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ISSUE DATE: AUGUST 2010 | |
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August 2010 - In This Issue [News] Microwave Legends To those outside this industry, microwave engineers and dealmakers probably seem to be involved in some kind of dark art. They use terms and acronyms not widely understood. In addition, they not only understand electronic systems that few can comprehend, but can also imagine ways to improve them. It is this vision that marks all of the hall of famers inducted into the “Microwave Legends” over the last four years. It also is a characteristic of the... — Nancy Friedrich [News] Shrinking Sources Aim For Lower Noise esigners of oscillators and synthesizers need creative ways to achieve low phase noise in smaller packages in order to serve shrinking systems. To accomplish this, some manufacturers are using advanced materials and circuit techniques, as well as the latest software design tools, which can allow for extremely accurate simulations and speed time to market. Once a prototype is in hand, designers need to leverage the most robust methods and... — Janine Love [Design Features] Measuring MIMO In LTE Tx And Rx Tests Fourth-generation (4G) wireless communications systems promise to support the demands of customers for increasing network capacity for voice, data, and streaming video. Systems such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks incorporate novel communications techniques, such as multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) antenna configurations using two or more transmit/receive chains, and takes advantage of the differences in radio transmission paths between... — Janine Whitacre [Design Features] High-Speed DACs Ease Transmitter Designs Radio transmitters can now be designed with direct digital modulation, due to the availability of high-speed digital-to-analog converters (DACs). This approach is already commonly used to generate multicarrier quadrature-amplitude- modulation (QAM) signals for data transmission over Hybrid Fiber Coax (HFC) links in cable-television (CATV) access networks, and is also used to synthesize microwave intermediate- frequency (IF) signals for instrumentation, ... — Ajay Kuckreja , et al. [Design Features] Mach-Zehnder Modulators Serve Radio Over Fiber Millimeter-wave wireless communications networks can take advantage of frequency multiplication schemes that generate high-frequency signals from lower-frequency sources. In one case, frequency multiplication for radio-over-fiber links can be achieved by means of Mach- Zehnder-modulator (MZM) based schemes. With three MZMs biased at their minimum transmission points, and a tunable optical delay line placed between two of the modulators and... — Muhammad Taher Abuelma’atti [Design Features] Strategies For Planar Directional Couplers, Part 1 Directional couplers are an important part of analog signal processing in microwave systems, including as portions of power dividers and combiners, in directional filters, attenuators, phase shifters, mixers, amplifiers, modulators, and beam-forming networks for antenna arrays.1-19 They are also essential in test applications allowing, for example, measurements of high-power signals with sensitive test equipment by coupling a small sample... — Leo G. Maloratsky [Design Features] Hilbert Fractal Curves Form Compact Diplexer Metamaterials have shown great promise as substrates for compact RF and microwave filters. By forming composite right/left-handed (CRLH) transmission lines (TLs) on such materials, it is possible to take advantage of the dual-band properties of these structures by merit of their unique hyperbolic- linear relationship. By applying CRLH TLs in a Hilbert fractal-shaped geometry, it was possible to design a diplexer operating at 0.96 and 1.69 GHz and... — [Design Features] UWB Antenna Stops Two Bands Ultrawideband (UWB) wireless communications systems operating from 3.1 to 10.6 GHz offer low-power, high-speed links for a variety of applications. However, they must often compete with interfering signals from a number of existing transmitters that may fall within the wide UWB operating range. Of course, stop-band filters can be added to a system where needed to remove interference, but adding filters increases system complexity and cost. A better... — Tan Chiy How , et