The Nano Radio

This is not totally new news but a recent article in Scientific American has called some attention to it as researchers have built the world's tiniest radio out of a carbon nanotube. The tiny nanotube is placed between two electrodes and combines the roles of the major electrical components in a radio, including the tuner and amplifier. It can tune in to a radio signal and play the audio through an external speaker.

The nanotube radio works differently than a conventional radio that has an antenna, tuner, amplifier, and demodulator. A single carbon nanotube can tune in to a radio signal, amplify it, and demodulate it to get the audio encoded on the carrier radio wave. The nanotube starts vibrating in tune with a radio signal if the signal is at the same frequency as the nanotube’s natural resonance frequency. This can be controlled by the electric field that is placed on the nanotube so it can be tuned to the proper frequency. The first song played was appropriately Good Vibrations by the Beach Boys.

At the AMTA conference last year I saw some research on using nanotubes as antennas for miniature radios but the initial work showed they were not able to make them work very well at RF frequencies.

See and here the nanotube radio on Technology Review here.

ADS 2009 Targets HF/HS Co-Design

Agilent has just recently announced the release of ADS 2009, targeting the high-frequency & high speed front end co-design (IC/Package/Board) challenges discussed in February's MWJ lead story - "The Dawn of Nano-scale Technology". The complexity of these designs require tight integration between the the front-end (simulation & verification) and back-end (Cadence or Mentor Graphics)tools. For example, 4G LTE phones must also have Bluetooth, Wifi and MIMO capabilities which means multi-antennas operating over multi-frequency bands while remaining backward compatible with 3G and 2G modes. In turn, high frequency and high speed components will need to fit into smaller volumes and closer proximity with greater undesired interactions. With smart phones be among the few markets in commercial electronics expected to grow in 2009, the pressure to acheive design success is great. Since costs & delays must be kept low, multiple available technologies are being integrated onto the PCB instead of designing all onto an IC.


One of the key components in ADS 2009 to address IC/Package/Board co-design is the new interoperability with Cadence and Mentor backend design platforms, allowing engineers and designers to import:

• Cadence Allegro PCB, Advanced Package Designer (APD) and SIP physical
design data for co-designing with active components
• Design Rule Check (DRC) results from Cadence Assura, Mentor Calibre or
Triquint MailDRC for viewing and correcting within ADS cost-effective
layout environment.

Agilent has also extended ADS 2009 model support to include X-parameters, a form of "black-box" component representation based on non-linear measurements (using the Agilent PNA, non-linear network analyzer). Measured x-parameters can now be used directly in ADS simulation to accurately represent off-the-shelf components.New support for 3D electromagnetic parameterized components representing metal shields,
antenna radomes, absorbers, packages, interconnects, finite dielectric
substrates and wire bonds has also been added.

To read more check out the following presentaion from Agilent EEsof:

Download Now

World’s Smallest Bluetooth and Wi-Fi Solution

I came across this recently launched product from World Mobile Congress as CSR has worked with Murata and released the CSR9000 which they claim is the world’s smallest Bluetooth and Wi-Fi solution and supports a long list of connectivity technologies: Bluetooth, Bluetooth low energy, Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11abgn) and FM receive and transmit.

This is achieved by a combination of CSR’s ‘Smart Integration’ approach to silicon design as well as being as Wafer Level Chip Scale Packaging (WLCSP) technology. WLCSP achieves the smallest PCB footprint and is the packaging technology of choice for high volume, small form factor devices such as mobile handsets.

This is another example of our Feb. theme as we trend towards nano-scale SoP technology and the industry drives down size and cost. This product supports Bluetooth low energy which seems to be opening up new applications such as embedding Bluetooth in shoes, watches, etc. What applications do you envision for this new version of Bluetooth?

Fifth Annual Device Packaging Conference

The Fifth Annual Device Packaging Conference (DPC2009) will be held in Scottsdale, Arizona, on March 9-12, 2009. It is an international event organized by the International Microelectronics And Packaging Society (IMAPS). The conference provides a focused forum on the latest technological developments in 6 topic areas related to microelectronic packaging: 3D Packaging; Flip Chip; Wafer Level Packaging; MEMS; BioMedical Devices; and Power LED Devices. While the majority of technical sessions seem to be focused on fabrication, reliability and thermal issues (i.e. Impact of Underfill Design on Package Reliability), advanced packaging technology certainly impacts multi-chip manufacturers. A couple of talks from the technical sessions caught my eye, including:

Tunable Millimeter-Wave Device Based on Waveguide-Packaged MEMS

Compact Square Patch Antenna for Mobile Application

In the poster sessions, look for:

RF and Thermal Analysis of Packaged TGA4046 Q Band Amplifier

Design of Tunable Filter Structures using Multilayer Low Temperature Cofired Ceramics (LTCC)

A Unique Process for Hermetic Wafer Level Packaging


The full conference and exhibition information is at:

http://www.imaps.org/devicepackaging

RF SoP Co-design

This month's lead story in Microwave Journal looks at the state of System on Package technology as package device features move to the nano-scale. With such high density, the co-design of RF System on Package (SoP) is an evolving concern among multi-chip module manufacturers and the EDA companies that support this complex technology. Our editors posed a number of related questions to AWR, Agilent and Mentor Graphics on co-design, simulation and design flows for multi-chip modules and advanced packaging. The following MWJ exclusives take a look at this evolution.

Mentor Graphics:EDA/RF SoP Co-Design>


Agilent:EDA/RF SoP Co-Design>


AWR:EDA/RF SoP Co-Design>

RFMD, Skyworks and TriQuint Continue to Control GaAs Market

Growing up in the GaAs market in the 80's, I like to follow how the market is doing. In its latest GaAs report, Strategy Analytics states that RFMD, Skyworks and TriQuint lead the overall GaAs device market which grew 9% year-on-year in 2008, with early estimates showing that RFMD, Skyworks and TriQuint further consolidated their leadership of the GaAs device industry, accounting for up to 59% of total GaAs industry revenues. Merchant demand for GaAs devices continues to be centered upon MMIC-based products targeted at the wireless sector and this drove GaAs device industry revenues up to $3.9 billion in 2008.

Asif Anwar at Strategy Analytics noted that 2008 was a very good year, but growth in the GaAs industry hit a wall in the fourth quarter of 2008 and 2009 will see industry revenues decline by five to six percent. However, he believes 2009 also presents an opportunity for the market leaders to squeeze out their competition, provided they can successfully leverage existing relationships while continuing to tap into adjacent markets and emerging opportunities.

Other conclusions include:

While TriQuint and Skyworks closed the gap, RFMD maintained its standing as the world’s largest supplier of GaAs-based RF components

Collectively the top ten GaAs device manufacturers—including Avago Technologies, M/A-COM and Mitsubishi Electric—accounted for up to 82% of the overall market.

2009 GSMA Mobile World Congress: Gauging the Market

Our international editor, Richard Mumford, attended Mobile World Congress last week. According to the official figures, the organisers claim more than 47,000 visitors (including delegates, exhibitors, contractors and media) from 189 countries attended the four-day conference and exhibition at the Fira de Barcelona from 16 to 19 February, which compares with 55,000 visitors in 2008. The number of exhibiting companies remained the same at 1,300.

The event has a longstanding reputation for being a dynamic showcase for the mobile industry, a hotspot for innovation and a springboard for new technologies, but was that still the case at a time when market confidence and perception are key factors? Richard's perception was that although the event may have lacked the flamboyance of previous years and that the mood was more subdued there was no denying the continued determination to innovate and benefit from a market where the potential to profit from the right product at the right time remains substantial.

To read his full review, visit our web site here.

ZigBee and Now RuBee!

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has approved RuBee®, a long-wavelength, packet-based, magnetic transceiver protocol, as a new international standard designated IEEE 1902.1. RuBee overcomes many of the problems seen with RFID and other wireless asset visibility solutions in harsh environments through its ability to work on steel and in liquids. RuBee tags and antennas are volumetric in harsh environments, not line-of-sight as is typically the case with other wireless technologies (and bar codes). RuBee tags work over a range of 1 to 50 feet depending on antenna configuration, and can be powered by a single coin-size lithium battery with battery life from 5 to 15 years. RuBee tags and systems can easily be combined with sensors, buttons, displays, and LEDs.

