Trending RF & Microwave News Stories this Week (28 May-01 June, 2018)

TDK to Showcase their Latest RF Technologies and Products at IMS 2018

TDK Corporation will be showcasing their latest RF technologies and products at the upcoming International Microwave Symposium (IMS) 2018 from June 12-14 in Philadelphia, US.

TDK will display a variety of products from its portfolio of RF technologies, for multiple industries including automotive, mobile, Internet of Things (IoT), communications and industrial equipment. Products that will be showcased include state-of-the-art LTCC antennas, filters, diplexers, triplexers, couplers, baluns and more. With the growing demand for RF Solutions across industries, TDK’s extensive portfolio of RF technologies aims to complement the leading electronics company’s existing roster of electronic components in providing a comprehensive solution for design engineers. Click here to read more.

Researchers Develop Electronic Skin Capable of Wirelessly Activating Soft Robotic Hands

A research team of Seoul National University has developed a skin-like electronic system that is soft, thin, light-weight and can wirelessly activate soft robots through a simple lamination process.

The team (Professor Yongtaek Hong, Jaeha Kim, and Kyu-Jin Cho) developed an electronic skin (e-skin) pair as a two-part, wireless soft driving system based on a fully printable "stretchable hybrid electronics" approach. One part is the e-skin for input sensing at the human side, and the other for activating soft robots (like a soft robotic hand). The e-skins are soft (same material for the target robot body), thin (<1 mm), and lightweight (~0.8 g) and also feature a spatially fragmented circuit configuration with a slew of miniature IC components (standard dimension, <1.5 mm x 1.5 mm). Therefore, they can be stretched and conformed onto a dynamic surface like human skin or soft robots. Click here to read more.

Fractus Antennas Develops Miniature Chip Antenna Components Using NI AWR Software

Fractus Antennas, using the NI AWR Software, has developed a new class of innovative miniature chip antenna components.

Fractus designs, manufactures, and commercializes miniature, off-the-shelf antennas for smartphones, short-range wireless, and connected internet of things (IoT) devices. Founded as an independent antenna product business in 2015, the company was born out of the main Fractus operation and combines a respected R&D team with proven manufacturing capabilities and scale to bring to market a new generation of antenna products to meet the mobile and wireless connectivity needs of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Click here to read more.

TI Introduces Highly Integrated mm-Wave Sensors for Automotive & Industrial Applications

Texas Instruments has announced the mass production of its highly integrated, ultra-wideband mm-Wave sensors. The AWR1642 and IWR1642 sensors support frequencies from 76 to 81 GHz and deliver three times more accurate sensing in a small footprint at a fraction of the power of competing sensor technologies. They enable innovation in automotive and industrial applications, including vehicle occupancy detection, people counting in buildings, machine and human interaction etc.

Engineers around the world are using TI mm-Wave radar sensors, which will first appear in vehicles on the road in late 2018, to enable new advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) applications, which include long-, short- and medium-range radar, that help make the car smarter and safer. Expanding outside of ADAS, engineers are using the automotive-qualified AWR1642 sensor to detect free space and obstacles near doors and trunks, occupancy detection inside the cabin, intruder alert and smarter automated parking. Click here to read more.

Researchers Develop 3D Rolled-up RF Transformers for Smaller, More Efficient Wireless Circuits

A group of University of Illinois engineers are working on the idea of minimizing the size of transformer ICs present in wireless communication systems. Transformers use coiled wires to convert input signals to specific output signals for use in devices like microchips. Researchers in the past have developed some radio frequency transformers using a stacked conducting material to solve the space problem, but these have limited performance potential. This limited performance is due to inefficient magnetic coupling between coils when they have a high turns ratio, meaning that the primary coil is much longer than the secondary coil, or vice versa. These stacked transformers need to be made using special materials and are difficult to fabricate, bulky and unbendable – things that are far from ideal for internet of things devices. Click here to read more.

HUBER+SUHNER Develops the Industry's First Connector for RF Energy Applications

HUBER+SUHNER has developed the first connector optimized for RF Energy applications. The RFEX offers users a low-cost solution for high volume RF-Energy applications. Designed to handle the mandatory high-power levels in peak demand applications and avoid unnecessary heat generation, it will provide customers with a highly reliable and long-life solution, which, due to its ground-breaking design, also drastically simplifies the previously tedious assembly processes.

Previous antenna connectivity issues involving RF-connectors and cables no longer apply, as the RFEX features an antenna which is mounted to the topside of the amplifier housing, making it perfect for connecting rectangular waveguides, dielectric filled waveguides and cooking cavities. While a significant number of components were previously needed to support RF-Energy related building blocks in applications like RF-Ovens and microwaves, the RFEX is directly integrated into the amplifier housing, significantly reducing size and the number of parts required. Click here to read more.

Sigfox Introduces its end-to-end IoT Solution for Business and Technical Professionals

At the IoT World in Santa Clara, Sigfox announced the commercial launch of its end-to-end IoT solution called Sens’it Discovery. The newly introduced solution aims to accelerate the adoption of the IoT (Internet of things) among business and technical professionals.

Through digital transformation, companies from all verticals are seeking to optimize their processes and performance, in terms of costs, battery life, and ease of industrial data collection. Finding solutions like this for millions of businesses is the reason why more and more developers and businesses start their journey into IoT. Aware of the challenges those developers and business executives face, Sigfox has launched Sens’it Discovery, a simple and effective solution to discover, experiment, and increase their knowledge of the IoT. Click here to read more.

New Wireless Technology to Combine Antennas & Energy Collectors for a Better Wireless Experience

Fractal Antenna Systems has filed a patent request with the US Patent Office for its latest innovation that combines antennas and energy collectors for a more efficient wireless experience.

The new invention is called an “aperture engine”, which is a sandwich-layer that merges the antenna and energy/solar cell collection along with a receiver /transmitter. In an aperture engine, the same area that collects energy also receives and/or transmits it. The aperture collects energy and converts it into new useful form i.e. radio waves. It is an ‘engine’ built from an aperture. Click here to read more.

IMEC Develops Secure Location Detection Technology based on Bluetooth with 30 cm Accuracy

IMEC has developed a new secure proximity technology that enables location detection with an accuracy as good as 30 centimeters (cm). This IoT technology, that was developed by imec researchers in Holst Centre (the Netherlands) and researchers from COSIC, an imec lab at the University of Leuven (KU Leuven), sets a new benchmark in localization accuracy using a standard Bluetooth radio. It paves the way to increased data security in intuitive smart environments such as buildings, cars and cities. Click here to read more.

Wireless Infrastructure Key to Growing 5G Market

The advent of 5G will soon change the internet, voice, video and data services markets with the deployment of next-gen wireless technologies. As this transition occurs over the next decade, 4G Long-Term Evolution (LTE) will give way to 5G amid skyrocketing demand for greater bandwidth.

While many companies are already providing some form of fixed wireless for high-speed triple play services (Internet, TV and phone) using standard technologies, Hammer Fiber Optic stands out with its patented Hammer Wireless AIR point-to-multipoint wireless system, which could revolutionize the entire industry's approach to wireless. This would be no small feat considering that other big companies in this space today are operators such as Windstream or veritable household names such as Verizon, AT&T and Alphabet. Click here to read more.

Anokiwave Silicon Quad Core IC's for 5G Base Stations Now Cover all mm-Wave Bands

Anokiwave has expanded its family of 5G-Gen 2 Silicon Quad Core ICs for 3GPP compliant base stations to cater to all major 5G mm-Wave bands - 24/26 GHz, 28 GHz, and 37/39 GHz. The introduction of these products is in line with their on-going strategy to enable the commercialization of 5G mm-Wave systems with silicon ICs.

The AWMF-0139 operates at 24.25 GHz to 27.5 GHz, supports 4 radiating elements, and includes gain and phase controls for analog RF beam steering. Anokiwave’s patent-pending IP blocks implemented in silicon technology enable low-cost hybrid beam forming with high energy efficiency and 5G fast beam steering. Click here to read more.