Termination
Aeroflex/Inmet’s improved 50 W terminations are rugged 50 Ω coaxial terminations that offer low VSWR characteristics (1.35:1 at 12.4 GHz). Inmet’s TN180-50W series offers DC to 18 GHz broadband performance ideally suited for lab environments and high power combiner systems. The housing is anodized aluminum with fins for natural convection. A stainless steel type N male or female connector is standard. Other connector types and power levels are available.
Aeroflex/Inmet,
www.aeroflex.com
Surface Acoustic Wave Filter
API Technologies Corp. announced a new transverse coupled resonator filter (TCRF). This new surface acoustic wave (SAW) filter is designed for narrowband intermediate frequency filtering such as in satellite transponders, directional finders and anti-jam modems. It is capable of fractional bandwidths of 0.04 to 0.1 percent and is currently available from 80 to 1600 MHz. This TCRF is available in ceramic leadless chip carrier packaging. Other packaging styles are available for more rugged environments and applications.
API Technologies Corp.,
www.apitech.com
Demonstration Board
CML Microcircuits released a small demonstration platform for a complete software defined radio (SDR) for wireless data applications. The DE9941 is a credit card-sized demonstration board for a complete linear modulation-based SDR for wireless data. It is designed to be small and low cost with minimal components/values. The small form factor is made possible by the high integration of key functions provided by CML’s market-leading devices.
CML Microcircuits,
www.cmlmicro.com
Right Angle Bend Assembly
Coaxicom’s RAB assembly provides an alternative to the standard right angle SMA coaxial connector with a low-profile device, delivering increased electrical performance at higher frequencies. The 3221-1-L series of pre-bent right angle assemblies use the center conductor of 0.141" semi-rigid cable as the contact. “L” represents the overall length of the RAB. This fact, combined with Coaxicom’s ultra-short SMA male, provides the same or a smaller profile than a right-angle connector, but without the performance penalty. Typical VSWR of these assemblies is 1.10 to 18 GHz.
Coaxial Components Corp.,
www.coaxicom.com
Ku-Band BUC
Comtech Xicom Technology’s new solid-state Ku-Band block upconverter, model XTS-40KHE-B1, was designed for transportable satellite communications uplinks, offers 40 W of P1 output power and provides 20 W of linear power. Breakthroughs in efficiency enable the self-cooled, feed-mountable amplifier to consume only 210 W when operated at linear power. Its features include temperature compensation, gain control, harmonic filtering, receive-band filtering and an output isolator. It comes in a compact outdoor unit (11.2" × 4.4" × 5.4") weighing less than 10 pounds.
Comtech Xicom Technology,
www.xicomtech.com
Low Loss Cable Assemblies
EAM’s low loss cable assemblies provide the highest level of electrical performance for applications requiring extremely low attenuation over a broad frequency range. By combining silver-plated copper center conductor, expanded PTFE tape dielectric, aluminum polyester or polymide tape, silver-plated copper outer braid and FEP jacket, these low loss cable assemblies achieve outstanding electrical characteristics to 18 GHz (as low as .22 dB/ft.). Available in custom lengths with outer cable diameters of 0.195" and 0.335", these cables feature custom connectors with rugged stainless-steel solder-clamp construction.
Electronic Assembly Manufacturing Inc.,
www.eamcableassemblies.com
Power Samplers
RFMW announces sales and technical support for Florida RF Labs’ SXU series of RF power samplers. These wideband samplers offer a cost-effective solution by eliminating the need for a termination commonly used with directional couplers, saving both PC board space and part count. Operating up to 4 GHz, power can be sampled 10, 20 or 30 dB down from the main line. Power handling is up to 50 W CW. Applications include power monitoring for antenna feeds and PAs, switch networks and test instrumentation.
Florida RF Labs, distributed by RFMW Ltd.,
www.emc-rflabs.com
Fractional-N PLL
Hittite has developed the HMC832LP6GE, a 3.3 V wideband fractional-N PLL with integrated VCO that generates continuous fractional frequencies between 25 MHz and 3 GHz. The HMC832LP6GE offers low power consumption of 560 mW while featuring industry leading phase noise and spurious performance. It also includes innovative programmable performance technology that allows designers to further reduce current consumption if demands on the noise floor can be relaxed. It features industry leading phase noise (-110 dBc/Hz at 3 GHz) and spurious performance across all frequencies.
