Multiple Access Communications was founded in 1986 by Professor Raymond Steele of the University of Southampton, one of the founding fathers of modern mobile radio communications. Professor Steele invented the concept of the ‘microcell’ to provide high quality, high capacity coverage in dense urban areas and MAC Ltd produced the world’s first radio network planning tool for the design of cellular networks in these environments. Our mission has always been to provide high quality, innovative products and services to the international mobile communications community built on a deep and thorough understanding of the principles and technologies involved. We were early pioneers of the Internet of Things through our involvement in 2004 in the Floodnet environmental monitoring project with the University of Southampton, IBM, ABP and Halcrow and we continue to provide innovative wireless sensing products across a range of different sectors. Recent work has included the development of a wireless sensor module for collecting information on the condition of railway tracks.
We are recognised experts in the capture, identification, location and decoding of radio signals. We have extensive expertise in the development of digital signal processing (DSP) and field programmable gate array (FPGA) code for modern communications systems in both the defence and commercial sectors based on a range of different platforms. We also market and sell our own software radio platforms for the capture and processing of radio signals. One of these platforms is the CatchAll receiver, which is used to measure and validate the coverage of critical communications networks around the world. The company also has a strong track record of providing technical expertise in the area of intellectual property, for example in the analysis of patent pools and portfolios and the provision of expert witnesses in patent litigation.