low power technology arena. Adiabatic Logic has a patented technique with the potential to significantly reduce the power consumption of digital computer chips, such as those found in today's laptop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and mobile phones.
The design team's focus is on creating and applying intellectual property (IP) to exploit the concept of 'loss-less' processes. An adiabatic process is one in which no heat is gained or lost. It is normally associated with the behaviour of gases but can be applied in other physical domains, such as electronics. The company is based at Dry Drayton, on the outskirts of Cambridge, England. Organisations can find out more about Smart in the East of England by contacting Paul Witcombe, Grants Team Manager at the Small Business Service on: 01223 484537 or by visiting www.dti.gov.uk
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Martin Brooke
Martin Brooke Associates
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