Top News Stories of the Week : 22nd Jan, 2016

Arrow Electronics Acquires Discontinued RF & Microwave Products from Hittite

To support long-term requirements of discontinued electronic components, Arrow Electronics has procured the recently discontinued products formerly provided by Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI) through its acquisition of Hittite Microwave Corporation. Arrow’s Supply Assurance business procured a broad spectrum of high-performance radio frequency (RF) and microwave products on select legacy Hittite product lines that were formally discontinued in 2015. They acquired all of the products in finished-goods form to preserve the factory-direct functional and qualitative characteristics of each device. Read more

Toshiba Launches 15W Wireless Power Transmitter IC

Toshiba has announced the launch of TC7718FTG - a wireless power transmitter IC with a 15W transmission capability. The new IC is connected to a microcontroller, and realizes a wireless power transmitter system compliant with Qi, the standard defined by the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC). Toshiba’s original cutting-edge CD-0.13 process realizes a small package and high efficiency, making system integration easy while securing a transmitter system with a small footprint. A 15W wireless transmitter created with the new IC will recharge devices quickly, at a rate equal to or shorter than wired chargers. The IC is suitable for use in wide range of applications including mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, and industrial devices. Read more

MACOM Teams up with Northrop Grumman for Radar Deployments

M/A-COM has been selected as an exclusive partner by Northrop Grumman for the development and manufacture of radar arrays that use their active antenna technology to target a wide range of defense programs and platforms. MACOM is leading the transition of civil and defense radar and communication systems to active antenna technology. Applying innovative, tile-based architectures and modern, commercial manufacturing practices, they are enabling customers to build affordable and scalable radar systems with rapid time to market.

"This teaming agreement is a major step towards reducing our active antenna vision to commercial practice, while working with one of the industry’s leading defense prime contractors,” said Jack Kennedy, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Aerospace and Defense, MACOM. “MACOM is honored to support critical defense programs with affordable solutions.” Read more

Anokiwave Introduces X-Band IC Solutions for Electronically Scanned Radars

Anokiwave has extended its X-band Quad Core IC family for Radars with two new ICs for single beam Rx and Tx. This release completes the family of X-band Silicon Radar Quad Core IC solutions for commercial radar and 5G communications markets.

Each IC architecture in the family includes an integrated 4 channel beamformer, LNA, and PA supporting 4 radiating elements. The ICs feature either a low noise figure or a high input linearity, and are further divided by dual beam Rx/single beam Tx or single beam Rx/single beam Tx. The AWS-0101 features a low noise figure, dual beam Rx, and single beam Tx. The AWS-0103 features high input linearity, dual beam Rx, and single beam Tx. The AWS-0104 is a single beam Rx, single beam Tx IC with low noise figure, and the AWS-0105 is a single beam Rx, single beam Tx IC with high input linearity. Read more

New Wi-Fi Front End Modules Support MIMO and 4K UHD Capability

Qorvo has expanded its broad portfolio of Wi-Fi products to include new front end modules (FEMs) designed for wireless broadband home gateways and set-top-boxes. Qorvo is an innovator in highly integrated front end modules for Wi-Fi that combine best-in-class performance with up to 3.2 watts of power savings.

The RFFM4552 and RFFM4558 5GHz 802.11ac FEMs offer the industry's best power consumption, linearity, and throughput. These modules support Multi-User Multi-Input Multi-Output (MU-MIMO) with up to 8x8 antenna configurations, allowing gateways to deliver multiple wireless streams simultaneously to different devices, including new 4K Ultra-High Definition (UHD) televisions and DVD players. Additionally, the 1024 QAM modulation capabilities enable the highest data rates possible in Wi-Fi solutions. Read more

3D Tracking Antennas Target Real-Time Spectrum Monitoring Applications

Aaronia has introduced a new 360 ° Direction Finding 3D Antenna. This IsoLOG 3D antenna is available in multiple frequency configurations from 9 kHz to 40 GHz. The array consists of a total number from 16 to 40 directional antenna with horizontal and vertical polarization. Additionally 8 to 16 special LF antennas can be added in order to cover a frequency range starting at 9 kHz. This antenna system can be equipped with up to 64 independent antennas.

