January is a very nice time to be visiting San Diego, CA, as the 2500 attendees of the first annual IEEE Radio and Wireless Symposium (RWS 2006) found as they came in from various parts of the US and overseas. Winter tends to be long and cold for many of us and the all too short, week-long event in sunny southern California provided an enjoyable respite from the cold and snow.
The newest of IEEE MTT-S symposiums featured a comprehensive technical program with 119 technical presentations in 24 interesting sessions spread over Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday plus workshops on Sunday and Monday and short courses on Saturday and Friday. There were also two panel sessions and 38 poster sessions. In all over 750 engineers signed up for the technical program and many of the technical sessions were at capacity.
The daunting task of putting together a new symposium and exhibition fell squarely on the shoulders of this year’s general chair, Fred Schindler, and his very capable staff. The technical program is an outgrowth of the older RAWCON technical symposium with the addition of the 6th Topical Meeting on Silicon Monolithic Integrated Circuits in RF Systems conference and the Power Amplifiers for Communications meeting, and has encompassed disciplines from both MTTS and the IEEE Communications Society.
Kicking off the symposium was a traditional welcoming by the general chair, an overview of the technical symposium by Mohammad Madihian, technical program chair, and an inspiring plenary talk by Dr. Andrew Viterbi, a co-founder of Qualcomm Inc. The result of the week-long program was a focus on wireless systems, applications and technologies from both a component and system design viewpoint.
As has been the tradition with the larger IMS Symposium, this year to be held in June in San Francisco, CA, there was also a commercial exhibition to showcase new products and technologies from a number of companies in the US and abroad. This being the first event, the exhibition was modest with 125 companies exhibiting. The companies were eager to display their newest product and services, a sampling of which follows, with apologies to the companies that are not mentioned.
Agilent Technologies Inc. showcased its CSA spectrum analyzer, new series 8000 Infiniium Scopes and VSA software, component test solutions, cellular R&D solutions and the Bluetooth/ZigBee/WLAN one-box tester. These products for wideband systems accelerate the design of high speed wireless devices and networks. Agilent’s EEsof EDA Division announced a plan to expand its EDA product portfolio to include full 3D electromagnetic (EM) simulation. The new product is expected to transform the way 3D EM software is priced and offered to RF and microwave designers. The announcement comes after the recent acquisition of Eagleware-Elanix, a leading supplier of easy-to-use, PC-based circuit and system simulation software.
Analog Devices Inc. extended its portfolio of radio frequency integrated circuits with a new analog-control variable-gain amplifier that offers good linearity over a broad frequency range for wireless infrastructure applications, such as cellular base station radio transceivers. The model AD8368 is optimized to maintain dynamic range of base station radio transceivers, ensuring that both weak and incoming call signals are effectively handled and maintained.
Anritsu announced the ML2490A series peak power meters that feature industry-best bandwidth and rise time to conduct highly accurate pulse measurements on rapid rise time radar signals and complex new modulation techniques used in 4G applications and wireless systems such as WiMAX. Also introduced at RWS was the MT8860B WLAN test set, a protocol-based single-instrument test solution for analyzing performance of 802.11b/g devices and consumer products.
AR Worldwide Modular RF has designed and built a custom amplifier module for the emerging wireless access market. The model KMS1070 was created in 45 days to meet a client’s selected frequency band and a very demanding linearity specification. The KMS1070 is a 3.4 to 3.7 GHz solid-state power amplifier module for the wireless broadband network. This 20 W, 43 dBm output linear power amplifier offers a scaleable gain of 20 to 50 dB and is designed to meet WiMAX 802.16d specifications. It can be modified to meet various types of OFDM or NPR requirements.
Cascade Microtech displayed its WinCal 2006 software that addresses the testing challenges brought on by the increase in the volume of complex, high speed semiconductors designed and tested for use in mobile communications products. Also on display at the Cascade booth was the eVue™ digital imaging system that enables dramatic productivity gains in semiconductor wafer navigation and testing. More recently, the company announced that its Pureline™ wafer probing systems have been purchased by five of the world’s top 20 semiconductor manufacturers in the United States, Asia, Japan and Europe. Cascade also featured Pureline wafer probing systems that allow semiconductor manufacturers to model, characterize and test the latest generation of integrated circuits required for today’s demanding applications.
With its seventh-generation high voltage (HV7) RF LDMOS technology, Freescale Semiconductor has achieved the RF power transistor performance required for use in WiMAX base stations operating in the 3.5 GHz band. Freescale claims this achievement marks the first time RF laterally diffused metal oxide semiconductor technology from any manufacturer has met these challenges.
Hittite Microwave Corp. showcased a montage of new products including the model HMC-C026, a GaAs MMIC distributed power amplifier connectorized module that is ideal for military EW/ECM, space, test equipment, wideband telecom, microwave radio and industrial applications from 2 to 20 GHz. This high dynamic range power amplifier module offers a midband noise figure of only 3 dB, with +25 dBm output power at 1 dB gain compression. This module features 29 dB of gain, allowing it to replace two or more amplifier stages in applications where high gain is required.
Two GaAs PHEMT low noise MMIC amplifiers were also on display. These LNAs are optimized for specific application frequency bands with little or no external matching, and are footprint compatible such that a single PC board design can be used to implement either part number. The model HMC376LP3 and model HMC382LP3 amplifiers operate from 700 to 1000 MHz and 1700 to 2200 MHz, respectively.
