Trending RF & Microwave News Stories of the Week (16 - 20 Dec, 2019)

OMMIC’s New GaN Process Design Kit Supports Keysight’s ADS Electro-Thermal Analysis

OMMIC, a leading supplier of MMIC circuits and Foundry Services, has introduced a new GaN Process Design Kit (PDK) with support for ADS Electro-Thermal Simulator from Keysight Technologies. Through this capability, OMMIC offers MMIC designers accurate simulation results including the dynamic effect of temperature and temperature gradient across the die, a key factor when developing designs using a High-Power process, leading them to a successful design and a reliable product.

OMMIC’s GaN Process using High-Resistivity Silicon substrate is dedicated to microwave and millimeter wave applications, including high Power Amplifiers (PA), robust Low Noise Amplifiers (LNA) and multifunction chips required by 5G systems. The main objective of this process is to provide the same noise figure, gain and cut-off frequency as a 130 nm p-HEMT process, but with a much higher breakdown voltage, output power and LNA robustness. State of the art, a 10 W Q-band power amplifier, 1.5 dB noise figure Ka-band low noise amplifier and Q-band Transceiver/Receiver chip have already been demonstrated. Click here to read more.

Diamond Film Technology Improves Heat Dissipation in GaN HEMTs

Fujitsu Limited and Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. have successfully developed the world's first technology for growing a diamond film with highly-efficient heat dissipation on the surface of gallium nitride (GaN) high electron mobility transistors (GaN HEMTs), which are used in power amplifiers for technologies like weather radars and communications equipment. The new design reduces the amount of heat generated by the devices during operations by 40%, leading to simplification of the cooling system and making it possible to miniaturize radar systems that rely on GaN HEMTs. This improvement to the design will make it significantly easier to install larger numbers of the devices for applications including improved weather forecasting and 5G communications.

This research was partially supported by Innovative Science and Technology Initiative for Security, established by the Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA) of the Japanese Ministry of Defense. Going forward, Fujitsu aims to commercialize its new high-heat-dissipation GaN HEMT amplifiers in fiscal 2022 for use in weather radar systems and next-generation wireless communication systems. Click here to read more.

Advantech Wireless Unveils Specialized 5G Filters for C-Band

Advantech Wireless Technologies has released a specialized filter that will prevent 5G base stations from interfering with C-Band satellite signals. The filter design has been extensively tested and is available for immediate shipment. 

The FCC recently announced its decision to make 280 MHz of C-band spectrum available for 5G services. This decision will accelerate the deployment of 5G services, and it will likely cause some interference with satellite service providers who operate in the C-band.  Click here to read more.

Nordic Releases its First RF Front End Module for Bluetooth, Zigbee & Thread

Nordic Semiconductor has announced the release of its first ever RF Front End Module (FEM) that consists of a power amplifier and low noise amplifier. The nRF21540 has been developed to perfectly complement Nordic’s 2.4 GHz nRF52 and nRF53 multiprotocol Systems-on-Chip (SoCs). The RF FEM’s Tx PA offers a highly adjustable output power of up to +21 dBm, with the low noise amplifier (LNA) that provides up to 13 dB of Rx gain.

The LNA’s low noise figure (NF) of only 2.5 dB also ensures increased RX sensitivity for Nordic’s Bluetooth® 5/Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth LE), Thread, Zigbee, and 2.4 GHz RF low power wireless solutions. When combined with an nRF52840 SoC running Bluetooth LE at 1 Mbps, for example, the nRF21540 improves the RX sensitivity by 5 dBm. Click here to read more.

Holiday Gifting to Impact the Smart Home Technology Ecosystem

Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant smart home devices have become great Christmas gifts since smart home devices were first introduced in 2014. This year, reduced pricing and starter smart home bundles will again draw millions of dollars in consumer spending. But these devices also help determine the kind of smart homes that will be built around them. Global tech market advisory firm, ABI Research finds that holiday spending will help convert over 128 million additional homes into smart homes by the end of 2020 and the impact of those devices will go even further. The connectivity embedded in voice control front end devices will, for millions of homes, determine the connectivity they will look for in devices such as door locks, lights, sensors, key fobs, wireless security cameras, and more as they build out integrated smart home systems.

For smart home device and service providers investing in embedding wireless connectivity in their offerings, the continuing competing and disparate landscape for smart home protocols remains an expensive and constricting block on smart home investment and ROI. With no clear standard and no interoperability between major smart home protocols means that each new smart home is a battleground for each connectivity protocol to gain a foothold, and, each additional device added cements a foundation that will underpin the adoption of more and more devices leveraging the same connectivity protocol/s. Click here to read more.

Quectel Introduces Industry's First AT&T Certified LPWA Module

Quectel Wireless Solutions, a supplier of IoT modules has announced that AT&T has certified their new-generation LPWA module, the BG95-M3 for operation on it's LTE-M and NB-IoT networks. Being the industry's first cellular module based on the Qualcomm 9205 LTE modem that has earned AT&T's approval, the BG95-M3 will enable OEMs to immediately deploy a diverse range of IoT devices across North America. This will enable a wide variety of applications such as asset trackers, smart meters, smart city sensors as well as wearable trackers.

Targeting global markets, the BG95-M3 module is a highly-integrated variant supporting Cat M1, Cat NB2, EGPRS and integrated GNSS. Compared to its predecessor, the module complies with 3GPP Release 14 and delivers enhanced capabilities in power consumption, data rates, VoLTE, GNSS as well as hardware-based security. Click here to read more.

