Hittite Microwave Corp. has launched two new low cost, highly flexible RMS power detectors for RF power measurement/control in Cellular/3G, LTE/WiMAX/4G, broadband, test equipment and military applications between DC and 5.8 GHz. The HMC1010LP4E offers 60 dB dynamic range over DC to 3.9 GHz and is priced $1.99 each at 10,000 piece volumes. The HMC909LP4E offers a broadband single-ended RF input with 40 dB dynamic range over DC to 5.8 GHz and is priced $1.49 each at 10,000 piece volumes. Both products have improved modulation performance and power dissipation coupled with an industry first 4-bit programmable integration bandwidth control interface eliminating the need for cumbersome analog control voltages.

Ideal for the measurement of complex modulated waveforms with large, dynamically changing crest factors, the HMC1010LP4E RMS Power Detector provides 60 dB of dynamic range, a nominal logarithmic slope of 37 mV/dB and a nominal intercept of -68 dBm. The HMC1010LP4E exhibits superior detection accuracy of ±1 dB compared with any RMS detector in the market for a price point of only $1.99 at 10,000 piece volumes. It exhibits less than 0.1 dB modulation error at 900, 1900 and 2200 MHz. Temperature stability is excellent with less than ±1 dB total error from -40° to +85°C maintained over the entire DC to 3.9 GHz frequency band.

The HMC909LP4E Single-ended RMS Power Detector provides 40 dB of dynamic range, a nominal logarithmic slope of 37 mV/dB and a nominal intercept of -70 dBm over its entire DC to 5.8 GHz range. The HMC909LP4E combines superior detection accuracy and better modulation performance than the competition at a price point of only $1.49 at 10,000 piece volumes. It exhibits less than 0.1 dB modulation error at 900, 1900, 2200 and 3500 MHz, and 0.4 dB at 5800 MHz. Temperature stability is excellent with less than less than ±1 dB total error from -40° to +85°C maintained over the entire DC to 5.8 GHz frequency band.

Flexibility and dynamic control features have been designed into both the HMC1010LP4E and HMC909LP4E RMS Power Detectors. Both products introduce a new digitally programmable integration bandwidth feature that permits the use of different integration bandwidth settings on the same system platform. The new interface is controlled through 4-bit digital inputs allowing the integration bandwidth (or integration time constant) to be set to a static state or dynamically changed as the system commands. This eliminates the fixed external capacitors and analog voltages required by other competing RMS power detector solutions.