Trending RF & Microwave News Stories of the Week (7

Qorvo Acquires RF MEMS Technology Expert, Cavendish Kinetics

Qorvo has announced the acquisition of Cavendish Kinetics Inc, a leading provider of RF MEMS technology for antenna tuning. Cavendish Kinetics is the leading provider of high-performance RF MEMS components smartphones, mobile infrastructure, IoT and defense. The low loss nature of RF MEMS allows customers to maximize RF performance, resulting in faster data rates, extended battery life, and innovative form factor designs. The company is led by industry veterans with extensive expertise across the RF semiconductor and MEMS ecosystem, including companies like Texas Instruments, Motorola, Broadcom, Sirf, Inphi, and Skycross. It is headquartered in Silicon Valley California, with additional offices in Texas, Netherlands, Korea, and China.

The Cavendish Kinetics (CK) team will continue to advance RF MEMS technology for applications across Qorvo’s product lines and transition the technology into high-volume manufacturing for mobile devices and other markets. Click here to read more.

5G Phone Sales to Cross 1 Billion Devices by 2025

Strategy Analytics in a newly published report from the Device Technologies (EDT) practice, forecasts that 5G devices, from a sluggish start in 2019 will take off in 2020. The report, Global Smartphone Sales Forecast by Technology for 88 Countries to 2024 shows that within 5 years 5G phones will equal nearly half of all phones sold.

South Korea is leading the 5G race at the moment but China intends to quickly become the global 5G leader. The ability of the industry to deliver lower-cost 5G smartphones will be critical to allow China to reach this goal next year. The first devices will be premium- and high-tier devices, but by the end of 2020, there will be more mid-range devices available, especially in China. Click here to read more.

Researchers Develop Highly Sensitive Diode that Converts Radio Waves in to Electricity

Researchers from Japan have developed a highly sensitive rectifying element in the form of a nano-wire backward diode, which can convert low-power microwaves into electricity. The research was carried out by leading communication technology company, Fujitsu, in partnership with the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), and the Tokyo Metropolitan University.

Through JST's Strategic Basic Research Programs, the technology was developed by researchers led by Kenichi Kawaguchi of Fujitsu Limited and Professor Michihiko Suhara of the Tokyo Metropolitan University. The new technology can generate electricity from ambient radio waves, such as those emitted from mobile phone base stations. Click here to read more.

Murata Developing 60 GHz RF Modules for Facebook’s Terragraph Technology

Murata has announced that the company is currently working to develop an RF module for Facebook’s gigabit wireless technology solution called Terragraph. Terragraph is designed to meet the growing demand for reliable, high-speed internet access in urban and suburban environments.

The gigabit wireless technology is enabled in part by placing millimeter-wave RF modules at 200 to 250 meter intervals between base stations. To give you some background, high-speed networks are typically constructed by burying fiber-optic cable, but long completion times and the high costs of laying fiber are significant challenges. With Terragraph, deployment takes less time and costs less when compared to a conventional network. This is accomplished by attaching set boxes that include millimeter-wave RF modules to objects such as streetlights that are already ubiquitous in cities. Click here to read more.

WIN Semi Releases New Sample Kits for its GaN-on-SiC 0.15 µm-gate Technology

WIN Semiconductors has announced the development of new sample kits for its gallium nitride (GaN) based 0.15μm-gate technology. The new NP15-00 mm-Wave compound semiconductor technology is ideal for transmit power amplifiers used in 5G mmWave radio access networks, satellite communications and radar systems.

Supporting full MMICs, the NP15-00 platform allows customers to develop compact, linear or saturated high power amplifiers up to 35 GHz. In the 29 GHz band, the NP15-00 technology offers saturated output power of 3 watts/mm with 13 dB linear gain and greater than 50% efficiency without harmonic tuning. Click here to read more.

Skyworks’ Front End Modules Power Next-Generation of WiFi 6 Devices

Skyworks announced that its advanced connectivity solutions are powering next-generation of Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) devices for the leading connected home and mesh network providers, including Arris, Asus, D-Link, Netgear, Ruckus and TP-Link.

Wi-Fi 6 is the newest 802.11 wireless standard that is pushing the performance envelope with speeds up to 30% faster than the previous 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5) protocol. These state-of-the-art routers accommodate the growing number of cloud devices and users in today’s connected home by optimizing the overall efficiency and data throughput. Skyworks’ powerful modules facilitate this enhanced functionality with best-in-class linearity and performance in the smallest footprint available. Click here to read more.

Compact, Low Power Bluetooth 5.0 Module for Long Range Applications

Taiyo Yuden has released a Bluetooth 5 compatible wireless communications module for outdoor security devices, IoT devices used in large factories, and IoT-related devices that require long-distance communications capability such as physical distribution terminals.

