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JULY 2008 | |
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July 2008 - In This Issue [Cover Story] CSP Technology Shrinks RF Component Size Components and integrated circuits for RF/microwave applications have traditionally been small in size, although the limit on miniaturization has often been the package. With the announcement of its unique WaferCap chipscale- packaging (CSP) technology, however, Avago Technologies (San Jose, CA) has dramatically shrunk the size of microelectronic packaging, but also the losses that such packaging can inflict on high-frequency circuits. Avago’s ... — Jack Browne [News] Semiconductor Advances Propel High-Power Amps Improved linearity is one of the requirements for an effective wireless commuications transition from 2G series to 3G/4G systems, and high-performance RF transistors are vital to the amplifiers in these newer systems. As network operators transition from 2G services to 3G/4G systems, the role of highly efficient, highly linear RF transistors with higher operating voltages in base station amplifier designs become critical. Consequently, the technology that was... — Ashok Bindra [News] Startup Proposes Wi-Fi For Personal Area Networks Materials suppliers are constantly refining their recipes in search of products that offer greater value and increased reliability for a variety of commercial, industrial, and military applications Jack Browne Technical Director Microwave materials represent building blocks for high-frequency circuits and systems. Whether they are used to hold circuit traces, absorb or suppress radiofrequency interference (RFI), or form resonant... — Jack Browne [Design Features] Design An X-Band Vivaldi Antenna Antennas are essential to highfrequency communications and electronic systems for radiating or receiving electromagnetic (EM) energy. Although there are many types of antennas, they all operate according to the same basic EM principles. The basic behavior of an antenna can be described by its wave field strength, polarization, and direction of propagation.1 Key requirements in applications such as airborne radar and communications systems... — Dr. J.S. Mandeep , et al. [Design Features] Digital Predistortion Linearizes Broadband PAs Power amplifier (PA) linearity and efficiency are often two parameters that must be traded off in a wireless system. Fortunately, a Volterra-based adaptive digital-predistortion (DPD) linearizer circuit can enable RF PAs in wireless systems to achieve high efficiency with good linearity. This adaptive digital predistortion solution extends the linear range of power amplifiers and, in combination with crest factor reduction, enables RF PAs to be ... — Hardik Gandhi [Design Features] Examine The Effects Of Phase Noise On RFID Range Radio-frequency-identification (RFID) systems have become widespread as reliable means of storing and remotely retrieving data through the use of compact RFID tags. In particular, the use of ultrahigh- frequency (UHF) passive RFID is appealing for many applications since it enables recognition from a reasonable distance. The technology is ideal for supply-chain management and several major firms, such as Wal-Mart and Tesco, are planning to mandate... — Dr. Byung-Jun Jang , et al. [Design Features] Planar Resonators Arm Tunable Oscillators Last month, Part 1 of this article introduced novel self-injection- locked compact-coupled-planar-resonator (CCPR) oscillators. Part 2 concludes this article with more details on CCPR technology and some product examples. Edward5 proposed a novel, compact, high-Q multilayer integrable printed helical resonator that offers an optimum ratio of loaded quality factor to unloaded quality factor (QL/Q0 ) for minimum phase noise for a given VCO topology.... — Ulrich L. Rohde , et al. [Product Technology] AUTOTESTCON Gathers ATE Equipment Suppliers Automatic measurement solutions for military applications have their place, and each year they can be found in abundance at the annual IEEE AUTOTESTCON conference. The next AUTOTESTCON (www.autotestcon.com), which is scheduled for Sept. 8-11 in the Salt Palace Convention Center (Salt Lake City, UT), has been held annually since 1965. It features more than 250 exhibition booths. What follows is a... — Jack Browne [Product Technology] Enhanced Scopes Race To 20 GSamples/s Oscilloscopes are still a main workhorse measurement tool for evaluating transient and difficult-to-find signal anomalies, and LeCroy Corp. has been relentless in its pursuit of improved scope performance. But