Is There Life Beyond 60 GHz?

With the number of wireless applications growing at an almost daily basis, available bandwidth has become an endangered resource—except beyond 60 GHz in the millimeter-wave bands. One company that sees this bandwidth as an opportunity is Sage Millimeter, with its lines of millimeter-wave mixers for receivers and other applications. A recently introduced example operates over RF and local oscillator (LO) frequencies from 110 to 170 GHz, with the "low-frequency" intermediate-frequency (IF) port running from DC to 20 GHz. Mixers such as this open new chunks of bandwidth for short-range communications, provided that the related receiver and transmitter components can be made affordably. A future issue of Microwaves & RF will take a more in-depth look at the real opportunities and limitations of millimeter-wave technology. For now, to learn more about the mixer, click here.