al. [Product Technology] Portable VNAs Tune Filters In The Field Vector network analyzers (VNAs) were once found only in a facility’s equipment racks. But compact instruments like the VNA Master line from Anritsu Co. (www.us.anritsu.com) pack two-port VNA measurement capability into an enclosure about the size of a notepad computer, with equal portability. These portable test tools allow engineers to tune filters and phase-match cables on site and in the field. And with the latest editions of VNA Masters offering high-frequency... — Jack Browne [Product Technology] MM-Wave Components Offer Wide Bandwidths Bandwidth is available at higher frequencies, making millimeter-wave communications links attractive at 60 GHz and above. Unfortunately, the costs associated with manufacturing and testing hardware rises with frequency, presenting genuine challenges to the companies involved in millimeter-wave markets. Although customers have been somewhat hesitant to embrace the bands through 95 GHz licensed by the United States Federal Communications Commission (... — Jack Browne [Product Technology] Module Synthesizes 29 To 3840 MHz Modular frequency synthesizers are useful in numerous applications requiring a stable frequency source. Compact units are available from a number of suppliers, with one relative newcomer, HGC Microwave, offering a miniature synthesizer module with broad bandwidth of 29 to 3840 MHz and excellent spectral purity in a housing measuring only 5.39 x 6.48 x 0.67 in. with SMA female connectors. ... — Jack Browne [Product Technology] Scopes Surface From New Source Oscilloscopes are those workhorse instruments that belong on every test bench, next to a digital multimeter. They are invaluable, and models suited for microwave work have been available for some time from trusted names in test. But Rohde & Schwarz was not one of them, until now. The supplier has finally entered the digital scope market with its R&S RTO series with bandwidths to 2 GHz and its R&S RTM series with bandwidths to 500 MHz. ... — Jack Browne [Product Technology] Cross Correlation Cuts Phase Noise Phase noise is a key specification for many RF and microwave systems, although measuring it can often be problematic. However, the innovative Dual Channel Phase Noise Test System (DCNTS) from NoiseXT is a two-channel amplitude and phase noise analyzer that can measure absolute phase noise through 50 GHz and residual phase noise to 18 GHz. It employs a dual-demodulator architecture that allows the use... — Jack Browne [Editorial] Remembering A Shining Light Live each day like it’s your last. I remember those words, spoken to me when I was much younger, by an older and wiser friend. He better understood their meaning then, but he was able to teach me at least part of the lesson behind them. The clarity of his wisdom at first captivated me, and later made us friends. And during each trip to California, and visit to his company, then called Hewlett-Packard Co., the ... — Jack Browne [Feedback] Feedback Continuing The Discussion In the June issue of Microwaves & RF, I presented my request to clarify Fig.1 in the article, “Antenna Assists MW Power Transmission”. The author failed to respond and explain it, and I still do not understand it. In describing the figure, he wrote that the DC... — Various Readers [The Front End] 4G Deployment To Spur 2011 Wireless Infrastructure Spending EL SEGUNDO, CA—After two years of declining expenditures, global capital spending on wireless infrastructure equipment is set to grow next year. Capital spending on wireless infrastructure around the world is projected to reach $40.3 billion in 2011—up 6.7 percent from $37.8 billion in 2009. This growth will reverse the downward trend that first occurred in 2009. Expenditures dipped 5.7 percent in 2009. This year, they will tumble by an additional 2.3 percent to... — Dawn Hightower [The Front End] Asset-Management System Serves US Navy INDIAN HEAD, MD??Radio-frequency identification (RFID) has enjoyed continued success in the commercial industry. Recently, the technology has been expanding its military reach. For example, a new inventory management system from TASC, Inc. will allow naval warehousing facilities to automatically count and locate RFID-tagged inventory in real time. The software platform integrates an RFID system with an inventory management system. The