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Raven-01 tech brief

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/01 NAPLE SEMICONDUCTORS

Chips designed in South Africa, for South Africa's hardest problems.

We design and verify digital chips that detect failures in water, sanitation and power infrastructure, before they become disasters. Our first design, for sanitation, is verified in simulation.1

Talk to an engineerRead our research

Opens an email to hello@napletech.online.

RAVEN-01DESIGNED AND VERIFIED IN SIMULATIONHARDWARE TESTING NEXT

/02 THE PROBLEM

A sewer blockage builds slowly. The overflow is what people see.

By the time sewage reaches a yard or a street, the blockage behind it has been forming for days. In Illovo, where our work started, residents told us they are usually the first to find out, when it reaches their yards. Raven-01 is designed to notice the blockage while it is still forming.

ILLUSTRATION2

In simulation, Raven-01 raises a warning days before the overflow.1

/03 RAVEN-01

Raven-01, our first chip design.

A low power sensor chip that detects sewer blockages days before they overflow. It has been fully designed and verified in simulation, and has passed implementation checks for FPGA hardware. Hardware testing is next.1

Raven-01

TYPE
Digital sensor hub chip
JOB
Early warning of sewer blockages
CLOCK
Single clock domain, 27 MHz reference
DISTANCE ACCURACY
±0.51 mm distance arithmetic, −20 to 70 °C (checked exhaustively in simulation)
SENSOR POWER
Sensor powered about 0.2% of the time
OUTPUTS
4 event types plus a health report, over a checksummed serial link
VERIFICATION
Byte identical to an independent reference model in two simulators
FPGA
Placed and routed on a Gowin GW1NR-9, timing met at 27 MHz, 40% of the device used
HARDWARE
Not yet run on a board
SILICON
Not manufactured
See Raven-01

ILLUSTRATION2

  1. A measurement scheduler with power control switches the sensors on for each measurement and off again.
  2. The echo ranger times the echo of an ultrasonic pulse.
  3. The temperature sensor interface reads the air temperature.
  4. The distance engine turns the echo time into a distance, corrected for temperature.
  5. The event detection engine, Naple's proprietary block, compares each level against what is normal for that manhole.
  6. A configuration interface holds the settings an operator can tune in the field.
  7. The serial link (UART) sends events and health reports out in checksummed messages.
Raven-01's main blocks and how data moves between them. A simplified illustration, not the physical layout.

/04 EVIDENCE

Two models. One answer.

We check every design against a second, independent model of what it should do. Both get the same inputs. If a single byte of output differs, the design fails. Raven-01 matched its reference model byte for byte in every scenario we tested.1

ILLUSTRATION2

An illustration of two columns of output, one from the Raven-01 design and one from an independent reference model, matching byte for byte across several test scenarios.

The values shown are examples.

/05 PHYSICS FIRST

Every design starts from the physics of the problem, not from a parts catalogue.

  1. /01

    Model the physics

    We start with what is physically happening: what changes in a pipe, a tank or a power line before it fails, and how fast.

  2. /02

    Design the logic

    We design the digital logic that can see that change, as small and as low power as the job allows.

  3. /03

    Prove it

    We verify the design in simulation against an independent reference model, then on FPGA hardware, and only then in the field.

/06 WHAT WE OFFER

Three ways to work with us today.

  • /01

    Chip and FPGA design services

    Digital design, verification and FPGA prototyping for engineering teams that need extra capacity. Start with a fixed price FPGA proof sprint of two to three weeks.

  • /02

    Sensing chips for infrastructure

    Detection chips for water, sanitation and electricity. Raven-01, for sanitation, is first.

  • /03

    Research

    Published, physics based analysis of the semiconductor industry. Our first papers are in progress.

See our services

/07 WHERE WE ARE GOING

Our goal is to become a South African integrated device manufacturer.

An integrated device manufacturer designs its own chips and, over time, makes them. We are starting with design.

  1. /01NOW

    Design

    Digital chips and FPGA systems for South African industry.

  2. /02NEXT

    Prototype

    Proven designs on FPGA hardware and in real field pilots.

  3. /03PLANNED

    First silicon

    Our designs manufactured through shared wafer runs.

    Several companies' designs share one wafer, and its cost.

  4. /04GOAL

    Manufacturing

    Our own fabrication capability, starting with mature, specialised chip processes that suit South Africa's needs and resources.

We believe South Africa's chip industry starts with designers, not with a billion rand factory. We're starting there.

Registered as
Naple Technologies (Pty) Ltd
2026/726809/07
Chip designs verified in simulation
1
Raven-01
Current stage
Design
Hardware testing next
Chips manufactured
0
First silicon is stage three
Government supplier
CSD registered
MAAA1767330
Based in
South Africa

As at 6 October 20263

/08 NAPLE PORTFOLIO

What Naple builds.

/09 GET INVOLVED

Build South Africa's chip industry with us.

  • Researchers

    Run research with us in chip design, verification, physics and embedded systems.

  • Students

    Volunteer on real semiconductor research and get credit for what you contribute. Unpaid for now.

  • Investors

    We are early, and we will tell you exactly how early. Write to us for where Raven-01 stands and what we need next.

Work with us: researchers, students and investors

Sensing and warning time for sewer blockage detection

STATUS
In progress
DATE
29 September 2026
Read our research

Have a problem a chip should solve?

Tell us what is failing and where. An engineer will reply within two working days.

Talk to an engineerRead our research

Opens an email to hello@napletech.online.

DISCLOSURES

  1. All Raven-01 results on this site come from simulation and implementation checks. Raven-01 has not yet been tested on physical hardware or manufactured.
  2. This diagram is an illustration. It shows how the design behaves, not its physical layout or real measured data.
  3. Figures on this page are as at the date shown and come from Naple's own records.
  4. Background photographs and videos are stock images. They do not show Naple's chips, facilities or people.