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Power Platforms Simplify Multimode, Multi-Band Architectures

April 20, 2010

TO ENABLE GLOBAL SMARTPHONES and mobile-Internet devices that handle three or more bands of third- or fourthgeneration (3G or 4G) cellular communications, the PowerSmart platforms leverage an RF Configurable Power Core. That core provides functional efficiency while processing all known cellular-communications modulation schemes including those used in GSM/ GPRS, EDGE, EDGE Evolution, CDMA, 3G (TD-SCDMA or WCDMA/HSPA+), and 4G (LTE or WiMAX) systems. The RF Configurable Power Core incorporates all power amplification and RF power-management functionality. The PowerSmart platforms also help to extend battery life and significantly reduce average thermal dissipation by maximizing efficiency across power levels, across data rates (voice only to LTE), and during non-ideal load conditionsalso known as "antenna mismatch." In addition, the PowerSmart platforms include all of the necessary switching and signalconditioning functionality in a compact reference design. Each PowerSmart platform utilizes a standardized digital interface (SDI) and is optimized to mate with leading multiband HSPA+/EDGE/GPRS RF transceivers. PowerSmart can support four bands of GSM/GPRS or EDGE and up to five bands of TD-SCDMA, WCDMA/HSPA+, LTE, WiMAX, or CDMA. It also offers superior band coverage (bands 1 to 6 and 8 to 10). Compared to current high-volume, triple-band 3G solutions using power-amplifier-duplexer (PAD) modules, PowerSmart vows to reduce board-space requirements by more than 40 percent.

RF Micro Devices, Inc., 7628 Thorndike Rd., Greensboro, NC 27409-9421; (336) 664-1233, Internet: www.rfmd.com.

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About the Author

Nancy Friedrich | RF Product Marketing Manager for Aerospace Defense, Keysight Technologies

Nancy Friedrich is RF Product Marketing Manager for Aerospace Defense at Keysight Technologies. Nancy Friedrich started a career in engineering media about two decades ago with a stint editing copy and writing news for Electronic Design. A few years later, she began writing full time as technology editor at Wireless Systems Design. In 2005, Nancy was named editor-in-chief of Microwaves & RF, a position she held (along with other positions as group content head) until 2018. Nancy then moved to a position at UBM, where she was editor-in-chief of Design News and content director for tradeshows including DesignCon, ESC, and the Smart Manufacturing shows.