CONNECT WITH MWRF
 |
|
ISSUE DATE: FEBRUARY 2010 | |
|
OPTIONS | |
||
|
|
|
|
• Get a FREE Subscription • Renew Subscription • Reprints/Licensing • Submit Article Ideas |
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
February 2010 - In This Issue [Cover Story] USB Devices Simplify RF/Microwave Testing Computer-controlled test equipment once evoked images of racks of instruments connected to a “technical” computer via the general-purpose interface bus (GPIB). While GPIB-controlled gear is still a staple of many automatic-test-equipment (ATE) applications, newer test interfaces, such as the Universal Serial Bus (USB), are quickly gaining ground for their ease of use and flexibility. In fact, the availability of a growing number of measurement functions... — Jack Browne [News] 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... — Nancy Friedrich [News] 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... — Nancy Friedrich [Design Features] Low-Power LNA Drops Noise At 2.4 GHz Low-noise-amplifier (LNA) design requires tradeoffs, often among such goals as noise figure, gain, linearity, and stability. In addition, portable applications call for low power consumption. But through the use of a common- gate (CG) architecture for input impedance matching and reduced power consumption through currentreuse techniques, an RF CMOS LNA was developed with 15.5-dB forward gain and 1.68 dB noise figure at 2.4 GHz. With its excellent... — Baimei Liu , et al. [Design Features] Analyze Phase Noise In A Sampled PLL (Part 2) Phase noise in sampled phase-locked loops (PLLs) can impact the performance of a wide range of commercial and military systems, including communications networks based on phase modulation. As shown last month in the first installment of this three-part series, modeling approaches may differ depending upon whether a PLL is a continuous-time or sampled system, with nonlinear approaches needed for th latter. In this second article installment, it may be... — Peter Beeson [Design Features] Match The Ports Of Differential Devices Differential or balanced devices are widely used in communications systems for their high immunity to noise. However, they can be difficult to integrate since the widely used S-parameter matching method cannot simply be applied. Fortunately, a generic method derived from the mixed-mode S-parameter concept can be used to match differential devices. It is simple and effective, as will be borne out by verification via four-port vector network analyzer (VNA) and... — Stephane Wloczysiak [Design Features] Optimize Class E Power Amplifiers Amplifier efficiency is essential not only for mobile devices, but increasingly to conserve power consumption in wireless communications base stations and cell sites. The Class E amplifier in this article produced efficiency of 60 percent from 1.9 to 2.2 GHz using a standard packaged transistor. 1 The techniques used to design and build this amplifier can be employed to design Class E amplifiers at any frequency of interest. The Class E... — Gayle Collins , et al. [Product Technology] Properly Packaging RF Semiconductors Electronic packaging usually serves to protect what lies within. For RF and microwave devices, however, an ideal package must provide a physical barrier while appearing electrically invisible. And with the trend for increasing levels of integration at higher frequencies (see Wireless Demands Focus Designers On Integration), packages must often take on the electrical characteristics... — Jack Browne [Product Technology] RFIC Amps Add Gain Where Needed Amplifiers, whether as RF gain blocks, as low-noise amplifiers (LNAs), or power amplifiers (PAs), are essential building blocks in microwave systems. Over the last decade, a growing number of RF integrated circuit (RFIC) amplifiers have become available in place of larger and more expensive discrete designs. While these RFIC products can’t always match the pure performance of a discretedevice amplifier, RFICs provide the convenience of small size and,... — Jack Browne [Editorial] What's In The Package? At RF and microwave frequencies, the more pertinent question often is, “What is the package?” At higher frequencies, the package can have as much effect on the performance as the circuit it houses and it is better to think of the package and the device as inseparable. Years ago, custom packages were needed to ensure that the performance of microwave circuits was not “thrown away” once in a package. For applications where protecting the circuit was tantamount to... — Jack Browne [Feedback] Feedback To The Editor: In reading your December 2009 issue and the report on the “Top Products of 2009,” I was intrigued by the diversity of the products on the list, everything from the smallest ICs and low-cost voltage-variable attenuators (VVAs) to the most expensive vector network analyzers (VNAs). Yet, on the same list with these fancy VNAs were low-cost power meters built into the shell of a Universal Serial Bus (USB) ... — Various Readers [The Front End] Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Claim New Markets And Business The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in border-security missions around the world is expanding rapidly. It will create new markets and new business opportunities—particularly for integrated capabilities guided by an operating concept and turnkey packages that include equipment, training, operations, and maintenance. The new research report from Market Intel Group LLC (MiG) titled, “Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for Border Security - Global Market &... — Dawn Hightower [The Front End] Smart-Card Market Players Join Forces To Advance Applications LONDON, UK —Together with chip suppliers Infineon Technologies AG and INSIDE Contactless S.A., smart-card manufacturers Giesecke & Devrient GmbH (G&D) and Oberthur Technologies S.A. have launched an industry