MAY - JUNE 2017 MW · RF - Microwave european MW business press MAY - JUNE 2017 Antenna Focus 170329_5Mill_MWE_EU_Snipe.indd 1 3/29/17 1:30 PM The European journal for the microwave

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New Titles for leading magazinesEuropean Business Press has announced that its leading Pan European B2B titles are rebranded to eeNews Europe for the newschannel ( formerly EE Times Europe) and eeDesign News Europe for the Design channel ( formerly EDN Europe).

The move follows the acquisition of EE Times and EDN in the USA by Aspencore a division of Arrow who have decided to end the long-term licence agreement that UBM the former owner of these publications had entered with EBP back in 2006.

As of April 2017, the EE Times Europe and EDN Europe brands will no longer be supported by EBP and our new brands eeNews Europe and eeDesign News Europe will benefi t from our unique data bases of readers and websites. All editorial staff , administrative staff and sales team remains with the new brands, assuring a smooth transition to the new titles.

eeNews Europe and eeDesign News Europe inherit the title of “best publications” in Europe for reaching the electronics B2B market. The new websites will keep all the content of the old siites. The old URLs will transparently forward to the new URLs www.eenewseurope.com and www.eedesignnewseurope.com.

The other publications including MWEE with its associated web site www.mwee.com and our websites www.smart2zero.com and www.eetsearch.com will remain unaff ected by these changes.

Being independent from the EETimes and EDN brands which are now owned by one of the major distribution companies allows EBP to reinforce its position as the leading independent B2B publisher dedicated to the electronics industry in Europe. This independence is of very high value to most distributors as well as major

components manufacturers who want to make sure their data is protected.

Incorporated in Belgium in 1997 European Business Press SA has been a major channel for reaching a highly-qualifi ed audience across Europe for almost 20 years. EBP fully own all their data bases, have leading edge production services and in-house ad serving capabilities and are best positioned to help manufacturers and distributors get their marketing message to their key audience in print, digital, online and custom products.

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Executive interview: Sanmina Corp.’s Executive Vice President Dietmar Guenther

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Pub rebranding.indd 1 11/05/17 17:34

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New Titles for leading magazinesEuropean Business Press has announced that its leading Pan European B2B titles are rebranded to eeNews Europe for the newschannel ( formerly EE Times Europe) and eeDesign News Europe for the Design channel ( formerly EDN Europe).

The move follows the acquisition of EE Times and EDN in the USA by Aspencore a division of Arrow who have decided to end the long-term licence agreement that UBM the former owner of these publications had entered with EBP back in 2006.

As of April 2017, the EE Times Europe and EDN Europe brands will no longer be supported by EBP and our new brands eeNews Europe and eeDesign News Europe will benefi t from our unique data bases of readers and websites. All editorial staff , administrative staff and sales team remains with the new brands, assuring a smooth transition to the new titles.

eeNews Europe and eeDesign News Europe inherit the title of “best publications” in Europe for reaching the electronics B2B market. The new websites will keep all the content of the old siites. The old URLs will transparently forward to the new URLs www.eenewseurope.com and www.eedesignnewseurope.com.

The other publications including MWEE with its associated web site www.mwee.com and our websites www.smart2zero.com and www.eetsearch.com will remain unaff ected by these changes.

Being independent from the EETimes and EDN brands which are now owned by one of the major distribution companies allows EBP to reinforce its position as the leading independent B2B publisher dedicated to the electronics industry in Europe. This independence is of very high value to most distributors as well as major

components manufacturers who want to make sure their data is protected.

Incorporated in Belgium in 1997 European Business Press SA has been a major channel for reaching a highly-qualifi ed audience across Europe for almost 20 years. EBP fully own all their data bases, have leading edge production services and in-house ad serving capabilities and are best positioned to help manufacturers and distributors get their marketing message to their key audience in print, digital, online and custom products.

European Business Press SA533 Chaussée de Louvain, 1380 Lasne, BelgiumTel: +32 2 740 00 [email protected]

EUROPENews

EUROPEDesign

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MW

November 2011 Electronic Engineering Times Europe1

Flexible microprocessors from 2D-transistors

May 2017

Special Focus: Test & Measurement

Executive interview: Sanmina Corp.’s Executive Vice President Dietmar Guenther

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Editor In ChiefJean-Pierre JoostingTel. +44-7800 [email protected]

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Contents

12, 15Antennas: Simple antenna characterisation using multiple VNAs

Antennas: 3-D printers enable quick construction of electromagnetic metamaterials

19, 20, 21Antennas: 5G and phased array antennas driving SMT packaging and lowering costs of microwave ferrite circulators

NI and AT&T collaborate on fast mmWave 5G channel sounders

Using the space on and above the back of the hand to operate smart devices

RF - Microwave

MW7-10

NewsAI and cognitive cloud computing to drive autonomous vehicles

Report warns of 8 trillion USD cost from cybercrime

6Comment

Is the next big thing is voice?

16,17Using Wi-Fi data to generate precise 3-D images

Hunting interference to reduce churn and drive profits

22-26Products

SIP enables flexible wireless designs

Ka-Band terminated SPDT PIN switch

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USA (949) 261-1920 • AUSTRIA (49) 89 4161 5994 0 • BELGIUM (31) 229 50 34 78 • CZECH REPUBLIC (420) 235 365 207 DENMARK (46) 8 554 909 50 • FINLAND (46) 8 554 909 50 • FRANCE (33) 1 47 95 99 60 GERMANY (49) 89 4161 5994 0 IRELAND (44) 0 1420 544789 • ISRAEL (972) 9 741 7277 • ITALY (39) 06 4071603 • KAZAKHSTAN (7) 495 961 34 43 LUXEMBOURG (31) 229 50 34 78 • NETHERLANDS (31) 229 50 34 78 • NORWAY (46) 8 554 909 50 POLAND (48) 22 855 34 32 • PORTUGAL (34) 91 636 3939 • RUSSIA (7) 495 961 34 43 SLOVAKIA (420) 235 365 207 SPAIN (34) 91 636 3939 • SWEDEN (46) 8 554 909 50 • SWITZERLAND (49) 89 4161 5994 0 • TURKEY (90) 216 504 07 87 UKRAINE (7) 495 961 34 43 • UNITED KINGDOM (44) 0 1420 544789


Comment

Is the next big thing is voice?To date the Amazon Echo, which runs the Amazon Alexa digital assistant has been quite a success, which has just been followed up with the latest Echo featuring a built in display. Not to be outdone, Microsoft also launched its Harmon Kardon Invoke – a voice-enabled 360 speaker running Cortana, Microsoft’s digital assistant. Google has also been in the game for some time with Google Home. That just leaves Apple on the outside, but there are rumours that Apple is preparing a competitive device powered by Siri.

We already have voice assistants on our devices so why do we need another home device? The rationale behind each of the companies in this space is to fortify their businesses. Amazon does not have a presence in the mobile phone market so it has developed the Echo to get into the home – mainly to drive sales to its Amazon store. Currently Amazon is the market leader, with Google coming in second place.

The advantage for Microsoft is that Cortana is used by millions of Windows users already and that is now available in the home. Cortana is also a powerful digital assistant. Siri is in a similar position, so it would make sense for Apple to leverage Siri to the smart home speaker market. Apple could also bring Apple TV into the picture.

However, a key issue with this nascent market is that none of these digital assistants can talk to each other or co-operate in any meaningful way. Further, this is not an easy thing to do as the intelligence behind these systems is in the cloud. At the moment, having two different systems in the home is potentially a problem.

Amazon has taken a step further by partnering with NXP to create the first complete NXP reference platform for Amazon Alexa with far-field technology to simplify development of high performance voice-enabled devices.

Designed to simplify the creation of new voice-control devices, the NXP reference platform for Amazon Alexa on i.MX is a complete system containing Amazon’s 7-microphone array design, far-field audio processing technology, and AVS to enable customers and partners to create their own high performance devices with Alexa.

NXP’s i.MX applications processors offer the scalability to meet the

requirements that are unique to each customer design within the Internet of Things (IoT). The applications processor portfolio features the i.MX 6 series for general purpose applications, i.MX 7 series for low power applications, and the new advanced i.MX 8 series to enable rich interactive high performance multimedia and audio experiences.

In effect, the partnership has enabled anyone to put the Alexa voice service into their products, enabling Amazon to grow the ecosystem. The reference design also ensures that devices associated with Alexa benefit from high quality of the far field algorithms Alexa uses.

One of the reasons Amazon chose NXP according to Leonardo Azevedo, Director of i.MX Applications Processors for Consumer Market at NXP was the fact that NXP cover the widest range of customers directly and through distribution, which fits Amazon’s goal of addressing as many developers as possible – in order to expand the ecosystem as much as possible.

Today machines have reached a breakthrough in understanding commands. Even humans are not 100 percent accurate, but machines are now getting close to human accuracy from a low level just a decade or two ago. One of the reasons for the success of Alexa is that it has become generally accepted today that machines can recognise voice with enough reliability to be useful.

In addition, people have got used to digital voice assistants like Alexa and Siri.

For Amazon the next step is to enable voice technology without the need for Echo – allowing other manufacturers to put the Amazon voice technology into a variety devices in the house such as coffee machines, fridges, lights and even in cars, and have all this connected to the ecosystem, adds Leonardo Azevedo.

This is where the reference design comes in – allowing manufacturers to adopt these high performance voice algorithms faster.

The focus in the future will be on AI, machine learning and the smart home.

“We believe the ecosystem will be more useful with other units connected in the house,” says Leonardo.

The goal for Amazon is to make it easier for consumers to shop on their platform and drive their Amazon Prime platform. With others pushing their ecosystems into the house in various forms, Amazon wants to have the first mover advantage.

Leonardo adds, “ Voice will be huge in the house and once all devices have voice – everything will work together.”

One caveat here is that there are no common standards and not a lot of effort is going into solving the problem. It is possible that this problem might be resolved by Christmas this year says Leonardo.

It is reasonable to expect a big push towards voice activating devices as this is a natural interface for humans. However, for such systems to work in mobile devices such as cars the need for a fast connection to the various clouds that enable the voice systems such as Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant is required. Further, the interests of the consumer, these systems will also need to co-operate to a certain degree with each other to be adopted en mass.

To conclude, voice might be the next big thing in ushering in the convergence of mobile connectivity and cloud services to consumers from entertainment to online shopping and even healthcare services.

By Jean-Pierre JoostingEditor: MWEE

www.mwee.com 7May - June 2017 MW

News

AI and cognitive cloud computing to drive autonomous vehiclesAccording to Frost & Sullivan, conve-nience-enhancing technologies and automobiles-as-a-service options helped double the adoption of vehicles with automated driving features in 2016. In its latest report, Frost & Sullivan find that the global autonomous driv-ing market will be worth $83 billion by 2025.

Going forward, large-scale invest-ments from original equipment manu-facturers (OEMs) will refine the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and cognitive cloud-based technology even further, enabling level 4/5 autonomous driving within the next five years. Also, retrofit-ted automated driving systems and deployment in shared mobility (taxi) plat-forms will experience robust growth.

