Trending RF & Microwave News Stories of the Week (19 - 23 Oct, 2020)

NGMN Alliance Launches a Project Focusing on the Vision and Drivers for 6G

The Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) Alliance Board has launched a project focusing on the Vision and Drivers for 6G. The Alliance has provided industry-wide guidance on 4G and 5G, supporting global alignment as well as ensuring that next-generation mobile networks meet the ecosystem requirements and, ultimately, satisfy customer demand and expectations. A prominent example of NGMN’s deliverables was the First 5G White Paper published in 2015, which had a substantial impact on 5G’s standardization and paved the way for 5G Commercialization, followed by the Second 5G White Paper (5GWP2) published just recently in July 2020.

The NGMN Work Program focuses on reaching the full 5G potential and supports the industry on delivering and following through with its 5G promise. Drawing on the recommendations of the Second 5G White Paper, the NGMN Alliance continues to work on existing 5G activities as well as launching new activities such as the Green Future Networks project, Vertical Industry Engagement, and Network Slicing Requirements for Operating System of 5G Smartphones. These activities will ensure 5G continues to evolve and support customers and industry for the next 10 years and beyond. Click here to read more.

Keysight’s Handheld 5G Measurement Software Can Now Operate on Android Smartphones

Keysight Technologies has introduced a new handheld measurement software (Nemo Handy) that uses Android-based commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) smartphones for verification of 5G new radio (NR) quality-of-service (QoS) and quality-of-experience (QoE) in the field.

According to the Global Mobile Suppliers Association, the rapid pace of 5G deployments is expected to accelerate with more than one-hundred mobile operators having launched global commercial 5G services to date. The number of announced 5G devices in the past twelve months has doubled, reaching over four-hundred and forty in October 2020.  Access to commercial, non-rooted devices speeds testing across different end-user scenarios, network technology implementations, and propagation environments. Click here to read more.

Rohde & Schwarz Records 20% Growth in Revenue Despite Recent Economic Uncertainties

Test & Measurement expert, Rohde & Schwarz, has announced that the company has finished its 2019-20 fiscal year (July-June) with a revenue of EUR 2.58 Billion - the 3rd consecutive year where they have increased revenue by 20%. This once proves that the privately owned company’s strategy focusing on sustainable business practices is the right one. The high degree of vertical integration, flexible production processes and robust supply chains helped successfully navigate the uncertain global economic environment of the past fiscal year. In addition, the clear focus on customer needs in the growth markets of connectivity, security and safety contributed to making the year a success. The number of employees grew moderately to about 12,300 worldwide.

Benefits from Large Investments in Wireless Technologies Click here to read more.

LitePoint's 5G NR FR2 mmWave System Delivers Test Capability for Small Cell Base Stations

LitePoint, a leading provider of wireless test solutions, has introduced the IQgig-5G™ test system that delivers test capability for small cell base stations. Small cell base stations enhance mobile connectivity with better network coverage and higher capacity. Demand for 5G small cell base stations is growing in indoor residential and office environments as well as in high-density areas.

To address the emerging small cell base station market, LitePoint has updated the IQgig-5G test system to provide comprehensive non-signaling test coverage of small cell base stations. The test system enables small cell waveform generation and analysis and 5G millimeter wave radio technologies. The tester provides an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) and allows for real-time RF parametric analysis for small cell products. Click here to read more.

You Can Now Lease VNAs from Copper Mountain Technologies

Copper Mountain Technologies is now offering an option to lease their Vector Network Analyzers (VNAs) to organizations that may not want to spend a large amount upfront. CMT is currently providing this option in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Norway. Companies can choose the lease duration and the payment options that best suits them.

Companies in the United States can now lease a CMT VNA from Leasing Corporation of America. They can choose from 2, 3, 4, and 5-year lease options. Companies can pay as they use the VNA with a fixed monthly payment and a 90-day deferred payment option. At the end of the lease period, the equipment can be bought out for $1.00 plus a lease termination fee of $99.00. Click here to read more.

Verizon, Ericsson and Qualcomm Achieve Peak 5G Speed of 5.06 Gbps

Verizon, Ericsson and Qualcomm Technologies have demonstrated 5G peak speeds of 5.06 Gbps. Using 5G mmWave spectrum with carrier aggregation, a technology that combines multiple channels of the spectrum to provide greater efficiency for data sessions transmitting over the wireless network, the companies combined eight separate channels of the spectrum to achieve the multi-gigabit speeds.

When fully mature, 5G technology has the potential of reaching speeds up to 10 Gbps, latency under 5 milliseconds, and service deployment times of 90 minutes. It will allow mobile connections at speeds of up to 500 km/h with the ability to manage over a million devices per km² and data volumes of 10 Tb/s/km². Verizon and its collaborators are driving hard to maximize the potential of this developing technology. Click here to read more.

