OpenRF: Focused Differentiation to Drive Advanced Technologies

Today’s market for RF semiconductors has become extremely complex. Considering the various combinations of frequency bands, MIMO configurations, and Carrier Aggregation combinations, there are at least 10,000 possible RF configurations, and nearly infinite choices for ways to implement the amplifiers, filters, switches, and tuners. The number of smartphones sold each year has stopped growing, but the level of complexity for the RF chain continues to grow and has become truly mind-boggling. To cope, a farsighted group of technology companies have formed the OpenRF Association, which is devoted to standardizing and simplifying the use of some basic building blocks, so that each company can direct its attention to adding new features and higher performance in smartphones and other devices.