“With the introduction of automated driving taxis to support shared mobility business models, the commercial entry of level 4 vehicles is expected by as

early as 2020,” said Mobility Senior Ana-lyst Anirudh Venkitaraman. “In the Euro-

pean and North American markets, the introduction of level 3 automation by 2018, driven by over-the-air updates from Tesla, will strengthen the initial take rates for the technology. Pilot offerings from Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz will soon follow, taking the

product into the premium market.”“Concerns surrounding legislation,

system reliability issues, and incompat-ible infrastructure limit the opportunities for OEMs looking at automated driving,” noted Venkitaraman. “Nevertheless, the journey from human-operated to com-pletely autonomous cars is a progres-sion, and pioneering semi-automated vehicles will be an important milestone toward achieving level 5 automated vehicles.”

www.frost.com

StratEdge to sell HF packages on AmazonStratEdge Corporation has announced the opening of its Amazon Store to sell its off-the-shelf high-frequency packages.StratEdge’s Amazon store is initially offer-ing 11 packages that include hermetic molded ceramic flatpacks with combo lids, leaded surface mount DC to 18 GHz packages with plastic lid and epoxy, leaded amplifier packages for both KA band and DC to 23 GHz including the plastic lid with epoxy, and leadless DC to 63 GHz packages including a plastic lid with epoxy. Lot sizes include either 10 or 25 pieces.

“It is a relatively new concept to use Amazon to sell such a highly technical and complex product,” said Tim Going, Strat-Edge president. “However, we believe that by providing the frequency, cavity size, number of leads, and specific information for each package, along with the photo, that this will make it easier for our custom-ers and potential customers to purchase their packages through the store.”

Additional products will be added in the near future.

www.stratedge.com

First container based cybersecurity platform launchesAvailable for download and testing, Safeweb Engine from tuCloud Federal claims to be the first container based cybersecurity platform.

The platform is designed to physi-cally isolate web browsing activity and insulate internet users from cyber-threats like malware, advanced persis-tent threats and viruses.

Safeweb Engine is a physical isola-tion cybersecurity platform built in col-laboration with Sandia National Labora-tory and is based upon the production proven Safeweb model, originally devel-oped by tuCloud working in collabora-tion with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory .

The Safeweb Engine can be installed on either virtual, physical or cloud servers and is designed to physically isolate the web browsing activity of large amounts of internet users in a cost effective way. Because of the Safeweb Engines unique container based ar-

chitecture, it is massively scalable and requires minimal server resources when compared to the existing browser isola-tion cybersecurity platforms currently available on the market.

By physically isolating web brows-ing activity onto the Safeweb platform, cyber threats such as malware, ad-vanced persistent threats and viruses are completely unable to get a foothold on the users machine, protecting the user from web based threats in real time as they browse the internet, effectively isolating the user from anything likely to infect their local machine.

The Safeweb Engine is massively scalable and capable of physically isolating the browsing activity of millions of simultaneous internet users, enabling organization’s to cost effectively protect a large amount of users from as little as $5 dollars per user, per month.

www.tuCloud.com

NETSCOUT provides performance monitoring for Vodaphone

NETSCOUT SYSTEMS has announced a multi-year agreement with Vodafone Group to serve as Vodafone’s passive probing provider in Europe. The next-generation real-time information platform, InfiniStreamNG from NETSCOUT will provide Vodafone with a standardized, repeatable service assurance system for deployment in 13 European countries in which Vodafone operates.

“The InfiniStreamNG monitoring plat-form will help us analyze and enhance network performance and improve the customer experience,” explained Mario Volonterio, head of virtual infrastructure and OSS, Vodafone Group.

The InfiniStreamNG platform is available in multiple form factors and deployment options, based on hardware, software and virtual appliances. It pro-vides timely, accurate and highly relevant data on a single platform.

www.netscout.com

News


Report warns of 8 trillion USD cost from cybercrimeIn its latest report Juniper Research has found that while spend on cybersecurity is increasing, it is not keeping pace with threats posed by data breaches. The report forecasts that global cybersecurity spend will reach nearly $135 billion in 2022, up from an estimated $93 billion this year. Howev-er, over the next five years, data breaches will have cost business a cumulative total of $8 trillion in fines, lost business and remediation costs.

The research also found that busi-nesses are now faced with a plethora of different cybersecurity solutions to choose from. Many of which don’t inte-grate well with each other and require a high level of expertise and manpower to manage. This means that threats can be missed, and small businesses, which are more likely to be targeted by cyber-criminals, are the least able to effectively manage their security. However, several cybersecurity firms, like Cylance, Dark-

trace, Fortscale and Patternex are using machine learning to monitor network and program behaviours, detecting and elimi-nating many anomalies without involving

a cybersecurity professional. This can address the capabil-ity gap that SMEs face when considering cybersecurity.

Juniper Research expects MSSPs (Managed Security Service Providers) to leverage AI to provide more affordable

services to these businesses, making the best of tight security budgets, and pro-viding a mechanism to make the industry consolidate.

“AI provides a solution for the cyber-security market’s talent gap, performing similar roles to cybersecurity analysts,” remarked research author James Moar. “However, in order to succeed these new approaches must also bring simplicity and interoperability to end users, in what is a very fragmented market.”

www.juniperresearch.com

NFC Forum grows, targets innovationThe NFC Forum have announced that 11 new members have joined the organiza-tion recently including CTC Advanced as an Associate Member and 10 other com-panies as an Implementer Member or at the new Startup Implementer Member-ship Level. The latest members repre-sent a variety of industries and markets worldwide such as the Internet of Things (IoT), transportation, retail, payment and automotive.

“We continue to see a surge in membership from companies interested in using NFC technology to improve their products and services along with enhancing the overall customer experi-ence,” said Paula Hunter, executive director, NFC Forum. “With today’s connected consumer, there is a growing desire to use NFC technology to stay nimble and maintain a competitive edge in the marketplace.”

In addition, to ongoing work via con-ference calls and online meetings, the NFC Forum holds face-to-face, member meetings three times a year.

www.nfc-forum.org

Analyst sees move away from DAS to DRS, CBRS, and repeatersIn exclusive analysis on eight different vertical markets and how they will invest in mobile infrastructure, Mobile Experts Senior Analyst Kyung Mun highlights the trend away from DAS toward small cells, DRS, CBRS, and repeaters as low-cost options. The report outlines detailed cost analysis on each technology choice for vertical market scenarios in stadiums, air-ports, hotels, hospitals, retail, corporate, and other vertical markets.

“The market is growing despite chal-lenges to complex business models that hinder direct enterprise deployment of in-building wireless solutions,” Senior Analyst Kyung Mun explained. “The de-mand for seamless mobile coverage and capacity indoors is becoming increas-ingly apparent, and with that, funding for in-building projects themselves has been growing as well.”

This report expects the enterprise mo-bile infrastructure equipment market will grow at 18% CAGR from roughly 3.2M

radio node shipments in 2016 to over 8.7M units by 2022.

As the in-building market transitions from the top end of the market (stadiums and airports) to smaller venues across di-verse vertical segments, the traditional in-building market segments of DAS versus small cells versus repeaters are evolving traditional product lines, expanding dis-tribution partnerships, and honing market focus to address larger pools of smaller venue/dollar projects.

“Small Cells have been limiting, espe-cially as they’re implemented as a single-operator solution. CBRS small cells can deliver a multi-operator solution with Wi-Fi-like simplicity and a low cost pro-file. In fact, it has the potential to disrupt the in-building wireless space by creating a win-win scenario for mobile opera-tors and enterprises,” remarked Mobile Experts Senior Analyst Kyung Mun.

www.mobile-experts.net

Multi-carrier DAS for Copenhagen’s Royal ArenaThe Royal Arena in Denmark opened in February 2017 as a multi-functional cultural center. During the wireless com-munication system design, one challenge was to provide sufficient coverage by integrating three operating bands on the common distributed antenna system (DAS). Microlab provided the answer with two POI designs, DCC601-B19 and DCC601-B22, that included 9 inputs sup-porting different output configurations that covered the many sectors of this venue. These designs integrated the four carriers with 3 operating bands into common out-puts. The Microlab POI designs provided low loss solutions while achieving very low PIM and better than 55 dB inter-band isolation to this passive DAS installation.

The DCC601-B19 and DCC601-B22 support multiple frequency bands from DCS 1800 MHz to 2700 MHz, and offer a loss architecture for maximum RF trans-mission

www.wirelesstelecomgroup.com

News


News

Large-scale telco cloud deployments to be driven by 5GLarge-scale telco cloud deployments will reach global critical mass after 2020, in parallel with the deploy-ment for 5G says ABI Research. This network generation will likely re-quire a new core network to allow for advanced concepts, including net-work slicing and services geared toward different business verticals. Early 5G deployments, during which time there will not be an immediate need for a new telco core, will likely focus on enhanced mobile broadband.

“Although telcos are transforming their technology and business platforms to become more agile and to evolve past their monolithic access-based busi-ness models, they are finding it much more challenging than anticipated,” said Dimitris Mavrakis, Research Director at ABI Research. “Software, cloud comput-ing, and open source are promising and will simplify operations, but in the short

term, telcos are preferring to rely on their trusted vendors to continue this journey.”

AT&T, DT, Telefonica, and Verizon are honing their strategies and planning their networks as shared platforms, rather than a mix of individ-ual network appliances. This means that network resources will be virtualized, distributed, and software controlled, lead-ing to a much more agile net-

work. This will allow the implementation of an “Untelco” strategy, selling tailored network resources to different verticals.

However, there are a few indications that end-to-end systems are still the end goal. For example, Telefonica O2 UK awarded an end-to-end contract to Nokia for a cloud-native packet core, something that would be a considerable challenge to implement in-house with a true vendor agnostic, common-off-the-shelf network.

www.abiresearch.com

Infineon joins the 5G Automotive AssociationInfineon Technologies AG has joined the 5G Automotive Association (5GAA) in order to contribute to introducing the 5G standard into the car. The company believes that automated cars would not be able to exist without reliable commu-nications infrastructure and stable mobile connectivity. “Secure communication with practically zero time delay is a critical requirement for the breakthrough of autonomous driv-ing,” said Peter Schiefer, President of the Automotive division at Infineon.

International standardization is a criti-cal requirement for the market success of new technologies and their applications, such as the Internet of Things or autono-mous driving. Together with major car manufacturers, Infineon is already active in all relevant industry associations.

The 5GAA was founded on September 27, 2016. Its founding members were AUDI AG, BMW Group, Daimler AG, Ericsson, Huawei, Intel, Nokia, and Qual-comm Incorporated.

www.5gaa.orgwww.infineon.com/car-security

NYU WIRELESS and OPPO join forces on 5G developmentNYU WIRELESS and the global smart-phone vendor OPPO have announced that OPPO has joined the university re-search center at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering as an industrial affiliate sponsor of research aimed at creating the next generation of wireless technologies, also known as 5G.

As an industry affiliate, OPPO – which designs, develops, and manufactures premium smartphones and relevant mo-bile technologies – will gain early access to NYU WIRELESS research and work with students and faculty on 5G-oriented research projects. NYU WIRELESS is a recognized international academic leader in 5G research that links its affiliates as well as researchers at other universities in its seminal mmWave research, measuring, and modeling. Its research was cited by the FCC when the commission explored the future of millimeter technology.

The announcement was made just be-fore the fourth annual Brooklyn 5G Sum-

mit, recently held at NYU Tandon. The fourth summit focussed on overall 5G system design across the entire spectrum range, progress in 5G channel modeling, 5G regulatory issues, and concrete use cases for 5G in the evolving IoT space. The invitation-only event drew leaders from the arenas of wireless technology, the automotive industry, healthcare, aca-demia, and government.