IEEE 1902.1 has been used to ensure the visibility and safety of government owned firearms, high valued evidence, military weapons, patient visibility and optimal patient flow in hospitals, hospital disposable and implantable inventories, livestock, disaster recovery equipment and safety systems, mission-critical tools, aircraft maintenance tools, and many other categories of highly valued goods and services. RuBee wireless asset visibility networks seem to be cost-competitive with other wireless networking solutions, including RFID so they could have a good future for these harsh environment applications.

GSMA Mobile World Congress Serves Up Latest Technology

You will get to digest fully what was on the menu at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week in my Wrap-up article that will be posted when the show comes to a close. For now though I can give you a tapas selection of the technology that has been whetting the appetites of the attendees this week.

To start, building on the past few years LTE is the key technology being discussed and although opinions vary as to the timescale for deployment it is a focus of activity and investment. The buzz though surrounds 4G TD-LTE, a time division duplex (TDD) version of LTE, which is the next evolution for TD-SCDMA. Although driven by the Chinese market this technology is envisaged as having global applications.

Femtocells came under the spotlight too in a special Femtozone featuring a programme highlighting research, business cases etc. If this tapas has given you food for thought, look out for my full report soon.

Richard Mumford (International Editor)

Verizon 4G LTE Service Coming Soon!

Speed, speed and more speed -that is what I want. Verizon has answered this demand by announcing it will begin testing 4G wireless service using LTE this year and launch it in at least 25 to 30 markets in the U.S. in 2010. This is based on their roll-out of EV-DO, assuming they will get to about the same level in the first year of deploying LTE. Verizon will continue to build out the 4G wireless network and expects to blanket the continental U.S. and Hawaii with the new wireless network by 2015.

The new network will use the 700 MHz wireless spectrum that Verizon acquired in the Federal Communications Commission's auction last year. The company announced in 2007 that it had planned to use LTE for this market which will be available after the US broadcasters finish transitioning to digital TV signals. Several GSM operators around the world have also announced plans to use LTE which means that Verizon 4G wireless subscribers might eventually be able to roam globally.

Verizon has been testing the service in several areas in the U.S. including Minneapolis, Columbus, Ohio, and northern New Jersey. It's also been working with Vodafone (their co-parent) and China Mobile to test deployments in other parts of the world, including Budapest, Hungary, Dusseldorf, Germany, and Madrid. In its initial trials, Verizon says it has demonstrated peak download speeds of around 50- 60 Mbps. But average download speeds are likely to be lower since the wireless spectrum is a shared. The network will certainly be much faster than the average speed of Verizon's 3G EV-DO service which typically gets up to 400-700 Kbps.

Moblie World Congress 2009 Kicks Off!

So what's hot this year at Mobile World Congress. It seems a little subdued because of the projections for handsets to decline by about 10% this year but there is always the next big thing coming down the road in technology. There seems to be a fair amount of green technology - mostly solar powered devices, etc. Android has picked up some support from a few applications providers and RFID/payment technologies are taking hold in handsets.

WiMAX was hot last year but this is the year of LTE (even as WiMAX is actually rolling out some implementations). With such a large installed base of infrastructure, LTE will come on strong even though WiMAX has a lead as far as timing is concerned. And Agilent came out strong at the show yesterday with some 9 or 10 news releases. Several of them surrounded LTE test solutions such as a complete end-to-end analysis and troubleshooting solution for LTE networks. The Signaling Analyzer Real Time (SART) for LTE provides comprehensive monitoring and network diagnostics by interpreting, correlating and analyzing protocol signaling messages produced by multiple network technologies at mobile network interfaces. They also announced the first LTE real-time signal generation and channel emulation solution for base station test, new commercial test products for TD-LTE: PC-based software for creating standards-based TD-LTE signals and vector signal analysis (VSA) software with TD-LTE modulation analysis capability plus a MIMO connectivity option and network conformance testing system for mobile WiMAX.

Agilent and Anite plc also announced they will demonstrate 3GPP LTE interoperability showing end-to-end streaming video with LTE UE devices from Signalion and Blue Wonder Communications plus Agilent will demonstrate LTE EVM, Tx power measurements and downlink transmit diversity for mobile device test using the E6620 wireless communications test set at Mobile World Congress so drop by to see them.

That is a large dose of test equipment! What have you seen at Mobile World Congress???

mmWave Scanners make the News

Doing a little business traveling this week and so I'm being treated to a copy of USA Today outside my hotel room door and I have to say it's nice to see microwave (in this case millimeter-wave) technology making the front page of a mainstream newspaper. The article in mention "Scanners replace detectors in tryout" refers to a new scanning technology being tested out by the Transportation Security Administration at the Tulsa International Airport.

An experimental program that begins today will test whether the $170,000 body scanners could replace $10,000 metal detectors that have screened airline passengers since 1973. The scanners should be capable of detecting non-metallic weapons such as plastic and liquid explosives, which the TSA considers a major threat. The scanners bounce harmless "millimeter waves" off passengers' bodies and use no radiation. The Journal had reported such technology several times over the past 2 years (see our cover story from October 2007 (A Radar-based Concealed Threat Detector) and our Executive Interview with Mark Hebeisen from Endwave Corp. (Endwave supplies the millimter-wave front-end that is part of the system from L3 Communications)


Airline passengers will skip metal detectors and instead be screened by body scanning machines that look through clothing for hidden weapons. Critics of the technology raise privacy concerns because the passenger's images reveal outlines of private body parts (these will be blurred for machine operators).Security analyst Bruce Schneier, a frequent critic of the TSA, said the scanners should improve security but warned that they take longer than metal detectors — 30 seconds vs. about 15 seconds per passenger. "There will be pressure to do the screening faster, which will be sloppier," Schneier said.


Airports in San Francisco, Las Vegas, Miami, Albuquerque and Salt Lake City will join the test in the next two months, TSA spokesman Christopher White said. Hopefully, the trials will be a great succuss. I would love to be able to travel again without having to undress for security.

Stimulus Package Opens Grant Funding for Wireless Broadband

The final passing of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill by Congress last week calls for over $6 billion in grants for the expansion of broadband areas across America. This funding will provide continued progress in the deployment and adoption of broadband technology that is vital to ensuring that the United States will remain competitive worldwide. As a platform capable of providing access everywhere, wireless broadband will be essential in bringing innovation and helping reach the Obama Administration’s goal of achieving universal broadband connectivity.

Commercial entities are clearly eligible for direct grants from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), go to http://www.ntia.doc.gov/. Commercial wireless hardware vendors and network providers stand ready to move forward with plans to bring wireless broadband to rural and underserved areas. Having direct access to grant funding will allow them to do so in a timely manner, helping create jobs fast, enable productivity, and should help jump-start our economy.

U of C, Berkeley Research Leads to Radio in Bug

Last month (January 28th), The University of California, Berkeley succeeded in controlling a live rhinoceros beetle by radio. A video of the experiment was previewed at the MEMS 2009 academic conference taking place in Sorrento, Italy. In the experiment, radio signals were sent to six electrodes attached to various locations of the beetles brain and muscles, thus allowing university researchers to control the movement of the beetle’s wings and some other parts. They equipped the beetle with a module incorporating a circuit to send signals to the electrodes, wireless circuit, microcontroller and battery. Controlling the movements of an insect is not a first for the university. This was the first time using a radio control system.



Rhinoceros beetles with a weight of up to 3g were used in this experiment because they can carry the controlling module (weighing about 1.3g) on their backs. And another reason is that they look cool, according to the university.

So what’s the point of this exercise? Considering that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is funding the research, military purposes are a likely contender. Commenting on this point, the university said that the technology can also be utilized for peaceful purposes. For instance, the radio-controlled beetle can be useful in places that are too narrow or dangerous for a human to enter and for many other purposes.