the enhanced performance of the company’s WavePro 7Zi series of digital oscilloscopes may wipe away any thought on an engineer’s part that these are “just another” test instrument. The WavePro 7Zi digital oscilloscopes provide the performance ... — Jack Browne [Product Technology] SiGe GPS Receiver Handles Two Antennas Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers are being embedded into almost any bit of electronic gear that moves, from the electronic circuits in automobiles to cellular telephones and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). To support this “global” expansion, SiGe Semiconductor has developed its model SE4150L GPS radio receiver for next-generation embedded GPS applications. The tiny receiver targets the three main requirements of these emerging... — Jack Browne [Product Technology] Integrated System Tests Device Flicker Noise Flicker noise is one of those important, but often misunderstood, semiconductor device parameters that can greatly impact the performance of wireless communications systems. Although measurement solutions for evaluating device flicker noise have often been “bootstrap” systems formed of available instruments and components, and with often questionable accuracy, Cascade Microtech (www.cascademicrotech. com) has announced a dramatic improvement to the... — Jack Browne [Editorial] Observations From The 2008 Atlanta MTT-S Microwave engineers (and even those who write about the industry) often use the annual IEEE Microwave Theory & Techniques Society (MTT-S) symposium and exhibition, otherwise known as the International Microwave Symposium (IMS), as the equivalent of “halftime” at a sporting event. It is a time to pause and ponder about the first half of the year. And it is an opportunity to take a peek at what competitors are doing, since many companies use the midyear MTT-S as... — Jack Browne [Feedback] Feedback Clarifying a sale In the June issue, the News Report, “Disparate Solutions Work To Fill Communications Gap,” on p. 44, the following paragraph was misleading regarding M/A-COM being acquired by Cobham plc. : The SLERS system is the result of a unique public-private partnership between M/A-COM (www.macom.com), which was just acquired by Cobham plc (... — Readers Various [The Front End] Fabless Revenue Grew 16 Percent In First Quarter SAN JOSE, CA—The Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) has released the CYQ1 2008 version of its Global Semiconductor Financial Report. The GSA quarterly report includes detailed trend analysis on financial data for fabless, integrated device manufacturer (IDM), pure-play foundry, intellectual property, electronic design automation, design service, and back-end sectors. GSA members can receive the complimentary report and accompanying downloadable Excel... — Dawn Hightower [The Front End] China National Space Administration Becomes CCSDS Newest Member Agency RESTON, VA—The China National Space Administration (CNSA) has been accepted as the eleventh full member organization of the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS). China’s admission to the organization marks the first addition to the membership since 1997. As the leading international organization for space communication standardization, CCSDS relies on its agency members to provide technical engineering support to its working groups. The... — Dawn Hightower [The Front End] Celestica Recognizes Murata Electronics In Awards Program SMYRNA, GA—Murata Electronics North America, a manufacturer and designer of ceramic-based passive electronic components and power supply modules, has been recognized as an honouree in the Technical Compliance Award category of the 2007 TotalCost of Ownership (TCOO) Supplier Award program by Celestica. Celestica's awards program recognizes suppliers that support Celestica's overall supply chain goal, which is to reduce the total cost of ownership for... — Dawn Hightower [The Front End] Kudos ACTON, MA—Azimuth Systems, a provider of wireless broadband test equipment and channel emulators for WiMAX, 4G and Wi-Fi, announced that its ACE 400WB MIMO Channel Emulator has been awarded the 2008 MITX Technology Customer Impact Award. The MITX Technology Awards, presented by the Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange, recognize innovative technologies developed in the New England area. The Customer Impact award honors a technology... — Dawn Hightower [Financial News] Agilent Technologies Acquires Assets Of Escort Instruments Corp. AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES INC. has acquired substantially all of the assets of Taiwan-based Escort Instruments Corporation, a supplier of low-cost test and measurement instruments and a subsidiary of Unitech Printed Circuit Board Corporation. The financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed. The acquisition includes Escort Instruments’ R&D, marketing, intellectual property and the majority of the subsidiary’s low-cost instrument ... — Dawn Hightower [Company News] Company News Azimuth Systems, Inc.