system’s... — Dawn Hightower [The Front End] Rural Japanese Communities Gain Access To 3G Healthcare TOKYO, JAPAN AND SAN DIEGO, CA—In local regions in Japan, emergency care and advanced healthcare are lacking. As a result, it is critical for people to be able to manage their own health. To help people in such rural areas, QUALCOMM, Inc. and Medical Platform Asia (MedPA) have signed a formal agreement to provide medical devices with integrated thirdgeneration (3G) wireless modules. QUALCOMM’s Wireless Reach... — Dawn Hightower [Financial News] NXP Boosts Portfolio With Jennic Acquisition NXP SEMICONDUCTORS has acquired Jennic, a developer of lowpower RF solutions. The firm’s solutions target wireless applications in the smartenergy, environment, logistics, and consumer markets. NXP paid approximately $12.2 million to acquire 100 percent ownership of Jennic shares. It will pay up to $7.8 million in additional consideration over the next two years... — Dawn Hightower [Company News] Company News CONTRACTS Lantronix—Is working with STARA Technologies to wirelessly network its automated guidance unit, Mosquito. The precision-guided aerial delivery system brings food and supplies to troops on the battlefield from a remote distance, keeping helicopters and planes a safe distance from the enemy. Lantronix’s WiPort module enables STARA to remotely access and manage the... — Dawn Hightower [People] People Fleischmann Assumes Role Of R&S President, CEO MANFRED FLEISCHMANN takes over as President and CEO of Rohde & Schwarz from MICHAEL VOHRER, who is retiring after a 35-year span with the company. Fleischmann, who joined the company 25 years ago, has been a member of the executive board since 2005. He states, “My goal is,... — Dawn Hightower [Educational Meetings] Educational Meetings MEETINGS European Microwave Week Sept. 26-Oct. 1, 2010 (Paris, France) For registration information, contact: Rhoda McCorquodale Horizon House Publications Ltd. Phone: +44 20 7596 8723 E-mail: rmccorquodale@horizonhouse.co.uk SUIRG 7th Annual Satellite Interference Conference Sept. 28-30 (San Francisco, CA) Hyatt at... — Dawn Hightower [R&D Roundup] Fast-Locking Techniques Benefit PLLs A PHASE-LOCKED LOOP (PLL) -BASED frequency synthesizer requires a certain amount of time for the loop to settle and acquire phase/frequency lock. This settling time, which is determined by the loop characteristics, is inversely proportional to the loop bandwidth. Generally, a PLL’s locking time is shortened by widening that loop bandwidth. At Taipei’s National Taiwan University, a novel fast-locking technique for PLLs has been developed by Wei-Hao Chiu, Yu-Hsiang Huang, and... — Nancy Friedrich [R&D Roundup] Software Speeds Simulation Of Phased-Array Antenna BECAUSE OF MAIN-BEAM SCANNING, assessing the performance of a phased-array antenna usually involves the repeated calculation of its far field. Unfortunately, the time-consuming brute-force method comprises the calculation followed by the summation of a large number of complex exponentials, which represent the individual contributions of the array elements to the far field. For an array antenna populated by 1000 array elements, calculating that far field... — Nancy Friedrich [R&D Roundup] PA Achieves 25 Percent Efficiency At 60 GHz AT 60 GHZ, A NUMBER OF POWER AMPLIFIERS (PAs) in CMOS have boasted output power to +16 dBm. Yet their power-added efficiency (PAE) was less than 15 percent. Recently, a 60-GHz wideband PA was reported with PAE above 20 percent for all applied VDD values. This development was the work of Alexandre Siligaris, Christopher Mounet, and Pierre Vincent from France’s CEA, LETI, MINATEC together with Christine Raynaud from CEA, LETI, MINATEC and STMicroelectronics, ... — Nancy Friedrich [Application Notes] VNAs Replace Legacy RF Test Systems TODAY’S RF TEST SYSTEMS must test S-parameters, compression, intermodulation distortion (IMD), spurs, and noise figure while performing faster and more accurate measurements at a lower cost of ownership. Conventional “rack and stack” RF test systems comprise multiple instruments, such as a vector network analyzer (VNA), spectrum analyzer, signal generators, and power meters. Additional equipment is required to test lownoise amplifiers (LNAs) and provide an interface to the... — Nancy Friedrich [Application Notes] Properly Select Ports During Circuit Simulation