For that use, the university is planning to mount sensors including a camera on a beetle in the future. With the sensors, rhinoceros beetles will be able to work as surveillance robots in place of humans. As they can carry a weight of 3g, 1.7g of sensors, in addition to the 1.3g of the current module, can be mounted.

However, the ultimate goal of this research goes beyond just incorporating sensors. Beetles are already equipped with "sensors," such as their own eyes. In addition, they have a system to derive energy from food. So, the university is aiming to make the most of insects' own sensors while using their energy system as batteries.

I think we are on a slippery slope with this one. Attack of the Rhino Beetle? I might have trouble sleeping tonight.

EB Presents Wireless Device and Infrastructure Solutions

by MWJ European Editor, Richard Mumford

EB intends to demonstrate how it bends the limits of technology to design market-moving wireless device and infrastructure solutions to increase market competitiveness, revenue-potential and wireless portfolio.

In Hall 1, Stand 1F07 the company will reveal news for the highly-anticipated Mobile Internet Device (MID) market, as well as reference designs for integrated satellite-terrestrial communications. It will also demonstrate new infrastructure base station solutions for mobile WiMAX, including EB's next-generation radio channel emulator performing a live-replication of the mobile WiMAX environment.

COMSYS Mobile Demonstrates Multimode Data Handover

by MWJ European Editor, Richard Mumford

Comsys Communication & Signal Processing Ltd will be demonstrating multimode data handover between Mobile WiMAX and cellular networks as well as a customer commercial handset running the company’s Mobile WiMAX/EDGE solution in Hall 2, Stand B73. The multimode data handover between Mobile WiMAX and GSM-EDGE networks will demonstrate how service continuity is achieved over Comsys Mobile’s ComMAX™ CM1100 mobile WiMAX baseband processor in conjunction with any third-party legacy cellular baseband, or independently with the CM1125 WiMAX/EDGE processor, thus providing a multimode solution that enables the user to always be connected.

Comsys Mobile will also be showing commercial multimode devices supporting both mobile WiMAX and GSM-EDGE networks and visitors will be able to experience live demonstration of the CM1125 running in the ECS EliteGroup’s S370 Personal Internet Communicator.

“Our booth at Mobile World Congress will be a must-see attraction for industry stakeholders in the WiMAX community,” commented Ehud Reshef, director WiMAX product marketing at Comsys Mobile. “Visitors will be able to see a range of mobile WiMAX devices, supporting WiMAX and GSM/EDGE and incorporating Comsys Mobile’s unique baseband processors. Integrating them in customer devices highlights the maturity and uniqueness of our product offering, and demonstrates in an extremely tangible way the viability of WiMAX/EDGE service continuity.”

SA Predicts Rapid WiMAX Growth in Asia

Strategy Analytics said the predict that consumer WiMAX subscriptions in the developing countries of Asia will grow from a few thousand now to almost 27 million by 2013. Their research predicts that the strongest growth will come outside the major cities of Asia. Subscriptions in villages and small towns are forecast to grow at almost 300% per year, three times the rate of major cities. Government policies aimed at closing the rural-urban “digital divide” are one reason for this rapid growth, but historic lack of broadband alternatives is at least as strong a factor.

“Big cities are the obvious place to start,” says Tom Elliott, Director of EMCS and the report’s principal author. “They have high concentrations of Internet-savvy young people. But they also have a lot of competition. The real WiMAX opportunity is outside of large cities.” Packet One, a WiMAX provider in Malaysia, appears to be following such a strategy. Its first deployments in were in Kuala Lumpur, but it has moved rapidly to launch in Johor and Penang, two less densely populated states outside the capital region.


“Incumbent broadband suppliers and cellular operators offering High-Speed Packet Access, HSPA, alternatives are formidable competitors in the big cities,” notes David Kerr, head of Strategy Analytics Global Wireless Practice. “There’s simply a lot more un-served demand in market towns and provincial business centers.”

WiMAX seems to be really catching on in areas that currently don't have much infrastructure and deployments are growing. LTE better hurry up!

Highly Integrated Chip and Platform Solutions From Infineon

by MWJ European Editor, Richard Mumford

Infineon’s Wireless Solutions Division is a leading provider of semiconductors and system solutions to serve the growing trends in the mobile communication market. In Hall 1, Stand B19 the company will present its highly integrated semiconductor solutions, complete systems platforms and Software products. The focus will be on highlighting different ‘flavours’ of ultra low-cost mobile phone platforms, ranging from 2G to 3G and something new in positioning technology, the A-GPS solution.

Experts will be on hand to discuss the company’s comprehensive cellphone semiconductor and system-level offering ranging from integrated single-chip GSM/GPRS/EDGE solutions to slim HSDPA/HSUPA modem platforms.

Other highlights include:
● Infineon's road to LTE
● Comprehensive cellular transceiver portfolio covering all bands and all modes from GPRS up to LTE and WiMAX
● Smallest HSPA+ RF solutions for best-in-class cellular talk time
● Smart modems for smart phones: HSPA modem platforms combining high performance and small footprint
● More voice: comprehensive ULC platforms with innovations for even lower costs
● Internet-for-all: entry phone platforms with a common architecture from GPRS to low-cost 3G

Google Starts "White Spaces" Group

It was recently announced that Google is teaming up with several technology companies, including Comsearch, Dell, HP, Microsoft, Motorola and Neustar, to form a new coalition called the White Spaces Database Group, which will provide and compile into a database technical specifications for devices that will use white space spectrum.

White spaces are unused slivers of spectrum in the 700 MHz band that sit between broadcast TV channels. Google and others successfully lobbied the FCC last year to open up that spectrum for unlicensed use so that new wireless devices could access that spectrum. In its ruling in November, the FCC said that devices using a combination of geolocation technology and spectrum-sensing technology could be approved for unlicensed white space use. Before sending or receiving data, devices will be required to access this database to determine available channels. And the device will not transmit in channels that are already known to be in use.

TV broadcasters and wireless microphone companies have long opposed the use of this spectrum fearing it will interfere with their services but Google believes that using geolocation technology used along with spectrum sensing technologies will offer complete protection to licensed signals from harmful interference. Do you think the TV broadcasters and wireless microphone companies have a legitimate complaint?

Garmin Gets into the Smartphone Game

Building up to Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona next week, several well known companies have been hinting about new smartphones offerings, each with a specific use case and no shortage of challenges to overcome.

Taiwanese PDA and computer-maker AsusTek Computer and personal navigation device (PND) company Garmin formally announced that the two companies will introduce a jointly branded line of smartphones, called Garmin-Asus nuvifone, the first of which will debut at MWC. Jonney Shih Chairmen of Asustek said that the Garmin-Asus phone will likely launch worldwide by next year and that the G60 will be announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The MWC is already pegged to be the launch pad for both Dell and Acer’s additions to the smartphone family. Garmin-Asus will also compete against popular devices such as the iPhone and T-Mobile's G1 Android-based handset by specializing in location-based services (LBS), executives from both companies said.

The location-centric smartphone could hypothetically take the place of a traditional PND and is optimized for communication and navigation. The first nuvifone also will feature Ciao, a social networking application that combines location-based social networks in the device and the same turn-by-turn, voice-prompted navigation as Garmin’s PNDs. It comes preloaded with maps and points of interest that are searchable by category, establishment name or destination.

In expanding beyond its core competency, Garmin will be hard-pressed to find distribution channels or carrier partners, said Neil Mawston, director of global wireless practice for Strategy Analytics. The brand is not associated with mobile devices, and it already attempted its first nuvifone device back in early 2008 with very little uptake. Teaming with Asus is a step in the right direction, but Mawston said they are far from success.

“Garmin is one of the world’s biggest players in [PND] and has a good reputation,” Mawston said. “If they were to come along with a good set of apps and a store that goes with it and prove to carriers there is a potential to grow revenue through new services like social location — if they could prove there is potential to raise ARPU — there is definitely potential to work with big players. But at the present time, you struggle to see how they are standing apart from the competition. They don’t have the brand strength, the brand isn’t exciting, and the services don’t stand out — they are good rather than great.”

