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  • Aug. 9, 2012
    Article

    HetNet Solutions Advance While Femtocell Transceivers Cut Design Costs 1

    Increased coverage and operating capacity are sorely needed if future cellular networks are to provide adequate service. With more than one billion mobile-broadband users worldwide, heterogeneous-network (HetNet) technology is progressing rapidly to meet that goal. HetNet will provide substantial numbers of macro-networks and a large number of small cells, including femtocells. In the past, large cells encountered problems when they handled large numbers of users, which reduced the operating capacity per customer....More
  • Aug. 9, 2012
    Article

    Drones Stir Controversy 2

    Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have provided a nice boon to the microwave and RF market. By using technologies ranging from Global Positioning System (GPS) location to wireless communications, they have offered new business opportunities....More
  • Jul. 30, 2012
    Article

    Find Out Why PXI Is Being Used For RF Instruments 20

    Today, several instrument vendors are offering high-performance PXI RF test equipment. In a world that was once dominated by traditional-rack-and-stack instruments, this industry shift begs the question: “Why?” More specifically, we should ask, Why are engineers using PXI for their RF test needs, and Why did this change occur? I would like to take a stab at answering these questions while providing the context for why PXI has become a de-facto standard for RF instrumentation....More
  • Jul. 11, 2012
    Article

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  • Jul. 11, 2012
    Article

    Wireless SoCs Use Cortex-M0 Core To Slash Power Consumption 1

    For more than a decade, designers of wireless products have been struggling to deliver ever-increasing performance while consuming less power. Among the latest products promising to satisfy these opposing demands are two wireless system-on-a-chip (SoC) devices from Nordic Semiconductor (www.nordicsemi.com). Conveniently, the first two low-power wireless SoCs in the nRF51 series share the same architecture and multi-protocol radio. While the nRF51822 has a Bluetooth-low-energy/proprietary 2.4-GHz stack, the nRF51422 has an ANT/ANT+ stack (see p. 42 for more on ANT)....More
  • Jul. 11, 2012
    Article

    Grappling With Old-Cell-Phone Guilt

    A few days ago, my six-year-old daughter was rifling through our junk drawer. She was delighted to discover a number of old cell phones, which she promptly used to “call” her ex-boyfriend—supposedly a boy named Jake. (I guess when you’re six, it’s okay for an ex to come before an actual boyfriend.) While it was fun watching her play, it reminded me—guiltily—that my family still had not recycled our old cell phones....More
  • Jul. 9, 2012
    Article

    Interview: Julio Perdomo, CEO, Centellax

    NF: Although this is an evolving market, many firms have made their living by offering the same types of products for decades. Recently, however, Centellax made a bold change by selling its test and measurement business to Agilent Technologies. What inspired this move?...More
  • Jul. 2, 2012
    Article
    Microwaves and RF

    Create An LTE Field Environment In The Lab 2

    Many see drive testing–the process of testing cellular systems and equipment by literally driving around with live mobile devices in a car or van—as the ultimate test of a cell phone or base station. However, drive testing incurs significant costs and liabilities while offering very little in terms of repeatability. For many years, testing and R&D labs have dreamed of “virtual drive testing” or the laboratory-based repeatable replication of live field environments....More
  • Jul. 2, 2012
    Article
    Microwaves and RF

    Introducing Wireless Standards of the Future: IEEE 802.11ac and LTE-Advanced

    In this article, we’ll take a look the physical layer characteristics of the hottest wireless standards and explain how higher data rates are achieved. More specifically, we’ll look at how features such as more spatial streams, carrier aggregation, and higher-order modulation schemes directly correspond to higher data throughput. Finally, we’ll look at how evolutions in the physical layer for each standard create new test challenges for today’s RF engineer....More
  • Jul. 2, 2012
    Article
    Microwaves and RF

    Meet The Challenges Of Testing Eight-Antenna LTE 2

    Some LTE communities are pioneering eight-antenna technologies to reap even higher performance gains. Such advanced technologies will make the choice of test methodology even more critical. To find the right approach, it is essential to have a solid understanding of the antenna techniques used for each version of LTE....More
  • Jul. 2, 2012
    Article
    Microwaves and RF

    Optimize Spectrum-Analyzer Settings For TOI Measurements 7

    One of the more common measurements made with an RF/microwave spectrum analyzer is determination of third-order-intercept (TOI) point for a device under test (DUT), which is often an amplifier. TOI point is a parameter used to evaluate the linearity of components that are utilized in applications where nonlinear effects can cause distortion—for example, in digitally modulated signals. This measurement can be challenging, as uncertainties vary significantly based on the spectrum analyzer’s settings....More
  • Jul. 2, 2012
    Article
    Microwaves and RF

