The market
The global market for base station, outdoor and indoor fixed antennas was $ 10 billion in 2009 and should reach 13.3 billion in 2014. Branch for the defense sector grow faster than any Another, and they are already worth $ 1.2 billion with an annual growth rate made up of 13 %. Wireless communications have made antennas an essential component of computers and micro-electronics for residential, commercial and industrial facilities. This wireless telecommunications infrastructure will be worth 2.2 billion dollars by 2014, because each phone, computer and most households in the developed world will be equipped with antennas to be connected to the Internet and mobile phones. The global wireless transmission stations increased by 17 % per year between 2010 and 2011, and multiband antennas even increased at a two -digit rate of 39 %. China and India are currently the largest markets in the world. However, upgrades to European wireless communication systems indicate that the Western Europe region could experience the strongest growth in the coming years. The German group Kathrein is the oldest and the largest antennas manufacturer in Germany with 6,300 employees and 21 production centers whose turnover exceeded $ 1.4 billion in 2010. The Putian Antenna Company, A subsidiary of Putian Corporation is the main Chinese producer located in Xian and specializing in the production of microwave, mobile and satellite antennas. Kavveri, whose head office is in Bangalore, is the first Indian competitor with a manufacturing capacity of a million high quality antennas per month.
Innovation
The wireless industry has studied how to make smaller and more powerful antennas with fewer white areas while improving the transmission speed. The industry is aware of visual pollution and the growing awareness of customers to imminent risk -related risks. Standard antennas on the market today look like ironing boards. The new smaller version offered by Alcatel-Lucent, the Franco-American manufacturer of telecommunications equipment resemble a cube, which has the advantage that these receivers and transmitters are small enough to be placed inside and easily concealed at sight. The reduced size of the antennas not only keeps them out of sight, but these antennas also have a greater capacity for transmission of data and voice. Alcatel-Lucent claims that performance will improve with a factor of ten, and eliminate the need to have all the phones within a radius of two to three kilometers from an antenna. With the arrival of iPhone users and eager data smartphones, networks are stressed by demand. Even best established service providers are unable to offer 100 %quality service, hence the concept and acceptance of "abandoned calls", even by the most demanding subscribers. Another major challenge with which the antennas market is confronted is interference between the different cell phone networks. With the increase in the number of subscribers in urban dense communication environments such as airports, stations, conference rooms and sports stages, it has become increasingly difficult to obtain own connections for suppliers of individual services. The only way for antennas to ensure that the signal is understood is "screaming" stronger, consuming more energy. The new antennas conceptions will therefore have to find ways to reduce cries, which, in the end, will ensure a better battery life for all users and will reduce energy consumption. Johan Gielis excelled in Latin and Greek at the Lycée d'Antvers, in Belgium. He obtained a horticulture diploma and after meeting Jan Oprins, he concentrated his career on bamboo, the tissue culture of the giant herbs of tropical and temperate climates. As his research progresses, he experienced the study of molecular markers and bamboo physiology to try to disentangle metabolism. Since the early 90s, Johan has been interested in the mathematical modeling of plants, in particular bamboo. In 1994, he began to use the mathematical formula in the description of natural forms. In 1997, he generalized the "Lamé curves" by a new mathematical formula known today under the name of "Super Formula". It was published for the first time in 2003 in the American Journal of Botany. Since then, around 200 scientific articles have been references or have used the equation which has become known as the Gielis formula. Johan realized that his mathematical breakthrough offers a single equation to calculate any form in two or three dimensions. The myriad of imaginary geometric forms, impossible to calculate and design with traditional mathematics, are now at hand by working with only six parameters.
The first cash flow
The super formula solves the problem of the limited symmetry of super ellipses and super circles. Shapes such as pentagons and starfish, triangles and rose petals, flowers and leaves can now be calculated in a single equation. The possibility of calculating the forms in this way made it possible to rethink geometry. Circles and spheres, hanging chains, planets trajectory, form of snowflakes, contours of planets and galaxies, radio ... waves, telecommunications networks, the formation of rocks and crystals all try to optimize the surface, the volume and/or energy. Johan and his team explored the consequences of these results for optimization applications such as calculating the shortest distance in networks. He then created Genicap, as a commercial company, which follows a license model, and the Simon Stevin Institute of Geometry as a research and teaching center, both having offices in the Netherlands, while His part -time teacher position at the University of Antwerp (Belgium). On this basis, the Johanʼ team began to design the next generation of antennas under the direction of Dr. Diego Caratelli, ensuring the greatest energy efficiency, the longest possible distance and the least use of materials. With his team, he realized that the super formula makes it possible to design a new class of superformed antennas which can be produced on order at very low cost (one penny per piece per room) while operating in an ultra strip -Mabitically. These antennas can even be made from recycled plastics, which eliminates dependence on metals, in particular rare land metals. The nature of wireless systems and interference that can only be overcome by "shouting" by increasing energy consumption stimulate the demand for precise design of improved access points. As these new antennas can further reduce their size, improve radiation, operate with a wider bandwidth while being easy to deploy or install, Johan realized that one of his first commercial applications is revolutionary design antennas that in no way resemble current forms. The Genicap team has proven the viability of super antennas. This could indicate that the number of laps of repeaters that dot the horizon could be considerably reduced, which would considerably increase energy and material efficiency. These 3D antennas have no resemblance to the cubes, the ironing board or the current pole -shaped shapes. The success of the manufacture of these diatom type structures is based on new technologies such as the manufacture of additives and 3D printing (see case 50). The use of mathematics, geometry and physics to increase productivity and efficiency of materials and energy is one of the characteristics of the blue economy.
The opportunity
The discovery of the super formula opens the world to a large platform of innovations. The sector that may be the most affected is that of computer science. Until now, the increase in computer flea performance depended on the breakthroughs in materials and the physical structuring of the processors. Now, breakthrough in the calculation speed is nothing other than underlying algorithms which can be considerably simplified using Johan's equation. When visual presentations are resolutely oriented towards 3D, the translation of a complex image in binary code by the super formula can reduce the bandwidth of a 100, or even 1,000 factor. This means that the simple change in the algorithm releases enormous computer power. For the first time, we see how a mathematical formula allows multiple performance improvement without requiring any innovation in materials. The implications are large. None of the main software publishers, whether Microsoft, Oracle or SAP, seized the depth and extent of the impact of the super formula on their main existing activities. This however offers the opportunity to imagine a platform for entrepreneurship which could give birth over the years to dozens of new microsofts. The power of Johan's breakthrough is that it releases innovation in everything that goes from computers to communications, packaging and water flow, manufacturing and distribution. It is this type of innovations that makes blue economy what it is: an opportunity to transform business models in order to transform society towards efficiency, sufficiency and perhaps even abundance .
