Monday, October 22, 2007

WJ Communications Expands Family Of Second Source Frequency Mixers To Provide Broad Range Wireless Applications

WJ Communications, Inc., a leading designer and supplier of radio frequency (RF) products and solutions for the wireless infrastructure and radio frequency identification (RFID) reader markets, recently announced its expansion of the high-dynamic range, low-cost WJZ diode mixer series, a family of second source frequency mixers created as pin-for-pin drop in replacement for popular diode-based frequency mixers. Seven new products; WJZ1030H, WJZ1050H, WJZ1070H, WJZ3000, WJZ3010, WJZ3020, and WJZ3030 provide a wider selection and greater flexibilities for different needs and applications. The attractiveness of the WJZ family centers in the ability to provide a stable supply of devices, particularly during a cost reduction or redesign phase of a customer’s product lifecycle. These new low-cost mixers can be used in a wide variety of applications such as frequency up/down conversion, and modulation/demodulation for receivers and transmitters while delivering superior performance.

"Market response to our second source family of products, in particular the WJZ diode mixer family, has been tremendous. The growing customer demand for cost-sensitive and highly reliable RF mixer solutions has prompted us to develop more products in this category." said Morteza Saidi, Vice President of Engineering at WJ Communications. “Continuing the excellent performance with the current WJZ products, the new WJZ devices have extraordinary features in high linearity, and lower signal attenuation for reduced conversion loss.”

Product Overview

The WJZ mixer products are passive double-balanced diode-ring mixers that provide high dynamic range performance in a RoHS-compliant surface mount package that require no matching. The family include models with a wide-range of RF, LO, and IF ranges, optimized for LO levels from +7 to +17dBm.

Value proposition

Utilizing WJ's RF expertise and leadership in wireless infrastructure, WJ developed the WJZ diode mixer family. The key product features include:

  • Broadband performance – requires no matching
  • High linearity: Improved IIP3 performance
  • Reduced Conversion Loss: lower signal attenuation
  • Lower CL also means lower NF: critical for receiver sensitivity
  • High LO-RF isolation
  • No internal solder connections
  • Lower cost than competition
  • No external bias circuitry – consists of all passive components
  • Surface mount RoHS-complaint Package

Positive Market Feedback
WJ has shipped over 1.5 million of the current diode mixers to a wide range of customers targeting an array of applications. The new WJZ diode mixers are presently sampling with key strategic customers; customer feedback has been very positive with special emphasis to the high performance and cost-saving benefit. In addition, numerous customers appreciate that the WJZ family is pin-to-pin compatible with Mini-Circuits’ SYM, RMS and ADE series mixers, providing an alternative resource with a steady flow of product.

Target Applications

  • Ideally for broad range of wireless applications
  • Up/down frequency conversion
  • Modulation and demodulation for receivers and transmitters for 2.5G and 3G GSM/CDMA/W-CDMA
  • Test/Medical Instruments
  • Phase Detection
  • Image Rejection
  • Current Controlled Attenuator
  • Radar, Satellite, Avionics, and Navigation markets

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Alcatel-Lucent and Sagem to Jointly Develop 3G Femto Cell Base Stations

Alcatel-Lucent and France's Sagem say that they are collaborating on the commercial development of a3G femto cell base station platform. Based on Alcatel-Lucent's "flat IP (Internet Protocol)" architecture, the UMTS/HSPA BSR Femto flattens the mobile network by integrating and collapsing the UMTS/HSPA radio access network elements, including the base station and radio network controller (RNC), into a single, small unit about the size of a TV set-top box.

"The UMTS/HSPA BSR Femto offers significant advantages over competing solutions due to the fact that it combines all radio access functions into a single, compact device, eliminating the need to deploy additional RNCs," said Alain Biston, president of Alcatel-Lucent's W-CDMA activities.

"By taking advantage of Sagem Communications' expertise in the development of consumer electronics products to help package and manufacture the BSR Femto for mass market consumption, we will realize significant time to market and cost benefits," Biston added.

Through this collaboration, Alcatel-Lucent and Sagem Communications have already achieved significant milestones in the BSR Femto development effort, including the completion of voice and data calls, lab demonstrations with key customers and the establishment of a program of field trials (to be conducted in the fourth quarter of this year).

Under the collaboration agreement, Alcatel-Lucent will provide its flat IP and UMTS/HSPA expertise, networking equipment and software and end-to-end integration and support for the development of the BSR Femto. Sagem Communications will lend its enhanced home networking capabilities and expertise in developing IP, VoIP and DSL solutions for the mass market. The BSR Femto uses a DSL connection in a home or office building to backhaul voice and data traffic onto an operator's existing UMTS/HSPA network, enabling operators to offload traffic from the macro-network. It supports circuit-switched voice and data applications, packet-switched data applications, HSPA and IP-Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)-based networks. It also works with all 3GPP-compliant UMTS/HSPA handsets.

Two versions of the BSR Femto are planned for UMTS/HSPA networks -- a standalone 3G unit with Ethernet connectivity to a DSL modem and an integrated unit that supports UMTS/HSPA, DSL and WiFi. Alcatel-Lucent is also developing a CDMA/EV-DO based BSR Femto.

Posted to the site on 9th October 2007

Monday, October 8, 2007

Alcatel-Lucent Losing 3G Business to Ericsson

Alcatel-Lucent shares fell by more than 2% in early trading this morning after a report in the Financial Times said the telecom networking company is losing business to rival Ericsson. The paper reported that AT&T was doing more business with Ericsson.

