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February 2010 [Communications] Wireless Demands Focus Designers On Integration Integration has been a key to the advancement of wireless communications, leading to smaller devices with more functionality. Although the mobile handset is at the forefront of these trends, cost savings and time to market are among the drivers pushing for higher integration in cellular infrastructure as well. As wireless integrators strive for more functions in smaller packages, the trend in ICs continues toward higher levels of analog, digital, and... February 2010 [Crosstalk] An Interview With John Regazzi NF: How has the test and measurement industry changed over the last 30 years? JR: When Giga-tronics was founded, the microwave test industry was much less mature than it is today. The microwave field was evolving rapidly with product advancements occurring on a regular basis. In 1980, a few milliwatts of power at 20 GHz were difficult to achieve and the best synthesizers could fetch up to $70,000... February 2010 [Components] On-Glass Vehicle Antenna Receives FM For RVs AS AN ALTERNATIVE to monopole-type antennas, many commercial vehicles now provide frequencymodulation (FM) reception via antennas that are printed directly on the rear or quarter glasses of a vehicle. Unfortunately, these on-glass antennas tend to possess a low vertical gain and narrow bandwidth. They also exhibit nulls in their radiation patterns, as they are placed in close proximity to the conducting frame of the vehicle and are printed on glass with high... February 2010 [Components] Antenna-In-Package Forges Interconnection At 60 GHz TO ENABLE VERY-HIGH-DATA-RATE applications, the IEEE 802.15.3c standards group is defining specifications for 60-GHz radios that use only a few gigahertz of unlicensed spectrum. Typically, those radios have been designed by assembling several monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) in gallium-arsenide (GaAs) semiconductor technology. Yet a recently proposed antenna, which targets highly integrated 60-GHz radios, is specifically designed to exhibit... February 2010 [Components] Filter Mitigates Interference For Astronomy Observations TO BLOCK UNWANTED frequencies, it is common to place a very-high-Q high-temperature-semiconductor (HTS) filter before the low-noise amplifier (LNA) of a radio telescope’s front end. A miniaturized HTS four-pole filter for the RF interference mitigation of the 900-MHz cellular band in radio telescopes was recently presented by Alonso Corona-Chavez from Mexico’s National Institute for Astrophysics, Optics, and Electronics; Ignacio Llamas-Garro from Spain’s... February 2010 [Applications] Leverage COTS Approach For SDR Designs SOFTWARE-DEFINED-RADIO (SDR) technology has emerged as a way to help the communications industry easily modify radio devices to support new and emerging technologies. Compared to traditional radios, SDRs offer an efficient and less expensive way to enable multimode, multiband, and/or multifunctional wireless devices that can be configured via software upgrades. Despite these obvious benefits, many obstacles must be overcome in the design and test of SDRs. ... February 2010 [Applications] Transceiver System Meets Unique Needs Of AMI Standard ADVANCED-METERING-INFRASTRUCTRE (AMI) systems have enabled utility companies to more efficiently collect energy, gas, and water-consumption data. Eventually, these systems will allow consumers to monitor and control their own energy consumption in real time. Yet such capabilities will require interoperability between different manufacturers’ systems. In Europe, the Wireless M-Bus protocol, which is now detailed in the European normative (EN) standard... February 2010 [Test & Measurement] Handheld VNA Lowers Drift Errors With 0.01 dB/°C Stability FIELD ENGINEERS who characterize or troubleshoot RF components for mission-critical communication systems have a new option in the N9923A FieldFox RF vector network analyzer (VNA). At 6.2 lbs., this full two-port VNA provides measurement stability of 0.01 dB/°C. It spans 2 to 4 or 6 GHz. The N9923A offers more than 42 dB directivity with a typical dynamic range of 100 dB. The VNA provides 0.01 dBm RMS trace noise. It allows operators to simultaneously measure... February 2010 [Components] 13.5-GHz SPDT Switch Boosts Test Performance THE PE42556 SINGLE-POLE DOUBLE-THROW (SPDT) RF switch vows to augment test-equipment performance while enabling the reliable testing of next-generation RF ICs. The absorptive switch, which is designed on the proprietary Ultra- CMOS silicon-on-sapphire process technology, spans 9 kHz to 13.5 GHz with low 1.7-dB insertion loss at 13.5 GHz and typical return loss of 13 dB at that frequency. It also guarantees fast switch-settling time of typically 3.3... January 2010 [Test & Measurement] Nonlinear S-Parameters And SDR Impact Test And Measurement Equipment Test and measurement is crucial for research and development through production. As a result, test-equipment manufacturers have had to speed the evolution of their instruments to keep up with rapidly changing wireless-communications standards. They also are relying more on software—either through links to electronic-design-automation (EDA) tools or via software-designed-radio (SDR) architectures. At the same time, test equipment is increasingly being ... January 2010 [Computer-Aided