Personal navigation, along with gaming devices, is a segment that many analysts believe would make prime candidates for app-specific mobile Internet devices (MIDs), pocketable computers optimized around mobile Web browsing. But the segment is still a few years off as vendors focus on the netbook and smartphone category.

Agilent Cover Mobile Communications T&M Spectrum

by Richard Mumford, MWJ European Editor

Agilent Technologies will showcase its measurement solutions for LTE, TD-LTE, HSPA+, E-EDGE (EDGE Evolution), WiMAXTM, UMA/GAN, 3GPP W-CDMA, GSM 3GPP Long Term Evolution, femtocells, mobile business analytics and VoIP for MSS.

Visitors to Hall 1, Stand D45 will see Agilent demonstrate:
● The Radio Digital Cross Domain (RDX) solution that provides a single test environment for MIPI Digital Radio Frequency (DigRF) v3 and v4 protocols.
● MIMO channel emulation and co-existence test, solved with the N5106A PXB MIMO receiver tester.
● Industry-leading mobile test solutions for HSPA+, HSDPA, E-EDGE, UMA/GAN and GPS.
● LTE RF measurements and LTE high-definition video streaming using an LTE device simulator.
● WiMAX RF, protocol and application test, including base station emulation, protocol logging, network conformance test, radiated performance test, pre-RF conformance test, and protocol conformance test (including TTCN3-scripting).
● The E6474A-645 LTE Receiver Measurements, together with W1314A measurement receivers, enable network equipment manufacturers and wireless operators' RF engineering teams to measure the coverage of LTE eNodeBs – identifying P-SCH and S-SCH RSSI and LTE Cell-ID and detect cell overlap.
● Signalling Analyzer Real-time (SART) LTE, which runs on the Distributed Network Analyzer platform to provide a high-performance test solution for end-to-end system verification, troubleshooting and optimization.
● Comprehensive assureME applications, which help operators accelerate deployment of VoIP for Mobile Soft Switch Networks.
● Agilent's Wireless Data Analytics solution, which helps to improve operational and business performance by transforming huge volumes of signalling and usage data (IuPS, Gn, Gb) into actionable information.
● Wireless installation and maintenance (I&M) with the FieldFox RF Analyzer.



Ron Nersesian, vice president of Agilent's Wireless Business Unit stated, "Our newest measurement solutions shown at this event demonstrate our ongoing commitment to empower engineers to stay at the forefront of dramatically evolving mobile-communications technologies."

A TRIUMF FOR TRIQUINT

by Richard Mumford, MWJ European Editor

TriQuint Semiconductor will be showcasing the TriQuint Unified Mobile Front-end (TRIUMF) Module™ family, convergence architecture for mobile device manufacturers designing next generation 3G/4G products. The family aims to offer manufacturers a streamlined radio frequency footprint combining GSM, EDGE, WCDMA and HSPA transmit functionality into one module. This convergence of functionality into one power amplifier module should offer up to a 50 percent size reduction over today’s multi-band module solutions.

Andreas Nitschke, product marketing manager for mobile handsets at TriQuint stated, “TriQuint set the industry standard for size and performance with its highly-integrated TRITIUM and QUANTUM Module families for 3G devices. We are using this expertise and ability to design both active and passive RF elements into one elegant RF system solution in the development of the TRIUMF Module family. TRIUMF will take integration to a whole new level, combining support for multiple frequency bands and modes into a single converged solution.”

He added, “We are working closely with our chipset partners and customers to implement the architecture for next generation 3G and 4G devices with world-class RF performance in an industry leading size.”

Those interested in finding out more about the TRUIMF and TriQuint’s large portfolio of products can visit Hall 1, Stand A62 and look out for the 3GSM Mobile World Congress Wrap-up Article that will be published here after the show.

ROHDE & SCHWARZ GOES TOP SECRET

by Richard Mumford, MWJ European Editor

As a leading supplier of test and measurement solutions for wireless communications and with over 75 years of experience of driving innovation, Rohde & Schwarz will showcase its MIMO, 3GPP LTE, HSPA+, WiMAX™ and Edge Evolution in Hall 1, Stand D59. A new addition to the portfolio is the R&S CMW500 test platform solution that performs all relevant wireless device tests, especially for LTE and HSPA+. When equipped with the appropriate hardware and software components, the R&S CMW500 can perform T&M tasks ranging from RF and protocol tests up to complex application tests.

The company will also highlight two new models of the recently launched R&S FSV family. These two combination signal and spectrum analyzers have been expanded for applications up to 13.6 GHz and 30 GHz, respectively.

In addition Rohde & Schwarz SIT GmbH, a leader in the German crypto market, will display the latest version of its compact mobile voice encryption device that protects confidential mobile phone calls. The TopSec Mobile can be used together with state-of-the-art mobile phones due to its plug & play functionality and Bluetooth® interface.

College Students Chat with Space Station Using Their Radio

Four Toronto college students from The Humber College have accomplished a technological feat by making contact with the International Space Station last week using a radio system they designed and built themselves. It was a scheduled event so they did not just call them out of the blue.

The project got off the ground about a year ago as the students looked for a way to apply knowledge gained from their radio communication courses. The first message got no response, but a second attempt reached astronaut Sandra Magnus. They had a 10-minute window to talk to her, during which they asked some technical questions and passed on a few other questions from contest winners at the school. One student asked how well the International Space Station is protected from debris, while another wanted to know how it feels to see Earth from space.

While school contacts with the space station are routinely made through the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station program, many of those contacts are made using a traditional ham radio. “It's an incredible feat of undertaking and technology, and I'd just like to say I'm really, really proud of this team,” said Humber instructor Mark Rector.

So on the next revolution around the Earth, dial up the power on your ham radio and see if you can reach them!

Happy 50th to the Integrated Circuit Patent

On this day (February 6th) in 1959, Jack Kilby (November 8, 1923 - June 20, 2005) filed a patent for a "Solid Circuit made of Germanium", the first integrated circuit. Along with Robert Noyce (who independently made a similar circuit a few months later), Kilby is generally credited as co-inventor of the integrated circuit. He was a Nobel Prize laureate in physics in 2000 for his invention of the integrated circuit.

The transistor, invented at Bell Labs in 1947 had stimulated engineers to design ever more complex electronic circuits and equipment containing hundreds or thousands of discrete components such as transistors, diodes, rectifiers and capacitors. But the problem was that these components still had to be interconnected to form electronic circuits, and hand-soldering thousands of components to thousands of bits of wire was expensive and time-consuming. It was also unreliable; every soldered joint was a potential source of trouble, complex circuit designs were hampered by the unreliability of using numerous discrete devices. This problem was commonly called the "tyranny of numbers".

Texas Instruments (TI) was working on this issue via the Micro-Module program when Kilby joined the company in 1958. In mid-1958, Kilby finally came to the conclusion that this approach would not work and that manufacturing the circuit components in mass in a single piece of semiconductor material could provide a solution.

On September 12 he presented his findings to the management, which included Mark Shepherd, of Texas Instruments: he showed them a sliver of germanium, with protruding wires, glued to a glass slide. It was a relatively simple device that Jack Kilby showed to a handful of co-workers gathered in TI’s semiconductor lab — only a transistor and other components on a slice of germanium, but when Kilby pressed the switch, an unending sine curve undulated across the oscilloscope screen.



In addition to the integrated circuit, Kilby also is noted for patenting the electronic portable calculator and the thermal printer used in data terminals. In total, he held about 60 patents.

Appropriately enough for the occasion of this anniversary, the International Solid-State Circuits Conference, the foremost forum for presentation of advances in solid-state circuits and systems-on-a-chip runs next week from February 8th to the 12th in San Fransisco. Of particular interest to our industry will be sessions held on Radios for health services; Things all RFIC designers should know (but are afraid to ask); RF building blocks; Wireless connectivity; mm-wave devices and a forum on 4G front-ends.

The advance program is available at:

http://www.isscc.org/isscc/2009/advprog.pdf

Wireless Charging Coming This Year

While I did not attend CES 2009, one of the hot emerging products was wireless charging. Powermat was there showing off its family of charging mats (using inductive coupling) for mobile devices like cell phones, PDAs, etc. They are very efficient (like 93%) so charging is relatively fast and they should be available soon (maybe Q2 this year). These mats would would cost about $100 so they are reasonably priced for a first to market, high tech product.