Also on display were model HMC586LC4B and model HMC587-LC4B, wideband GaAs HBT VCOs that cover 4 to 8 GHz and 5 to 10 GHz, respectively. Output power and phase noise performance are good over temperature due to the monolithic construction of the oscillators. The Vtune port accepts an analog tuning voltage from 0 to +18 V. These wideband VCOs combine the attributes of ultra small size, low phase noise, low power consumption and wide tuning range.
Keithley Instruments Inc. introduced its new model 2910 RF vector signal generator that offers capabilities and ranges making it ideal for production testing of today’s sophisticated mobile handsets as well as for applications such as communications research, the testing of mobile communications infrastructure, RFICs and wireless connectivity devices. The model 2910’s continuous frequency range of 400 MHz to 2.5 GHz spans key mobile wireless bands.
Lark Engineering Co. featured its family of surface-mount combline filters from 5 to 15 GHz, with a bandwidth from 3 to 20 percent and exceptionally low insertion loss.
M/A-COM was displaying model MAAPSS0076, a RoHS-compliant, DECT power amplifier for applications that require dual power modes, high gain and small size at a low cost. Also on display was the model MAATSS0022, a RoHS-compliant five-bit serial controlled attenuator for applications that require high accuracy and monotonic performance at a low cost. The model TU-3840 wideband ELINT tuner is designed for use in high end signal processing military applications and is based on the company’s successful, SEI-certified, SMR-3822 RF microwave sweeping receiver technology. Model MA4PBL027 HMIC silicon beam lead PIN diode is the most recent addition to the beam lead PIN diode group.
Mimix Broadband showcased several products while highlighting model CMQ1432, a 32 dBm power amplifier module that operates from 13.75 to 14.50 GHz. The new PA features a low cost 4x4 mm, 24-pin plastic QFN package, 31 dB gain and 32 dBm saturated output power, and is RoHS-complaint and self-contained.
Peregrine Semiconductor featured its 75 ohm UltraCMOS™ switches that provide good isolation, linearity and ESD tolerance for today’s most demanding CATV and DTV applications. Also on display were UltraCMOS phase-locked loops, prescalers and mixers that are manufactured on the company’s proprietary UltraCMOS™ silicon-on-sapphire process technology. These products draw from many years of high performance RF CMOS and mixed-signal IC experience. Wireless UltraCMOS switches feature high isolation, high ESD tolerance and low insertion loss, providing an optimal solution for most any wireless application.
Radio Waves Inc. announced a breakthrough in microwave antenna technology with a new generation of the company’s HP3-11 three-foot high performance dish. The new HP3-11 provides FCC Cat A performance for the 11 GHz band in a three-foot dish. Previously network designers and operators were required to utilize a four-foot dish for links to be considered Cat A compliant. By utilizing a three-foot dish, network planners can easily pass local zoning rules in regards to antenna size on building structures.
RF Micro Devices Inc. announced the commercial launch of its complete POLARIS 2™ TOTAL RADIO™ Module solution, which is comprised of a cellular transceiver module and a cellular transmit module for handsets operating on the GSM/GPRS and GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks. The performance, size and cost advantages of the POLARIS 2 TOTAL RADIO Module solution enable handset manufacturers to quickly and cost-effectively introduce smaller, more feature-rich handsets capable of delivering the advanced levels of functionality and services for today’s high data-rate networks.
Rohde & Schwarz introduced the R&S SMA100A analog signal generator, which provides good signal quality and short level and frequency-setting times in a compact footprint that requires only two 19" rack units. The R&S SMA100A delivers extremely pure output signals over its operating frequency range of 9 kHz to 3 GHz. Also on display was model R&S ZVA24, the company’s new flagship vector network analyzer, which is available with either two or four test ports and offers a measurement frequency range of 10 MHz to 24 GHz.
Skyworks Solutions Inc. announced its highly innovative CMOS switches for satellite receiver applications that are gaining significant market traction and have commenced volume production in support of several customers throughout Asia and Europe. The model SKY13264-340LF and model SKY13272-340LF, which were first launched in June 2005, offer high isolation direct broadcast satellite complementary metal oxide semiconductor switches that deliver higher levels of integration, are easier to implement and offer customers a lower cost alternative.
Southwest Microwave featured its SSB family of high density interconnect solutions, which are designed for microwave and digital applications.
TriQuint Semiconductor Inc. introduced a high power antenna switch for CDMA applications. The new product, TQP4M3019, is in a 2×2 mm, 12-lead STSLP package. The part, in single-pole, triple-throw (SP3T) configuration, provides good cross-modulation and isolation performance while exhibiting low insertion loss in all frequency bands including PCS, cellular and GPS.
Again, our apologizes for omitting any company or its new products. However, space constraints limit our ability to list everyone.
For a first time event the technical program appeared to be a definite success and the many attendees went home with much new information. The industry exhibition was lightly attended and will take more time to gain the attendance and momentum of its bigger sister IMS. However, valuable contacts were made and worthwhile discussions were had by many of the participants, laying the groundwork for a warm weather winter event that will ultimately be another valuable interchange of products and technology.
Next year RWS 2007 will be in Long Beach, CA, January 6 to 12. We hope to see you in June in San Francisco for IMS 2006 and again in January in Long Beach.
