ISSUE DATE: OCTOBER 2003   OPTIONS
Frequency Synthesis

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October 2003 - In This Issue

[Cover Story]
SiGe Direct Modulators Ease Upconverter Design
Direct quadrature modulators provide many benefits to transceiver/transmitter designers working with modern digital-modulation formats. Compared to superheterodyne upconversion approaches, direct quadrature modulation enables simpler, smaller designs...  — Mark T. Fallica

[News]
Frequency Synthesizers Yield Stable Signals
Frequency synthesizers are used throughout commercial and military systems, in designs as large as complete radar systems and as small as cellular telephones. Based on the number of companies competing for the many markets served by frequency...  — Jack Browne

[Design Features]
Smart Synthesizers Simplify RF Integration
System designers stress the need for higher levels of integration in RF function blocks. Such modules provide simple digital and RF interfaces and, thus, speed the time to market and simplify system-level integration and production. Unfortunately, the...  — David Lyle

[Design Features]
Active Mixers Deliver High IP3
Active mixers have long been associated with the ability to work at low local-oscillator (LO) levels, but falling short on linearity performance. Fortunately, a pair of active mixers has been developed based on a high-frequency bipolar process from...  — Bill Beckwith , et al.

[Product Technology]
Carrier-To-Noise Generators Enhance BER Testing
Carrier-to-noise (C/N) generators continue to be essential ingredients in evaluating the performance of receivers employed in CATV, cellular, satellite communications, and WLAN systems. These instruments essentially combine a carrier supplied by the...  — Michael Cagney

[Product Technology]
Circulators/Isolators Serve UMTS Applications
Circulators and isolators are essential components in many communications systems, since they can be used to direct RF/microwave signals between ports as well as provide high isolation. These inherently narrow-band components are designed for specific...  — Frederic Beaujoin , et al.

[Product Technology]
Third-Generation ICs Speed Bluetooth Integration
Bluetooth is finally reaching the million-piece volumes that members of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) foresaw more than five years ago. Some of the widespread acceptance is due to the diminishing costs of Bluetooth integrated circuits...  — Jack Browne

[Product Technology]
Engineered Substrates Yield High Stability
Temperature stability is a key to the successful integration of numerous components, including filters and resonators, in wireless and other designs. For example, surface-acoustic-wave (SAW) devices offer superb selectivity, although with performance...  — Jack Browne

[Product Technology]
New Supplier Debuts Innovative WLAN Chips
If it is true that one day the last shall be first, then the designers at IceFyre Semiconductor (Kanata, Ontario, Canada) have an edge. The company, a relatively late entrant in the race for wireless-local-area-network (WLAN) market share, has joined...  — Jack Browne

[Editorial]
DDS Gains Wider Application
Frequency synthesizers have improved dramatically in recent years. Ten years ago, direct digital synthesis (DDS) was in its infancy; now it is widespread as a primary or secondary technology in many signal sources. Over that time, designers have...  — Jack Browne