Fulton is taking a different approach with their wireless charging technology dubbed eCoupled. They are working with large consumer product companies to integrate their product into various consumer applications including automobiles where you could sit your device in a box in the dashboard of your car for charging.

Leggett & Platt is part of the Fulton Partnership and was displaying a system that it says is more flexible than others. It can charge larger devices, with power tools being an early target market. Image shelves that you could set your power tools on that would charge them automatically or having you kitchen counter top capable of charging your blender, toaster, etc. There could come a day when we have no more power outlets in our home, just walls that inductively charge our electronics and run our lights, appliancies, etc.

One big application is TV sets and with wireless HD starting to evolve (there are currently 3 different standards), there would be no need for wires on your nice new flat screen HDTV. That would really simplify mounting them to a wall with wireless power and have your set top box transmit wireless HD signals to it. We might finally be able to use our high tech toys without wires!

Eight is Enough?

Gartner, Inc. has identified eight mobile technologies that will evolve significantly through 2010, impacting short-term mobile strategies and policies.

“All mobile strategies embed assumptions about technology evolution so it’s important to identify the technologies that will evolve quickly in the life span of each strategy,” said Nick Jones, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. “The eight mobile technologies that we have pinpointed as ones to watch in 2009 and 2010 will have broad effects and, as such, are likely to pose issues to be addressed by short-term strategies and policies.”

Gartner’s eight mobile technologies to watch in 2009 and 2010

Bluetooth 3.0 —The Bluetooth 3.0 specification will be released in 2009 (at which point its feature set will be frozen), with devices starting to arrive around 2010. Bluetooth 3.0 will likely include features such as ultra-low-power mode that will enable new devices, such as peripherals and sensors, and new applications, such as health monitoring. Bluetooth originated as a set of protocols operating over a single wireless bearer technology. Bluetooth 3.0 is intended to support three bearers: "classic" Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and ultrawideband (UWB). It's possible that more bearers will be supported in the future. Wi-Fi is likely to be a more important supplementary bearer than UWB in the short term, because of its broad availability. Wi-Fi will allow high-end phones to rapidly transfer large volumes of data.

Mobile User Interfaces (UIs) — UIs have a major effect on device usability and supportability. They will also be an area of intense competition in 2009 and 2010, with manufacturers using UIs to differentiate their handsets and platforms. New and more-diverse UIs will complicate the development and support of business-to-employee (B2E) and business-to-consumer (B2C) applications. Organizations should expect more user demands for support of specific device models driven by interface preferences. Companies should also expect consumer interfaces to drive new expectations of application behavior and performance. Better interfaces will make the mobile Web more accessible on small devices, and will be a better channel to customers and employees.

Location Sensing — Location awareness makes mobile applications more powerful and useful; in the future, location will be a key component of contextual applications. Location sensing will also enhance systems, such as mobile presence and mobile social networking. The growing maturity of on-campus location sensing using Wi-Fi opens up a range of new applications exploiting the location of equipment or people. Organizations delivering business or consumer applications should explore the potential of location sensing; however, exploiting it may create new privacy and security challenges.

802.11n — 802.11n boosts Wi-Fi data rates to between 100 Mbps and 300 Mbps, and the multiple-input, multiple-output technology used by 802.11n offers the potential for better coverage in some situations. 802.11n is likely to be a long-lived standard that will define Wi-Fi performance for several years. High-speed Wi-Fi is desirable to stream media around the home and office. From an organizational perspective, 802.11n is disruptive; it's complex to configure, and is a "rip and replace" technology that requires new access points, new client wireless interfaces, new backbone networks and a new power over Ethernet standard. However, 802.11n is the first Wi-Fi technology to offer performance on a par with the 100 Mbps Ethernet commonly used for wired connections to office PCs. It is, therefore, an enabler for the all-wireless office, and should be considered by companies equipping new offices or replacing older 802.11a/b/g systems in 2009 and 2010.

Display Technologies — Displays constrain many characteristics of both mobile devices and applications. During 2009 and 2010, several new display technologies will impact the marketplace, including active pixel displays, passive displays and pico projectors. Pico projectors enable new mobile use cases (for example, instant presentations projected on a desktop to display information in a brief, face-to-face sales meeting). Battery life improvements are welcome for any user. Good off-axis viewing enables images and information to be shared more easily. Passive displays in devices, such as e-book readers, offer new ways to distribute and consume documents. Display technology will also become an important differentiator and a user selection criterion.

Mobile Web and Widgets — The mobile Web is emerging as a low-cost way to deliver simple mobile applications to a range of devices. It has some limitations that will not be addressed by 2010 (for example, there will be no universal standards for browser access to handset services, such as the camera or GPS). However, the mobile Web offers a compelling total cost of ownership (TCO) advantage over thick-client applications. Widgets (small mobile Web applets) are supported by many mobile browsers, and provide a way to stream simple feeds to handsets and small screens. Mobile Web applications will be a part of most B2C mobile strategies. Thin-client applications are also emerging as a practical solution to on-campus enterprise applications using Wi-Fi or cellular connections.

Cellular Broadband — Wireless broadband exploded in 2008, driven by the availability of technologies such as high-speed downlink packet access and high-speed uplink packet access, combined with attractive pricing from cellular operators. The performance of high-speed packet access (HSPA) provides a megabit or two of bandwidth in uplink and downlink directions, and often more. In many regions, HSPA provides adequate connectivity to replace Wi-Fi "hot spots," and the availability of mature chipsets enables organizations to purchase laptops with built-in cellular modules that provide superior performance to add-on cards or dongles.

Near Field Communication (NFC) — NFC provides a simple and secure way for handsets to communicate over distances of a centimeter or two. NFC is emerging as a leading standard for applications such as mobile payment, with successful trials conducted in several countries. It also has wider applications, such as "touch to exchange information" (for example, to transfer an image from a handset to a digital photo frame, or for a handset to pick up a virtual discount voucher). Gartner does not expect much of the NFC payment or other activities to become common, even by 2010, in mature markets, such as Western Europe and the U.S. NFC is likely to become important sooner in emerging markets, with some deployments starting by 2010.
Additional information is available in the Gartner report “Eight Mobile Technologies to Watch in 2009 and 2010.” The report is available on Gartner’s Web site at http://www.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?ref=g_search&id=828612&subref=simplesearch.

Mr. Jones will provide additional analysis on the mobile and wireless scenario for 2009 and beyond at the Gartner Wireless & Mobile Summit taking place February 23-25 in Chicago. This Summit offers new concepts and best practices to increase ROI on wireless investment, insights on the future of wireless, and unbiased perspectives on devices, systems, integration and the latest trends. Gartner analysts and solution providers will help unravel the tangle of multiple generations of wireless technologies, evaluate new approaches to teleworking, assess the role of core technologies such as MIDs, RFID, and IP telephony and make sense of the looming platform battles for smartphones, and more. Additional information is available at www.gartner.com/us/wireless. Members of the media can register to attend the Summit by contacting Christy.pettey@gartner.com.

In Pursuit of Government Stimulus Dollars

While sales in technology have gotten off to a slow start this year, government spending may be the best hope for many in the communications industry. Federal spending by the US government is expected to be about $80.6 billion on information technology products and services this year, according to a December study released by Compass Intelligence. According to the report this is a 5.5% increase over last year. The report also noted that spending on software applications will be the fastest-growing segment, with an annual growth between 8.6% and 9.8%. Stephanie Atkinson, managing partner and principal analyst at Compass Intelligence offered the following tips when it comes to marketing to government agencies.

1. Register with the government. You can’t sell anything to a government entity without signing up in the Central Contractor Registration database (CCR.gov). But before you can do this, you’ll need a DUNS Number, a unique number assigned by Dun & Bradstreet Inc. Once you’re signed up, make your status known in e-mail marketing as well as paid search results. In fact, consider adding a new e-mail segment so you can disseminate government-specific deals and services.

