|
  |
||||
 |
|
|||
|
|
MARCH 2005 | |
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|
• Get a FREE Subscription • Renew Subscription • Reprints/Licensing  Around the World |
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
March 2005 - In This Issue [Cover Story] Fast Data Converters Advance Wireless Systems Data converters can be thought of as the central cores of wireless-infrastructure systems. Complex signals must be digitized upon reception and converted to analog form for transmission. To meet the needs of present and future-generation wireless-infrastructure systems, analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) and digital-to-analog converters (DACs) must therefore perform at RF rates and with outstanding linearity. The AD9444 ADC and AD9779... — Jack Browne [Design Application] The Path To 4G Will Take Many Turns A race is going on right now and it's a heated one. It's a race to the next generation of untethered communications—4G mobile broadband wireless. The prize for reaching the finish line first or even finishing at all could be huge. Yet that finish line keeps moving, as the fourth generation (4G) isn't yet fully defined. In fact, spectrum won't be allocated until 2007. Standards probably won't be complete until the year after that. Right now, though, many teams across the globe are... — Noah Schmitz LCDs Enjoy Flexible Power-Up Sequencing For many systems, liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) are a large part of the bill of materials (BOM). In some cases, more than 80% of the entire system cost is that of the LCD panel (e.g., high-definition televisions or HDTVs). LCDs also are a major factor in a consumer's perceived quality perspective. If the LCD begins to fail, the end customer will associate the system and its manufacturer with poor quality. Clearly, safeguarding the LCD component is a critical aspect of these system... — Bart Borosky , et al. Metrics And Methods Bring VoWLAN Success Mobile phones have been a runaway success for two decades. Over the years, however, the cellular market has stabilized. Can Wi-Fi give the cell-phone industry a boost? The IEEE 802.11-based Wi-Fi data-networking technology has penetrated the small-office/home-office (SOHO) market. Now, it is expanding rapidly into the enterprise and public-access markets. Wi-Fi is well suited to carry packetized voice, such as Voice over IP. It also can offer cellular users better indoor coverage at a... — Fanny Mlinarsky [New Products] Radio-Antenna Modules Slash Cost And Complexity Adding wireless connectivity to handsets, laptop PCs, and other wireless consumer devices can be a costly and difficult endeavor. Antenova's Radionova modules present a smoother path to the integration of wireless capabilities by incorporating the company's High Dielectric Antenna (HDA) technology. This technology puts all of the key RF components into a single module The balanced antenna is highly resistant to detuning. As a result, the same Radionova module can be used across... — Staff A-GPS Receiver ICs Carry Baseband, RF, And Flash Location-based applications are spreading to portable devices that are as diverse as mobile phones, power-constrained smart devices, and compact digital cameras. Designers of such devices want to incorporate real-time location and navigation capabilities without significantly degrading overall power consumption. In the GSC3f and GSC3 SiRFstarIII single-chip GPS devices, designers will find a complete A-GPS digital baseband processor and an RF front end. The GSC3f adds 4 Mb of... — Staff Reference Platform Puts Linux In Network Devices OEMs in many markets are embracing Linux for its cost and time-to-market advantages. Of course, Linux also carries the benefits of being an open-source platform. Now, Wind River Systems is impacting the communications market in a big way with the introduction of its reference design release of Platform for Network Equipment, Linux Edition. This platform includes a complete Linux reference file system with a rich set of networking middleware and applications. Because the... — Staff Flash-Based FPGAs Shrink Cost But Not Performance With the introduction of its ProASIC3/E third-generation Flash-based programmable-logic devices, Actel addresses the market's need for FPGAs in consumer, automotive, and other cost-sensitive application areas. This value-conscious segment is the fastest-growing area of the FPGA market. Delivering 64-b, 66-MHz PCI performance, the ProASIC3/E FPGAs also offer on-chip Flash memory. They range in density from 600,000 to 3 million system gates and offer secure in-system... — Staff Embedded Modules Form Powerful RF Engines The ability to exploit higher wireless data-transmission speeds lets OEMs maximize the value of adding wireless connectivity to end products. To that end, Sierra Wireless's dual-band EM5625 embedded module comprises a powerful and reliable wireless engine that can be integrated into a wide range of mobile devices. The module is the first Sierra Wireless product to incorporate Qualcomm's MSM6500 Mobile Station Modem chip set. It therefore provides high-speed, high-capacity wireless data... — Staff Multimedia Processor Lets The Games Begin Some experts predict that the next revolution in handheld gaming will take place on wireless platforms. The GoForce 3D 4800, NVIDIA's latest wireless media processor, is set to provide a foundation for that revolution by integrating highly realistic 3D graphics, megapixel still imaging, and high-quality video capture and playback. The processor enables players to enjoy