In 2004, AT&T awarded a $2 billion infrastructure contract to Ericsson, Lucent and Siemens to upgrade its U.S wireless network. Under the original terms of the deal, Ericsson was to get about $900 million, Lucent $700 million and Siemens $400 million, but according to the paper, Alcatel-Lucent delayed delivering the 3G technology and Ericsson "stepped in." Ericsson's portion of the contract now exceeds 50%.

The report also said that AT&T had considered dropping Altactel-Lucent from the contract entirely, but so far has kept the network supplier.

In the report, Alcatel-Lucent responded by saying "We continue to be a critical WCDMA supplier to AT&T."

Z-Communications Launches Wideband Fractional-N PLL Synthesizer

an Diego -- Z-Communications, Inc. announced the release of PSA1450FLF, the first of a new series of state-of-the-art, fast switching and wide band Fractional-N PLL Synthesizers in a small surface mount package (0.8”x0.6”). These new high performance synthesizers from Z-Communications use the latest technology. This design scheme enables the achievement of very low spurious levels as low as 80 dBc.

The PSA1450FLF provides a phase noise with 90dBc/Hz @ 1 kHz offset and 100dBc/Hz @ 10 kHz offset when operated with a low phase noise reference of 32 MHz. Above all, it has a switching speed of <>

Thursday, October 4, 2007

JMD Awarded European Patent For Organic Passive Components

Jacket Micro Devices, Inc. (JMD) has received notification of issuance of a European patent for “liquid crystalline polymer (LCP) and multilayer polymer-based passive signal processing components for multi-band applications.”

The patent covers fabrication of organic passive components, including bandpass filters, baluns, diplexers, multiplexers, couplers and combinations of these devices made using LCP and other multilayer polymer substrates. Modules are manufactured using one or more LCP layers with integrated passive components formed directly on the substrate, allowing for better density and performance.

“This technology is key to enabling the design and fabrication of multi-function, multi-band devices, such as mobile phones with cellular, WiFi and WiMAX capabilities,” said George White, Ph.D., Chief Technology Officer, JMD. “This patent further strengthens JMD’s intellectual property position related to the passive components needed to empower the next generation of communication devices. As consumers demand more from their mobile devices, this technology will offer new solutions and better meet the challenges of this fast-growing market segment.”

The patent, listed under European patent number 1 731 006, is JMD’s sixth patent related to Multi-Layer Organic (MLO) design and technology. It will be validated in Germany and the UK.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

IBM promotes open standards in RFID sphere

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

RFMD Announces Expansion To Accommodate Rising Demand For Compound Semiconductors

Greensboro, NC -- RF Micro Devices announced plans to expand its compound semiconductor manufacturing capacity to support growth expectations in the Company's Cellular and Multi-Market product groups.

RFMD anticipates increased demand for its compound semiconductor process technologies as a result of favorable market trends in the Company's primary markets. In the cellular handset market, the increasing adoption of highly integrated, multi-chip transmit modules and the migration to 3G multimode devices are expected to drive increased demand for RFMD's GaAs pHEMT and RFMD's GaAs HBT (both AlGaAs HBT and InGaP HBT). These market trends require greater quantities of compound semiconductor content and are expected to underpin a five-year compound annual growth rate of greater than 20% from 2007-2012 in the market for cellular front ends.

Additionally, in markets served by RFMD's Multi-Market products group, it is anticipated the migration to 802.11n (GaAs HBT and GaAs pHEMT) and the increasing adoption of WiMAX (GaAs HBT and GaN) will be among the primary drivers of increased compound semiconductor content and accelerated market growth. RFMD's GaN process technology is quickly being recognized as a superior process technology for applications that require high power, linearity and bandwidth, as compared to existing technologies, such as silicon LDMOS.

Asif Anwar, Director of Strategy Analytics GaAs and Compound Semiconductor Technologies (GaAs) service, said, "RFMD has consistently been the world's largest supplier of GaAs devices for several years as a result of its leadership in the cellular handset PA space. The Company continues to move in line with the requirements of the cellular handset market, and this will continue to drive the volume at RFMD. RFMD has also developed a coherent multiple market strategy to target higher value segments with the rollout of its GaN and GaAs pHEMT technologies as well as the expansion of its IP and product portfolios through the proposed Sirenza acquisition. This dual 'high volume-high value' strategy will help the Company remain at the forefront of the compound semiconductor industry."

Bob Bruggeworth, president and CEO of RFMD, said, "The markets served by RFMD are growing, and RFMD is growing its compound semiconductor content within these markets. The addition of our third fab will enable us to capture a greater percentage of this growth while also reducing manufacturing costs and driving continued improvement in operating profitability. Once complete, our third fab, in conjunction with our second fab, will focus on high volume cellular and WLAN front end products that utilize GaAs HBT and GaAs pHEMT. The new fab will also provide capacity for the production of wafer-level packaged SAW filters and the development of new, next-generation process technologies that provide highly integrated front end functionality. Our first fab will focus on high value multi-market products that utilize specialty GaN, GaAs pHEMT and GaAs HBT technologies."

RFMD is currently increasing its manufacturing levels of both GaAs HBT and GaAs pHEMT in order to satisfy immediate forecasted demand.