Hittite Microwave Corp.,
www.hittite.com
Double Balanced Mixer
The new M1-0012 combines the DC IF capability common to other existing double balanced M1 mixers with an extremely broad < 10 MHz to 12 GHz
RF/LO band to make a unique mixer. In addition to the broad frequency range, the M1-0012 offers excellent isolations across the band. It is available in a connectorized, microstrip carrier, and both leaded and RoHS compliant surface mount packages. It features IF DC to 2 GHz, 7.5 dB typical conversion loss and ultra-broadband RF, LO and IF.
Marki Microwave Inc.,
www.markimicrowave.com
High Pass Filter
Mini-Circuits’ new high pass filter, the HFCN-103+, is an LTCC-based 7 section design that extends the upper frequency cutoff range of the existing HFCN series to 10 GHz. Systems that previously relied on large distributed filter elements to support these lower frequencies can save space and system complexity by integrating the HFCN-103+ into new designs. These filters are offered in an EIA 1206 package size and have a typical stop band rejection of 30 dB.
Mini-Circuits,
www.minicircuits.com
Fiber Optic Transmitter
MITEQ introduced a new high reliability fiber optic transmitter with an operating bandwidth to 6 GHz. Transmitter model HRT-50K6G-28-20-M14has a noise figure of 12 dB and is available in three different optical wavelengths (1550, 1490, 1310 nm). The operating temperature range is -40° to +85°C. With MITEQ’s line of fiber optic receivers, it now is possible to have a complete fiber optic link that is sealed from the environment and has a spurious free dynamic range of 103 dB/Hz.
MITEQ Inc.,
www.miteq.com
Power Divider
Narda Microwave-East introduced model 2372A-2, a high-power, two-way power divider that operates from 500 MHz to 2.5 GHz, handles up to 250 W CW input power (2 kW peak power) and is well suited for both commercial and military applications. It has insertion loss of less than 0.6 dB, amplitude balance of ±0.25 dB or less, phase balance of ±5 deg., isolation of at least 13 dB from 500 to 700 MHz, 18 dB from 700 MHz to 2.5 GHz and VSWR of less than 1.5:1.
Narda Microwave-East,
www.nardamicrowave.com/east
Bandpass Filter
NIC introduced a wideband LC bandpass filter centered at 3600 MHz with an operating BW of 133 percent. This filter is capable of passing signals between L- and C-Bands offering low insertion loss, while rejecting any signals in the UHF and X-Bands. Custom designs and different package configurations are available upon request.
Networks International Corp.,
www.nickc.com
Drop-In Circulator
Renaissance’s new broadband circulator is ideal for transmitter protection application. Operating over 962 to 1213 MHz, this device can withstand 2000 W peak and 20 W average power levels. It is designed to sustain temperatures from -55° to +120°C while the loss is maintained below 0.5 dB.
Renaissance Electronics/HXI,
www.rec-usa.com
SPDT Switches
Skyworks unveiled three high power SPDT switches for multiple applications. The SKY12207-478LF (0.9 to 4 GHz; 50 W), SKY12208-306LF (0.02 to 2.7 GHz; 50 W) and SKY12210-478LF (0.9 to 4 GHz; 100 W) deliver transmit/receive and failsafe switching functionality for TD-SCDMA and TD-LTE base stations, as well as land mobile radios and military communication systems. These PIN diode switches handle continuous wave RF input power and provide very low insertion loss in the antenna-to-Rx mode, minimizing the effect on receiver noise figure.
Skyworks Inc.,
www.skyworksinc.com
Amplifiers
Solid State Amplifiers
Models 15S1G6 and 50S1G6 are single band 15 and 50 W amplifiers that cover the 1 to 6 GHz frequency band. This type of amplifier is not unusual, but they all require dual bands (two separate amplifiers) to provide high output power and good gain flatness to provide one with a useable instrument. That is, until AR RF/Microwave Instrumentation created the single band Models 15S1G6 & 50S1G6. They provide linear output power with excellent gain flatness.
AR RF/Microwave Instrumentation,
www.arworld.us
Drivers
Intended for commercial C-Band radar applications including weather radars, the PNs IGN5259M10 and IGN5259M15 and MPAG5259M25 operate over the instantaneous bandwidth covering 5.2 to 5.9 GHz. Under 300 μs pulse width and 10 percent duty cycle pulsing conditions the IGN5259M10 typically supplies a minimum of 10 W of peak output power while the IGN5259M15 typically supplies a minimum of 15 W of output power. The MPAG5259M25 is a 50 Ω matched device that produces more than 25 W of output power.
