Wireless Design & Development articles from March 2005

Wireless Design & Development archives from March 2005

The smaller, the better.(forecast on nanotechnology)(Column)
March 1, 2005... Well, if you read my column last month I was threatening to do another forecast. Truth be known, I forgot what I was going to discuss. No matter, forecasting was getting kind of boring and to tell me truth, I found a much more interesting...

Broadband amplifiers.(What's Hot)
March 1, 2005... iTerra introduces the iT2011, a compact amplifier module that delivers high RE output power over a wide frequency range. The iT2011 has a frequency range of 10 MHz to 20 GHz, and produces saturated RE power output greater than 29 dBm at 2 GHz...

RF front-end modules.(What's Hot)
March 1, 2005... SiGe Semiconductor has expanded its series of Wi-Fi integrated circuits with RE front-end solutions designed to reduce size and minimize battery drain of portable consumer electronics. The RangeCharger devices include the SE2550L RF front-end...

Synchronous rectifier.(What's Hot)
March 1, 2005... The NIS6111 is a high speed, high efficiency hybrid rectifier that couples a high speed comparator and MOSFET driver with a power MOSFET to create a diode with the same forward-drop characteristics as a MOSFET. The low forward drop and fast...

Multi-standard test system.(What's Hot)
March 1, 2005... Aeroflex launches a development and conformance test system that can test applications running on all major cellular phones including GSM/EGPRS and W-CDMA. The Aeroflex Air Interface Monitor Emulator/Applications Test (AIME/AT) conformance test...

Mixed signal oscilloscopes.(What's Hot)
March 1, 2005... Agilent introduces 12 portable digital storage and mixed signal oscilloscopes (DSOs/MSOs) with bandwidths of 300 MHz and 500 MHz, and a portable 1 GHz offering. With a real-time display update, the Agilent 6000 Series can show critical events...

Voltage controlled oscillators.(What's Hot)
March 1, 2005... Hittite announces two SMT packaged MMIC VCOs with integrated buffer amplifiers. Thee HMC505LP4 covers 6.8 to 7.4 GHz, and delivers +11 dBm of output power, with a SSB phase noise of -106 dBc/Hz at 100 kHz offset. The HMC506LP4 covers 7.8 to 8.7...

Receive module.(What's Hot)
March 1, 2005... Aethercomm model number Rx 9.0-9.2-5.0 is an X band receive module that includes a high power limiter in the front end to protect the low noise amplifier in the module. There is also a high speed, high power RF switch employed to gate the RF on...

DSP synthesis tool.(What's Hot)
March 1, 2005... The AccelChip DSP Synthesis 2004.6 is a AccelWare Advanced Math Toolkit with Matrix Inversion and Factorization. It is used to generate hardware implementations of complex algorithms used in wireless communications applications. The...

RF Micro Devices announces financial results.(News / Business / Contracts)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... RF Micro Devices, Inc. announces its December 2004 quarterly highlights: quarterly revenue totals are $168.9 million; quarterly GAAP net income per share equals $0.00 and pro forma net income per share equals $0.02; POLARIS[TM] TOTAL RADIO[TM]...

Funding from Intel Communications Fund.(News / Business / Contracts)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... AirMagnet, the leader in wireless LAN (WLAN) security and performance solutions, today announced that it is receiving an investment from Intel Communications Fund. This investment will be used to help expand the company's solutions to manage...

Racal Instruments Wireless Solutions is now Aeroflex.(News / Business / Contracts)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Aeroflex announces that it has changed the name of Racal Instruments Wireless Solutions (RIWS) to Aeroflex. The adoption of the new name completes the transition of RIWS to the Aeroflex brand. Aeroflex purchased the Wireless Solutions Group...

Agilent Technologies to acquire Wavics.(News / Business / Contracts)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Agilent Technologies Inc. and Wavics announce an agreement for Agilent to acquire Wavics, a Korean-based designer and manufacturer of power amplifier modules for the worldwide mobile handset market. Wavics' patented technology is expected to...

AirMagnet receives WJ Communications completes acquisition of Telenexus, Inc.(News / Business / Contracts)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... WJ Communications, Inc. announces that it has completed its previously announced acquisition of Telenexus, Inc. of Richardson, TX. Telenexus is a RFID company that develops high quality, innovative RFID products for a broad range of industries...

Cadence caps 2004 with solid Q4 execution.(News / Business / Contracts)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Cadence Design Systems, Inc. reports strong results for the fourth quarter and the full year 2004. Fourth quarter revenues were $343 million, compared to $311 million for the same period last year. Full year revenues totaled $1.20 billion, an...