Ericsson's 2020 Microwave Outlook Report Addresses Steps to Enhance 5G Deployment

Ericsson has released the Ericsson Microwave Outlook 2020 report that provides insight and trends up until 2025. With the increasing transport demands from the switch on of 5G, the report also discusses how to deal with scattered spectrum and new ways of planning with differentiated availability and multi-band booster.

5G is here, meaning that backhaul capacity requirements will increase for Radio Access Network (RAN) sites. In 2025, the needs in urban areas will vary from 3Gbps to 20Gbps, as communications service providers deploy different amounts of New Radio (NR) spectrum and advanced RAN features. In rural areas, it could vary from as much as 300Mbps to 2Gbps in 2025. Click here to read more.

NASA Partners with Nokia to Build the First Cellular Network on The Moon

NASA has selected Nokia to deploy the first LTE/4G communications system in space and help pave the way towards a sustainable human presence on the lunar surface. Nokia Bell Labs’ will build and deploy the first ultra-compact, low-power, space-hardened, end-to-end LTE solution on the lunar surface in late 2022.

NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate is seeking industry-developed space technologies that can foster the development of commercial space capabilities and benefit future NASA missions. The public-private partnerships established through 'Tipping Point' selections combine NASA resources with industry contributions, shepherding the development of critical space technologies. NASA plans to leverage these innovations for its Artemis program, which will establish sustainable operations on the Moon by the end of the decade in preparation for an expedition to Mars. Click here to read more.

NXP Introduces Secure UWB ICs for Smart Locks, IoT Sensors and RTLS Tags

At its annual developer’s conference, NXP Semiconductors announced the next milestone in establishing secure ultra-wideband (UWB) technology as the global standard for fine-ranging and high-precision sensing. Following the introduction of mobile and automotive UWB solutions, NXP has expanded its portfolio to include new UWB ICs. The new Trimension SR040 and SR150 ICs are optimized to enable new IoT use cases such as smart locks and real-time location system (RTLS) tags, delivering “relative position” with a very high level of accuracy. NXP Trimension is the new designated brand name for NXP’s proven UWB platform – spanning solutions designed for the specific needs of the automotive, mobile, and IoT markets.  

NXP is convinced that true innovation happens at the intersection of ecosystems. To accelerate the adoption of UWB and create meaningful new experiences, smart edge devices need to gain spatial awareness, whether it’s a smartphone, car, or different IoT device form factor. Imagine the possibilities of moving through daily life with fewer barriers as devices anticipate actions. The new IoT ICs, combined with NXP’s connectivity portfolio, will help developers add dimensionality to devices and objects to make this vision possible. Click here to read more.

NTU Researchers Develop Radiation-Protection for Chips in Satellites and Autonomous Vehicles

Researchers at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore (NTU Singapore), have developed a “smart chip” that is capable of protecting satellites from radiation damages and could enable future satellites to carry more sophisticated equipment and yet be less costly to build. Built by a team led by Professor Joseph Chang from the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, the NTU-developed smart chip can detect incoming heavy-ion radiation with the potential to cause serious damage to electronics.

When the effects of radiation (known as a Single Event Latchup) are detected, the smart chip shuts down other electronics in the satellite safely and turns them back on once the danger has passed. The chip itself is hardened and protected against heavy-ion radiation and can stay ‘awake’ throughout the event. Known as the Latchup Detection and Protection (LDAP) chip, it is now commercialized by Zero-Error Systems (ZES), a start-up incubated by NTUitive, NTU’s innovation and enterprise company. The technology for the LDAP has recently been awarded two patents and has been verified under heavy-ion tests in a cyclotron, a type of particle accelerator that generates radiation particles. Click here to read more.

L3Harris Technologies to Develop a Satellite System for Defense Against Missiles

L3Harris Technologies will develop and integrate an end-to-end satellite system under a $193 million firm-fixed-price contract for the Space Development Agency. L3Harris will support the agency with technology that will protect against advanced hypersonic missiles. The total period of performance runs through 2025 and covers the delivery of four space vehicles for launch within 24 months. L3Harris will develop wide field-of-view mission payloads, various space communication and network solutions, and inter-satellite optical links on the vehicles.

Key Features of the Defense Satellite System: Click here to read more.

Accelerate Wi-Fi 6E Device Designs with Off-the-Shelf Embedded Antennas

Fractus Antennas announced the complete support of Wi-Fi 6E within the tiny, multiband ONE mXTEND antenna booster product. This tiny virtual antenna supports all possible frequency coverage combinations of Wi-Fi 5, Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E.

The main advantage of the ONE mXTEND antenna booster is that this Virtual Antenna booster is that it can be easily tuned to any frequency band by only adjusting the matching network. Any Wi-Fi standard can be tuned at any time, including the ground-breaking Wi-Fi 6E.  Click here to read more.