Trending RF & Microwave News Stories of the Week (4 - 8 Nov, 2019)

R&S and Fraunhofer Join Forces for 6G Research at THz Frequencies

While the new 5G technology is at the first stages of rollout, Rohde & Schwarz, the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications, Heinrich Hertz Institute, HHI and the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF are taking a step further with demonstrations in the terahertz (THz) frequency band, related to the 6th generation wireless mobile communication (6G). The collaboration has resulted in a wireless transmit and receive system operating between 270 and 320 GHz, with further frequency extensions for potential 6G bands already in preparation.

6G research is already underway in industry and academia. While 5G introduces mm-Wave frequencies with wider bandwidths for higher data rates and enables new applications such as in wireless factory automation (Industrial IoT) and for autonomous vehicles, the aim of 6G is to push the boundaries of transmission bandwidths even higher.  Click here to read more.

OMMIC to Develop Uplink Power Amplifier for NextGen SATCOM Technologies

Leading manufacturer of microwave circuits, OMMIC, in partnership with eight other companies, is set to take part in the EU-sponsored QV-LIFT project. The goal of the project is to increase the maturity level of key satellite communication technologies by building a prototype of the next generation of satellites that support the high-speed/low latency permanent service required by the 5G of mobile communications.

Satellite communications (SATCOM) must be supported in all weather conditions. With heavy rain, the signal dumping is more important and additional power is needed. In these conditions, to keep the radio links stable, the power amplifier (PA) should be able to deliver a signal that is an order of magnitude greater (i.e. 10 additional dB) compared to sunny weather. The main idea of the QV-LIFT project is to be able to reach a smart gateway via the Internet through a link established in a place with sunny weather. This would reduce the specification of the PA’s output power, removing the need for the pricy 10 dB margin, necessary for the non-intelligent gateway. Click here to read more.

Pasternack Releases Comprehensive Portfolio of 5G RF Solutions

Pasternack, has introduced a comprehensive portfolio of 5G RF solutions. The new solutions are aimed at serving the urgent needs of engineers and technicians around the world with high-grade RF components and cable assemblies shipped same-day to support 5G innovation, testing and deployments.

The “RF Components for the Next Generation” suite consists of thousands of active, passive, interconnect and antenna products supporting global sub-6 GHz and mmWave frequency band applications. Pasternack’s high-quality, precision-grade 5G RF components are essential building blocks in 5G deployments and are powering 5G application development and testing for enhanced mobile broadband, mission-critical communications and emerging Internet of Things (IoT) applications. Click here to read more.

SAGE Millimeter to be Re-Branded as ERAVANT by March 2020

SAGE Millimeter, a leading provider of high performance microwave and mm-wave solutions for commercial and military applications, announced that they are rebranding to “ERAVANT” by March 2020. According to the company, the re-branding, will renew their commitment to RF engineers and will represent the company’s promise to continue investing in its customers and team members. Since its establishment in 2011, with an estimated 5,000 products and over 100,000 units delivered, SAGE has been a company with technology at its center of growth.

The word "ERAVANT" Click here to read more.

Taoglas Introduces Centimeter-Level GNSS Positioning Solution

Leading provider of next-generation IoT solutions, Taoglas, in partnership with u-blox, has developed a centimeter-level GNSS positioning solution. The new module, Taoglas Edge Locate, integrates u-blox’s high precision L1/L2/E5 GNSS receiver, the ZED-F9P, and all the required RF electronics and antennas in a single package. The module is aimed at simplifying the development and deployments of IoT solutions that depend on high precision positioning information. 

The Taoglas Edge Locate addresses the growing demand for highly accurate centimeter-level positioning performance, which, until recently, was reserved for high value use cases such as guidance systems for precision agriculture and heavy machinery. This changed with the use of additional satellite signals and the announcement of u-blox F9 high precision positioning platform, which lowered the cost of ownership of the technology, extending its benefits to mass market applications for the first time. Click here to read more.

World’s Smallest Bluetooth SoC to Connect Next Billion IoT Devices

Dialog Semiconductor has introduced the world’s smallest and most power-efficient Bluetooth 5.1 SoC. The DA14531 chip, also known as SmartBond TINY™, is now in production. The company also launched a module based on the DA14531, to simplify Bluetooth product development and enable wider adoption.

SmartBond TINY™ has specifically been designed to lower the costs of adding BLE functionality to an application for as little as $0.50 in high volumes, fueling the next wave of the IoT, estimated to span over 1 billion devices. This product will further extend Dialog’s position as a leader in the Bluetooth device market with the broadest SoC portfolio, as the company converges on yearly shipments of up to 100 million units. Click here to read more.

New 26.5 GHz Signal Scanning Recorder for Military Intelligence Applications

Pentek has introduced a new Signal Scanning and Recording Rackmount System. The RTR 2654 26.5 GHz RF Sentinel Intelligent Signal Scanning Rackmount Recorder is part of their Talon Signal Recording and Playback Systems product family. The RTR 2654 combines the power of a Pentek Talon Recording System with a 25.6 GHz RF tuner and Pentek's Sentinel Intelligent Signal Scanning Software. It automatically scans the RF spectrum from 800 MHz to 26.5 GHz for signals of interest and monitors or records bandwidths up to 500 MHz, making it very suitable for military, security and government intelligence (SIGINT, COMINT and ELINT) applications.

The system used a Pentek Model 78141 Jade transceiver module as its data acquisition engine. One of its dual 3.2 GS/sec 12-bit A/D converters is operated at a sample rate of 2.8 GS/sec. The Model 78141 is coupled to the 500 MHz bandwidth IF output signal of a 6 GHz RF tuner front end with excellent dynamic range across its entire spectrum. A digital downconverter (DDC) in the Model 78141 provides frequency zooming for signal bandwidth steps of 500, 280 or 140 MHz. Click here to read more.