Integra Technologies Inc.,
www.integratech.com
Power Transistor
The T1G6003028-FS is constructed with TriQuint’s 0.25 μm process, which features advanced field plate techniques to optimize power and efficiency at high drain bias operating conditions. It is ideally suited for military and commercial radar, professional and military radio communications, test instrumentation, wideband or narrowband amplifiers and jammer applications. Key features include DC to 6 GHz frequency, output power (P3dB) of 30 W at 6 GHz, linear gain of > 14 dB at 6 GHz, operating voltage of 28 V, and low thermal resistance package.
TriQuint Semiconductor Inc.,
distributed by Richardson RFPD Inc.,
www.triquint.com
MMIC Amplifier
RFMD’s RFCA1008 is a high performance InGaP HBT MMIC amplifier designed with the InGaP process technology for excellent reliability. The heterojunction increases breakdown voltage and minimizes leakage current between junctions. A Darlington configuration is utilized for broadband performance. The RFCA1008 contains two amplifiers for use in wideband push-pull CATV amplifiers requiring excellent second order performance; the second and third order nonlinearities are greatly improved in the push-pull configuration.
RF Micro Devices,
www.rfmd.com
Sources
Clock Oscillator
Crystek Crystals announces the release of a 250 to 1090 MHz surface acoustic wave (SAW) clock oscillator (in single frequency band), the CCSO-914X. Crystek designed the module using proprietary circuitry and SAW resonator technology to provide ultra-low jitter/phase noise performance with true SineWave output. The resulting oscillator (250 MHz variant) features -153 dBc/Hz phase noise at 10 KHz offset and a noise floor of -173 dBc/Hz. The CCSO-914X-250.000 has been verified with Analog Devices’ AD9467 – a 16-bit, monolithic, IF sampling analog-to-digital converter (ADC).
Crystek Corp.,
www.crystek.com
Hi-Rel Frequency Synthesizer
The THOR-14000-XA frequency synthesizer is designed to operate from 13.6 to 14 GHz in 1 MHz steps and features switching of ≤ 400 µSec band-edge to band-edge, and ≤ 300 µSec channel to channel. Locked to an external 10 MHz reference, the device exhibits low phase noise (<-86 dBc/Hz at 10 KHz) and low current draw (+5 V DC at 335 mA). THOR units are capable of maintaining excellent performance over vibration, shock and temperature featuring a rugged, module-mount package (2.50" × 1.1" × 0.4").
EM Research,
www.emresearch.com
Voltage Controlled Oscillator
Z-Communications announced RoHS compliant VCO model V846ME24-LF in the S-Band. It operates at 3100 to 3500 MHz with a tuning voltage range of 1 to 12 V dc and provides better than 1.1:1 tuning linearity. This high performance VCO features a spectrally clean signal of -114 dBc/Hz at 100 kHz offset and a typical tuning sensitivity of 62 MHz/V. It is designed to deliver 3 dBm of output power into a 50 Ω load while operating off a 5 V dc supply and drawing typically 22 mA of current.
Z-Communications Inc.,
www.zcomm.com
Test Equipment
Delay Lines
Eastern OptX announced two new delay lines for radar testing. They feature ultra-wide bandwidth, low loss, high isolation and high dynamic range. The E-501 fixed delay line is an economical, high-performance turnkey product for radar testing as well as WiMAX, wireless communications and altimeter applications. The E-3001 variable delay line is a high performance, turnkey product for the radar test industry. It has multiple delay cells with front panel or computer control with up to eight switchable delays.
Eastern OptX,
www.eastern-optx.com
Test System
The 50BA-002-95 SMA consists of two solid-state programmable attenuators in a mini-benchtop enclosure. The programmable attenuators can be set from 0 to 95 dB in 1 dB steps. The unit is controlled remotely via Ethernet or RS-232. In order to make this test system plug-and-play, JFW provides a GUI test program that allows easy remote control of the 50BA-002-95 SMA. In addition to the basic remote commands, the test program has additional functionality that allows for handover testing and signal fading for wireless devices and handsets.
JFW Industries Inc.,
www.jfwindustries.com