Press Release

Pi-Radio Awarded Competitive Grant from the National Science Foundation

Small Business Innovation Research Program Provides Seed Funding for R&D

Brooklyn, NY, October 7th, 2020 – Pi-Radio has been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant for $982,414 to conduct research and development (R&D) work in the context of Software-Defined Radio (SDR) platforms for next-generation millimeter-wave wireless communications: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2026083

In particular, Pi-Radio’s mission is to tackle two main areas of concern in the wireless ecosystem: a) an academic feeder system that does not produce enough engineers with real-world wireless system building skills; and b) a highly consolidated commercial ecosystem, where only giants have the ability to build systems that work in the real world.

Dr. Aditya Dhananjay, co-founder of Pi-Radio and Principal Investigator in this project, says: “In startup-speak, Pi-Radio’s vision is to democratize experimental wireless research through plainly affordable SDR systems that feature advanced wireless technologies, combined with free and open-source software implementations. These systems must be geared toward not only graduate-level research, but also include practical educational materials for classroom and laboratory training. Our goal is to help train the next generation of wireless engineers who will create technologies related to 6G and beyond. We thank the NSF for entrusting us with taxpayer dollars to execute on this mission”.

“NSF is proud to support the technology of the future by thinking beyond incremental developments and funding the most creative, impactful ideas across all markets and areas of science and engineering,” said Andrea Belz, Division Director of the Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships at NSF. “With the support of our research funds, any deep technology startup or small business can guide basic science into meaningful solutions that address tremendous needs.”

To learn more about America’s Seed Fund powered by NSF, visit: https://seedfund.nsf.gov/

About the National Science Foundation's Small Business Programs: America’s Seed Fund powered by NSF awards $200 million annually to startups and small businesses, transforming scientific discovery into products and services with commercial and societal impact. Startups working across almost all areas of science and technology can receive up to $1.75 million in funding to support research and development (R&D), helping de-risk technology for commercial success. America’s Seed Fund is congressionally mandated through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The NSF is an independent federal agency with a budget of about $8.1 billion that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering.