Wireless Design & Development articles from March 2009

Wireless Design & Development archives from March 2009

Universal cell phone charger--what a concept!(UP FRONT)(Mobile World Congress Show)(Groupe Speciale Mobile Association)
March 1, 2009... The Mobile World Congress Show (MWC) recently took place in Barcelona, Spain. Every year this show has its "hot topics" that attendees just can't seem to get enough of, and this year was no exception. Conversations focused on handsets, Long...

Selecting the right filter for wireless handset applications: as more and more bands are getting integrated into wireless devices, rejecting the transmitter signals of the other radio bands becomes crucial when using a common antenna.(EYE ON FILTERS)
March 1, 2009... In every wireless handset you will find numerous filters and/or duplexers present in the RF front end. Filters fall into four general categories: band-pass, band-reject, high pass and low pass. The most common type used in handset applications...

200 W GAN HEMT power transistor now production ready.(PRODUCT NEWS: WHAT'S HOT)
March 1, 2009... Nitronex has released the NPT1007 for applications up to 1.2 GHz. The NPT1007 is comprised of two power transistors, 100 W each, in an industry-standard four-lead Gemini package. This small footprint allows easy combining of both transistors...

High-capacity solution provides NLOS backhaul for HSPA, WiMAX and LTE networks.(PRODUCT NEWS: WHAT'S HOT)
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] DesignArt Networks recently unveiled a NLOS backhaul product for mobile infrastructure. The company brings to market high-capacity, SLA-grade, non-line-of-sight (NLOS) PtP and PtMP wireless backhaul capability,...

Extended platforms address MIPS-intensive LTE wireless standard.(PRODUCT NEWS: WHAT'S HOT)
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Texas Instruments has developed the 1.2 GHz TMS320TCI6487, a three-core DSP running at 3.6 GHz coupled with a powerful software library that delivers the performance necessary to support LTE algorithms. OEMs can add...

Transceiver-based FPGAs optimized for applications requiring up to 3.75 Gb/s.(PRODUCT NEWS: WHAT'S HOT)
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Altera Corporation announces the Arria II GX FPGA family. The Atria III GX family utilizes common transceiver technology and is supported by a common set of development tools that enable system designers to develop...

Designing handsets with modularity: designing a platform with modularity in mind is one approach that can shorten design time as well as enable easier feature upgrades.(Cover story)
March 1, 2009... With worldwide shipments of 990 million units in 2006 and in excess of 1.1 billion units in 2007 (source: iSuppli), mobile handsets have rapidly become the most dominant consumer electronics device in the market today. This double-digit...

Staying the course: a proactive customer approach in reactive times: real-life engineering problems cannot always be solved through inanimate search engines and static content.(INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE)
March 1, 2009... Within the wireless components market, pressure to grow sales and margin has never been greater. Computer and intelligent handset technologies are becoming an integral part of everyday life. Continued expansion of major contract manufacturers...

Testing LTE and WiMAX OFDM/MIMO-based systems: the introduction of new radio technologies, like OFDM and MIMO, in LTE and WiMAX systems has created the need for new types of test equipment.(LTE TECHNOLOGY)
March 1, 2009... Mobile wireless systems have dramatically evolved over the past two decades. Commercial wireless networks in the early 1980s provided low-capacity, voice-only services, whereas, in today's world, a growing number of mobile wireless networks are...

Welcome to brainstorm!(BRAINSTORM)
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The proliferation of wireless networks supporting roaming workers, guests and occasional users requires a number of new measures to identify and shut down vulnerabilities before security breaches can occur. Q:...

FIR filters help improve audio quality in consumer electronics: consumer audio devices from TVs to docking stations to personal computers benefit from the use of FIR filters in providing high quality audio at a reasonable cost.(DESIGN TALK)
March 1, 2009... The U.S. market for consumer electronics goods is approximately $161 billion and growing at a rate of 8% per year (Consumer Electronics Association Digital America, 2008). Television remained the biggest driver fueled by the growth of LCD TVs...

Improving audio performance in handsets.(DESIGN TALK)
March 1, 2009... Mobile handsets are packing in numerous new features such as video, mp3 playback, FM radio, GPS and mobile TV driven by 3G networks. In addition, the rapid growth of handset soles over the last decade means that these devices are now used in a...

Eliminating background noise--the next best audio quality improvement.(DESIGN TALK)
March 1, 2009... In recent years, advancements in noise suppression technology, and the willingness to design a second microphone into a mobile handset have enabled the last bastion of voice quality challenges heretofore unsolved--background noise suppression....

Low-power, high-value FPGA devices.(TECHNOLOGY AWARD)
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Lattice Semiconductor Corporation has released its third-generation high value FPGAs, the mid-range 65 nm LatticeECP3[TM] family. The LatticeECP3 FPGA family offers multi-protocol 3.2G SERDES with XAUI jitter...