“OPPO has a reputation for rapidly bringing new technologies to market, and thus the research collaboration with NYU WIRELESS has the potential to have tre-mendous impact as we progress toward 5G networks with thousand-fold increases in data capacity,” said Sundeep Rangan, the director of NYU WIRELESS and an associate professor of electrical and com-puter engineering at NYU Tandon.

www.oppo.com/en/index.htmlwww.nyuwireless.comhttp://engineering.nyu.edu

OEM-pay services to drive growth of mobile contactless usersFintech analysts, Juniper Research, estimates that the number of OEM-Pay contactless users, including Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, and Android Pay, will exceed 100 million for the first time during H1-2017, before surpassing 150 million by the end of this year. According to the firm’s latest research, the com-bined market share of Apple, Samsung, and Google (via Android Pay), increased from 20% in 2015 to 41% in 2016, as a proportion of total mobile contactless payment users. Juniper forecasts that this will rise to 56% by 2021, as the trio’s combined user base exceeds 500 million.

The research found that Apple Pay, and the alternative wallets that have followed in its wake, are set to establish them-selves as the primary contactless mecha-nisms of choice in the US. However, the challenge facing Apple and its rivals is to ensure that the infrastructure is in place for consumers to make in-store payments.

www.juniperresearch.com

News


Leti targets 2018 Winter Olympics for first 5G-system prototypeLeti, a research institute of CEA Tech, has announced a European and South Korean project, 5G CHAMPION, to deliver the first fully integrated and operational 5G prototype in conjunction with the 2018 Winter Olympics. The project will advance a multitude of technologies from 5G RAT to satellite and mmWave.

The team of eight European and 13 Korean partners will develop a new architecture that provides an efficient end-to-end system performance encom-passing cutting-edge 5G radio-access, core-network and satellite technologies. It will be the first time ever that state-of-the-art terrestrial wireless communica-tion, including future key enablers such as mmWave access, will be seamlessly combined with disruptive satellite com-munication. This will form a 5G network with multi-radio-access technologies (multi-RAT) that is optimized to serve user equipment in various applications.

“5G next-generation communication systems will be a global game changer

from technological, eco-nomic, societal and envi-ronmental perspectives,” said Emilio Calvanese Strinati, Leti’s director of smart devices and tele-communications-strategy programs. “Showcasing

key enabling technologies for a proof-of-concept environment at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, Korea, will allow maximum visibility for the avail-able technology two years ahead of the official launch of 5G in 2020.”

Coordinated by Leti, the project will focus on some of the main challenges for the design of the 5G networks such as improving latency in the millisecond range; providing high throughput in very dense user environments; enabling cost-effective network management; and enhancing quality of service.

www.leti-cea.com

GlobalSign joins the Wi-SUN AllianceGMO GlobalSign has joined the Wi-SUN Alliance, a global industry alliance pro-moting interoperable wireless standards based solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT). Joining the alliance is a natural fit for GlobalSign, whose IoT security strategy focuses on higher risk environments such as smart grids and smart cities. The Wi-SUN Alliance is focused on accelerat-ing the implementation of a smarter grid and smarter cities by enabling the global adoption of interoperable solutions based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard and other related open standards. GlobalSign is focused on securing IoT devices, like those that are a part of the smart grid, by using encryption and authentication to give every device a unique trusted identity.

“As critical infrastructure assets become increasingly cyber-connected, new security threats emerge. Securing these assets with proven technologies is of vital importance to today’s society and economy,” said Zachary Short, Principal Software Architect at GlobalSign.

www.wi-sun.orgwww.globalsign.com

Quantum computing startup targets cloud platformRigetti Computing Inc., (Berkeley, CA), a company founded by Chad Rigetti in 2013, has announced it has raised $64 million in Series A and B funding rounds, bringing the amount raised by the startup to $69.2 million.

The Series A round of $24 million was led by Andreessen Horowitz. Vijay Pande, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, has been appointed to Rigetti’s Board of Directors, joining Rigetti CEO Chad Rigetti and angel investor Charlie Songhurst. The $40 million Series B was led by Vy Capital and included Andrees-sen Horowitz.

Investors in both rounds include Y Combinator’s Continuity Fund, Data Col-lective, FF Science, AME Cloud Ventures, Morado Ventures, and WTI. Institutional investors in Series A include Sutter Hill Ventures, Susa Ventures, Streamlined Ven-tures, Lux Capital, and Bloomberg Beta.

CEO Rigetti said the company would use the money to expand engineering

teams and invest in infrastructure to manufacture and deploy quantum inte-grated circuits. Prior to founding Rigetti Quantum Computing Chad Regetti spent nearly three years as research staff mem-ber in IBM’s quantum computing group.

The company’s business model is to build a cloud quantum computer and provide access to it for artificial intel-ligence applications and computational chemistry through an application pro-gramming interface (API) called Forest. Forest emphasizes a quantum-classical hybrid computing model, integrating directly with existing cloud infrastructure and treating the quantum computer as an accelerator. The Forest API is avail-able in beta form.

Rigetti employs about 35 engineers with diverse backgrounds in computer science, engineering, physics, and chemistry.

www.rigetti.com

Spreadtrum LTE SoC in India’s first 4G phoneSpreadtrum Communications has announced that its LTE SoC platform, SC9820, has been adopted by Lava for India’s first 4G-enabled feature phone, Lava Connect M1. The pocket-friendly 4G mobile handset has already been launched in the Indian market in February 2017. Lava Connect M1 is powered by Spreadtrum’s 28nm 1.2-GHz dual-core ARM Cortex™-A7 LTE platform SC9820, supporting VoLTE and dual SIM function. It features a 512 MB RAM/4GB ROM storage, a MicroSD slot up to 32GB and comes pre-installed with Facebook Lite, providing feature phone users a perfect smart experience.

The SC9820 is enabling startup opera-tors to rapidly expand their subscriber base and helping traditional operators to migrate 2G and 3G subscribers to 4G networks at a lower cost. Further, it will arrive in Latin America (Peru, Mexico and Colombia) and Africa for all carriers that launched VoLTE.

www.spreadtrum.com

News Working at the cutting edge of technology Signal generation, analysis and phase noise test for demanding requirements When working at the cutting edge of technology, you shouldn’t waste your time with inferior tools. Rely on measuring instruments evolved in the spirit of innovation and based on industry-leading expertise. Instruments like the ¸SMW200A vector signal generator, the ¸FSW signal and spectrum analyzer and the ¸FSWP phase noise tester. Each is at the crest of today´s possibilities.

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Working at the cutting edge of technology Signal generation, analysis and phase noise test for demanding requirements When working at the cutting edge of technology, you shouldn’t waste your time with inferior tools. Rely on measuring instruments evolved in the spirit of innovation and based on industry-leading expertise. Instruments like the ¸SMW200A vector signal generator, the ¸FSW signal and spectrum analyzer and the ¸FSWP phase noise tester. Each is at the crest of today´s possibilities.

See for yourself at www.rohde-schwarz.com/ad/highend

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Antennas

This article shows how a set of two single-port vector network analys-ers (VNAs) that can be remotely

operated via a LAN interface can be used for low-cost scalar transmission mea-surements for simple antenna characteri-sation. Practical results are included to show how antenna pattern and antenna gain measurements can be carried out with a very limited investment.

INTRODUCTIONAntenna measurements are usually expensive and complicated, and take a long time for results to be displayed. While the VNA is today’s standard tool for measuring frequency-dependent pa-rameters, it does have the disadvantage that it is virtually impossible to extend the VNA ports to the desired antenna lo-cations without incurring problems such as cable losses.

However, as the project described in this article shows, a VNA such as the An-ritsu MS46121A single-port analyser can serve as a valuable and inexpensive tool for simple antenna measurements, with measured antenna characterisation close to the manufacturers’ specifications.

STUDENT PROJECT The background of this project is a stu-dent work at RWTH Aachen University’s Institute of High Frequency Technology that was supported by Anritsu GmbH.

The student task was to design and develop a stepper motor hardware concept and control software for the azimuthal rotation of the antenna under test. An additional requirement was for the visualisation of the antenna radiation pattern and antenna gain in a MATLAB environment.

Anritsu supported this project with the necessary VNA hardware, a stepper motor, anantenna tripod and a Schwar-zbeck USLP 9142 antenna. RWTH Aachen University was responsible for the design, development and realisa-tion of the project. After a successful demonstration at the 2015 German Microwave Conference, it was agreed to extend the project to produce some real results.

EXPERIMENTAL SET-UPThe MS46121A is a full-featured single-port USB vector analyser module includ-ing time-domain measurement capabili-ties. By adding a second module, the test engineer can carry out scalar transmis-sion measurements such as S21 testing.

In such a set-up, either of the modules can be used as the stimulus source, with the other behaving as a fully vector corrected (calibrated) receiver. For the antenna measurement concept, two of these modules are sufficient. For complex applications such as multi-band antenna test, it is possible to employ up to 16

Simple antenna characterisation using multiple VNAsBy Ing. C. Culotta-Lopez, Dipl.-Ing. T. Dallmann , IHF RWTH, Aachen, Germany And Dipl.-Ing. F. Gerhardes, Anritsu, Germany

Figure 1: Key antenna characteristics.

Figure 2: Relative gain of antenna under test (USLP 9143).

Figure 3: Antenna radiation pattern results.


VNA modules, with one acting as a stimu-lus and the remaining 15 as receivers.

The system is controlled from user an external PC or laptop with the Windows 7 or higher operating system and the ShockLineTM VNA software available free of charge from Anritsu. MS46121A option 021 enables the scalar measure-ment (|S21|,|S12|) capability, in which each attached module appears as a separate physical measurement channel. The active selected channel is always the stimulus source. The receive port(s) can be selected via the response menu (S11, S22 … S16 16).

A further option (002) offers bandpass and lowpass time-domain measure-ments with time gating capability for measuring parameters such as distance to fault or impedance.

For antenna measurements the VNA benchmarks are dynamic range, stimu-lus power and measurement sweep. One of the main drivers limiting dynamic range is the use of long VNA test port cables with their inherent high insertion loss and the limited VNA stimulus power.

The ideal set-up is for the VNA hardware to be linked directly to the antennas without any cable and for measurement data to be transferred by means of a low-cost USB hub extended with an Ethernet LAN link to a PC. In this way, undesired losses can be avoided and the money for expensive long test port cables can be saved. As a result, the dynamic range is improved. With a stimulus power of +3 dBm (>23.2 MHz to 4 GHz), antenna side lobes down to a level of -30 dB up to frequencies of 3 GHz with an antenna distance of up to 10 m can be characterised.

ANTENNA CHARACTERISTICSThe key antenna characteristics to be measured (Fig.1) are:● Radiation pattern● Antenna half power beamwidth● Antenna sidelobes● Antenna gain

Gain measurements require essen-tially the same environment as their corresponding pattern measurements. To measure the gain of antennas operat-ing above 1 GHz, anechoic chambers are usually used. Between 0.1 GHz and 1 GHz, ground-reflection ranges are used.

Within the scope of this project, three different gain-measurement techniques are available. The first two are so-called “absolute gain” measurements: the two-antenna method and the three-antenna

method, while the third is the gain-trans-fer (or gain-comparison) method.

The two-antenna method is based on the Friis transmission equation and requires two identical samples of the antenna under test antenna: one acting as the radiating antenna, and the other as the receiving one.