Engineering] An Interview With Jim McGillivary NF: Software—especially EDA software—is increasingly playing a bigger role in test and measurement. How do you see that trend growing? JM: There’s currently a disaggregation of the design process as manufacturers focus on being a system integrator and trying to build software ecosystems. For example, handset designers have sockets and they want vendors to compete for those sockets. They need a... January 2010 [Editorial] Sniff Out The Best Security Solution For decades, generations of children have fantasized about what they could do if they had Superman’s x-ray vision. Now, privacy advocates are worried that airline and other screeners will soon have comparable capabilities. The call for the widespread use of full-body scanners in airports is a response to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s attempt to blow up an airliner over Detroit this past December 25. The question is whether such scanners are actually the most effective... January 2010 [Research & Development] Modulation Approach Uses Arrays With Driven Elements IN CONVENTIONAL PHASED-ARRAY TRANSMISSION, information is transmitted in undesired directions through sidelobes. To provide more secure communications, some research has delved into time modulation in arrays. While conventional arrays have static-element phase shifts and weighting, time-modulated arrays exploit an additional degree of freedom—time—in order to raise performance. At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Michael P. Daly and Jennifer... January 2010 [Components] PA MMIC Leverages GaN-On-SiC HEMT Technology MODERN ELECTRONIC-WARFARE (EW) systems require amplifiers with high power, wide bandwidth, and high efficiency. One way to increase output power for high-bandwidth applications is to use a highvoltage transistor technology. Today’s galliumnitride (GaN) transistors operate with nearly an order-of-magnitude increase in power-supply voltage while delivering gain and efficiency that rival gallium-arsenide (GaAs) PHEMT devices. At TriQuint Semiconductor, the... January 2010 [Components] Radar Sensor Has Roots In Antenna Switching FOR PHASED-ARRAY RADAR sensors, the design should be a simple structure with fewer receivers than antennas. A K-band, frequency-modulated, CW (FMCW) phased-array radar sensor with a low-complexity receiver based on antenna switching was recently proposed by Moon-Sik Lee from Korea’s Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute together with Yong-Hoon Kim from Korea’s Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology. Using a beamforming method, the ... January 2010 [Applications] Front-End Modules Narrow Wireless Performance Gaps In wireless digital communications, the integrated transceiver often fails to produce enough power to realize the full potential of a specification (typically +20 dBm). For a fully integrated CMOS radio on a single die, for example, output power seldom exceeds 0 dBm. In a white paper titled “RF Front-End Integrated Circuits,” RFaxis, Inc. notes that the limitations of today’s high-density radios have created a need for external amplifiers in various wireless... January 2010 [Applications] Smart-Grid Communication Needs Become Clearer Thanks to dIstrIbuted computing and communications, the smart grid will be able to deliver real-time information when and where it is needed. To implement such capabilities, the system must leverage two-way data communications systems that will manage both new applications and assets. In a white paper titled, “Developing a Communication Infrastructure for the Smart Grid,” individuals from WireIE Holdings International and the University of Ontario Institute of... January 2010 [Components] Electro-Absorption Modulator Reaches 60 GHz PHOTONICS INNOVATIONS are behind the release of a combined modulation and photodetection transducer that can work to 60 GHz. The device, dubbed the 60G-REAM- 1550, exhibits just 3.6 dB insertion loss. It provides digital optical modulation at 50 Gb/s and RF modulation over its bandwidth. In terms of photodetection, the transducer offers 1.0 A/W responsivity and 43 GHz bandwidth. The 60G-R-EAM-1550, designed for use with a laser diode source, operates within the... January 2010 [Components] Cable Assemblies Attenuate 0.22 dB/ft. At 18 GHz THE LL335 SERIES of extremely low-loss cable assemblies features attenuation of 0.22 dB/ft. at 18 GHz. The 0.335-in. cable assemblies achieve typical attenuation of 0.048 dB/ft. at 1 GHz and 0.17 dB/ft. at 10 GHz. They can handle 1800 W CW input power at 1 GHz and 600 W CW input power at 10 GHz. The cable assemblies offer shielding effectiveness of greater than 95 dB with a low coefficient of thermal expansion from -55° to +200°C, thereby ensuring that... January 2010 [Materials] EMI Shielding Maintains Strength In Harsh Conditions TO MAINTAIN STRENGTH at elevated temperatures and under cryogenic conditions, new tubular braided electromagnetic-interference (EMI) shielding combines the conductivity of an outer metal coating with the strength, light weight, and flexibility of genuine KEVLAR fibers. Dubbed ARACON, it comes in standard inner-diameter sizes ranging from 0.62 to 2.00 in. When braided into a shield, it vows to provide impressive performance against EM and RF interference. The conductors of...  prev. page
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