May 26, 2005 Newsletter

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Microwaves & RF UPDATE
PlanetEE - http://www.planetee.com/
MWRF - http://www.mwrf.com/
May 26, 2005
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Greetings and welcome to your personal copy of PlanetEE's Microwaves and 
RF UPDATE e-newsletter. Please see below for address-change or 
subscribe/unsubscribe instructions.

Today's Table of Contents:
1. A Few More Words About BPL Pollution
2. Report Predicts Rapid Broadband Wireless Growth 
3. Record Volume Seen for WiFi in 2005
4. ARRL Sees Hope For BPL In New System 
5. Terabeam Selects Fujitsu SoC for WiMAX System
6. FOCUS Enhancements Targets UWB Market 
7. Chirp Chosen for IEEE 802.15.4a Wireless Standard 
8. DIN 7/16 Connectors Curb PIM 
9. Happenings - Conferences 


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1.  Viewpoint 
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A Few More Words About BPL Pollution

Earlier this month, the Microwaves & RF UPDATE addressed an issue that 
is of obvious concern and importance to many RF engineers, notably 
amateur-radio operators: broadband powerline (BPL) communications. 
Proposed by industry as a viable solution for broadband communications 
services, and so far blessed (conditionally) by the Federal 
Communications Commission (FCC), BPL makes use of existing power-line 
infrastructure to transmit signals carrying high-data-rate information. 

The response to that newsletter item has been so overwhelming (and 
almost 100-percent against BPL), that I apologize to all those 
readers/writers who I may not have been able to respond to personally 
with a return note. Your interest as readers has made it clear that a 
larger, more-comprehensive report on BPL is in order, and will be 
presented in either the July or August issue of the parent publication 
Microwaves & RF. Plans are being made to visit with the ARRL as part of 
this report, and the story will highlight the negative aspects of BPL as 
well as some encouraging details from a recent Motorola launch (see the 
news below). Watch your mailbox!

JACK BROWNE
Technical Director


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2. News
*************
Report Predicts Rapid Broadband Wireless Growth

WiMAX is the primary driver for future broadband wireless growth 
according to the latest report from Sky Light Research (Scottsdale, AZ). 
Predicting generous growth for at least five years, the 102-page report 
"Wireless Broadband Point-to-Multipoint State of the Market Analysis 
Report 2004 - 2009" notes that the market for broadband wireless grew 54 
percent in 2004 over 2003, driven mainly by OFDM radios. According to 
Emmy Johnson, Principal Analyst and Founder of Sky Light Research, "In 
2004, OFDM CPEs and base station equipment generated more than three 
times as much revenue as the previous four years combined." Although 
there are no certified WiMAX radios shipping, almost every wireless 
broadband vendor has announced a WiMAX platform or its intentions for 
one. Each of these products or plans is in various stages, with a 
handful of radios already shipping in commercial and trial deployments. 
 
Sky Light Research ---> http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=AF43:FFCBF


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3. News
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Record Volume Seen for WiFi in 2005

Worldwide wireless local area network (WLAN) revenue rose 20 percent 
between the fourth quarter of 2004 and the first quarter of 2005, 
according to Infonetics Research's quarterly market share service, 
Wireless LAN Equipment. Revenues rose to $767.6 million with 12.2 
million WLAN units being shipped worldwide. Revenue is expected to rise 
another 2 percent to $779.6 million by the first quarter of 2006, and is 
projected to reach $3.6 billion by 2008. WLAN switch ports rose in sales 
44 percent to 112,000, while revenue for switch ports grew 13 percent to 
%52.2 million and is expected to jump to $699.2 million by 2008. The 
main reason for the expected continued growth in the interest in 
broadband communications.
Infonetics Research ---> http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=AF44:FFCBF


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4. News
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ARRL Sees Hope For BPL In New System

One of the more vocal critics of broadband over power line (BPL) 
communications, the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL), has announced 
that Motorola may have overcome some of the traditional problems with 
the technology. In a release issued this week, the ARRL announced that 
it is "pleased to hear Motorola's announcement of its Powerline LV 
System. This is the first Access Broadband over Power Line (BPL) system 
that has been designed from the start with radio interference concerns 
in mind." The Motorola solution avoids using medium-voltage (MV) power 
lines, transmitting broadband signals only on the low-voltage (LV) side 
of the power transformer. The approach reduces the potential for 
interference to and from radio users. According to ARRL Chief Executive 
Officer David Sumner, "We know that medium-voltage (MV) power lines are 
no place for broadband energy, since there is overwhelming technical 
evidence that radio interference from BPL is unavoidable if MV lines are 
used. By confining their Access BPL system to LV lines and by adding 
hardware notch filters for additional protection to amateur radio 
frequency allocations, Motorola has addressed our interference 
concerns." He added that "we look forward to seeing the first Powerline 
LV system in operation, and to continuing to work with Motorola to 
ensure that their new product is indeed the first BPL system that is a 
solution, not a problem."
ARRL ---> http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=AF4C:FFCBF
Motorola Powerline LV ---> 
http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=AF4F:FFCBF