The three-antenna method is used when only one sample of the test antenna is available. Then, any other two antennas can be used to perform three measure-ments, which allow the calculation of the individual gains of all three antennas. All three measurements are made at a fixed known distance between the radiating and the transmitting antennas.

ANTENNA IMPEDANCEThe input impedance of an antenna is calculated via the reflection coefficient at its terminals, which are connected to a transmission line of known character-istic impedance. If the magnitude and the phase of the reflection coefficient are known, it is possible to calculate the antenna input impedance.

Because of real matching conditions, the gain of an antenna is reduced by the losses due to the mismatch of the antenna input impedance to the characteristic impedance. The gain obtained after this reduction is called realised gain.

In our case, the gain was measured using the VNA directly connected to the USLP 9143 log-periodic antenna under test, which was attached to a tripod on a lawn. The frequency range was calibrated

between 700 and 2000 MHz in steps of 100 MHz with an intermediate-frequency bandwidth of 100 Hz and a stimulus output of +3 dBm.

OUTDOOR ANTENNA RANGESAntenna measurement sites or antenna ranges can be categorised as outdoor ranges or indoor ranges (anechoic cham-bers). According to the principle of mea-surement, they can also be categorised as reflection ranges, free-space ranges, and compact ranges. For this type of project, a reflection-free propagation free-space range like the so-called elevated or slanted range is applicable.

For measurements, the antenna is placed at the Fraunhofer distance, which approaches far-field conditions. Separating the antenna under test and the instrumentation antenna by this distance reduces the phase front variation of the received wavefront enough for a plane wave approach.

ANTENNA TEST SETUPBased on the given outdoor environment, a slanted range was adapted based on an equilateral triangle having a side length of 10.35 m with the antenna under test located at the downhill apex. One of the single-port VNA modules was directly connected to the USLP 9143 log-periodic antenna, which was installed on a Zaber rotary stage, and the other was con-nected to a tripod-mounted TDK preci-sion log-periodic antenna (acting as the illuminator), also fixed on a tripod.

Table 1: Qualitative difference between the applied gain calculation methods for USLP 9143.

Table 2: Qualitative difference for SAS-571 between specified and calculated gain.

Antennas


The aim was to verify antenna pattern and gain at four individual frequencies: 700, 800, 1000 and 2000 MHz.

The antenna under test was mounted in the apex of the triangle, with the “illuminator” on one opposing side and a standard gain horn antenna on the other. This arrangement ensures that no mechanical changes are required for the later planned gain measurements. The distance and therefore the free space loss (FSL) is constant and just a re-align-ment with a laser is necessary to switch from antenna pattern to antenna gain measurements.

A MATLAB script was used to control the ShockLine VNA modules through the ShockLine GUI software and the Zaber stepper motor.

MEASUREMENT RESULTSTypical gain results are shown in Tables 1 and 2, while the radiation patterns in Figs. 2 and 3 are normalised to the maxi-mum value in bore sight direction and smoothed with an average moving filter with a span of 3.

Comparing the results with USLP 9143 supplier specification shows that the form and shape are matching, but the results are more fringed than and not as smooth as those given by the supplier. This is due to reflections resulting from the non-ideal environment (distance to earth, lighting masts close to the measurement area, buildings etc.).

CONCLUSIONThe aim of this measurement campaign was to prove the viability of free-space antenna measurements “on the lawn” using Anritsu ShockLine single-port USB VNA MS46121A modules that are linked over a long distance using an active USB-to-LAN converter.

The planned result was a qualita-tive comparison between the suppliers’ USLP 9143 specification and measured results of the antenna’s radiation pattern and realised gain. It has been possible to show that a limited investment in test & measurement hardware can deliver reasonably accurate results even in an environment that is far from optimal for antenna characterisation. The experi-mental setup is ideally suited to VHF and UHF applications where engineers are interested in quick results in order to prove antenna designs.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTThe content of this article is based on a student work at RWTH Aachen Univer-sity’s Institute of High Frequency Tech-nology that was supported by Anritsu GmbH. A full version of the original White Paper is available from Anritsu.

REFERENCES1 Anritsu, ShockLine™ 1-Port USB VNA

MS46121A, Available online at https://www.anritsu.com/en-US/test-measure-ment/products/ms46121a

2 Jeffrey A. Fordham: “An introduction to antenna test ranges, measurements and instrumentation”, Microwave Instrumentation Technologies, LLC: http://cuminglehman.com/wp-content/uploads/Introduction_to_Antenna_Test_Ranges_Measurements_Instrumenta-tion.pdf

3 S. Burgos, M. Sierra-Castañer: “In-troduction to antenna measurement systems”, Technical University of Madrid: http://ocw.upm.es/teoria-de-la-senal-y-comunicaciones-1/antenna-design-and-measurement-techniques/contenido/MaterialCursoAthensUPM26/intro-antenna-meas_athens09_def2.pdf

4 N.K. Nikolova, “Lecture 8: Basic Methods in Antenna Measurements”, Canada Research Chair in High-fre-quency Electromagnetics, 2014: http://www.ece.mcmaster.ca/faculty/niko-lova/antenna_dload/current_lectures/L08_Measure.pdf

5 Sergiy Pivnenko, “Antenna Measure-ments - Fundamentals and Advanced Techniques”, 24th International Travel-ling Summer School on Microwaves and Lightwaves, Technical University of Denmark, 2014: http://www.itss.ems.elektro.dtu.dk/~/media/Subsites/ITSS/Forside/Programme(1)/Professors/L17%20%20Antenna%20Measure-ments_ITSS2014.ashx

Antennas

The ETSI Technical Committee for Re-configurable Radio Systems (TC RRS) has announced the completion of the specification for the support of Licensed Shared Access (LSA). This provides a means to enable spectrum sharing coordination between LSA licensees and existing spectrum licensees, thereby ensuring Quality of Service (QoS).

The recently completed specification, ETSI TS 103 379 addresses information elements and protocols for the opera-tion of Licensed Shared Access in the 2300 MHz - 2400 MHz band. The docu-ment defines the application protocol, also known as LSA1 protocol, on the interface between the LSA Controller and the LSA Repository, and the content of the information conveyed by this protocol.

With this new specification, ETSI TC RRS completes a set of specifications that opens the way for interoperable

implementation of LSA Repositories and LSA Controllers to support LSA deploy-

ments in the initial target band (2 300 MHz - 2 400 MHz). Extensions to other bands are not precluded, in response to future regulatory requirements. It is the intention to take such future require-ments as well as additional features into consideration when starting a new release of the LSA specifications.

In the LSA architecture, the LSA repository contains information on spectrum resource availability, which is

dependent on existing current holder of spectrum rights of use required usage and in accordance with each country’s specific regulatory regime. The LSA Controller resides in the network opera-tor’s domain to ensure that the network configuration complies with the instruc-tions received from the LSA Reposi-tory. The LSA1 protocol thus provides a reliable and flexible means to ensure that the information is synchronized between controller and repository, including con-firmation of compliance by the LSA Con-troller after any change of restrictions.

In addition, ETSI TC RRS has started new work to address the different techni-cal possibilities for local high-quality wireless networks to access spectrum temporarily on a shared basis. A Technical Report will be finalized during this year.

www.etsi.org

Licensed Shared Access specs available from ETSI

https://www.anritsu.com/en-US/test-measurement/products/ms46121a



http://cuminglehman.com/wp-content/uploads/Introduction_to_Antenna_Test_Ranges_Measurements_Instrumentation.pdf




http://ocw.upm.es/teoria-de-la-senal-y-comunicaciones-1/antenna-design-and-measurement-techniques/contenido/MaterialCursoAthensUPM26/intro-antenna-meas_athens09_def2.pdf





http://www.ece.mcmaster.ca/faculty/nikolova/antenna_dload/current_lectures/L08_Measure.pdf




http://www.itss.ems.elektro.dtu.dk/~/media/Subsites/ITSS/Forside/Programme(1)/Professors/L17%20%20Antenna%20Measurements_ITSS2014.ashx






Antennas

In a demonstration that could revolu-tionize the rapid design and prototyp-ing of radio frequency applications

such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, wireless sensing and communications devices, research-ers at Duke University have 3-D printed potent electromagnetic metamaterials, using an electrically conductive material compatible with a standard 3-D printer.

Synthetic materials composed of many individual, engineered devices called cells that together produce prop-erties not found in nature, Metamaterials can be tailored to have unnatural proper-ties such as bending light backwards, focusing electromagnetic waves onto multiple areas and perfectly absorbing specific wavelengths of light. However, previous efforts have been constrained to 2-D circuit boards, limiting their effec-tiveness and abilities and making their fabrication difficult.

In a new paper appearing online in the journal Applied Physics Letters, Duke materials scientists and chemists have shown a way to bring electromagnetic metamaterials into the third dimension using common 3-D printers.

“There are a lot of complicated 3-D metamaterial structures that people have imagined, designed and made in small numbers to prove they could work,” said Steve Cummer, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Duke. “The challenge in transition-ing to these more complicated designs has been the manufacturing process. With the ability to do this on a common 3-D printer, anyone can build and test a potential prototype in a matter of hours with relatively little cost.”

The key to making 3-D printed elec-tromagnetic metamaterials a reality was finding the right conductive material to run through a commercial 3-D printer. Such printers usually use plastics, which are typically terrible at conduct-ing electricity.

While there are a few commercially available solutions that mix metals in with the plastics, none are conductive enough to create viable electromagnetic metamaterials. While metal 3-D printers do exist, they cost as much as $1 million and take up an entire room.

That’s where Benjamin Wiley, Duke as-sociate professor of chemistry, came in.

“Our group is really good at making conductive materials,” said Wiley, who has been exploring these materials for nearly a decade. “We saw this gap and realized there was a huge unexplored space to be filled and thought we had the experience and knowledge to give it a shot.”

Wiley and Shengrong Ye, a postdoc-toral researcher in his group, created a 3-D printable material that is 100 times more conductive than anything currently on the market. The material is currently being sold under the brand name Elec-trifi by Multi3D LLC, a startup founded by Wiley and Ye. While still not nearly as conductive as regular copper, Cummer thought that it might just be conductive enough to create a 3-D printed electro-magnetic metamaterial.

In the paper, Cummer and doctoral student Abel Yangbo Xie show that not only is Electrifi conductive enough, it interacts with radio waves almost

as strongly as traditional metamateri-als made with pure copper. That small difference is easily made up for by the printed metamaterials’ 3-D geometry – the results show that the 3-D printed metamaterial cubes interact with elec-tromagnetic waves 14 times better than their 2-D counterparts.

By printing numerous cubes, each tailored to specifically interact with an electromagnetic wave in a certain way, and combining them like Lego building blocks, researchers can begin to build new devices. For the devices to work, however, the electromagnetic waves must be roughly the same size as the individual blocks. While this rules out the visible spectrum, infrared and X-rays, it leaves open a wide design space in radio waves and microwaves.

“We’re now starting to get more ag-gressive with our metamaterial designs to see how much complexity we can build and how much that might improve performance,” said Cummer. “Many previous designs were complicated to

3-D printers enable quick construction of electromagnetic metamaterialsBy Duke University

An illustration of how 3-D-printed metamaterial unit cells could be combined like Lego blocks to create structures that bend or focus microwave radiation more powerfully than any material found in nature. Image courtesy of Abel Yangbo Xie, Duke University.


make in large samples. You could do it for a scientific paper once just to show it worked, but you’d never want to do it again. This makes it a lot easier. Every-thing is on the table now.”