—The Advanced Telecommunications Engineering Laboratory (TEL) at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln has selected the ACE 400WB channel emulator to perform a comprehensive mobile WiMAX technology study to investigate the performance and reliability of standardsbased wireless networking technologies for the North American railroad industry. The study is funded by the Federal Railroad Administration and will provide insight into the ... — Dawn Hightower [People] People TAYLOR W. LAWRENCE will succeed Louise L. Francesconi as president of Raytheon Missile Systems (RMS) effective July 1. Francesconi will work with Lawrence as he transitions into his new role until her retirement on Sept. 1. Francesconi is retiring from Raytheon after 33 years with the company. Lawrence joined Raytheon in 2006 and formerly served as vice president of engineering, technology, and mission assurance at Raytheon Company headquarters (Waltham, MA), where... — Dawn Hightower [Educational Meetings] Educational Meetings SHORT COURSES Besser Associates Short Courses Wireless Transceiver Design Techniques Aug. 11-15, 2008 (San Jose, CA) RF Transceiver Architecture, Design and Evaluation Nov.17-21, 2008 (Dallas, TX) Applied RF Techniques for Modern Radio Design Nov. 17-21, 2008 (Dallas, TX ) Wireless System Design and Simulation Dec. 8-12, 2008 (San... — Dawn Hightower [R&D Roundup] Planar Folded Dipole Antenna Achieves Wideband Performance WIDEBAND WIRELESS SYSTEMS like Ultra Wideband (UWB) require antennas that are wideband and compact. One solution is a dipole antenna with folded elements, which is constructed by folding both ends of a folded dipole antenna to widen the antenna’s bandwidth. Research into a simplified configuration has been performed in Kanagawa, Japan by Shingo Tanaka, Satoru Horiuchi, Yasunori Atsumi, and Yoichi Ido from Yazaki Corp.’s Microwave Technology ... — Nancy Friedrich [R&D Roundup] 24-Gb/s Software-Controlled Transmitter Outperforms Baseband Systems RECENTLY, A STUDY REVEALED a large gap between the fundamental limits of signaling (Shannon capacity) and the limits that are achievable with baseband signaling. In some applications, notches in the frequency domain are part of the link channels’ frequency response. Multitone (MT) signaling may then be employed to potentially reduce the gap between current link performance and Shannon capacity. Unfortunately, conventional MT techniques are not... — Nancy Friedrich [R&D Roundup] On-Chip Slot Antennas Prove CMOS Approach ON-CHIP ANTENNAS can be used in applications from radio-frequency-identification (RFID) tags to RF sensors/radars. Gallium arsenide (GaAs) has been the most commonly used substrate in many of these applications. Yet active RF devices are expected to increasingly turn to silicon for its low cost, high integration and other advantages. Many researchers have sought to fabricate antennas on a silicon substrate. At China’s Shanghai Jiao Tong University,... — Nancy Friedrich [Application Notes] Determine Total Radiated Power Performance Of PAs TOTAL RADIATED POWER (TRP) is an increasingly important performance parameter for power amplifiers (PAs) in Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) infrastructure equipment. A PA’s TRP performance is very much affected by varying load impedance, which can be measured by simulating an over-the-air (OTA) testing environment. The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA) has an advanced specification for this topic, dubbed revision 2. 1 of the... — Nancy Friedrich [Application Notes] Get Full Synchronization Performance At Current Clcok Speeds SYNCHRONOUS CLOCKING SCHEMES provide clock signals that are frequency locked at every transmission/ reception exchange. Such systems permit seamless data exchange at the highest possible rates. Due to different design tradeoffs, however, engineers often have to rely on asynchronous or plesiochronous systems instead of synchronous systems. NEL Frequency Controls (www.nelfc.com) has introduced a fourth option in its... — Nancy Friedrich |
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