Pat Hindle, MWJ Editor

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Highly integrated core chips are now being designed for broader use as AESA radar systems proliferate and commercial radar, satellite and communication systems look to utilize this technology. One big potential for AESAs is 5G cellular systems that are projected to utilize this architecture to steer individual beams of RF energy more efficiently and reduce interference. Peregrine and Anokiwave are now offering core chip designs. 

 ABI Research just released numbers for the RF power market from 2014 showing that RF Power Semiconductors for Wireless Infrastructure “blew off the charts in 2014”. China and the Asia-Pacific region in general continued to be the main drivers for the RF Power Semiconductor devices that were sold into the mobile wireless infrastructure segment. 

 NIWeek2015 was another exciting event with some of the best keynote talks you will hear anywhere. I was able to live broadcast some video snippets from the keynotes using the app Periscope (see my Twitter feed for links to them - @pathindle). Some of the biggest hits were the Berlin heart, autonomous sod excavator and augment reality, real-time instrumented bicycle.  

A summary of upcoming editorial coverage and related events for August through October including the EuMW in August, Satellite and Radio Communications issue and Military Microwaves supplement in September and Passive and Control Components in October.

 The Obama administration has opened up relations with Cuba and Iran to some degree - do these actions have any significant business opportunities for RF and microwave companies? Cuba is a very underserved with wireless infrastructure so perhaps a large rollout could produce significant additional business for components although it is not a large country. 

 Most people are aware of drastic consolidation in the semiconductor industry especially in the RF sector. In just over a years time, MACOM acquired Nitronex, TriQuint and RFMD merged, Murata bought Peregrine, NXP acquired Freescale - but is selling off the NXP RF power business to Jianguang Asset Management (China), Infineon acquired International Rectifier, Cree is spinning off their RF power business, Avago is acquiring Broadcom, Intel is buying Altera and the list goes on. This level of consolidation and confusion seems unprecedented in our industry. What is causing all of this uproar? 

I recently read this blog written by Patrick Connolly, Principal Analyst at ABI Research, and thought it would be interesting to others as IMS2015 highlights Wearables as a main theme this year:

 It’s funny, there is so much hype around wearables, yet few I speak to are fully convinced about converged devices- there is a real emperor’s new clothes feel about this market that is leaving many reluctant to truly back it unless the emperor (in this case Apple) says it’s okay-to paraphrase a semi-famous neighbour, “the rich buy dearest cause they need to be sure”. 

 Function generators are one of the stalwarts of electronics testing equipment. In fact, function generators are used throughout the life cycle of an electronic component – in its development, testing, and repair. Typically, a modern digital function generatorcreates electrical waveforms either in a continuous loop or a single-shot, across a variety of frequencies. It is these frequencies by which manufacturers differentiate the value of the function generator. Nowadays, the available variety of function generators online is very extensive, and usually categorized by frequency, which can range from the lower limit of 0 Hz to the top limit of 20 or even 50 MHz and beyond depending upon the make and model.

 5G has been one of the hottest topics over the last 12 months and was seen in many booths at Mobile World Congress this year. There were live demos in the booths of Keysight, NI, R&S, Anritsu, Cobham/Aeroflex, China Mobile, Ericsson, Nokia, Huawei and others at the event. While this is a hot topic for the test/measurement companies who have to lead the industry development cycle, the semiconductor companies are only just warming up to the topic as they want to see the standards worked out before investing too much in R&D. 

 We extensively covered the RF/microwave industry consolidation in 2014 and many wondered if it would continue into 2015.  Well, the answer is a big “yes” as in just over a month into the year we have seen the acquisition of Mesuro by Focus Microwaves, Miteq by L-3 Narda, TE Connectivity’s Enterprise, Telecom and Wireless businesses by CommScope and Exelis (previously ITT) by Harris.