“We think this could change how the radio frequency industry prototypes new devices in the same way that 3-D printers changed plastic-based de-

signs,” said Wiley. “When you can hand off your designs to other people or exactly copy what somebody else has done in a matter of hours, that really speeds up the design process.”

This work was supported by a Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative grant from the Office of Naval Research.

REFERENCEMicrowave Metamaterials Made by Fused Deposition 3D Printing of a Highly Conductive Copper-based Filament. Yangbo Xie, Shengrong Ye, Christopher Reyes, Pariya Sithikong, Bogdan Popa, Benjamin J. Wiley, and Steven A. Cum-mer. Applied Physics Letters, 2017. DOI: 10.1063/1.4982718

Wi-Fi Holograms

Scientists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed a holo-graphic imaging process that depicts the radiation of a Wi-Fi transmitter to generate three-dimensional images of the surrounding environment.

Just like peering through a win-dow, holograms project a seemingly three-dimensional image. While optical holograms require elaborate laser tech-nology, generating holograms with the microwave radiation of a Wi-Fi transmit-ter requires merely one fixed and one movable antenna, as Dr. Friedenmann Reinhard and Philipp Holl report in the current issue of the renowned scientific journal Physical Review Letters.

“Using this technology, we can generate a three-dimensional image of the space around the Wi-Fi transmit-ter, as if our eyes could see microwave radiation,” says Friedemann Reinhard, director of the Emmy Noether Re-search Group for Quantum Sensors at the Walter Schottky Institute of the TU Munich. The researchers envision fields of deployment especially in the domain of industry 4.0 - automated industrial facilities, in which localizing parts and devices is often difficult.

Processes that allow the localiza-tion of microwave radiation, even through walls, or in which changes in a signal pattern signify the presence of a person already exist. The novelty is that an entire space can be imaged via holographic processing of Wi-Fi or cell phone signals.

“Of course, this raises privacy ques-tions. After all, to a certain degree even encrypted signals transmit an image of their surroundings to the outside world,” says the project leader, Friede-mann Reinhard. “However, it is rather unlikely that this process will be used for the view into foreign bedrooms in the near future. For that, you would need to go around the building with a large antenna, which would hardly go

unnoticed. There are simpler ways available.

Until now, generating im-ages from microwave radiation required special-purpose trans-mitters with large bandwidths. Using holographic data process-ing, the very small bandwidths of typical household Wi-Fi trans-mitters operating in the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands were sufficient for the researchers. Even Bluetooth and cell phone signals can be used. The wavelengths of these devices correspond to a spatial resolution of a few centimeters.

“Instead of a using a movable antenna, which measures the image point by point, one can use a larger number of anten-nas to obtain a video-like image frequency,” says Philipp Holl, who executed the experiments. “Future Wi-Fi frequencies, like the proposed 60 GHz IEEE 802.11 stan-dard will allow resolutions down to the millimeter range.”

Well-known optical methods for im-age processing can also be deployed in Wi-Fi holography: One example is the dark-field methodology used in mi-croscopy, which improves the recogni-tion of weakly diffracting structures. A further process is white-light hologra-phy in which the researchers use the remaining small bandwidth of the Wi-Fi transmitter to eliminated noise from scattered radiation.

The concept of treating microwave holograms like optical images allows the microwave image to be combined with camera images. The additional information extracted from the micro-wave images can be embedded into the camera image of a smart phone, for example to trace a radio tag attached to a lost item.

However, scientists are just at the beginning of the technological devel-

opment. For example, research on the transparency of specific materials is lacking. This knowledge would facilitate the development of paint or wall paper translucent to microwaves for privacy protection, while transparent materials could be deployed in factory halls to allow parts to be tracked.

The researchers hope that further ad-vancement of the technology may aid in the recovery of victims buried under an avalanche or a collapsed building. While conventional methods only allow point localization of victims, holographic sig-nal processing could provide a spatial representation of destroyed structures.

The research was funded by the Emmy Noether Program of the German Research Foundation (DFB) and the TUM Junior Fellow Fund.

Reference: Philipp M. Holl and Friede-mann Reinhard: Holography of Wi-fi Radiation. Physical Review Letters, 05.05.2017 - DOI: 10.1103/PhysRev-Lett.118.183901.

Using Wi-Fi data to generate precise 3-D images

A cross made of aluminum foil between the viewer and the WLAN-router can easily be re-constructed from the WLAN-hologram as can be seen in the inserted picture. Image courtesy of Friedemann Reinhard / Philipp Holl / TUM.


Interference

A continuous decline in revenue is one of the biggest challenges currently weighing heavily on

the minds of mobile operators. In a recent report, McKinsey estimated that revenue and cash flow of telecommu-nications companies has dropped by an average of 6% a year since 2010. Therefore, it is no surprise that mobile operators are seeking new ways to cut costs and alleviate the squeeze on margins.

But cutting costs is not the only chal-lenge faced by mobile network operators – they are also dealing with the increased pressure from subscribers. Customers have increasingly less patience for poor network service, with another McKinsey study listing network quality as the sec-ond most important decision factor when selecting a mobile plan. As one of the main reasons behind subscriber churn, operators need to realise the potential of Quality of Service (QoS) as a key differen-tiator in the market.

Greater efforts to identify the sources of performance issues in the network can provide operators with much needed network efficiency, as well as, helping operators to gain a competitive edge.

INCREASING NETWORK INTERFERENCEThe elimination of RF interference from radio access networks (RAN) is one area that can improve QoS and provide much needed savings for operators. With the ever-increasing proliferation of radio frequency (RF) spectrum, RF interference issues are becoming even more pronounced. In fact, an estimated 71% of mobile operators now have a regular problem with interference. This in turn negatively affects transmission coverage and network capacity, result-ing in dropped calls and other quality of experience issues for operators and their customers. And if not located and fixed straight away, interference can negatively impact CapEx and OpEx.

But hunting for interference can be like finding a needle in a haystack. And the process is costing European opera-tors valuable time, money and poten-tially customers. Up until recently, the

equipment used to scan for interference was heavy, clumsy and even involved engineers using wheelbarrows to search for the source of interference.

Engineers would also spend days, if not weeks, locating the source of interference. And reflection, diffraction, scattering and multipath can cause confusion in isolating the offending

interference source. This can result in a significant amount of troubleshooting time, which can prove to be even more complicated in urban environments.

The time and cost spent to isolate a complex interference source is far from efficient with respect to resource and potential customer churn. And with increasingly crowded airwaves, inter-

Hunting interference to reduce churn and drive profitsBy Kashif Hussain

Viavi Interference Advisor diagram.

Sites where high RSSI was reported.


ference is only going to become more prevalent in networks.

HARNESSING THE RIGHT TOOLSWith new technology now available, the process of hunting for interference has been made simpler and more efficient for the engineers on the ground. And these advances in technology will be vital for mobile operators to improve QoS and achieve cost-savings at a time when they need it most.

Light-weight, cable free, and fully au-tomated Wi-Fi enabled testing equipment offers immediate benefits to engineers who are no longer hindered by heavy tools. Engineers can hunt for interference from the driver’s seat, safely managing the entire process without stepping out-side of the vehicle.

The use of low-cost automation tech-nology can also significantly reduce the time spent on site detecting interference. Features such as automated interfer-ence navigation guides indicate the area of interference to the user, while voice prompts and map-style applications can direct the user straight to the suspected interference location. This technology is easy to set up and requires minimal train-ing for the user.

By equipping engineers with smarter, more efficient tools, operators are now able to isolate and eliminate interference in as little as a few hours. The overall reduction in maintenance time can have huge savings for operators over the course of a year. In turn, the reduced subscriber churn from improved QoS can significantly bring down the costs for the operator further.

PUTTING THE TECHNOLOGY TO THE TESTViavi recently worked with an operator in Europe that was reporting high Received

Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) prob-lems, which were affecting a specific LTE physical resource block (PRB). The interfering signal could be easily ob-served at the radio unit on the tower, but was difficult to detect on the ground due to a low signal level. Despite this, it was affecting LTE uplink throughput.

The two sites repeatedly report-ing high RSSI in LTE services were 400 metres apart. To identify the location of highest power, all of the streets between both sites needed to be covered. Viavi performed an on-site measurement as the interferer could not be seen from the ground level. By doing this, it was able to detect a single tone interference at a specific PRB.

Using automated software, Viavi suc-cessfully identified the most probable area after just 6 minutes of driving. The team parked the car near the suspected area and performed a manual hunt us-ing a handheld, light-weight component that could pinpoint the direction of the strongest interferer signal received. The manual hunt indicated that the stron-

gest signal was coming from a TV signal booster on the 9th floor of an apartment building, which is why it was so difficult to detect from the ground. As soon as the TV booster was removed, the problem was eliminated. With the help of automa-ton and portable equipment, Viavi was able to dramatically speed up the interfer-ence finding process and eliminate the problem for the operator.

THE WAY FORWARDWith the ever-increasing complexity of wireless networks, service providers need to look for smarter, efficient solutions to combat interference head on. New technology is constantly evolving to help mobile operators meet this objective. Taking advantage of these technolo-gies will be vital for operators to improve quality of service, reduce churn and cut much-needed costs.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:Kashif Hussain, CellAdvisor Solutions Marketing at Viavi Solutions - www.viavi-solutions.com

Antenna Advisor.

Interference

According to Frost & Sullivan the benefits of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) access and Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunking services are prompting enterprise customers to transition to fully converged, IP-based networks, without having to overhaul existing IT networks.

Businesses aiming to lower opera-tional expenditure and obtain significant returns on investments (ROI) are being

drawn to SIP trunking’s attractively priced services, layered with value ad-ditions such as voicemail, mobility and collaboration tools. Disruptive pricing, packaging, feature/functionality and business models within the existing VoIP access and SIP trunking market, as well as the emerging Communica-tions Platform as a Service (CPaaS) space, are accelerating adoption among

enterprises and heating up competition among service providers.

In it latest report, Frost & Sullivan es-timates that market revenue is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.5 percent from 2015 to 2020, and a user base at a CAGR of 18.1 percent.

ww2.frost.com

ROI of converged IP-based access services drives VoIP and SIP Trunking


Antennas

The market is rocketing towards automated assembly and will drive component manufacturers towards

surface mount tape-and-reel packag-ing of devices such as microwave ferrite circulators and isolators – lowering costs and cutting defects.

Because of its incredible stability under extreme environmental condi-tions, ferrite material has been a trusted core material for many components. But in particular, they’re used in RF and microwave circulators and isolators for their unique ferromagnetic interactions with electromagnetic energy. The oppos-ing magnetic fields of two ferrite disks coupled with a stripline, or y-junction, can be biased in such a way as to force signal transmission in one direction or halt it. This material property has led to the development of circulators, isolators, and isolator/switches, which are unique-ly capable amongst RF/microwave components, as there are no effective semiconductor solutions that improve or replace this legacy technology. However, application and market demands in the military, defense, aerospace, and critical communications arenas require innova-tion with these vital components to meet modern expectations and increasing cost pressures.