an intense gaming experience on mobile handsets by boosting 3D performance by over 40% compared with the... — Staff Filters Guard Handsets From EMI And ESD Effects Demand is surging for advanced multimedia capabilities in wireless handsets, and that means new design challenges on the electromagnetic-interference (EMI) front. Clamshell phones pose a particularly sticky challenge in terms of avoiding EMI woes. Data rates from the processor to the phones' high-resolution displays have risen dramatically. The result is even more pernicious EMI risks. Aimed squarely at solving EMI and electrostatic-discharge (ESD) issues, the Praetorian ASIP... — Staff [Column] Make Way For WiMAX Certified Products This year, the market will welcome the first wave of broadband-wireless products that were built to comply with the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) IEEE 802.16-2004 standard. WiMAX was developed to support the compatibility and interoperability of broadband-wireless-access (BWA) equipment. It supports many wireless-broadband connections including the following: high-bandwidth metropolitan-area networks (MANs) for home and small-business users, backhaul networks for... — George Wu Interface Technology Must Match New Data Services In today's wireless industry, operators are facing declining voice revenues. As a result, they're actively seeking compelling data services to maintain and/or increase the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU). The devices that contribute to data-services revenue are being heavily pushed by operators. Examples include camera phones for MMS and phones with QWERTY keyboards for e-mail. This emphasis on data services has led to the rapid introduction of devices that are optimized for such... — Bill Loller [News] Collaborators Get A Fix On E-GPS For many OEMs in the wireless-network and mobile-device spaces, Enhanced Global Positioning Systems (E-GPS) are high on the wish list. E-GPS addresses the problem of providing quality timing assistance to GPS-enabled devices in asynchronous networks, such as GSM and W-CDMA. The lack of a common synchronization source means that devices can take longer to provide a location reading. E-GPS brings together two independent positioning... — Lisa Maliniak RF Power Amplifiers Come From Common Stuff Most modern RF power amplifiers are built from legacy analog circuits. Typically, such circuits are produced in multi-component modules and in costly, low-volume semiconductor processes like Gallium Arsenide (GaAs). Yet ParkerVision, Inc. recently extended its Direct2Data digital RF transceiver technology to overcome a significant hurdle. It can now produce ultra-efficient, low-cost RF power amplifiers in common silicon semiconductors.... — Lisa Maliniak Linux-Based UMTS/EDGE Reference Design Debuts According to industry research, Linux is ready to secure a significant share of the smart-phone market segment in the next design cycle. For designers who wish to get a jump on development for the growing UMTS/EDGE smart-phone market, there's now a smart-phone reference design based on Linux. Developed by Infineon Technologies, Samsung Electronics, Trolltech, and Emuzed, the reference platform showcases many advanced 3G and multimedia... — Lisa Maliniak Wi-Fi Has Been Working On The Railroad If you plan to work and/or vacation in Sweden later this year and you'll be traveling by railroad, don't forget your Wi-Fi-enabled laptop or other portable wireless devices. Icomera has signed a deal worth 11 million Euros with SJ, one of Scandinavia's largest passenger railroads. As a result, SJ plans to bring Icomera's Wireless Onboard Internet Solution to its full fleet of 85 trains during the summer of 2005. Under the terms... — Lisa Maliniak OBSAI Specifications Become Freely Available The Open Base Station Architecture Initiative (OBSAI) has made the first versions of its open base-station-interface specification documents available to non-members. The specifications are relevant to the interfaces between the transport, control, baseband-processing, and radio functional modules. They were developed by OBSAI's 115 member companies. The companies' activities span modules, components, and base stations. These... — Lisa Maliniak [Editor's Note] An Old Favorite Has A New Twist Lately, it seems like everyone who is connected to the wireless-handset market is concerned with convergence. Previously, such convergence meant having one device that could function as both a phone and an e-mail/wireless-Internet device. In other words, people thought the trend would be toward carrying a single device rather than a cell phone, Blackberry, and more. Yet only a small fragment of the market—mostly... — Nancy Friedrich [On The Wireless Front] On The Wireless Front Milpitas, California The new LTC4061-4.4 from Linear Technology Corp. is a compact, standalone, linear 1-cell 4.375-V (4.4-V maximum) Li-Ion battery charger. Its advanced features improve charging safety, simplify charge termination and status reporting, and prolong battery life. For safety, the LTC4061-4.4 is equipped with a thermistor interface for temperature-qualified charging, an adjustable timer as a backup charge termination, and precision... — Staff |
|
Electronic Design Europe  Electronic Design China EEPN Microwaves & RF Schematics Electronic Design Military Electronics Featured Vendors EE Events Free Design Resources |
|
Planet EE Network Home |
Contact Us |
Editorial Calendar |
Media Kit |
Headlines |
Site Feedback & Bugs Copyright © 2008 Penton Media, Inc., All rights reserved. Legal | Privacy |
