Radar market

The foams, marketed by Rohm as Rohacell, are stable at room temperature to hydrocarbons, ketones, chlorinated solvents and 10% sulphuric acid. They may be used under load at temperature up to 160°C. Uses quoted for these materials include bus engine covers, aircraft landing gear doors, radar domes, domes, ski cores and tennis racket cores. Their potential is in applications demanding a level of heat deformation resistance, solvent resistance and stiffness not exhibited by more well-known cellular polymers such as expanded polystyrene and the polyurethane foams. 

It all started almost 60 years ago when P. Spencer, studying high-power microwave sources for radar applications, observed the melting of a chocolate bar in his pocket at least that is the story told. The first patent in this field was filed by him in 1946 and one year later the first commercial microwave oven appeared on the market. We had to wait until 1955 for domestic models, but by 1976 almost 60% of US households already had a microwave oven. 

At Novartis, so-called BioavailabiUty Radar Plots [44] are used to visually display the oral absorption potential of molecules. On these plots five important calculated descriptors (log P, molecular weight, PSA, number of rotatable bonds and water solubility score [45]) are displayed on the axes of a pentagonal radar plot and compared with predefined property limits (green area) which were determined by the analysis of marketed oral drugs. These plots provide an intuitive tool that displays multiple parameters as a single chart in a straightforward but informative way, providing visual feedback about the molecule s bioavailabiUty potential (Fig. 5.5). 

The domestic microwave oven is a serendipitous invention. Percy Spencer was working for Raytheon, a company heavily involved with radar during World War II, when he noticed the heat generated by a radar antenna. In 1947 an appliance called a Ra-darange appeared on the market for food processing. The first kitchen microwave oven was introduced by Tappan in 1955. Sales of inexpensive domestic ovens now represent a multibillion-dollar (euro) annual market. 

These plans envision assembling a portfolio of in-licensed drug candidates for which collective development risk is deemed to be relatively low. The idea is to in-license molecules that either are too specialized (small market potential) for large pharma or are not visible to their radar because they come from places like Eastern Europe. These stories are favorites of professional investors, because rNPVs can be calculated with relatively low development risk on the basis of demonstrated clinical utility and/or pipeline diversity. Examples include Dura Pharmaceuticals, who marketed prescription products that treat infectious and respiratory diseases, and Gilead who marketed antiviral nucleotides discovered in the Czech Republic. 

LEDs on a circuit board from a radar detector. Photograph by Peter Steiner. Stock Market. Reproduced by permission. 

A starting point for these new sensor functions is the adaptive cmise control system (ACC), which has already been introduced to the market. ACC systems monitor objects that are far in front of a vehicle and their relative speeds by either RF-radar (at 11 GHz) or laser-radar sensors. Due to the current high price of this system, the market will possibly be restricted mainly to luxury cars in the next few years. Volumes are expected to grow from several hundred thousand units in 2002 to a market of more than two million systems worldwide in 2005 [6]. 

Historically, successful companies were typically known for their marketing expertise or technological innovation. Today, great companies are also defined by supply chain excellence. Throughout my 40 years at Procter Gamble (P G), I watched the concept of a well-run supply chain evolve from one that was barely on anyone s radar screen to one that is front and center as part of any company s business strategy. 

The measurement of particle size from a few nanometers to a few micrometers in diameter by PCS is now a mature field with a number of commercial companies offering equipment and software packages. Nevertheless, experimental methods continue to evolve. The hrsi instruments were marketed in 1971 by the Malvern (UK) company Precision Devices and Systems (now Malvern Instruments), who licensed patents taken out by the UK Minisiry cf Defense at the Royal Radar... 

Demand for microwave dielectric ceramics used in telecommunications, as well as in cable communications using optical fibers, is increasing rapidly. Whereas, in the past microwave communications were used primarily for military purposes such as radar, weapon guidance systems and satellite communications, more recently microwaves have been utilized extensively in communications devices such as mobile radios and phones, and in satellite broadcasting (see Chapter 8). The market volumes for ceramic dielectric materials for chip capacitors and multilayer capacitors (MLCCs) were estimated in a study by Paumanok Publications Inc. (2006). 

Defence applications are important markets for electronic components made from plastics becanse they are far more difficult to detect than metal components. Already innovative new ground penetrating radar detectors are being used to seek out minimum-metal plastic landmines. 

We have charted the growth since 1995, and now almost 20 years later, we can see a maturing but still expanding and innovating sector. Much of this expansion has been under the radar , and therefore, it has not been visible as a market sector in its own right within packaging or nonwoven industry sectors. 

Product Discovery and Market Introduction This is the period between the discovery of the product and the time it takes to introduce the product commercially. In the petrochemical industry, initial product introduction is often done from a pilot-plant-scale process. The introduction is usually described as a period of initial slow growth as the product is introduced into the market. However, for polyethylene, this period was most likely shortened significantly because of the urgency in the development of radar at the beginning of World War II. Somewhat arbitrarily, this phase for polyethylene took place from 1933-1943. 

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