The newly launched EYSKDNZWB (9.6×12.9×1.4 mm) has a range that is approximately three times that of the existing EYSKBNZWB (15.4×10.0×2.0 mm) module while maintaining the same power consumption and having a size that is approximately 40% smaller by combining Taiyo Yuden's proprietary advanced antenna technology, small-devices design technique, and high-density design technique. This product will contribute to expanding communication range with the benefit of Bluetooth 5 low power consumption, which will allow IoT devices to be implemented in sensor networks in large areas such as factories. Click here to read more.

Radiation Tolerant 60 GHz Reflective SPDT RF Switch for NextGen Space Applications

Teledyne e2v HiRel, a leading provider of semiconductor solutions for the Defense, Space and Commercial markets has released a new rad-tolerant 60 GHz, Single Pole Double Throw (SPDT) reflective RF switch. The new model, TDSW0602T, is ideal for use in high reliability, demanding space and defense applications.

This new RF switch, developed with Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) technology, will be available as a flip chip die and is screened per MIL-PRF-38534 Class K for space applications. Until now, rad tolerant (radiation tolerant) 60 GHz switch technology has only been available for less rigorous commercial application requirements. The product leverages monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) design techniques that deliver unprecedented performance in the K and Ka microwave and millimeter-wave bands for customers. Click here to read more.

Link Microtek Introduces Ku-band Rotary Joint for Satellite and Radar Applications

Link Microtek has developed a new rotary joint, which offers a coaxial dual-channel Ku-band capability that makes it ideal for both satellite-on-the-move and radar applications, either military or commercial.

While microwave rotary joints of this type are usually designed with a high-frequency transmit channel and a lower-frequency L-band receive channel, the new device features two channels operating in the Ku band. Minimizing crosstalk is, therefore, a critical consideration, and the rotary joint achieves an impressive 50 dB minimum isolation between the channels with typical figures being better than 70 dB. Click here to read more.

Anokiwave Unveils 2nd Gen Ku-Band Silicon Beamformer ICs for SATCOM

Anokiwave has further expanded its satcom beamformer IC family with the addition of its new 2nd generation Ku-Band ICs - AWMF-0146 and AWMF-0147. The new ICs will aid in the design and deployment of commercial phased array-based ground terminals. They enable Ku-Band phased array active antennas that can auto-align and auto-position to support ground and aviation-based use cases for LEO/MEO/GEO satellites.

The new Ku-Band beam forming IC family builds on Anokiwave’s previous generation, by improving performance, reducing cost, and providing a host of digital functionality to simplify the active antenna array design. The highly integrated AWMF-0146 Rx IC and the AWMF-0147 Tx IC support four dual polarization radiating elements with full polarization flexibility, low power dissipation, and reduced noise figure. The small WLCSP (Wafer Level Chip Scale Package) makes the overall phased array assembly and thermal management significantly easier. Click here to read more.

Low Power, Low Cost, Radar Sensor ICs for Smart Home & IoT Applications

Leading developer of advanced SoC solutions, Socionext, has unveiled a new set of radio-wave ranging sensors for smart home applications and IoT devices. The new SC1230 Series of radar sensor products can detect the location and movement of people with high sensitivity without recording images or sounds. This makes them very useful for developing new services and functions while addressing privacy concerns.

Conventional radar sensors require advanced knowledge for handling and are also difficult to install in home-use appliances because of the power consumption and the physical dimensions. Socionext’s expertise in signal processing and circuit design technologies allows the SC1230 Series to achieve ultra-low power consumption in an ultra-compact size at a low cost. Incorporating basic signal processing functions into the sensor device reduces the number of external components, and makes it easier to use without requiring specialized knowledge in signal processing. Click here to read more.

MIT Developing Solar Powered RFID Sensors for IoT Applications

MIT researchers have designed photovoltaic-powered sensors that could potentially transmit data for years before they need to be replaced. To do so, they mounted thin-film perovskite cells — known for their potential low cost, flexibility, and relative ease of fabrication — as energy-harvesters on inexpensive radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags.

The cells can power the sensors in both bright sunlight and dimmer indoor conditions. Moreover, the team found the solar power actually gives the sensors a major power boost that enables greater data-transmission distances and the ability to integrate multiple sensors onto a single RFID tag. Click here to read more.

Anritsu & EMITE Develop a 5G OTA Test Solution

Anritsu and EMITE, a developer that commercializes OTA Test Systems for performance, compliance and pre‐compliance testing, have successfully integrated the Anritsu MT8000A test instrument and used it in combination with the EMITE H300 CATR 5G OTA Test System to test 5G OTA figures of merit.

The MT8000A is an integrated one‐box test set for testing 5G NSA and SA at Sub‐6 GHz and mm‐Wave frequency ranges. The combination of H300 + MT8000A enables simultaneous Sub‐6 GHz and millimeter‐wave bands OTA measurements and beamforming tests using call connections specified by CTIA, 3GPP, and PTCRB with automated reporting and pass/fail evaluation. Click here to read more.

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Trending RF & Microwave News Stories of the Week (7 - 11 Oct, 2019)