Recent DoD contract wins pave way for HYPRES to develop RF linearization technology.(News / Business / Contracts)
March 1, 2005... HYPRES, Inc. has received two contracts totaling more than $2.2 million from the Department of Defense to develop a new digital RF linearization technology for the military's future wireless communications systems. Under the terms of a Navy...

National Instruments acquires design automation company Electronics Workbench.(News / Business / Contracts)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... National Instruments announces the acquisition of Electronics Workbench (EWB). By providing more seamless integration between test and design tools such as NI LabVIEW and Multisim, engineers and scientists can decrease design-cycle time by...

Microfabrica and MOSIS introduce manufacturing service.(News / Business / Contracts)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Microfabrica has partnered with MOSIS to introduce EFAB[R] Access, a multi-project run service to offer Microfabrica's breakthrough 3-D micromanufacturing technology. EFAB Access gives companies, universities, research labs, and individuals the...

TI enhances Bluetooth[R] technology portfolio with Bluetooth protocol stack from Extended Systems.(News / Business / Contracts)
March 1, 2005... Texas Instruments Inc. announces that it has enhanced its Bluetooth[R] technology portfolio by licensing the Bluetooth protocol stack and profiles suite from Extended Systems. TI offers its mobile terminal customers a complete range of...

Ansoft Corporation third quarter earnings increase 115%.(News / Business / Contracts)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Ansoft Corporation announces financial results for its third quarter of fiscal 2005 ended January 31, 2005. Net income for the third quarter was $3.0 million, or $0.23 per diluted share, representing a 115% increase when compared to net income...

Extended Systems and Synchronica join forces for Device Management.(News / Business / Contracts)(Synchronica Software, Berlin, Germany)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Extended Systems and Synchronica Software announce that Extended Systems will offer the Synchronica SyncML Device Management server combined with Extended Systems' XTNDAccess Device Management SDK.

Cadence donates technology to IEEE to enhance SystemVerilog usability.(News / Business / Contracts)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Cadence Design Systems, Inc. announces that it has donated SystemVerilog data type and intellectual property (IP) encryption technology to the IEEE P1800 Working Group to enhance SystemVerilog usability. The IEEE P1800 Working Group will...

RF Micro Devices opens customer support and design center in France.(News / Business / Contracts)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... RF Micro Devices, Inc. announces the opening of a new customer support and design center in Toulouse, France. The office was established to support collaboration between RF Micro Devices and leading wireless manufacturers located in Toulouse...

Hutchison 3G Australia Pty Limited chooses RADCOM's 3G network and service monitoring solution.(News / Business / Contracts)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... RADCOM Ltd. announces that its Cellular Performer system will be deployed to provide monitoring and troubleshooting on the UMTS network provided by 3, Australia's first 3G network. The contract, awarded by Hutchison 3G Australia Pty Limited,...

CSR establishes wireless chip design center in Sweden.(News / Business / Contracts)(CSR PLC., Cambridge, UK)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... CSR plc announces that it has established CSR Sweden AB, a new design center for wireless chips based in Lund, Sweden. The company will employ a substantial team, most of whom will be chip designers. Henrik Hedlund has been appointed as CSR...

Linear Technology offers all products in lead-free versions.(News / Business / Contracts)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Linear Technology Corporation announces that all of the company's products are available in lead-free versions as an ordering option. This offering is part of the company's commitment to meeting the European Community's Reduction of Hazardous...

Renesas Technology and Symbian collaborate on 3G mobile phone platform.(News / Business / Contracts)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Renesas Technology Corporation and Symbian Ltd. announce an agreement to add full-scale support for Symbian OS[TM], the market-leading open OS for smart-phones, to Renesas Technology's advanced silicon platform for 3G mobile phones. Porting the...

Connectors--not just your typical interconnect anymore: far from a simple cable interconnect, connectors are reaching a level of technology that rivals other 21st century components.(Technology Focus: Passive Components)
March 1, 2005... Connectors have never been one of the more glamorous components of the wireless infrastructure, but they have always been one of the most critical. In transmission paths, connectors can make or break the system. Connectors are critical to VSWR...

Current sense transformers.(Technology Focus: Passive Components)(Datatronics Distribution, Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... The CT series current sense transformers from Datatronics meet the requirements of European Directive 20002/95/EC governing the manufacture of electronic components (including bobbin materials) and electronic equipment, which requires the use...