2. Focus on the short-term return. Even though governments and government agencies are still spending, they must get approval and, most important, answer to constituents regarding their spending. Projects that show a quick ROI are most likely to happen first, since good ROI makes for good press, Atkinson said. This is where a strong, short-term case study or video customer testimonial can really help, she added.

3. Offer different purchase options. “In the past you bought equipment and paid a monthly services fee. Now we’re seeing monthly costs that include some of the equipment costs,” she said. Either way, be prepared to wait to get paid, Atkinson said, since government contract pay terms are definitely longer than your typical net 45 or net 60. “It’s very likely to see three- or six-month payment terms,” she said.

4. Consider marketing yourself as a subcontractor. There are plenty of companies already registered with the government that are getting contracts but may not have in-house expertise or products like the ones you sell. There are several sites that list the best sources to find such companies, and several firms that broker such partnerships, including FedSources, GovernmentBids.com, FindRFP, and BidNet. Sites like GovCB.com let you advertise your company by posting a vendor profile so other companies can seek you out.

Star Trek Cloaking Device Becoming a Reality?

Metamaterials are a hot subject in microwave technology these days. Much of the work I see is going on with the design of antenna structures or substrate materials, but the researchers at Duke University have designed and tested a microwave cloaking device that can almost completely "hide" a small structure from microwaves. While this is not new news, they have more recent work going on to apply this technology to sound waves.

The Duke cloaking device is a structure made up of copper rings and wires patterned on a fiberglass composite. The structure is designed to route the microwaves around the hidden object inside and greatly reduces it reflection and shadow. The Duke team developed a small cloak (less than five inches across) that would provide invisibility in two dimensions, rather than three to simplify the design and prove out the concept. The cloak includes strips of metamaterial fashioned into concentric two-dimensional rings, a design that allows its use with a narrow beam of microwave radiation. The precise variations in the shape of copper elements patterned onto their surfaces determine their electromagnetic properties. The cloak design is unique among metamaterials in its circular geometry and internal structural variation, the researchers said. Up until that time all other metamaterials had been based on a cubic, or gridlike, design, and most of them have electromagnetic properties that are uniform throughout.

The researchers set out to prove the concept by aiming a microwave beam at a cloak positioned between two metal plates inside a test chamber, and used a detecting apparatus to measure the electromagnetic fields that developed both inside and outside the cloak. They first show a beam of microwaves hitting a 2 inch metal cylinder and then hide the cylinder within the cloaking structure. By examining an animated representation of the data, they found that the wave fronts of the beam separate and flow around the center of the cloak. Here is a video that demonstrates it:



So the Rumulans may have arrived on Earth but we may not be able to see them. What other interesting work have you seen using metamaterials???

Pulsed RF Power Devices Expected to Show Solid Growth

So let's get to some good economic news. ABI research is saying that markets for pulsed RF power devices below 4 GHz are expected to show continued solid growth over the next five years despite the current economic turmoil. While the volatility of many global electronics markets is fueled by their association with consumer spending, markets for pulsed RF power devices are supported by quite different priorities.

“Many RF power semiconductor manufacturers are on a quest to find markets unrelated to mobile wireless infrastructure,” notes ABI Research director Lance Wilson. “Device prices in wireless infrastructure are falling, and the total available market is shrinking.”

Some markets that use pulsed RF power devices, such as the transportation safety market and the military market, are seeing good solid growth even in the midst of today’s economic downturn. These devices are used in radars for military and marine applications, and in a worldwide upgrade of the air traffic control system that is now occurring. There is also a market segment devoted to the avionics transponder and air navigation market, which is also lifted by the air traffic control upgrade.

I know there are several companies going after the air traffic control system upgrade and I think this is a necessary upgrade that should provide sizable contracts for many suppliers in the years to come.

Keynesian Economics and the Communications Industry

John Maynard Keynes, (June 5, 1883 – April 21, 1946) was a British economist whose ideas, called Keynesian economics, have had a major impact on modern economic and political theory as well as on many governments' fiscal policies. He advocated interventionist government policy, by which the government would use fiscal and monetary measures to mitigate the adverse effects of economic recessions, depressions and booms. Should government spending extend to communication and the microwave industry?

As the US and the Obama administration look to short-term fiscal stimulus of the lagging economy, the idea of improving rural access to broadband telecommunications appears to be a worthy investment in the country’s information infrastructure and a reasonable economic stimulus project.

"The Rural Broadband Initiative: Deploying Next-Generation Broadband Service to Rural America," a white paper from Ball State's Digital Policy Institute (DPI), recommends funding broadband deployment by providing short term funding to existing rural telephone companies who then provide broadband service to rural areas.

There are significant, and widely agreed upon benefits of extending broadband technology. These include economic development, reduced costs of government services and improved quality of life. Today over 4 million U.S. households, primarily in rural areas, have no access to affordable broadband infrastructure.

The Universal Service Fund (USF) provides annual funding to local telephone companies in rural areas to offset the high cost of telephone service. But, even with this funding, rural areas have continued to lag behind, primarily in necessary network upgrades that permit rural residents to also interact with web 2.0 applications.

In each of the past two months the U.S. economy has shed more than 500,000 jobs. The Obama administration is attempting to craft a fiscal stimulus package that will simultaneously provide short-term stimulus – hopefully by the end of winter – and long-term infrastructure enhancements. Improving the nations’ telecommunications network is a significant part of this stimulus plan.

It was no surprise to industry insiders that Ball State was able to craft this plan. The university was one of the first institutions to pioneer WiMAX testing in the United States, and it recently announced a $17.7 million Emerging Media Initiative, establishing Ball State as a leader in the emerging media industry.

Unfortunately, any new plan that requires identification of needs and creation of a funding mechanism will require many months, if not years to implement. Even for worthy projects, the delay is too long to provide fiscal stimulus in 2009.

This proposal would provide next-generation broadband service to roughly 5.9 million access sites in the United States. This would create more than 200,000 jobs – in manufacturing of fiber optics and other telecommunications equipment, construction, engineering, installation of fiber optic networks and customer premise equipment. This would account for roughly 7 percent of the jobs envisioned under the stimulus plan, at a cost of about $28 billion or just 3.5 percent of the total cost. This is among the most efficient of the stimulus package elements. In addition and perhaps most importantly, this program would create jobs almost immediately upon start-up. Ball State's proposal is fast, will create jobs by mid-March and provides millions of Americans access to our most fundamental technologies of the 21st century.

Using the existing USF mechanism for identifying rural regions, this plan bypasses both the Federal and State bureaucracies and goes directly to the private sector companies who buy fiber optic line (made in America), construction equipment (made in America) and hire workers to install fiber optic lines. These private sector companies will scramble to create these new jobs because their profitability is enhanced by providing broadband services.

Meanwhile in Europe - On Thursday (Jan. 29th), the UK’s first communications minister, Lord Stephen Carter, published the much anticipated report: Digital Britain. It portrays the sector as a ray of hope in an otherwise bleak economy and proposes 22 recommendations to make the digital network the backbone of our economy in the same way that roads and railways have been in the past. All well intended, but severely lacking in the detail.

Britain is set to suffer the worst recession of any advanced nation, as such any measures designed to stimulate sectors of the economy must be timely and credible. It means taking the right long term decisions now to secure a competitive future. Governments face a choice now to move away from a reliance on the financial sector and make the broadband network the backbone of our economy in the same way that roads and railways have been in the past. Governments and policy makers can do this through creating and fostering a dependency on the services that these networks can provide.

In this respect the UK is already behind other countries both in Europe and the rest of the world. Elsewhere governments have launched national broadband tenders and committed to the direct financing of fibre roll outs. Digital Britain (perhaps unfairly) is seen as the UK’s answer to an Obama stimulus package but on seeing the interim report the UK is at risk of substituting action for yet more reports. No fewer than eight new reports will come out of Lord Carter’s initiative with responsibility spanning across three institutions – DCMS, BERR and Ofcom. The government must ensure that Digital Britain doesn’t become merely a series of reviews, reports and consultations.