NXP Introduced its First GaN-on-SiC Transistor for RF Energy

NXP has launched its first RF power transistor (MRF24G300HS) designed for RF energy using GaN-on-SiC. The MRF24G300HS exceeds the efficiency of most vacuum tubes at 2.45 GHz, while the high thermal conductivity of SiC enables CW and long-pulse operations. It provides up to 300 W of output power.

Some of the features of MRF24G300HS are listed below: Click here to read more.

Doodle Labs Achieves a 106 Km Data Link Using its S-Band Smart Radio

Developer of IoT long-range broadband communication products, Doodle Labs has achieved a 106-kilometer data link using its Smart Radio in a mobile, aerial environment. The test was conducted by Paramount Advanced Technologies, a subsidiary of Paramount Group, an aerospace and technology company.

An off-the-shelf S-Band Smart Radio, RM-2250-2H-XS was used, which operates from 2.2 - 2.3 GHz and has 2 Watts (33 dBm) of output power. The radios used a small 3 dBi antenna on the aircraft and a 23 dBi directional antenna on the ground station. The Smart Radios were able to provide 300 Kbps throughput at a distance of 106 Km as a small Cessna aircraft carried the flight test box out into the horizon. This Smart Radio has been designed to serve very long-distance communication. Click here to read more.

5G Early Adopters Show Solid Growth Amid Initial Network Buildouts

Early adopters of 5G technology have begun to take advantage of numerous initial 5G network rollouts in 2019, according to 5G Americas, the wireless industry trade association and voice of 5G and LTE for the Americas. According to data from Ovum, there are now four million 5G connections globally as of the third quarter of 2019, an increase of 166% over the second quarter.

According to Chris Pearson, President, 5G Americas, Early adopters in 5G technology are testing the waters to see what their devices can do with the new technology. Service providers are now starting to take advantage of new capabilities being offered by several 5G networks that have come online over the past quarter. They are expecting to see a strong ramp up in 2020 as more devices become available and coverage expands throughout the world. Click here to read more.

Designing 3D-Printed Plastics with High-Performance Electrical Circuits

Engineers at Rutgers University have developed a technique that allows them to embed high-performance electrical circuits directly into 3D-printed plastics. This could lead to smaller and versatile drones and better-performing small satellites, biomedical implants and smart structures.

The team used pulses of high-energy light to fuse tiny silver wires, resulting in circuits that conduct 10 times more electricity than the state of the art, according to a study in the journal Additive Manufacturing. By increasing conductivity 10-fold, the engineers can reduce energy use, extend the life of devices and increase their performance. Click here to read more.

Capella Space to Launch Synthetic Aperture Radar Satellite Constellation in 2020

Capella Space, an information services company providing Earth observation data on demand, has announced that it will launch seven synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites and start commercial operations in 2020. Powering this next step are Capella's breakthrough engineering technology innovations that make it the first small satellite SAR company in the industry to capture truly sub-0.5m very high-resolution (VHR) imagery. 

Capella's ultra-high SAR captures more images per satellite relative to other small SAR satellites and it has an ability to deliver SAR data to customers in less than 30 minutes from the collection with real-time tasking. Capella's technology advances over the past year produce economic benefits that cemented major deals with multiple divisions of the U.S. government, including a contract with the U.S. Air Force. Capella is fully funded to complete its seven satellite constellation launch in 2020, with very significant backing from multi-billion-dollar funds DCVC (Data Collective) and Spark Capital. Click here to read more.

Raytheon's Radar System Detects Targets from 70,000 Feet Above the Earth

Raytheon has received a $217 Million IDIQ (indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity) contract from the U.S. Air Force to support and sustain the sensor and processor for the Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar System (ASARS)-2A. Work will be performed through 2024.

The ASARS-2A provides the U-2 aircraft with long-range, high-resolution intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities over large areas, from as high as 70,000 feet above Earth. With ASARS-2A, the Air Force can detect ground targets during the day or night, in any weather condition. Click here to read more.

QuadSAT Demonstrates Drone Based Antenna Testing Capabilities for Satellite Operators

QuadSAT, a mobile antenna testing system provider, has been demonstrating its antenna testing solution to satellite operators - SES and Eutelsat. Positive results obtained at a recent supervised testing session were sufficient for SES to consider adopting QuadSAT’s antenna testing product for future commercial antenna qualification activity. 

QuadSAT’s system uses drone technology to test, calibrate and measure the performance of VSAT antennas, specifically Comms-On-The-Move products. The system offers similar capabilities as a traditional antenna test range, and does so autonomously, by generating and receiving test signals in a highly controlled and consistent manner. The result is a portable, cost-effective, and time-efficient method to verify antenna performance. Click here to read more.

Sierra Selects R&S OTA Test Solution for 5G NR mm-Wave Testing

IoT solutions provider Sierra Wireless has selected Rohde & Schwarz’s compact antenna test range (CATR) based ATS1800C system for mmWave frequencies (FR2) testing. The transportable solution from Rohde & Schwarz features a state-of-the-art golden CATR reflector with rolled edges and a very smooth surface to minimize scattering and to provide precise measurement results as required for operation at high frequencies.

Test and measurement is moving from conducted testing to over-the-air (OTA) testing, especially in 5G NR due to the increased frequency range. One challenge of OTA testing is to maintain a compact test chamber size while providing a large quiet zone (QZ), or useable measurement area, in a wide frequency range. Rohde & Schwarz developed the R&S ATS1800C to combine all this, meeting current and upcoming requirements for 5G NR OTA testing. Click here to read more.