White Papers
April 13, 2015
There are many wireless technologies that utilize RF design ranging from mobile phones to satellite TV, to wireless Internet connections and Bluetooth devices. This white paper will provide insight into how these technologies work, as well as considerations during the design, development and verification process. After reading this paper you'll have practical knowledge on the entire process for designing an RF system.
March 25, 2015
Many multifunction devices require wider bandwidths, complex modulation schemes and multiple transmit and receive chains, which significantly increases device complexity and test expense. This application note provides useful tips on how to select the right test instruments which enable you to reduce design time, increase production throughput, and ultimately reduce your costs associated with test.
March 25, 2015
Read this white paper to learn more about how you can expand GNSS spectrum coverage by capturing RF signals from all GNSS orbiting satellites, then storing and playing the signals back in the lab to accelerate receiver testing. In order to greatly expand recording bandwidth, you can deploy multiple tightly synchronized recorders in the field. Averna, an NI Platinum Alliance Partner, studied the example of two RP-5300 recorders (2x50 MHz channels each) that were synchronously inter-connected to form a virtual recorder with total bandwidth of 200 MHz.
March 25, 2015
A critical component of a base station is the power amplifier (PA). Over the past two decades the PA has experienced monumental changes in its architecture and performance. Two significant improvements have been in power-added efficiency & bandwidth. Fifteen years ago a 2G basestation PA housed in a ground base station cabinet would output 5 MHz multi carrier CDMA signals at 40 W; running at 5% efficiency it would generate 760 W of heat, taking up a significant amount of space, power and cooling resources and costing thousands of dollars. Today's 4G amplifiers using Doherty architecture with predistortion has improved the efficiency of an amplifier to over 35%, significantly reducing the size and enabling integration of the PA with the transceiver and the duplexer into a remote radio head (RRH) placed near the antenna.
March 25, 2015
This paper offers a description of a process to change the operating frequency range of an existing power amplifier circuit using only Smith chart and transmission line calculation software, demonstrating that experimental tuning and review with a Smith chart can avoid the possibility of creating an untenable design. It also addresses the possibilities of applying this approach to other RF power outputs, frequency range conversions and bandwidth extensions, as long as several key caveats are observed.
March 2, 2015
Achieving sufficient capacity to meet the forecast backhaul needs over the next few years will be a major challenge. This white paper describes the technique of Air Division Duplexing (ADD), which makes use of MIMO and spatial multiplexing techniques to achieve simultaneous transmission and reception of data on each carrier frequency, and has been shown to achieve full duplex data rates1 in excess of 1 Gb/s in a 28 MHz channel
allocation2 in the microwave bands.
February 19, 2015
While LTE-Advanced brings the promise of higher data rates, designing devices for use in LTE-A offer new test challenges. This paper provides an overview of LTE MIMO and carrier aggregation technologies and describes different methodologies for testing these new capabilities including multi-antenna techniques, MIMO spatial multiplexing, beam steering, as well as the different carrier aggregation modes.
January 15, 2015
Metrigraphics' thin film process is a fundamental technology uniquely suited to the task of making miniature circuits with extremely small and uniform features that have extremely consistent electrical performance throughout. The process also tends to be much faster and less wasteful than subtractive manufacturing methods like chemical etching. That's because only the conductive material needed to define the circuit geometry is being deposited, which results in in a manufacturing process that is more efficient and less wasteful.
January 15, 2015
Semiconductor manufacturing test engineers face challenges related to broadband millimeter wave (MMW) on-wafer testing. Achieving accurate, stable measurements, typically performed using VNAs, over extended time periods is a challenge for foundries and fab-less semiconductor companies that require extensive on-wafer devices testing. This paper examines the impact of calibration downtime during on-wafer testing and recent advances enabling longer time periods between calibrations.