RF AND MICROWAVE CIRCULATORS AND ISOLATORSCirculators and isolators – which are simply circulators with a matched load on one of the ports – have offered unique solutions in RF circuitry since their inception, from legacy military components to state-of-the-art satel-lite communications. Circulators are a cornerstone component in the RF signal chain, for protective isolation, bidirec-tional communications, and high isola-tion switching. These devices effectively leverage the interaction between ferrite materials to direct the flow of EM signals in one direction with little reflection and low leakage into the other ports, which is why this category of components are commonly dubbed ferrites. Most circula-

tors are three-port passive components with a low insertion loss (S21, S32, S13) and high return losses (S11, S22, S33) where the return losses are essentially the same as the isolation between all unused ports, a benefit of the non-recip-rocal nature of this device.

Conventional circulators tend to be bulky due to the ferrite disks and length of transmission line used for impedance matching. These components are also hand assembled and tuned with internal matching networks or variable capaci-tors for minimum insertion and maximum isolation. This process is viable when volumes for microwave modules are low and packaging is geared for maximum performance as opposed to automa-tion. Now, with volumes creeping up and RF/microwave circuitry getting smaller, the pressure to keep costs down are increasing leading to the necessity for a complete suite of lower cost, faster to install surface mount components.

CIRCULATOR APPLICATIONSModern radar and communications manufacturers are under pressure to re-duce weight and lower costs. Integrated microwave assemblies now offer smaller platforms to accomplish functions that

used to necessitate large assembly and subassembly sizes. Phased array radar antennas, particularly actively scan-ning phased array radar, can require hundreds to thousands of transmit/receive (T/R ) modules to meet mission performance criteria. These T/R mod-ules leverage duplexers, or circulators, to enable the antenna to be shared between the transmit. This is done by switching between the receive path and the transmit path during the transmitted pulse and back to the receive path dur-ing the echo pulse. Circulators offer this switching while still isolating transmit and receive paths. A reduction in size and cost of circulator components would also amount to desirable effects in a phased array overall cost and size.

With 5G being the next major phase of mobile telecommunications and massive MIMO already being applied im-proved coverage, current base stations will potentially be outfitted with a mas-sive amount of antennas. These installa-tions will require optimal efficiency in the size, weight, power, and cost (SWAP-C) microwave and millimeter wave circuitry, especially as phased-array antennas are considered the likely choice for imple-menting millimeter-wave systems. Cir-

5G and phased array antennas driving SMT packaging and lowering costs of microwave ferrite circulators and isolatorsBy Smiths Interconnect


culators are also an enabling technology for full-duplex radios, low probability of intercept (LPI) radar, and many satellite communications. With radar entering the commercial and industrial space, there are more applications that require easily-integrated components. According to Research and Markets, the X-band radar market is estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.1% from 2016 to 2021 – making X-band radar one of the most rapid up-wards trending application in the entire radar market for marine, air surveillance, space, and various defense and military applications.

To conclude, the market is rocketing towards automated assembly and will drive component manufacturers towards surface mount tape-and-reel packaging of their devices.

THE REVOLUTION OF TRUE SMT CIRCULATORSTypically, incorporating circulators into a PCB design involves cut-outs prior to

installation, to provide a better mechani-cal stability for the bulky component. During assembly, a circulator is normally screwed down and soldered. This level of hand assembly, and the additional assembly components and stages, comes with added risks and costs. For example, while soldering, the hot iron can induce excessive heat, ultimately damaging the magnetic circuit of the circulator. Rough handling of a circula-tor or isolator can also affect the device performance.

With hand assembly eliminated from the process, and with high precision au-tomation replacing it, these added costs and failure points could be eliminated. In order to reduce the design consider-ations and failure rates with less human error, a true surface mount technol-ogy (SMT) circulator with comparable performance to prior technologies would be necessary. Hence, Smiths Intercon-nect’s TRAK Microwave brand’s efforts and investment in developing a true SMT X-band circulator with adequate isola-

tion, insertion loss, and power handling to replace prior circulator technology.

Though there has been some head-way in semiconductor-based active SMT circulators on chip, the performance of these devices has yet to approach what is necessary to meet mission critical per-formance expectations. TRAK’s ferrite-based true SMT circulator maintains a passive non-reciprocal behavior, as opposed to recent active SMT circula-tors. These active devices emulate ferrite EM radiation manipulation, but func-tion without ferrites, so require external biasing or external matching network. Thus, these active devices add design restrictions and considerations, and offer limited bandwidths and isolation. With North America dominating the growth in the X-band radar market, X-band SMT circulators have more practical uses than ever with automation, accessibility, and a tune-free/hassle-free design.

http://smithsinterconnect.com

Antennas

National Instruments (NI) and AT&T have announced their collaboration on one of the world’s fastest and most accurate tools for 5G millimeter wave (mmWave) channel characterization.

In order to acheive the bandwidths needed to drive 5G, mmWave frequen-cies look to play a big role in the future of 5G. They have already been earmarked by the FCC, 3GPP and other standard-ization bodies for 5G mobile networks. Channel measurements capture how wireless signals are affected in a given environment – for instance they can show how signals reflect off of, or are blocked by, objects, such as trees, build-ings, cars and even people.

Wireless channel characterization is very important for wireless research-ers defining 5G technologies as it will help lay the foundation for the architec-ture and design of these new wireless networks. AT&T and NI believe this work will likely play a role in AT&T’s future 5G deployment, through the creation of accurate models that help map out the details of where AT&T places its network equipment.

“Utilizing mmWave spectrum for mo-bile 5G presents many challenges which

we believe can be solved,” said Marachel Knight, senior vice president of wireless network architecture and design, AT&T. “We identified early on that designing and real-time monitoring of mmWave spectrum needs to be much more pre-cise than today’s cellular systems. With the help of NI’s flexible hardware and software platform, AT&T developed a new type of channel sounder and we’re using it to develop highly-advanced models that will work for our network.”

Nicknamed internally within AT&T as the “Porcupine,” the channel sounder is the first of its kind and is proprietary to AT&T. It provides real-time channel parameter measurement and monitoring capability. The channel sounder, de-signed by AT&T, utilizes an architecture based on NI’s mmWave Transceiver Sys-tem. This one-of-a-kind design provides several key advantages. It allows angle-of-arrival (AoA) measurements that would typically take 15 minutes or more to be completed (using pan-tilt units) to be performed within 150 milliseconds and display the results in real-time.

The channel sounder uniquely cap-tures channel measurements where all the data is acquired and processed

in real-time. Other channel sounding approaches capture raw data and post process to characterize the channel while only giving one-measurement every 15 minutes. The “Porcupine” on the other hand can provide about 6,000 measure-ments in that time. It’s like capturing 15-minutes of action with a video instead of a still photo.

The capability of real-time measure-ment eliminates the need to repeat experiments or to adjust the equipment to take multiple measurements from one location. Since parameter extrac-tion is done in real-time, the integrity of collected data can also be evaluated in real-time.

http://about.att.comwww.ni.com

NI and AT&T collaborate on fast mmWave channel sounders for 5G


Using a depth sensor that tracks move-ments of the thumb and index finger on and above the back of the hand, researchers have developed a method that can control smartwatches as well as smartphones, smart TVs and devices for augmented and virtual reality.

The “Apple Watch Series 2”, “LG Watch”, “Samsung GEAR S3” or “Moto 360 2nd Gen” all have the same prob-lem. “Every new product generation has better screens, better processors, better cameras, and new sensors, but regarding input, the limitations remain,” explains Srinath Sridhar, a researcher in the Graphics, Vision and Video group at the Max Planck Institute for Informatics.

Together with Christian Theobalt, head of the Graphics, Vision and Video group at MPI, Anders Markussen and Sebastian Boring at the University of Copenhagen and Antti Oulasvirta at Aalto University in Finland, Srinath Sridhar has developed an input method that requires only a small camera to track fingertips in mid-air, and touch and position of the fingers on the back of the hand. This combination enables more expressive interactions than any previ-ous sensing technique.

Regarding hardware, the prototype, which the researchers have named “WatchSense”, requires only a depth sensor, a much smaller version of the well-known “Kinect” game controller from the Xbox 360 video game console. With WatchSense, the depth sensor is worn on the user’s forearm, about 20-cm from the watch. As a sort of 3D camera, it captures the movements of

the thumb and index finger, not only on the back of the hand but also in the space over and above it.

The software developed by the researchers recognizes the position and movement of the fingers within the 3D image, allowing the user to control apps on smartphones or other devices. “The currently available depth sensors do not fit inside a smartwatch, but from the trend it’s clear that in the near future, smaller depth sensors will be integrated into smartwatches,” Sridhar says.

In addition, according to Sridhar, with their software sys-tem the scientists also had to solve the challenges of handling the unevenness of the back of the hand and the fact that the fingers can occlude each other when they are moved.

“The most important thing is that we can not only recognize the fingers, but also distinguish between them,” explains Sridhar, “which nobody else had managed to do before in a wearable form factor. We can now do this even in real time.”

The software recognizes the exact positions of the thumb and index finger in the 3D image from the depth sensor, because the researchers trained it to do this via machine learning. In addi-tion, the researchers have successfully tested their prototype in combination with several mobile devices and in vari-ous scenarios.

“Smartphones can be operated with one or more fingers on the display, but they do not use the space above it. If both are combined, this enables previ-ously impossible forms of interaction,” explains Sridhar.

He and his colleagues were able to show that with WatchSense, in a music program, the volume could be adjusted and a new song selected more quickly than was possible with a smartphone’s Android app. The researchers also test-ed WatchSense for tasks in virtual and augmented reality, in a map application, and used it to control a large external screen. Preliminary studies showed that WatchSense was more satisfactory for each case than conventional touch-sensitive displays.

Using the space on and above the back of the hand to operate smart devices

Gesture Control

A novel input method expands the input space to the back of the hand and the 3-D space above it. Image courtesy of Oliver Dietze.

EIT Digital has launched “Robot IoT In-terface”, a new activity being developed with the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) and Poitiers-based startup Agileo Automa-tion with the goal of enabling different kind of robots and machines to connect to different cloud platforms.

“Robots and machines may produce data in a standard or non-standard format according to their internal con-troller. The devised solution is a generic gateway that can receive the produced

data, translate it into an OPC-UA model and then make it available in an IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) platform located in the cloud,” Agileo’s Managing Director Marc Engel says.

To achieve this Agileo, with its strong experience on developing middle-ware applications to control robotized production tools, will be able to benefit from the scientific expertise of the CEA which can make knowledge and tech-nological transfer and build commercial products that fit their activities.

“The global problem that we want to address with Agileo is the interoper-ability within the factory of the future by investigating the different infrastructures allowing machines to machines as well as machines to clouds connection,” CEA’s Research Engineer Selma Azaiez explains.

www.eitdigital.euwww.cea.fr/englishwww.agileo-automation.com

“Robot IoT Interface” connects macines to the cloud


Products

Universal low-power RAIN RFID chipThe UCODE 8 RAIN RFID chip platform from NXP Semiconductors is a universal RAIN RFID chip designed to ensure high inventory accuracy on all retail product categories through best-in-class read sensitivity.

The auto adjust feature ensures a consistently high performance read-rate across different product materials and global deployments. The feature lowers cost by reducing the need for dedicated regional antenna designs.

