FRONTGRADE
Frontgrade is a pioneer in waveguide technology. With a product portfolio spanning 40+ years in the making, we have a solution to meet all of your waveguide design needs.
Frontgrade waveguides improve the reliability of transmission and reception to enhance the overall performance of communications systems and are used widely in space, defense, avionics, industrial, scientific and medical applications. Frontgrade numerous use cases include the provision of waveguide products to support industry-standard microwave test and measurement for for low and high-power laboratory applications.
Frontgrade offers a full range of rectangular (WR-22 to WR430) and double-ridge (WRD-180 to WR430) waveguides covering frequency bands from a few hundred MHz to 100 GHz.
Frontgrade technology has been deployed by the OneWeb Satellites joint venture of OneWeb and Airbus in a 600-satellite low-Earth orbit constellation for delivering global internet broadband service.
Designed for commercial and military applications that must comply with stringent ISO9001:2008 and AS9100 standards, the majority of Frontgrade waveguide assemblies are custom built to specific requirements and can be manufactured from a broad range of materials such as aluminum, copper or brass. Frontgrade also has the capacity to create a customized integrated assembly of passive and active microwave waveguide and coaxial components, allowing the development and production of complete modular transmit/receive devices. Frontgrade additionally specializes in custom bracketry and integrated waveguides from cast to 3D printed to hybrid.
Frontgrade is a pioneer in waveguide technology. With a product portfolio spanning 40+ years in the making, we have a solution to meet all of your waveguide design needs.
Frontgrade offers a full range of rectangular (WR-22 to WR430) and double-ridge (WRD-180 to WR430) waveguides covering frequency bands from a few hundred MHz to 100 GHz.
Designed for commercial and military applications that must comply with stringent ISO9001:2008 and AS9100 standards, the majority of Frontgrade waveguide assemblies are custom built to specific requirements and can be manufactured from a broad range of materials such as aluminum, copper or brass. Frontgrade also has the capacity to create a customized integrated assembly of passive and active microwave waveguide and coaxial components, allowing the development and production of complete modular transmit/receive devices. Frontgrade additionally specializes in custom bracketry and integrated waveguides from cast to 3D printed to hybrid.
For more than 50 years, Frontgrade has produced thousands of designs for rotary joints, the vital link between the stationary and movable parts of a radar or microwave communication system that allows signals to be transmitted between the antenna and ground with little or no distortion.
Frontgrade long legacy serving customers in the space industry includes commercial satellite radar, Space Shuttle docking radar, advanced ground mapping systems and the Mars Exploration Rover mission.
Frontgrade specializes in microwave and electro-mechanical rotating devices, including RF rotary joints, gear-driven and direct-drive pedestals and RF rotating subsystems. Thanks to many recent technological advances, rotary joints are highly reliable components for space applications whose advantages include unlimited rotation, long life and high reliability, excellent RF performance and low torque. Our wide range of rotary joints are used in many antenna pedestals, which is the mechanism for moving and rotating antennas and radar structures – accurately and in all weather and operating conditions. Our in-house capability includes all test equipment necessary to provide a rotary joint that meets or exceeds exacting customer standards, including complete, in-house, high-power and environmental test facilities housed in a single 106,000-sq.-ft. site. At Frontgrade, we are proud of the work we do on behalf of our customers, and as a result of our dedication to quality we are certified to ISO9001:2008 and AS9100 Revision B and in accordance with AS9104A.
Frontgrade has been designing, manufacturing and testing coaxial cable assemblies for more than 50 years serving military and space applications.
With nearly 500 custom cable designs and 5,000 custom and standard connectors, Frontgrade has the industry’s broadest selection of cable systems for radar (airborne, ground, shipboard and missile), as well as electronic warfare (EW), CNI, C4ISR, satellite communications and laboratory test equipment.
Cable assemblies must withstand severe environmental hazards while reliably providing high-quality RF microwave interconnects. Frontgrade cable products cover broad frequency ranges from DC to 60 GHz and feature unmatched electrical performance, proven reliability and mechanical strength and extremely low loss. Frontgrade’ in-house testing facility performs complete qualification testing to MIL-T-81490, MIL-DTL-87104 and customer-defined specifications. Our 29 unique tests include 65G vibration, -65° to 200°C operation at 70,000 feet, 100,000 flexure endurance, abrasion resistance, RF shielding effectiveness and exposure to chemicals and fluids. And because we design and manufacture both cable and connectors in a single location, we can offer custom assemblies developed and tested specifically for our customers' most exacting requirements.
Horn and Notch Antennas perform well over wide bandwidths while providing directive radiation patterns and moderate gain levels. Frontgrade offers an extensive range of products including conical, pyramidal and sectoral horn antennas, as well as dual-polarized, high-power tapered notch antennas.
With an emphasis on electronic warfare applications, including electronic attack and electronic protection, Frontgrade Horn and Notch Antennas provide the precise radiation pattern control and polarization purity required for challenging missions.
Linear, dual linear and circular polarization
High polarization purity and low side-lobes
High port-to-port isolation (dual linear models)
Superior radiation pattern and beamwidth control via aperture shaping and dielectric lenses
High power handling, as much as 500W CW per port
Ultra broadband (15:1 bandwidth) models available