initiative to provide a security solution for next-generation, smart-card-based public-transport applications. The solution will build on an open standard that is being implemented by the four partner companies. Eventually, that standard will be... — Dawn Hightower [The Front End] Partnership Results In High-Permeability Magnetic Shielding Tubing WARWICK, RI—A.T. Wall Company has partnered with the MuShield Company to develop the M Shield seamless, high-permeability magnetic shielding tubing that ranges to 20 feet in length. Depending on the welding method used, this tubing’s shielding capability promises to be 20 to 30 percent better than a formed and welded product. The tubing can hold outside and inside diameters to +/-0.002 inches along with wall thicknesses within 0.002 inches. The seamless ... — Dawn Hightower [Financial News] Plessey Semiconductors Is Reborn PLESSEY SEMICONDUCTORS has been spawned from the acquisition of the share capital of X-FAB UK Ltd. together with existing engineering competence within a design and technology center located in Swindon, UK. The name of the operating business has been subsequently changed to Plessey Semiconductors. The firm is now trading from its semiconductor manufacturing facility in Roborough, Plymouth, UK. That facility currently produces 8-in. wafers for... — Dawn Hightower [Company News] Company News CONTRACTS Northrop Grumman Corp.—Has been awarded a contract by the Ministry of Defence of Brunei Darussalam to provide Joint Operations Centre (JOC) command and control capability for the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF). The contract, which will be undertaken by Northrop Grumman UK, will include the supply of an integrated Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR)... — Dawn Hightower [People] People Sakurai Receives 2010 IEEE Award For Solid-State Circuits TAKAYASU SAKURAI has been awarded the 2010 IEEE Donald O. Pederson Award in Solid-State Circuits. The award, which is sponsored by the IEEE Solid- State Circuits Society, recognizes Sakurai for pioneering contributions to the design and modeling of high-speed and low-power complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS)... — Dawn Hightower [Educational Meetings] Educational Meetings MEETINGS IWCE March 8-12, 2010 (Las Vegas, NV) For more information, visit: www.iwceexpo.com ISQED 2010 11th International Symposium & Exhibits on Quality Electronic Design March 22-24, 2010 (San Jose, CA) DoubleTree Hotel For more information, visit: www isqed.org Exhibitions... — Dawn Hightower [R&D Roundup] 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... — Nancy Friedrich [R&D Roundup] 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... — Nancy Friedrich [R&D Roundup] 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... — Nancy Friedrich [Application Notes] 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. ... — Nancy Friedrich [Application Notes] 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... — Nancy Friedrich [Editor's Choice] 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... — Nancy Friedrich [Editor's Choice] 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... — Nancy Friedrich [RF Primer] Device Processes Differ In Benefits Semiconductor processes have their differences. Some provide high power densities; some excel in integration of different functions. Understanding the differences is helpful not just to those choosing foundry services, but for anyone trying to understand the capabilities of different integrated circuits (ICs). More than three decades ago, a point of debate in RF/microwave semiconductors had to do with whether not only if a fledgling technology... — Jack Browne [Microwaves in Europe] Chip Helps Manage M2M Mobile Communications GENEVA, SWITZERLAND—Smart-card integrated-circuit (IC) maker STMicroelectronics has developed a low-power processor chip dedicated to managing SIM data for machine-to-machine (M2M) cellular communications. Recent research is suggesting that this expanding market could account for over 200 million mobile connections by 2013. The ST32-M IC family combines the advantages of nonproprietary processor architecture and high-density, low-power,... — Paul Whytock [Microwaves in Europe] Shooting Bouncing Ray Method Is At Solver’s Roots DARMSTADT, GERMANY—CST Microwave Studio (CST MWS) now incorporates an asymptotic solver that is based on the Shooting Bouncing Ray method—an extension to physical optics. The integration of CST Microstripes into the CST Studio Suite should facilitate access to features that are particularly valuable in EMC simulations, such as compact models and Octree meshing, within the design environment. The software is capable of tackling simulations covering thousands of... — Paul Whytock [Microwaves in Europe] Femtocell Reference Platform Is Under Development GUILDFORD, ENGLAND—A flexible, high-performance reference platform for femtocell designs is being developed through a collaboration between Lime Microsystems and Percello. The platform combines Percello’s PRC6xxx baseband IC with Lime’s multiband, multi-standard RF transceiver IC, the LMS6002. It will be used to develop femtocell designs for high-data-rate UMTS/HSPA+ air interfaces. The PRC6xxx IC from Percello is a baseband processor for third-generation ... — Paul Whytock [Microwaves in Europe] Equalizer Design Raises Uplink Performance CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND—To improve Long Term Evolution (LTE) uplink performance, Cambridge Consultants has developed Dual-domain Uplink Equaliser for LTE (DUEL) technology. DUEL is designed as an algorithmic and digitalsignal- processing (DSP) extension to LTE base-station receiver designs. It requires no changes to handsets, as the LTE uplink supports the transfer of information from users’ terminals to the network. Although LTE promises to... — Paul Whytock |
|
| CONNECT WITH MWRF |
|