The automated error correction for memory data also improves data accu-racy and ensures that memory data content will remain unchanged over the entire product lifecycle. Its dual-axis glue spacer design and large area gold con-tact pads can reduce failure rates caused by mechanical stress at the antenna con-tacts and thereby eliminate performance degradation. Additionally the unique brand identifier feature validates product authentication and helps identify fakes to combat grey market activities.

www.nxp.com

PA module with field-replaceable connectorscovers 0.1 to 20 GHzRichardson RFPD, Inc., has announced the availability and full design support capabilities for the HMC-C582 ultra-wide-band power amplifier module from Analog Devices, Inc.

The HMC-C582 is a GaAs MMIC pHEMT power amplifier in a miniature, hermetic module with replaceable SMA connectors that operates between 0.01 GHz and 20 GHz. The device typically provides 24 dB of gain, up to +36 dBm output IP3, and up to +26 dBm of output power at 1 dB gain compres-sion. Inputs/outputs (I/Os) are internally matched to 50 Ω and are DC blocked. Integrated voltage regulators allow flex-ible biasing and sequencing control for robust operation.

Excellent gain flatness across the operating frequency range makes the amplifier module ideal for electronic warfare (EW), electronic countermeasures (ECM), radar, fiber optic, and test equip-ment applications.

Additional key features of the HMC-C582 include a single 15 V supply; gain flatness of ±1.5 dB (at 2-20 GHz); dimen-sions of 1.75- x 1.62- x 0.525-inches; and hermetic ML-4-1 packaging.

www.richardsonrfpd.com

UniPro/UFS protocol analyzer and exerciser

Teledyne LeCroy has introduced the Eclipse M32 UniPro/UFS protocol ana-lyzer and exerciser to assist design and test engineers working in the high data rates and aggressive power management of the UniPro and UFS specifications over the MIPI®M-PHY physical interface.

Delivering in-depth testing and analy-sis, automated quality testing as well as compliance/conformance verification in one package, the Eclipse M32 fully sup-ports the MIPI®M-PHY v3.1 HS-G3, the UniPro v1.61 and the UFS v2.1 speci-fications. Further, the Eclipse M32 can be upgraded to the MIPI®M-PHY v4.1 HS-G4 as well as the UniPro v1.8 specifi-cations when they become available.

The Eclipse M32 platform along with its UniPro M Series Protocol suite provide a robust system to capture and debug UniPro/UFS traffic. Acting as a stand-alone protocol analyzer or as a analyzer/exerciser, the it offers a complete proto-col solution from analysis and traffic gen-eration, to conformance or compliance testing and automated stress testing.

In the Teledyne LeCroy UniPro M Series Protocol Suite, application stan-dard protocol analysis views are aug-mented with an Events window showing detailed activity on the bus. The Events window provides a complete picture of all events while still allowing the user to drill down to the byte level. This powerful display is time-aligned to display fillers, Prepare, Sync, Hibern8, Sleep, Stall and other M-PHY level packets.

Through use of its advanced software suite the Eclipse M32 is able to auto-matically identify and evaluate millions of packets, transactions and complete pro-tocol sequences for conformance to the specification. Complex transactions such as power mode changes and Link Startup Sequence events can be automatically analyzed many times, finding issues that even an expert engineer might miss. With the Conformance Test Suite (CTS) the Eclipse M32 exerciser provides confor-mance/compliance verification, as well as margin, corner case, and automated stress testing.

www.teledynelecroy.com

SIP enables flexible wireless designs Microchip Technology has announced the SAM R30 System in Package (SiP) that incorporates an ultra-low power microcontroller with an 802.15.4 sub-GHz radio, providing multi-year battery life in a compact 5 mm package.

As the demand for battery-powered wirelessly connected systems continues to rise, the low-power SAM R30 meets the extremely power-conscious needs of these markets with features that extend battery life for multiple years. The SiP is built using the SAM L21 MCU which lever-ages the Cortex® M0+ architecture, the most energy efficient ARM®-based archi-tecture available. The SAM R30 features ultra-low power sleep modes, with wake from serial communication or General-Pur-pose Input/Output (GPIO) while consum-ing a mere 500nA.

The SAM R30 SiP Delivering design flexibility and proven reliability all in a small package, the SIP is ideal for connected home, smart city and industrial applica-tions.

With the ability to operate within the 769-935 MHz range, the SAM R30 SiP gives developers the flexibility to imple-ment a point-to-point, star or mesh network. Microchip helps developers


Products

get started immediately with Microchip’s free MiWi™ point-to-point/star network protocol stack. Mesh networking capabili-ties will be available later this year. Nodes outfitted with the SiP can be positioned as far as one kilometer apart, with the ability to double the range in a star topology. When used in a mesh network, the SAM R30 delivers reliable wide-area coverage for applications such as street lighting or wind and solar farms.

Developers can begin prototyping immediately with the ATSAMR30-XPRO development board, a convenient USB-interfaced development board that is sup-ported by the easy-to-use Atmel Studio 7 Software Development Kit (SDK).

www.microchip.com

LTE-A RF conformance test systemboasts Cat-M1 GCF certificationAnritsu Corporation has announced that the LTE-Advanced RF Conformance Test System ME7873LA has won the first GCF certification for the Cat-M1 RF Confor-mance Test as part of IoT communications technology. This certification gives Anritsu the world lead in GCF-certified test cases.

Many network operators have announced introduction of Cat-M1 and NB-IoT technologies, for use by mobile networks supporting the approaching explosive growth of the “IoT Society”. These technologies are based on the LTE standards in 3GPP Release 13 defining the IoT Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) network technology supporting commu-nications at low power over wide cover-age areas.

Large North American network opera-tors are starting to deploy Cat-M1 from this April and further introductions in Japan, Europe and North America are expected during 2017. In addition, NB-IoT

is announced for services in Europe, China and South Korea.

For the future, these IoT communica-tions technologies are expected to see active adoption in various fields, includ-ing smart meters, home-security sys-tems, lighting, freight tracking, vending machines, health care appliances, and many more.

With this GCF certification, the ME7873LA is the world leader with more than 70 test cases for frequency bands in Japan, North America, and Europe.

Anritsu also expects the ME7873LA to lead GCF/PTCRB certification for NB-IoT alongside Cat-M1. The company is continuing to focus efforts on develop-ing conformance test systems to assist further development and deployment of IoT technologies.

www.anritsu.com

Tiny quad-band LTE Cat M1 moduletargets multi-regional IoT and M2MSwiss company, u-blox claims to offer the smallest available quad-band LTE Cat M1 module, the SARA-R410M, which enables remote devices to connect directly to 4G networks – aiding the rollout of Internet of Things (IoT) and machine-to-machine (M2M) applications, from smart meter-ing to connected healthcare, and from industrial control and monitoring to smart buildings and cities.

The 16- x 26-mm form factor enables designers to keep device sizes to a mini-mum and is the same as the company’s existing 2G and 3G modules. This means designers can easily migrate from earlier modules to take advantage of LTE Cat M1, without changing their circuit board designs.

Innovations included in the SARA-R10M design allow customers to use a single hardware version glob-ally. Depending on the installed software, SARA-R410M broadens the market to multi-regions. Thanks to its quad-band support, this device reaches all of North America to include not only the USA and Canada but also Mexico (B2/B4/B5/B12), or can also service markets in South America, Australia and New Zealand (B3/B5/B8/B28).

Operators and customers can deliver future firmware updates over-the-air with u-blox’s uFOTA client/server solution that uses LWM2M, a light and compact protocol that is ideal for IoT applications.

This will enable them to continue using the same hardware for new band configura-tions, operator certifications, features and functionalities, which can be added to the module over time.

Further, the SARA-R410M includes power-save mode (PSM) and extended discontinuous reception (eDRX) that together deliver battery life of up to 10 years. And with manufacturing in ISO/TS 16949 certified production sites and an extended operating temperature range of –40°C to +85°C, it is ideal for industrial applications.

The module also boasts extended range, meaning it can operate within build-ings or even basements. Its maximum coupling loss (MCL) of 155.7 dB is 15 dB better than GSM or LTE Cat 1.

www.u-blox.com

Thermoset laminatesan alternative to FR4 for wireless designers

Rogers Corporation has introduced Kappa™ 438 glass reinforced laminates that were developed for wireless circuit designers looking for a better perform-ing and more reliable alternative to FR-4 laminates.

Demand for wireless data is growing exponentially, driving a need for sub-stantially higher levels of mobile network capacity and performance. FR-4 was historically a material choice for many less demanding RF applications, but changes in the wireless infrastructure related to growing performance requirements, espe-cially in small cells and carrier-grade Wi-Fi/Licensed Assisted Access (LAA), has resulted in instances where the properties of FR-4 are lacking, and RF performance and consistency is compromised.

Wireless circuit designers can now enjoy a true breakthrough with Kappa 438 laminates because they feature the performance of mid-tier circuit materi-als that exceed performance limitations of FR-4, and provide the optimum blend of price, performance and durability.


Products

Kappa 438 Laminates have low loss, excellent dielectric constant (Dk) toler-ance, and tight thickness control and are engineered for outstanding, repeatable wireless performance.

Kappa 438 laminates have a low Z axis CTE and High Tg for improved design flexibility, PTH reliability, and automated assembly compatibility, and can be fabri-cated using standard epoxy/glass (FR-4) processes. These laminates are compat-ible with conventional bondplies and lead free solder processes, and have the UL 94 V-0 flame retardant rating. A design Dk of 4.38 tailored to FR-4 industry standard norms facilitates ease of converting exist-ing FR-4 designs where better electrical performance is needed.

www.rogerscorp.com

Tektronix enters VNA market with USB product

Tektronix has introduced the TTR500 Series USB Vector Network Analyzer, adding to the growing Tektronix port-folio of disruptive USB-based RF test instruments. Like the company’s highly successful USB-based spectrum ana-lyzers, the latest TTR500 Series deliv-ers an unmatched combination of low price and performance – 40 percent lower cost than alternatives capable of matching its 122 dB dynamic range and 6 GHz frequency range. It also includes advanced features including new VectorVu-PC analysis software and the only built-in bias tee for testing active devices in this category.

Among the markets with a critical need for an affordable VNA are Internet of Things (IoT) design and education. VNAs help IoT designers match Blue-tooth, WLAN, RFID and other radios to antennas. In many cases, designers must rent or borrow VNAs, adding time and expense to projects. In education, the high cost of VNAs means students get little to no hands-on time with an important instrument. The TTR500 Series dramatically lowers the barrier to entry and features an easy-to-use user interface for common tasks. Its small,

compact form factor eliminates the need to roll around a shared VNA.

“With its innovative architecture and disaggregated design, the TTR500 Series achieves the same level of performance as a benchtop VNA, but at 40 percent lower cost and one-seventh the size and weight of units with comparable performance,” said Jim McGillivary, general manager of RF and Component Solutions at Tektro-nix. “This new architecture also reduces component count and complexity for more reliability compared to benchtop VNAs.”

The TTR500 Series offers a full 2-port, 2-path S-parameter VNA for such appli-cations as measuring passive/active components, antennas and matching net-works, RF modules, test cables, adapt-ers and more. It features a solid set of specifications including 100 kHz to 6 GHz frequency range, 122 dB dynamic range, less than 0.008 dB trace noise, and -50 to +7 dBm output power, all in a compact package weighing less than 4 pounds.

An important feature of the TTR500 is the built-in bias tee that is accessible on both ports and allows for active devices, such as amplifiers, to be easily DC biased. No longer will users need to contend with an external bias tee or pay a premium for an instrument with an optional internal bias tee. The built-in bias tee allows for 0 to ± 24 V, and 0 to 200 mA on both ports for active devices.

