Being adaptive is essential if you want to succeed as an entrepreneur in the competitive and always-changing world we live in. Dr. Maha Achour, Founder and CEO of Metawave Corporation, is one such entrepreneur who is ingeniously redefining the technology world.
Recognized globally for her deep technology background, management, and business development skills, Dr. Achour has more than 25 years of experience in leadership roles in the semiconductor, wireless RF, optical communications, sensing, and defense industries — with startup and public companies.
Recognitions & Awards
Before founding Metawave, Dr. Achour served as co-founder and CEO of Polyceed-Dynamics (where she now serves as Chair of the Board), Co-founder and CTO of Rayspan, Director of Advanced Technology at SDRC (Boeing), Director of Advanced Technology at Optical Access, and lead System Engineer at Tiernan Comm where she worked on the first broadcast HDTV-over satellite system. In addition, Dr. Achour:
- Was recently named to Forbes’ “50 Over 50 – Vision” list of women who are successfully running companies and leading movements.
- Led various DARPA projects in advanced wireless MIMO and optical device technologies.
- Holds a doctorate degree in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT.
- Has authored more than 35 publications, holds more than 75 granted patents, and has more than 150 pending patent applications.
As the CEO of a company developing disruptive, all-weather, long-range radar sensing and perception technologies, Dr. Achour has her finger on the pulse of emerging trends and is constantly advocating for a need for technologists to keep safety and the good of humankind top-of-mind. “I hope to educate others on why there may be delays in certain adoption of certain technologies, such as autonomous vehicles and automatic driver assist systems (ADAS). The underlying sensing and perception processes and progress are critical in light of Tesla accidents and Cruise AV operation challenges,” she says.
How did it all begin?
History has shown that a cycle of hype and excitement occurs with every emerging or evolving industry. That’s what was happening in the 2016-2017 timeframe, with Tesla disrupting the automotive industry with its vertically integrated development and production model and Uber and Lyft disrupting the “mobility as a service” business model. With billions of dollars being allocated to cameras and lidar development, very little focus was spent on the radar. In fact, during media interviews on the topic of radar implementation, reporters would say, “Did you mean lidar?” — not realizing that the cars they are driving have been using radar for cruise control for years.
Early on, Metawave Corporation set out to bring attention to the usefulness and viability of radar. The company focused on adopting best-in-class radar technologies (consistently used in the defense sector) by making them more affordable and compatible with emerging automotive requirements. The result was disruptive innovation: a hybrid analog/digital radar solution using a first-of-its-kind beamformer chip developed by Metawave for long-range imaging sensing and perception in all-weather and operator considerations.
The company was founded with the core mission to develop and deploy novel, multidisciplinary, and smart technologies that solve fundamental problems facing big markets the right way to allow for better, faster, higher bandwidth communication and safer transportation while meeting consumer price and convenience expectations.
Metawave is delivering the long-range, all-weather all-terrain imaging sensing, perception, and V2V capability to accelerate the transition to highly automated and fully autonomous ground and aerial vehicles operation, meeting safety and emerging Commercial and Defense goals. With its patented highly-integrated analog front-end modules and associated software stacks, Metawave is delivering the missing radar performance with unmatched longer-range detection and perception based on novel machine learning and AI delivered to automotive, tracking, trains, and Aerospace customers. The core technology is based on combining the best of analog front-end beamforming and steering Antenna in Package (AiP) modules, hybrid virtual MIMO arrays architectures, and simplified back-end for faster compute systems.
“My educational background has given me a proper understanding of technologies and their limits while pursuing to push the boundaries is key. Today’s competitors are solving problems the old fashion way, so they cannot meet our performances in both connectivity and mobility applications. It is a matter of time for the big guys to follow in our footsteps; therefore, we are building a strong IP portfolio, currently with over 200 patent application filings with five issued/allowed,” conveys Dr. Achour.
Building tomorrow’s leaders through work-life balance
“I’m an advocate for women in technology, and I often speak regularly on the topic at conferences and online forums around the world. I have mentored dozens of women who have had successful careers in fast-growing industries. I have contributed to many educational and development programs that empower women in the technology workforce to advance rapidly and with distinction,” asserts Dr. Achour. “For me, a proper balance between work and life includes long outdoor walks, time with family, and active social life – this helps me manage stress, think clearly, and make appropriate decisions,” she added. “Every woman entrepreneur has to follow her passion. Passion is not static but rather dynamic. If you are only pursuing a venture for financial returns, then you are wasting your time. A leader must be a good listener, have patience, and act proactively to succeed under severe stress.”
Inspirations: The Secret
There aren’t any women founders in the deep tech automotive radars industry. Being bullish on solving challenging industry problems the “Right Way” instead of patching things in the digital domain isn’t easy. Wall Street can focus on these all-autonomous and airborne vehicles, but the whole vision will collapse if they can’t meet basic safety standards. History showed that an advanced analog front-end is essential to meet these ambitious goals, especially when the back-end sensor fusion is hacked. This must change. Quantum Computing could be the solution in the following decades, but as of today, advanced analog circuitry must be improved and optimized, especially at high frequencies.
“I find inspiration in legends such as Arthur C Clarke, and Albert Einstein. One of my favorite quotes is from Winston Churchill: ‘Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm,” says Dr. Achour.
Future Roadmap
Under Dr. Achour’s leadership, Metawave has delivered the key missing semiconductor components and modules and has shown how they can be fully integrated with best-in-class automotive imaging radar architectures and algorithms. The company will be expanding these novel solutions to Aerial markets to cater to emerging autonomous UAV, UAS, UAM, and drone markets and getting closer to the sensor fusion software stack for advanced real-time perception.