Upcoming Webinar on DOCSIS 4.0 – Benefits and Trade-offs of Moving to 1800 MHz

Mini-Circuits will be hosting a live webinar on November 20 (Wednesday), on the expanded spectrum DOCSIS (ESD) standard for CATV networks. The webinar, titled, “DOCSIS 4.0 – The Move to 1800 MHz”, will discuss the benefits and trade-offs associated with migrating to a 1.8 GHz network along with the new RF components now in development at Mini-Circuits that will be needed to meet the exacting requirements for this expanded frequency bandwidth.

The webinar will presented by guest speaker, Phil Miguelez, CTO of Access Vision technologies, LLC, and Erick Olsen, Product Marketing Manager at Mini-Circuits. Mr. Miguelez is a 25 year veteran of the cable industry and member of the DOCSIS 4.0 Working Group currently meeting to define the requirements for 1.8 GHz operation. Mr. Olsen currently leads product marketing at Mini-Circuits and has over 30 years of RF/microwave industry experience as a design engineer and in management roles at companies including Raytheon, Skyworks, NXP, and Analog Devices. Click here to read more.

Thick-Film Pastes Allow Manufacturing of Compact Circuit Boards for 5G Applications

Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS will exhibit new PI pastes at Productronica in Munich from November 12 to 15 (Hall B2, Booth 228). For many years now, miniaturization has been the main driver of the electronics industry. This is particularly true for ceramic-based circuit boards, which have properties that make them especially suitable for high-frequency circuits. Increasingly demanding technical requirements have exposed the limits of the classic thick-film technologies used for the production of circuit-board conductors. Now, however, a new generation of thick-film pastes and their photolithographic structuring enable the manufacturing of extremely high-resolution thick-film structures necessary for 5G applications. Moreover, this process is suitable for mass production and industrial applications while maintaining low investment costs and only minimally extending production times.

The next generation of mobile internet and mobile telephony is about to arrive: the fifth generation - or 5G. South Korea, Switzerland and a number of U.S. cities have already started using 5G. In Germany, the licenses for this standard were auctioned in June 2019. The new technology also means that the electronics used for transmitting and receiving signals will have to be much more finely structured than is currently the case. This applies equally to antennas, which will initially operate at a frequency of 3.6 GHz, before moving to higher frequencies. In terms of miniaturization, the thick-film technology currently used to produce this circuitry has now reached its limits. As far as industrial applications are concerned, a resolution of around 50 micrometers is the absolute limit for this method. In plain terms, this means that the single electrical structures, such as conductors, are minimum 50 micrometers wide. The 5G standard, however, requires circuitry as fine as 20 micrometers and less. Click here to read more.

Teledyne SP Launches 6.5 GHz Digitizer for Satellite, Radar and 5G Applications

Teledyne SP Devices, a business unit of Teledyne Technologies has announced a dual-channel 12-bit wideband digitizer with 6.5 GHz of analog input bandwidth and a 5 giga-sample per second (GSPS) sampling rate per channel. The ADQ7WB has a wide instantaneous bandwidth and unprecedented dynamic performance combined with customizable real-time digital signal processing (DSP) and high data transfer rates that make it an ideal platform for satellite communication systems, radar, 5G, and more.

Direct RF Sampling and Multi-Band Support Click here to read more.

Lockheed Martin to Integrate its GPS Anti Jam Receiver into the F-35

Lockheed Martin received a $25 million initial contract award for engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) of the GPS Spatial-Temporal Anti-Jam Receiver (GSTAR) system that will be integrated into the F-35 as part of its modernization phase, also known as Block 4. The GSTAR system will replace the current Antenna Electronics Unit (AEU) and will provide enhanced capabilities including the next-generation, anti-jam solution and provide a significant weight and cost reduction to the aircraft.

The F-35 today is the most technologically advanced fighter ever built. As threats advance and technology evolves, the joint government and industry team is modernizing the system to ensure it remains a step ahead. GSTAR is one of several key enhancements planned across the F-35’s sensors, data links, engine, mission systems, weapons and more. Click here to read more.

Over 20 Billion RFID Tags to be Sold in 2019

According to a global annual survey/report of the RFID industry by IDTechEx, the RFID industry including tags, readers, software and services will be worth $11.6 Billion in 2019 and will grow to $15.2 Billion in 2024.

The report reveals that in 2019 the number of passive RFID tags sold will increase by 13% over 2018. In total, IDTechEx expects that 20 billion tags will be sold in 2019 versus 17.5 billion in 2018. This includes passive RFID tags across the three main frequencies used (RAIN, High Frequency and Low Frequency). Of those three frequencies, RAIN RFID will see the highest growth from 2018 to 2019 at 20% with HF RFID (including NFC) at 5% and LF at 2%. Click here to read more.

5G and IoT to Boost the RF Transceiver Market to $18.5 Billion by 2024

The emerging IoT technology, surging use of wireless communication devices, swift digitization, heavy adoption of smartphones, increasing dependence on technology in the daily routine, and growing deployment of upgraded devices in the defense, telecommunication, automotive, and transportation industries are expected to boost the RF transceiver market growth during the forecast period. A single-chip transceiver consumes low power and can work with low voltage in a wireless system. In addition, these transceivers are rapidly being adopted in the healthcare sector for telemetry communication and wireless body area network.

Further, 4G cellular technology is predicted to be replaced by 5G technology during the forecast period. 5G wireless technology is compatible with different frequency bands and can also be used for cellular and IoT applications. With continuous technological developments and rising demand for high-performance and area-efficient transceivers, the introduction of 5G communication technology is predicted to offer huge opportunities in the RF transceiver market around the globe. Click here to read more.