At the virtual IMS 2020 event, Menlo Micro is showcasing their innovative switch products, a 3.5 GHz phase shifter for beam steering and a miniaturized 7 Channel UHF filter. Menlo Micro has developed an Ideal Switch platform that is a game changer for those who design electronic systems, serving multiple industries including next generation 5G mobile networks, industrial IoT markets, battery management, home automation, electronic vehicles and medical instrumentation.
They are showcasing the following products at their Virtual Booth:
- A revolutionary 4-State Phase Shifter driving a 3.5 GHz beam-steering antenna array which results in a 30x size-reduction over existing phase shifting solutions
- A next-generation Miniaturized High-Power 7-Channel UHF Filter which replaces existing large and lossy switched filter banks for commercial and military systems
- An advanced 10 GHz Coaxial SPDT switch that operates with greater than 3 billion switching cycles.
Menlo Micro’s Ideal Switch delivers the following game-changing improvements in SWAP-C:
- >99% reduction in Size & Weight
- >99% reduction in Power Consumption
- 999x faster switching compared to Mechanical Relays
- 999x longer lasting than Mechanical Relays
- 999x more linear than Semi-Conductor Switches
Today’s solid-state switches and mechanical relays power anything with an electrical current, but they have major shortcomings that will hamper current and next-generation technologies, including energy loss, cost, size, and reliability, and limited integration possibilities, compromising the ability to support next-generation 5G networks or the electrification of everything: the full transition to electric vehicles, airplanes, appliances, etc.
Menlo Micro’s technology creates a new switch category that eliminates compromises and tradeoffs by combining the benefits of electromechanical and solid-state switches into the best of both worlds with its “Ideal Switch.” The Ideal Switch eliminates the compromises required by solid-state switches and mechanical switches and relays, demonstrating a 99%+ reduction in key metrics including size, weight, power loss and inefficiency, and cost.
While a typical mechanical switch may operate in a few milliseconds, the Ideal Switch can operate 1000x faster, in only a few microseconds. The Ideal Switch can survive over 3 billion cycles without degrading performance. With lifetimes 1000x longer than a mechanical relay, the Ideal Switch is one of the most reliable switches available. The Ideal Switch is as scalable to make as a semiconductor, but is a true conductor.
4-State Phase Shifter for Beam Steering Antennas
Menlo Micro has developed a 3.6 GHz 2-bit digitally controlled phase shifter providing up to four discrete phase states, with applications targeting 5G beam steering and phased array antennas.
The phase shifter achieves extremely high linearity, low insertion loss, and operates with ultra-low supply current. It is built on Menlo’s breakthrough Ideal Switch™ technology and achieves a phase state change of 10 μs, with a reliability of over 3 billion switching operations.
This innovative, patented design has many advantages over conventional switched phase shifters including true differential time delay, miniaturized form-factor, superior RF performance, and long operating life under extreme environmental conditions. The design can be easily adapted to cover broadband frequency ranges and phase shift values. Click here for more information on this phase shifter.
The 3.6 GHz CBRS-BandBeam-Steering Antenna developed by Menlo Micro demonstrates the performance of the Ideal Switch Phase Shifter in a real-life application.
This design demonstrates how with a small number of miniaturized, high performance phase shifters, the beam can be directed in both horizontal and vertical directions up to 20°.
MM6005 - Miniaturized High-Power 7-Channel UHF Filter
Menlo Micro has developed a miniaturized UHF Filter utilizing breakthrough Ideal Switch™ technology to provide a seven-channel discrete tuning range from 225-512 MHz. Click here for more information on this filter.
The filter’s innovative design results in low insertion loss across the passband, fast discrete switching, and high-power input handling.
When compared to traditional solid-state switched filter bank designs, the MM6005 exhibits 2 dB to 3 dB lower losses. The Ideal Switch technology enables greater than 3 billion switching cycles with very minimal change in performance over a temperature range of -40 to +85ºC.
The design also offers a considerable 90% reduction in size when compared with comparable solid-state or electromechanical switched filter bank designs.
MM5130 - DC to 18GHz SP4T
The MM5130 device is a high power SP4T micro-mechanical switch offered by Menlo Micro. Menlo Micro has developed a new Ideal Switch fabrication process and applied it to DC and wideband RF/microwave switch applications.
This innovative technology enables robust and highly reliable switches capable of greater than 25 W forward power.
The MM5130 provides ultra-low insertion loss and superior linearity from 18 GHz down to DC, with greater than 3.0 billion switching cycles guaranteed at +85ºC.
The MM5130 is an ideal solution for replacing large RF electromechanical relays, as well as RF/microwave solid-state switches in applications where linearity and insertion loss are critical parameters. The four switch channels are individually controllable by applying voltage to the corresponding RF GATE pin.
Click here to see everything RF's coverage of IMS 2020.
