August 2010 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 August 2010 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. August 2010 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 August 2010 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... — August 2010 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. August 2010 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 August 2010 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 August 2010 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 August 2010 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 August 2010 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 August 2010 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 August 2010 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 July 2010 System-In-Package Design Approach Promotes Portability — Diana Moncoqut July 2010 Lowpass Filters Span DC To 500 MHz — The Editors of Microwaves & RF July 2010 Thumb-Wheel Step Attenuator Spans DC To 18 GHz — The Editors of Microwaves & RF July 2010 Integration Paves Way For Compact PA Modules — Ashok Bindra July 2010 Connector Provides EMI Filtering With Hot-Shoe-Style Mating — The Editors of Microwaves & RF July 2010 Fast-Locking Connectors Shorten Assembly Time — The Editors of Microwaves & RF July 2010 Cable Assembly Cuts Loss To 0.90 dB/ft. At 40 GHz — The Editors of Microwaves & RF July 2010 2.92-mm Connectors Offer Low VSWR Through 40 GHz — The Editors of Microwaves & RF |
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