Important key roadblocks have been acknowledged such as the delay to spectrum re-farming. Promisingly a new Wireless Spectrum Modernization Program seeks to address these delays and if a voluntary solution amongst operators does not emerge then a government imposed resolution could unfold. This is a crucial action point that should be prioritized. Without these spectrum reforms the deployment of mobile broadband is unlikely to become a reality. This has far reaching implications for the ubiquity of broadband since it is hard to define a new universal service obligation until such spectrum issues are resolved. And these aren’t the only barriers to such reforms.

Promising a universal service obligation for broadband by 2012 is an ambitious target with far reaching implications. Before making any such revisions, the UK must work with the European Commission to modify the current Universal Service Directive – an activity that is currently underway – but one that has been delayed for some time now. Given the progress to date it’s hard to see the situation in Europe changing before the final report due later this summer.

Sprint continues to struggle

Sprint announced plans to eliminate 8,000 positions by the end of the current quarter--in an effort to trim $1.2 billion in internal and external labor costs. The job cuts were intended to make its cost structure more competitive in the industry and keep the company fiscally secure in the current economic downturn.

While many companies are trying to cut costs during the recession, wireless is one of the few areas where most operators don’t appear to be struggling. Sprint has the double misfortune of facing not only a bad economic climate but the task of simultaneously trying to rebuild its reputation and business among customers, said Jeff Kagan, an independent wireless analyst. “We have seen wireless competitors like Verizon and AT&T continue to do pretty well during this weak economy, but Sprint has continued to lose customers and struggle.”

In the third quarter, Sprint reported net customer losses of 1.3 million, adding to the tally of customers fleeing for other operators. Sprint’s customer base has shrunk 6.3% in the last year, while the industry overall has grown 7%. Meanwhile Sprint’s operational costs have remained fixed as it maintains a network, sales and customer care operation intended to support a much larger customer base.

The biggest concern for Sprint right now, Moffett added, must be the viability of its Nextel iDEN network, which Sprint recently tried to revive. If Sprint can’t reverse customer losses on the iDEN network, it could move from being a cash-generating network to a cash-losing one, compounding Sprint’s problems. “If the volumes on the iDEN network are no longer sufficient to support Nextel, then the hole Sprint is in will be much deeper than we thought.”, said Craig Moffett, senior analyst with Bernstein Research.

Some Cuts Announced

As with many other industries, the electronics market is suffering from the downturn and several companies have announced layoffs. STMicroelectronics has outlined a major cost-cutting effort, including a plan to shed 4,500 jobs. In total, STMicroelectronics (Geneva) plans to reduce its costs by over $700 million in 2009. The actions are focused on ''resizing'' the company's manufacturing operations and streamlining expenses. The company - which issued a recent warning about Q4 - also reported sales of $2.276 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008, compared to $2.696 billion in the third period and $2.742 billion in the like period a year ago.

Texas Instruments said it will lay off 12 percent of its workforce, or approximately 3,400 employees, as it restructures operations following one of the worst sequential and year-over year quarterly performances in the history of the analog and digital signal processor company. Dallas, Texas-based TI also warned that it does not expect sales will improve significantly anytime soon due to continuing weakness in the general economy, which helped drive down fourth quarter revenue 30 percent from the immediately preceding quarter and 26 percent from the comparable quarter of 2007.

Royal Philips Electronics NV (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) is planning to reduce its workforce by 6,000 worldwide this year after reporting its first quarterly loss for almost six years. It also halted an ongoing shares buy-back program. The company suffered a net loss of Euros 186 million for 2008 after a fourth quarter loss of Euros 1.47 billion, partly because of a write-down in the value of its Lumileds diode light unit, as well as downgrading the value of its remaining stakes in NXP Semiconductors and LG Display Co.

Hopefully the RF/microwave industry will not be affected as much as these large electronics companies that are more directly related to consumer demand. Maybe the new stimulus packages will help pull us out of the recession.

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China’s Handset Market Expansion Continues in 2009

According to iSuppli Corp research analysts, China’s domestic wireless phone market is set to maintain its growth in 2009, with a 7.7 percent increase for the year. The forecast calls for the domestic handset market to reach 239.1 million units in 2009, up from 222.1 million in 2008.

“China’s three wireless operators are attracting new subscribers by reducing service fees. This will greatly contribute to demand from first-time buyers,” said Kevin Wang, senior manager of China research at iSuppli. “New subscribers are expected to exceed 90 million in 2009. Furthermore, more existing mobile users will be subscribe to a second number. Beyond that, the government’s broadened subsidy policy for consumer electronics purchases will stimulate demand in rural areas.”

Domestic authorized handset market shipments surpassed 180 million units in 2008. Meanwhile, the domestic gray market decreased to about 40 million units in 2008, down from more than 50 million units in 2007. A number of gray market suppliers became authorized brand-name companies. Their business grew dramatically in tier-three and tier-four urban and rural markets.

Foreign handset OEMs occupied 56 percent of China’s handset market for 2008. Nokia was the largest handset supplier in China in 2008 with a 37 percent market share. At the same time, Samsung expanded its share of handset shipments. Tianyu will continue to be the leading Chinese brand in terms of domestic shipments.

3G arrives
The Chinese government will issue 3G licenses in 2009. However, domestic 3G handset shipments will not increase dramatically during the year. The total domestic 3G handset market is expected to reach 8 million units in 2009. Low-cost multimedia GSM and ultra-low-cost CDMA handsets should be among the best-selling products of 2009. However, smart phones and handsets supporting 3G and the China Mobile Multimedia Broadcasting (CMMB) standard also will represent high-growth segments.

In term of total unit shipments, Huawei and ZTE are likely to be the leaders in China’s 3G handset market. Both were anticipated to ship more than 30 million units in 2008. Moreover, Huawei is now the largest 3G data card supplier in the world. At the time this was written, Chinese handset manufacturers collectively were projected to ship more than 300 million handsets by the end of 2008. iSuppli forecasts that Chinese handset manufacturers will ship more than 360 million units in 2009 driven by both domestic and export markets.

Nokia OSC Technology Extends GSM Capacity and Lowers Costs

Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) has successfully carried out field trials of Orthogonal Sub Channel (OSC) technology that is said to double the voice capacity of GSM radio networks using standard handsets. The OSC test demonstrated the use of four handsets sharing only one radio timeslot without compromising the call quality. NSN says the demonstration with existing commercially available GSM handsets was the first of its kind and is a "significant step in GSM evolution."

The aim is to help mobile operators cope with their cost challenges due to declining revenues per call minute. With OSC technology, operators can gain more capacity from the same base station hardware, meaning fewer base station sites are needed in network rollouts and capacity extensions, which in turn saves energy and decreases the CO2 emissions.

"This successful demonstration is made possible by a software upgrade to existing Flexi EDGE Base Station and Base Station Controller. OSC is fully interoperable with existing handsets, so it promises immediate cost saving for operators", said Prashant Agnihotri, Head of GSM/EDGE product management, Nokia Siemens Networks.

Cellular Growth Expected in 2009

The Strategy Analytics (SA) has posted a new Wireless Network Strategies service report, “US Wireless Market Outlook: 2009 Key Trends,” and predicts that US cellular subscriber growth will remain strong despite the economic situation but growth levels will scale back slightly from 2008. US cellular service revenues will also continue to grow, albeit at a slower growth rate of 3.9%, down from 7.5% in 2008. This is consistent with some surveys I have heard about saying that the technology products people expect to continue to buy are cell phones and HDTVs (those products are part of our everyday life and we are not willing to give them up easily).

SA says that in the current economic climate, carriers must address tightening consumer wallets. “Rather than just pushing prepaid as the perfect recession-proof tariff, carriers will work to make postpaid plans more attractive to budget-conscious customers who are re-examining their cellular spend,” explains Phil Kendall, Director of the SA's Wireless Network Strategies service. SA predicts more positioning for value rather than straight out price competition. “All-you-can-eat operators MetroPCS and Leap Wireless should fare well and present a challenge, especially to T-Mobile USA. Strategy Analytics expects that Sprint will continue to struggle,” predicts Susan Welsh de Grimaldo, Senior Analyst at SA and author of the report.