Inductor series.(Technology Focus: Passive Components)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Vishay announces the addition of a low-profile, high-current inductor series to its line of inductor solutions for voltage regulator module (VRM) and DC/DC converter applications. The IHLM-2525CZ-01 series features a low DCR/-H for its package...

Chip inductor.(Technology Focus: Passive Components)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... KOA Speer introduces the KL73 1H (0201). This chip inductor provides a narrow inductance deviation with a complete range of inductance values, making it a suitable choice for high frequency circuit matching. The device is suited for high volume...

Feed-thru capacitors.(Technology Focus: Passive Components)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Tusonix's UL recognized, all-ceramic shoulder feed-thru capacitors are designed to offer a high AC/DC withstanding voltage and a working voltage up to 250 VAC. The product has a coaxial feed-thru configuration and a solder-in design--suitable...

Surface mount compensator/sensor.(Technology Focus: Passive Components)(Precision Resistor Co. Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Precision Resistor offers the PTS series of compensators/sensors. These surface mount, linear (+) TCR thermal tracking resistors function as a temperature-sensitive device in bridge circuit applications for process control systems. They can...

Coated choke.(Technology Focus: Passive Components)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... J.W. Miller Magnetics introduces the 79F series conformal coated choke, featuring a miniature size of 0.10" in diameter and 0.16" length. The series is suited for a range of applications including telecommunications, computers and computer...

Surface mount thermistor.(Passive Components)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... AVX announces an 0402 surface mount thermistor for applications such as mobile phones, hard disk drives, laptop computers, and compact disc players. Designated the NB23 series, the NTC (negative temperature coefficient) thermistors are designed...

Multilayer ceramic capacitors.(Technology Focus: Passive Components)
March 1, 2005... Taiyo Yuden announces the addition of an ultra-small EIA 0402 case size (1.0 x 0.5 x 0.5 mm) to its CFCAP[R] line of super low distortion surface-mount multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCC). The 0402 case size is suited for use in PLL (phase...

Metal alloy strip resistors.(Technology Focus: Passive Components)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Providing design engineers with a rugged surface mount current-sense device capable of handling high current loads, TT electronics IRC Wirewound and Film Technologies Division has developed a low resistance (<2 m [ohms]), surface mount metal...

A practical system model for the AFE of a low-IF receiver: new single RF mixer, low- or zero-IF output receivers eliminate the need for external SAW filters, thereby lowering system costs and power consumption.(Special Section: Components & Subsystems)(Cover Story)
March 1, 2005... In recent years, the trend toward on-chip integration of complete RF radio receivers has challenged the hegemony of the superheterodyne radio architecture. IC designers now aim to achieve similar performance by applying single-conversion...

AdvancedMCs in the wireless infrastructure: the Advanced Mezzanine Card is the next generation mezzanine card optimized for AdvancedTCA. It is designed to enhance the modularity value proposition of AdvancedTCA and extend performance scalability beyond today's PMC architecture.(Special Section: Components & Subsystems)
March 1, 2005... The use of PMCs has traditionally enabled telecommunications equipment manufacturers to implement a large variety of embedded processors, digital signal processors, network processors, and other components into modular system designs for...

Location awareness by implementing time of arrival.(Featured Technology)
March 1, 2005... Since the emergence of GPS systems, of the various techniques available to identify location, TOA has been of least interest. But its importance will be on the rise again with the development of miniature and low-power sensing and...

Transmission implementation of emerging serial standards: emerging serial chip-to-chip and backplane interconnects are the next level in faster, smaller, and more robust device development. And transmission infrastructure standards are next on the agenda.(Featured Technology)
March 1, 2005... The movement toward serial chip-to-chip and backplane interconnects continues at a frantic pace, particularly in the communications and storage arena. Standardization forums such as the OIF, RapidIO TA, and PCI-SIG have solidified their work...

RF for harsh environments.(Product Highlights)
March 1, 2005... Enclosed in NEMA-4x packaging, ACE data modems deliver up to one wall of output power at 900MHz, maximizing range in rugged areas. Two unique versions provide peer-to-peer or client/server protocols. Call AeroComm, (800) 492-2320. * Small...

RF design tools, now $199.(Product Highlights)
March 1, 2005... Complete system design kits enable smooth integration of wireless into any application. Each kit includes transceivers, power adapters, cables, antennas, software and guides to get you up and running with RF fast. Call AeroComm, (800) 492-2320....

Schottky diodes.(Semiconductors/ICs)
March 1, 2005... M/A-COM announces the MA4E2200 series of Zero Bias Detector (ZBD) silicon Schottky diodes. These silicon medium barrier devices are offered in JEDEC plastic packages: SOD-323, SOT-23, and SOT-143. They are offered as single, series tee, series...