The IsoLOG 3D achieves a high sector-resolution of 22.5 ° without mechanical rotation. The extremely fast tracking speed of up to 1µs is achieved by use of high-end digital switches, whereby a signal transmission is also possible with up to 100W per antenna. Read more

Waveguide Mixer Enables Analysis of 50-75 GHz mmWave Signals

Anritsu has introduced the MA2806A High Performance Waveguide Mixer that can be integrated with its MS2830A Spectrum/Signal Analyzer to create a millimeter-wave (mmWave) measurement solution that eliminates the complexity and uncertainty associated with conventional mmWave signal analysis tools. The MA2806A/MS2830A solution offers engineers an accurate, simple system to verify modules, components, antennas and systems designed into microwave and mmWave infrastructure and equipment for HD video streaming, WiGig (802.11ad), as well as human detection and vehicle sensing applications. Read more

II-VI Acquires ANADIGICS and EpiWorks for $110 Million

II‐VI Incorporated, a leader in semiconductor lasers, announced today that it signed agreements to acquire Anadigics and EpiWorks for a combined $110 Million. These acquisitions will expand its technology platforms and production capacity for semiconductor lasers with a scalable 6‐inch epitaxial growth and wafer fabrication platform. The acquisitions will further position the company to serve fast‐growing markets addressed by Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VCSELs). VCSELs provide unique advantages in a variety of applications in consumer electronics, data centers, sensing, medical and industrial markets and are expected to grow at greater than 20% a year. Read more

New Family of Sub-GHz CMOS RF Front-End ICs for Internet of Things

RFaxis has announced a family of ultra-miniature sub-GHz RF Front-End IC (RFeIC™) products for the high growth IoT / M2M market. The new RFX15xx-series of products bolsters the strong portfolio of RF front-end ICs for IoT with these additional high power RF front-end options for sub-GHz applications. There is tremendous opportunity for RF front-ends in the high-growth smart home, smart office, smart building, and smart city segments. This expanded IoT portfolio helps enable a wide range of ultra-compact, high performance, and cost competitive designs.

The RFX15xx-series is a family of sub-GHz RFeICs™ in an ultra-miniature 2.5x2.5mm QFN package, a smaller size option to the existing RFX10xx-series of products. Read more

Semi-Transparent, Washable UHF RFID Tag Targets Fashion Industry

Fujitsu Frontech North America has developed a new, low cost, Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) RFID tag suitable for fashion apparel, garments, and accessories. The new Fujitsu WT-A522L Fashion tag, which is about the size of a typical shirt collar stay, is virtually imperceptible when installed in the sheerest of garments.

Unlike most garment RFID tags, this new low cost washable tag is made from transparent materials and is virtually invisible when sewn into clothing or accessories. From fine silks and lace to sheer evening gowns, the new WT-A522L Fashion tag provides Fashion Designers and Retailers protection against counterfeiting and fraud. Read more

RF Components Market to be $17.54 Billion By 2022

According to a new study by Grand View Research, Inc, the global Radio Frequency (RF) components market is expected to reach USD 17.54 billion by 2022. Growing adoption of consumer electronics including smartphones, tablets, notebooks, set top boxes and smart televisions is estimated to fuel industry growth over the next few years. Rising consumer disposable income particularly in developing countries like India and Brazil pared with overall improvement in global economy may elevate demand significantly. Technological advancements in the field of wireless communication and development in materials used for manufacturing RF components such as Silicon Germanium (SiGe) and Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) is also expected to drive industry growth. Read more

Morfis Announces World’s Smallest CMOS LTE/3G RF Front-End Solutions

Morfis Semiconductor has announced the availability of a family of products that claim to be the world’s smallest fully integrated CMOS single-die flip-chip cellular RF front-ends on the market today. To date, incumbent vendors have offered costly and bulky RF front end multi-chip modules (MCMs). These complex MCMs typically consist of GaAs HBT PAs, CMOS controller circuitry, SOI switches and various Surface Mount Devices (SMDs). Based on its patented architecture and proprietary techniques and methodologies, Morfis has fully integrated these functions in a low-cost high performance CMOS single die flip-chip device. Read more

NYU Wireless, SIBEAM and NI Collaborate to Speed up 5G Development

The NYU WIRELESS research center announced it will build an advanced programmable platform to rapidly design, prototype, and validate technologies vital for the millimeter wave (mmWave) radio spectrum, which is potentially key to launching the next ultra-high-data-rate generation of wireless communication, or 5G. Funded by a National Science Foundation (NSF) program that supports exploratory work on potentially transformative research, the platform will be one of the first of its kind available to researchers from academia, government, and industry who are driving the early stages of mmWave technology.

Millimeter wave communication relies on highly directional transmissions in which energy is concentrated in narrow beams. Current mmWave prototyping systems use directional horn antennas mounted on mechanically rotatable gimbals. Read more