The TTR500 works with any Windows PC or laptop and the VectorVu-PC soft-ware delivers a traditional look and feel for controlling and calibrating the instru-ment. It offers full point and click usability with the ease of PC-based networking for saving and sharing files. For automated test systems in design or manufacturing, VectorVu-PC offers programmatic support for SCPI commands, including com-mand compatibility with common legacy VNAs for easy integration into existing test systems. In addition, the software offers an offline mode for data analysis with an output file format compatible with common EDA simulation tools.

www.tek.com/TTR500

RF sub-modulesenable smaller mobile devices

Adressing the need for faster more complex Wi-Fi requirements in a smaller footprint, Murata has begun mass pro-duction of its LMFE3NFB-Jxx series RF sub-modules.

Murata has implemented its proprietary monolithic ceramic technology and semi-

conductor design technology to create an RF sub-module that incorporates the structural components required by the front-end circuit.

This greatly reduces the component mounting area and decreases the compo-nent contact points compared to circuits using the previous discrete structure. It also saves space for customers’ own designs, contributes to efficient use of design resources and a reduction of product development cycles. The tiny sub-modules measure just 3.0- x 3.0- x 0.9-mm maximum.

Aimed at mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet PCs, the sub-modules are compliant with Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, IEEE802.11a/b/g/n/ac and incorporate the required structural elements such as PA, LNA, RF switch, filter, duplexer and coupler. They are also compatible with the Qualcomm Atheros WCN3990 dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity chip set.

www.murata.com

Bluetooth smart moduleoffers “peripheral only” operating mode

The AMB2621 Bluetooth Smart module from AMBER wireless GmbH, a Würth Elektronik eiSos Group company, offers a special feature that enables smartphones or other devices to be connected with the “peripheral only” operating mode as well as standard control with UART com-mands.

Extremely compact, the energy-saving AMB2621 is a 2.4 GHz BLE wireless module based on the Bluetooth Smart 4.2 standard, sized just 11- x 8- x 1.8-mm,


Products

offered with or without integrated antenna. AMBER wireless uses the Nordic chip nRF52832 in this module, i.e. a 32-bit ARM Cortex-M4 CPU and a 512 kB flash memory. The AMB2621 firmware sup-ports the “peripheral only” operating mode allowing easy expansion of existing hard-ware with the BLE interface. In its default state, this mode provides static key pair-ing and a transparent UART interface.

“Our customers can install and use the module with ease, without having to previ-ously configure it and without changing the interface in their application in a big way”, explains Patrick Becker, Head of Sales at AMBER wireless. “We purpose-fully introduced the option of operating the wireless module as ‘peripheral’ in the sense of the Bluetooth protocol, as this covers around 90 percent of applications.”

Thanks to the “peripheral only” operat-ing mode, the AMB2621 Bluetooth Smart module is especially energy-saving, as the UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter) interface is only active once a wireless connection is established. Uncomplicated static passkey pairing is used as a security device as in the hands-free system in the car.

The AMB2621 Bluetooth Smart module is suitable for all manufacturers wishing to connect their electronic control with a mobile device. It does not make a differ-ence whether this control has been on the market for years or is just in the develop-ment phase. AMB2621 with peripheral mode is recommended whenever the module itself does not initiate any con-nections (i.e., is only contacted from the outside) or no user interface can be implemented, as the rest of the product is already ready.

All BLE profiles can be used with the AMB2621, i.e., besides the “periph-eral” profile mentioned, also “central”, “observer” and “broadcaster” profiles. The latter means sending beacons. Control of the module with commands allows numer-ous individual configurations.

www.amber-wireless.de

Test set measures WLAN DUT performance in actual operating conditionsAnritsu Company has announced a Network Mode for its MT8862A wire-less connectivity test set , which is an instrument capable of supporting vari-ous WLAN protocol standards such as IEEE802.11ac/n/a/g/b. This makes the MT8862A capable of measuring the per-

formance of an 802.11ac-capable WLAN device under test (DUT) in the actual operating state. With the Network Mode configuration, the MT8862A serves as a more efficient manufacturing test solution to verify WLAN chipsets designed into smartphones, smart home electronics, connected cars, and IoT systems, which eventually entails into faster time to market and lower testing cost.

RF performance characteristics, such as Tx power and Rx sensitivity (PER), as well as waveform coverage range can be measured over-the-air (OTA) using the Network Mode, which eliminates the need for dedicated vendor-provided test modes typically required for WLAN device verifi-cation. Removal of a physical connection establishes a more accurate representa-tion of the actual DUT performance in a real-world environment, as the measure-ments take into consideration the effect of the internal wireless antennas.

The MT8862A can be operated remotely via web browser from a control PC connected by Ethernet. This configura-tion simplifies conducting measurements by eliminating more complex setups, for more efficient testing.

www.anritsu.com

Low phase noise amplifierscover 1.5 GHz to 18 GHz

Pasternack has released its latest line of low phase noise amplifiers comprising five models that cover select frequency bands ranging from 1.5 to 18 GHz with residual phase noise levels as low as -180 dBc/Hz at 10 KHz offset. The ampli-fiers incorporate GaAs HBT MMIC semi-

conductor technology to deliver ultra-low phase noise performance over a wide dynamic range.

These amplifiers can be used to help optimize the sensitivity and dynamic range of higher performing test, radar and communication receiver designs where performance is dependent on how effectively the smallest and largest signal levels can be processed. Also, for systems that require amplification of weaker signals close to the noise floor, the low phase noise performance of these amplifiers can help reduce unwanted noise and distortion that can inhibit the quality of the transmit-ted signal. Typical applications include electronic warfare, microwave radio, VSAT, radar, space systems, test instrumentation and telecom infrastructure.

Additional performance specs include small signal gain ranging from 9 to 14 dB, with typical noise figure of 5.5 dB. Psat levels for these amplifiers range from +16 to +25 dBm with output IP3 levels as high as +34 dBm. All models feature single DC voltage supplies and input/output RF ports are internally matched for 50 ohms with DC blocking capacitors.

These compact module assemblies require no external components and are available in rugged Kovar™ metal drop-in packages that are gold-over-nickel-plated and support field replaceable SMA connectors. All models are EAR99 and guaranteed to meet MIL-STD-883 test conditions for hermeticity and tempera-ture cycle.

www.pasternack.com

USB-scope 25 GHz scopein 2- and 4-channel modelsPico Technology has increased the bandwidth of its PicoScope 9300 family of USB-controlled sampling oscilloscopes with two 25 GHz models, the PicoScope 9301-25 and 9341-25 with two and four channels, respectively.

The scopes support fifth harmonic capture for data up to including 10 Gb/s and third harmonic capture up to 16 Gb/s. These rates, and others in between, are increasingly found in Ethernet, Thunder-bolt, USB 3.1, PCIe 4, Rapid I/O, e-SATA, OC-192 / STM-64 and OC-256. All have transmission lines, cables, components, transmitters and receivers that need pre-compliance testing and characterization.

The cost-effective, low-invasive, high-performance PicoConnect 900 probes complete the offering, uniquely configured


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Products

as interchangeable AC or DC coupled probe heads in three division ratios (÷5, ÷10 and ÷20) for in-system probing of analog, pulse, impulse and high-speed serial data streams

www.picotech.com

Millimeter wave attenuation systemsfor 5G development and testThe 50BA-025-62 2.9 MM from JFW is an Ethernet-controlled RF attenuator system specifically developed for testing mm-wave and 5G radios in a laboratory environment.

Ultra-wide bandwidth of 100 MHz to 40 GHz and attenuation from 0- to 62-dB in 1-dB steps makes this system ideal for receiver testing and network emulation of fixed 5G and mobile 5G network compo-nents. An easy to use Ethernet/RS-232 interface with front-panel control and standard 2.9 MM RF connectors make integration simple.

www.jfwindustries.com

Ka-Band terminated SPDT PIN switchhigh power applications

The MASW-011094 from Macom is a high power SPDT PIN switch with 50 Ohm terminated RF ports.

This broadband, high linearity, SPDT switch was developed for Ka–Band appli-cations that require up to 40-W CW power handling at an environmental temperature of +85°C. It features over 26 dB of isola-tion and exhibits a low 0.6 dB loss over the 28 to 34 GHz range while switching under 65ns.

The SPDT MMIC uses Macom’s proven AlGaAs PIN diode technology.

The switch is fully passivated with silicon nitride and has an added polymer layer for scratch protection. The protective coating prevents damage to the junction and the air-bridges during handling and assem-bly. The die has backside metallization to facilitate an epoxy die attach process. These switches are suitable for satel-lite and Point-to-Point communications systems, radar systems, radiometers, test and instrumentation equipment and other high frequency applications

www.macom.com

Coaxial mismatch terminationBroadWave Technologies has released the Model 554-332-171 coaxial mismatch termination, which has been developed for calibrating a military microwave system.

This 50 Ohm mismatch has a DC to 1500 MHz frequency range. VSWR mismatch is 1.65:1 minimum, 1.75:1 maximum at 1-W average power. The RF connector is BNC male and the attached bead chain enables users to affix the unit to their front panel.

Custom VSWR mismatches are avail-able from BroadWave with BNC, N, SMA or TNC connectors.

www.broadwavetech.com

Low-power, low-noise amplifierfor GNSS IoT applications

Skyworks has introduced the SKY65623-682LF, a low noise amplifier (LNA) designed for applications such as wear-ables, asset trackers, navigation devices, action cameras and more.

This discrete LNA is optimized to oper-ate from 1559 to 1606 MHz, has a very low current (1 mA at 1.8 V supply) and single power supply (1.5 to 3.6 V range) for design flexibility and simplicity. The

device’s broad frequency range covers GPS L1, GLONASS, Galileo and Com-pass navigation systems and it minimizes external components thereby reducing the bill of materials for OEMs.

www.skyworksinc.com

Full W-Band power amplifierdelivers 25 dBi gainTargeting communication, test and radar applications, SAGE Millimeter has released a full W-band, high-gain power amplifier. Designated Model SBP-7531142515-1010-E1, this power amplifier has a typical small signal gain of 25 dB and a nominal output power of +15 dBm across the frequency range of 75 to 110 GHz.

The DC power requirement for the amplifier is +15 VDC / 190 mA. The mechanical configuration offers an in-line structure with WR-10 waveguides and UG-387/U-M flanges. Other port configu-rations, such as with 1-mm connectors or a right angle structure with WR-10 wave-guides, are also available under different model numbers.

www.sagemillimeter.com

Ultra wide bandpass filters

RLC Electronics is manufacturing ultra-wide bandpass filters to help customers pass broadband filtering requirements with over 70% bandwidths (up to 160%).

These multi-octave filters are available from low frequency up to 40 GHz. The example in the picture is an 18 to 40 GHz bandpass filter, with low loss (0.8 dB maxi-mum), sharp rejection (45 dB at 10 GHz and 48 GHz) and a small footprint (1.2-inch plus connectors).

Other custom options are available depending on customer requirements, including high power ultra-wide band-pass filters.

www.rlcelectronics.com

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MAY - JUNE 2017 MW · RF - Microwave european MW business press MAY - JUNE 2017 Antenna Focus 170329_5Mill_MWE_EU_Snipe.indd 1 3/29/17 1:30 PM The European journal for the microwave