FOR DESIGNERS USING SOFTWARE circuit simulators, the correct use of ports is critical—in addition to the drawing of the structure itself—to the attainment of successful, meaningful simulation results. In a white paper titled, “A Plethora of Ports: Making Sense of the Different Types of Ports in EM Simulators,” AWR’s John Dunn provides the reader with a fundamental understanding of ports. The nine-page document focuses on the ports common to electromagnetic... — Nancy Friedrich [Editor's Choice] Voltage-Variable Attenuator Covers 250 To 4000 MHz DESIGNED AS A GENERAL-PURPOSE block for wireless-infrastructure applications, a new voltage-variable attenuator (VVA) delivers 44 dB of linearly controlled dynamic range from 250 to 4000 MHz. Dubbed the MAX19790, it actually comprises two VVAs integrated in one monolithic integrated circuit (IC). By leveraging a proprietary, silicongermanium (SiGe) BiCMOS process, each attenuator incorporates a patented control circuit to provide a 22-dB attenuation range... — Nancy Friedrich [Editor's Choice] 10-MHz OCXO Increases Test-System Stability TEST-EQUIPMENT PERFORMANCE is typically curtailed by phase noise. To improve the measurement capabilities of phase-noise test sets, signal generators, and spectrum analyzers, the 10-MHz OX-045 oven-controlled crystal oscillator (OCXO) promises to lower close-in phase noise by 10 dB. The OCXO flaunts typical phase noise of –142 dBc/Hz with worstcase performance of –140 dBc/ Hz at an offset of 10 Hz. With an offset of 100 kHz, it boasts typical ... — Nancy Friedrich [Editor's Choice] Front-End Module Serves 900-MHz ISM Band WITH ADVANCED METERING INFRASTRUCTURE (AMI) and other applications in the Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) band gaining in popularity, the RF3858 front-end module is a promising solution for portable equipment in need of size reduction. It also reduces the number of components outside of the core chipset. The RF3858 contains a power amplifier (PA) transmit/receive (Tx/Rx) transfer switch, low-noise amplifier (LNA) with bypass mode, and matching components. That LNA... — Nancy Friedrich [Editor's Choice] Software Supports Nonlinear Behavioral Modeling WITH THE RELEASE OF the 2010 Microwave Office (MWO) design suite, engineers are promised new functionality and tools to increase productivity in the design of high-frequency monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs), microwave integrated circuits (MICs), RF printed-circuit boards (PCBs), and modules. The release supports nonlinear behavioral modeling via Agilent’s X-parameters, Mesuro’s Cardiff model, and more. In addition, it delivers improved speed in ... — Nancy Friedrich [RF Primer] Signal Generators Suit Military Testing Signal generators can be among the most versatile of test instruments, since their main function is to emulate the signals handled by modern electronic systems and components. At one time, a signal generator was simply a test source. It was not designated for “commercial” applications or for “military” testing. But such test sources were also not designed for complex modulation formats, typically providing only amplitude modulation (AM), frequency... — Jack Browne [Microwaves in Europe] Energy Efficiency Drives Automotive And Bluetooth Developments NEUBIBERG, GERMANY AND CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND—Two new developments are promising to help the automotive, industrial, and communications sectors develop more energy-efficient systems. German chipmaker Infineon Technologies, for example, unveiled its new wireless receivers. According to the company, these receivers provide good levels of sensitivity and a multiprotocol ability while simultaneously demonstrating low power.... — Paul Whytock [Microwaves in Europe] Single-Chip Bluetooth Platform The Bluetooth platform developed by CSR is a single-mode, single-chip low-energy platform. Low-energy Bluetooth systems are important to the wireless communications sector for applications like remote controls, health and well-being devices, computer interface devices, automotive RKE functionality, smart-energy appliances, and proximity tagging. The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has already adopted the Bluetooth v4.0 specification. In fact, CSR has qualified ... — Paul Whytock |
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