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5. News
**********
Terabeam Selects Fujitsu SoC for WiMAX System

Terabeam Wireless (Falls Church, VA) has selected the model MB87M3400 
WiMAX system on a chip (SoC) mixed-signal chip for its TeraMax 3.0 
next-generation WiMAX point-to-point and point-to-multipoint systems. 
The systems will incorporate Terabeam's new wireless network management 
operating system, code-named "Logan," and are planned for general 
availability in the fourth quarter of 2005. The Fujitsu SoC is fully 
compliant with the IEEE 802.16-2004 WiMAX standard and can be configured 
to be used in both base station and subscriber station applications. It 
is designed to support frequencies ranging from 2 to 11 GHz in both 
licensed and license-exempt bands. Terabeam's "Logan" has been under 
development for over three years and was a significant driver of 
Terabeam's acquisition in 2004 of KarlNet, Inc. Logan is a 
processor-agnostic operating system that can support multiple wireless 
modes (including 802.11). Logan's agility and versatility allow for a 
major streamlining of Terabeam's software portfolio, and it enables 
support for quality of service (QoS), voice-over-IP (VoIP), 
state-of-the-art security and IPv6.
Terabam Wireless ---> http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=AF47:FFCBF
Fujitsu Microelectronics ---> http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=AF42:FFCBF


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6. News
*********
FOCUS Enhancements Targets UWB Market

Known for their video production and conversion products, FOCUS 
Enhancements has announced that Mark Zadeh has joined the company as 
Vice-President of Sales for the Semiconductor Group. Zadeh was most 
recently Director of Sales and Business Development at Planar Systems, 
and had worked at PixelWorks prior to that. According to Brett Moyer, 
the company's President and Chief Executive Officer, the hiring 
signifies the firm's strong interest in ultrawideband (UWB) technology: 
"Mark's arrival at FOCUS Enhancements is aptly timed, as the
industry progresses with UWB standards and we expect to move our UWB 
technology into silicon in the second half 2005.  This addition to the 
team better positions us to capitalize on the market potential of UWB in 
what will be a dynamic and exciting time for the company."
FOCUS Enhancements, Inc. ---> http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=AF46:FFCBF


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7. News
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Chirp Chosen for IEEE 802.15.4a Wireless Standard

Chirp modulation is the winner of the latest popularity contest for a 
wireless standard, the IEEE's 802.15.4a for personal area networks 
(PANs). Developed by Nanotron Technologies (Berlin, Germany), the 
approach offers long range and low power consumption at moderate data 
rates for personal communications devices as well as for industrial 
controls, sensor networking, home automation, and medical devices. 
According to Nanotron's Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Zbigniew Ianelli, 
"this decision by the world-renowned experts at IEEE confirms the 
outstanding features of our technology: high robustness, long range, low 
power consumption and the ability of precise localization." The chirp 
approach is expected to yield maximum data rates of 2 Mb/s and a maximum 
range of 900 m (outdoors) and typically 60 m (indoors) at 10 mW output 
power. The first chips and network software based on the new standard 
will be offered by Nanotron Technologies at the end of 2006.
IEEE ---> http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=AF4D:FFCBF
Nanotron Technologies ---> http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=AF48:FFCBF
 

*********
8. News
*********
DIN 7/16 Connectors Curb PIM 

Passive intermodulation distortion (PIM) can limit the performance of 
the most carefully designed cellular or PCS system. For that reason, 
Santron has developed the 1906-30 series of DIN 7/16 connectors 
according to 169-4 IEC-3, Class 1 specifications. Designed with 
single-body construction and a solid outer contact, the high-power 
connectors achieve 31-dB return loss through 7.5 GHz with PIM 
performance of -173 dBc. The connectors are ideal for curbing PIM in PCS 
filters, splitters, duplexers, amplifiers, and terminations for less 
than $5 each in large volume. 
San-tron, Inc. ---> http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=AF49:FFCBF


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9.  Happenings - Conferences
*******************************
Microwave Theory & Techniques Symposium (MTT-S)
June 12-17, 2005
Long Beach Convention Center
Long Beach, CA 
http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=AF4D:FFCBF

IEEE Compound Semiconductor IC Symposium (formerly the GaAs IC 
Symposium)
October 30 - November 2, 2005
Palm Springs, CA
http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=AF4B:FFCBF

Wireless Congress 2005: Systems and Applications
November 9-10, 2005
Munich, Germany
http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=AF41:FFCBF


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MICROWAVES AND RF (MWRF) UPDATE e-NEWSLETTER CONTACTS
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Technical Director: Jack Browne
mailto: [email protected]
Associate Editor: Laurie Collins
mailto: [email protected]

Advertising/Sponsorship Opportunities:
Mike McCaffery at 1-201-845-2414 or
mailto: [email protected]

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