“The year 2009 will see heightened competition between AT&T Mobility and the new number one, Verizon Wireless—fresh from its acquisition of Alltel. These two will jockey for technology leadership on Long-Term Evolution (LTE), push wireless connectivity in consumer electronics devices and increasingly represent a larger share of total subscribers and service revenues.”

NY cancels $2B M/A-Com contract

The New York Office for Technology said last Thursday that it has terminated a contract with M/A-Com Inc., a Massachusetts company that was tasked with building and leasing a wireless network worth $2 billion. This was the largest contract ever awarded by this office and the cancellation will severely hamper progress toward a goal of building a statewide wireless emergency network.

The contract was canceled as the state tries to resolve a combined, record-high deficit of $15.4 billion over the next 15 months. The state warned M/A-Com in August 2008 that it was in default of its contract because internal tests and independent audits found 19 flaws in initial systems installed in western New York. Problems ranged from radio equipment failures and outages to “unreliable” and “inconsistent” infrastructure and coverage areas. Subsequent testing in November 2008 revealed that 15 of the 19 flaws had not been fixed.

“We are extremely disappointed,” said Melodie Mayberry-Stewart, director of the state Office for Technology. “We have given M/A-Com every opportunity to remediate existing deficiencies. However, the state’s testing concluded that M/A-Com is unable to deliver a system that meets the needs of New York state’s first responders.”
The state has spent $59.2 million on the project, including equipment purchases. Tyco Electronics has spent $51 million to date, and was expected to spend up to $75 million in its 2008 fiscal year, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The state is in line to recover much, if not all, of its investment through a $100 million credit line that M/A-Com established, per the terms of the contract. Half of that money is in escrow. The state has already sent a letter demanding payment to the financial institution managing the credit line.

M/A-Com, a division of Tyco Electronics Ltd. (NYSE: TEL; BSX: TEL), outbid Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) for the 20-year contract in early 2004. The deal is reportedly the largest high-tech project ever undertaken in the state’s history, and the largest statewide, public-safety communications project ever.

Nortel Files for Creditor Protection

On 14 January 2009, Nortel Networks filed for creditor protection in Canada and the US, with Nortel UK entering administration separately under a filing managed by Ernst & Young. The company reached this point after multiple management regimes failed in their attempts to remake the company after the bursting of the telecoms bubble. Nortel’s move may result in a more balanced industry structure for communications equipment.

There is no immediate industry impact from this filing, as Nortel’s downwards spiral has been gradual and bankruptcy restructurings take time. For Nortel’s three key constituencies – customers, investors, and staff – the announcement reinforces but does not fundamentally change earlier concerns. The latest phase in the Nortel saga began four months ago, when it pre-announced 3Q08 earnings (guiding down expectations), publicly put a ‘for sale’ sign on its Metro Ethernet Networks (MEN) division, and then mapped out yet another reorganization. At the time we stated that a more radical approach than divestiture was needed to cure the company’s woes. The bankruptcy filing is radical, but it will be exploited by competitors. They are now in a strong position to remind customers that Nortel can no longer give assurances of continued development of any specific products, which will surely impede Nortel’s ability to bring in new business.

Prior to this week’s filing, Nortel was in the midst of moving from four to three business units by folding bits and pieces of its Services division into the respective MEN, Enterprise Solutions, and Carrier Networks business units. The aim was to create three standalone operations with a more focused set of offerings and resources. Some elements of this restructuring are undoubtedly positive; for instance, rationalization of the Enterprise product line and phasing out some legacy technologies. However, this change follows numerous incremental divestitures or shutdowns of specific businesses and product lines (for example, broadband access and the UMTS and WiMAX RAN segments) in an attempt to focus and differentiate while cutting costs. By entering bankruptcy protection, Nortel’s fate will now be largely determined by its creditors and the courts. Hence the restructuring ahead will be much more brutal and less under Nortel’s control: product lines, technologies, partnerships, divisions, and even customers (i.e. installed base) will be candidates for shutdown or sale to the highest bidder.

Evolution to 4G. Nortel’s mobile infrastructure business is now focused on LTE/SAE (long term evolution/system architecture evolution). It is working hard to develop a strong LTE/SAE ecosystem including LG Electronics, LG Nortel, and other partners. It is doing its best to demonstrate its capabilities through trials (e.g. Verizon and T-Mobile Germany) and announcements (e.g. a deal with KDDI) and expects some commercial launches in 2009. Its LTE assets (part of the Carrier division) may be attractive for another player, perhaps Alcatel-Lucent, NEC, or ZTE.
There may also be some ‘rediscovered jewels’ from the recent acquisitions that became lost in the Nortel shuffle (e.g. Tasman) and may be of specific interest to some acquirers. Nortel emphasizes that its decision to file now – when its cash reserve is $2.6 billion – rather than 6–12 months down the line gives it added flexibility. That may be so, and may allow it to re-emerge as a smaller, better version of itself in the future. However, the scenarios mapped out above, in which rivals use Nortel’s bankruptcy filing as a chance to reshuffle the supplier landscape dramatically to their benefit, seem more likely. While public credit markets are tight and investors cautious, more aggressive capital sitting on the sidelines may also see this as an opportunity too ripe to pass up.

With thanks to - Dana Cooperson and Matt Walker, analysts at Ovum and Maria Di Martino , European PR Executive

LTE Market Provides Enthusiasm for Market Growth

While WiMAX dominated the news over the last year or so, LTE will probably be the hot topic this year as deployments start to happen. ABI Research reports that more than eighteen operators globally have announced LTE deployment plans, and the tough economy does not seem to have dampened their enthusiasm.

ABI Research estimates that operators will spend over $8.6 billion on LTE base station infrastructure alone. Verizon has announced acceleration of its LTE deployment timetable, bringing the launch forward from 2010 to 2009. Many of the others are looking at a 2011-2012 time frame, by which time, they hope, much of the current pain will have passed. ABI Research believes that NTT will also deploy LTE in Japan in 2009 and in general, LTE application development will also drive investment as operators work to determine which services to deploy on this high speed, low latency network.

We will certainly see where things are heading at Mobile World Congress in Feb as everyone congregates in Barcelona, Spain.

Gearing up for a Slow Down

Last October at the European Microwave Week in Amsterdam, I met with a number of RF/mW component manufacturers and frequently got onto the subject of the financial crises that had been unfolding for several months. At the time, the economic downturn still seemed confined to the housing and finance markets and had not yet impacted our industry. Apparently the recession had started the previous December, but those keeping count must wait a few quarters before declaring that a recession is actually in effect.

While most everyone I spoke with was concerned about what was happening, the immediate future looked stable enough. Folks were busy, contracts were being won and business was respectable. Today, everyone seems much less up-beat and many folks seem jittery about potential business and are hunkering down for a long lean period. Personally, I think times like these provide individuals and companies that are willing to be aggressive yet smart with an opportunity to make some real gains against their competitors. It is a time for solutions that save costs and improve efficiency in the long term. Companies that can save their customers money should do fine, but they must communicate this value proposition.

David Strand, president of Strand Marketing Inc., a Newburyport, Massachusetts-based marketing and advertising agency specializing in the high tech industry, has written a marketing brief entitled “Gearing Up for a Slow Down: 7 ideas for Marketing in a Challenging Economy.” Contained within the brief are tips on investing marketing dollars in the most efficient ways. Topics include time-sensitive advertising, e-marketing, search engine optimization, PR and sales incentives.

“In these unstable times, business owners are understandably looking to cut costs. But is it time to do the Ostrich, or be a cautiously optimistic leader in your field?,” said Strand. “I’ve prepared this brief to offer some simple and inspiring ideas for keeping yourself out there in front of customers while the business world is building new cornerstones.”

The brief is available as a free PDF download at www.strandmarketing.com/7things.

More than ever companies need to invest in the R&D that will produce products that most benefit their customers needs and they must communicate this solution effectively. I believe engineers (the bulk of our authors and our audience) need that information in the form of technical articles, white papers and even multi-media outlets such as webinars. Companies connecting to their customers these days will likely develop loyalty that will last through many future business cycles.