    Techniques for Making Measurements of Noise-Like Signals with a Spectrum Analyzer 8

    Many of today’s communication formats, such as W-CDMA, cdma2000®, and WLAN, produce signals that are noise-like in nature. Accurately measuring these types of signals requires tools and setups that are different than traditionally used for continuous-wave (CW) signals....More
  • Jun. 13, 2012
    article
    Microwaves and RF

    Making More With Less

    Owing almost $16 trillion dollars can make even the most free-spending of governments more fiscally responsible. The Pentagon has been the beneficiary of 10 continuous years of military budget increases. But with planning for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 ......More
  • Jun. 13, 2012
    article
    Microwaves and RF

    Test And Chip Breakthroughs Create Smaller, Faster, More Dependable Consumer Products

    Wireless consumer-electronic products increasingly include data-intensive applications. Meanwhile, applications below 10 GHzsuch as wireless local-area networking (WLAN)face spectrum scarcity. Consequently, wireless-system designers have to explore ......More
  • Jun. 13, 2012
    article
    Microwaves and RF

    Interview: Harvey Kaylie, President, Mini-Circuits

    JB: This past January, we ran a Cover Feature on the MAC series mixers, a line of hermetically sealed mixers based on low-temperature-cofired-ceramic (LTCC) technology. How have they done so far commercially?...More
  • May 17, 2012
    article
    Microwaves and RF

    Montreal Not Ideal For All Exhibitors

    Midway through every year, this industry celebrates its heritage with a big gathering of its leading companies and people. Such a get-together offers the opportunity to see how competitors are faring, to learn about newcomers, and to catch up with old ......More
  • May 17, 2012
    article
    Microwaves and RF

    Interview: Raafat R. Mansour, 2012 IMS Technical Program Chairperson

    The 2012 IMS Technical Program Chair talks to Microwaves & RF about the great turnout for student papers and the topics that are generating the most interest, such as millimeter-wave and terahertz technologies....More
  • Apr. 6, 2012
    article
    Microwaves and RF

    Hearing Aids Embrace Wireless Solutions 1

    In other Nordic news, hearing solutions company GN ReSound, has employed the company’s nRF24L01+ in its ReSound Alera™ hearing aid. This offering enables users to wirelessly stream audio from consumer electronics devices such as TVs directly to their hearing aid(s) over a range to 20 m (see figure)....More
  • Apr. 6, 2012
    article
    Microwaves and RF

    Smart Remotes Take A Step Forward

     ...More
  • Apr. 6, 2012
    article
    Microwaves and RF

    Interview: Rupert Baines, Mindspeed Technologies

    Rupert Baines, Vice-President of Strategic Marketing and Marketing Communications, Mindspeed Technologies, talks to Microwaves & RF about small cells and how they are beginning to fill holes in network coverage....More
  • Apr. 6, 2012
    article
    Microwaves and RF

    Tracking Oscillator Trends

     ...More
  • Mar. 14, 2012
    article
    Microwaves and RF

    Interview: Rajeev Jain, Senior Director, Technology, Qualcomm Atheros

    Connected homes are coming one step closer to reality, thanks to the IEEE 1905.1 draft standard. It allows the consumer to optimally combine Wi-Fi with any of the three popular wireline home networking technologies to form a single "hybrid" network: HomePlug, Multimedia over Coax (MoCA), and Ethernet....More
  • Mar. 14, 2012
    article
    Microwaves and RF

    LTE Chipset Development

    Still on the subject of Long Term Evolution, Sequans Communications, a 4G chipmaker, is using Rohde & Schwarz test equipment to align its next-generation LTE chipsets. The test solution is built around the R&S CMW500 radio communication tester and is ......More
  • Mar. 14, 2012
    article
    Microwaves and RF

    Taking An Active Role In Passive Component Design

    Passive components were once taken for granted in a system design, with their contributions at the system level usually considered predictable. Even at their best, passive components like power dividers or couplers could only diminish the magnitude ......More
  • Mar. 14, 2012
    article
    Microwaves and RF

    Get The Measure of LTE Device Radiated Spurious Emissions-Fast

    The R&S OSP-B155 option from Rohde & Schwarz simplifies the measurement of radiated spurious emissions on LTE devices. Radiated emissions can be a problem with some wireless designs, especially when the levels of those emissions are ......More

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