Amplifier/attenuator.(Seminconductors/ICs)
March 1, 2005... Analog Devices introduces a single-chip RF VGA (variable-gain amplifier/attenuator) that operates at RF power levels for wireless infrastructure equipment. The ADL5330 is also a monolithic VGA that provides broadband operation from 1 MHz to 3...

Field effect transistors.(Semiconductors/ICs)
March 1, 2005... Agilent announces two additional members of its family of E-pHEMT FETs. The ATF-52189 and ATF-53189 are designed for use in communications applications operating from 450 MHz to 6 GHz. The 42 dBm third-order output intercept point (OIP3) at 2...

Optocoupler series.(Semiconductors/ICs)
March 1, 2005... Vishay announces series of 10 MBd optocouplers rated for operating temperatures tip to +100[degrees] C. The SFH67xxT optocouplers feature a reinforced-insulation construction combining an input LED with an integrated optical photodiode IC...

Hybrid couplers.(Tx/Rx)
March 1, 2005... MECA introduces high power, 3 dB hybrid couplers suitable for combining two transmitters to share one antenna. Couplers are available in three bands: 400 to 520 MHz (H705N-0.460), 800 to 1000 MHz (H705N-0.900), and 1700 to 2200 MHz...

Power splitters.(Tx/Rx)
March 1, 2005... Offering five different models to choose from, Mini-Circuits' ZX 10-4 family of 4-way 0[degrees] splitters/ combiners deliver good performance in a small rugged package. The devices maintain high isolation (20 dB typical) and low insertion loss...

Drop-in transceiver.(Tx/Rx)
March 1, 2005... Nordic introduces the nRF2401A 2.4 GHz transceiver. As part of a program for Pb-free components, this device is a drop-in replacement for the nRF2401. The device has improved sensitivity and blocking. Nordic Semiconductor Use Info_LINK...

Dual positive regulator.(Power)
March 1, 2005... Torex introduces the XC6406 series of regulators. Fabricated using a CMOS process, the XC6406 series are precise, low power consumption, dual positive regulators, offering a combined dual output of up to 600 mA. The output voltage is set by...

Tracker/sequencer.(Power)
March 1, 2005... The MAX6876 is an EEPROM-configurable, quad-voltage tracker/sequencer/ monitor designed to ensure proper power-up and power-down operation. The MAX6876 monitors four voltages and ensures proper power-up and power-down conditions for systems...

DC/DC controller.(Power)
March 1, 2005... Linear Technology introduces the LT3782, a step-up DC/DC controller with 2-phase operation to deliver high output power using two inductors, eliminating the need for power and current sense transformers. The LT3782 controller can regulate a 50...

Battery monitoring.(Power)
March 1, 2005... Atmel announces the ATmega406, a high-voltage technology AVR microcontroller implementing full 2 to 4 cell Lithium Ion smart battery monitoring and protection on a single chip. To enable the ATmega406 to be powered directly from a 2-, 3-, or...

Low noise amplifier.(Amplifiers)
March 1, 2005... MITEQ[R] announces the LNA model AMF2F-00500300-25-26P, operating over the 500 to 3000 MHz communications band. With +26 dBm (1 dB) output power, an IP3 of +39 dBm, and a 2.5 dB NE this device makes a suitable front end. Gain is 29 dB minimum,...

Antenna platform.(Military / Aerospace)
March 1, 2005... Astron Wireless introduces the HESA[TM] Direction Finding (DF) antenna platform, providing a flexible platform for configuring multiple antenna elements in a small form factor. The HESA[TM] technology provides an environment that optimizes...

Encryption libraries.(Military / Aerospace)
March 1, 2005... Microchip Technology announces two encryption software libraries for its 16-bit dsPIC[R] Digital Signal Controllers (DSCs). The dsPIC30F Symmetric Key Encryption Library enables embedded designers to take advantage of the high data throughput...

Low noise synthesizers.(Signal Sources)
March 1, 2005... Micro Lambda announces their wideband low noise frequency synthesizers. The models include the MLSE-0220 covering 2.0 to 20.0 GHz and the MLSE0122 covering 1.0 to 22.0 GHz, each in 1 Hz steps. The synthesizers feature output power leveling to...

Direct conversion transceiver solution.(new product from Skyworks Solutions Inc.)
March 1, 2005... Skyworks announces a comprehensive RF subsystem for next generation cellular infrastructure equipment and other wireless transceiver applications. This solution leverages RF integrated circuit designs that maximize the performance and design...