Shipments of Short Range ICs Will Increase 20% in 2010

According to ABI Research, the market for short range wireless ICs is forecast to expand this year; total shipments of Bluetooth, NFC, UWB, 802.15.4 and Wi-Fi ICs will increase approximately 20% compared to 2009. “Bluetooth ICs still lead the short-range wireless IC market,” says ABI Research industry analyst Celia Bo. “Unit shipments are expected to exceed 58% of the total short-range wireless IC shipments in 2010. Wi-Fi ICs rank second place in this market, making up approximately 35% of the total shipments, with the rest of the shipments accounted for by NFC, UWB and 502.15.4 ICs.”

Cellular handsets and accessories are taking a significant portion of the market for Bluetooth-enabled products in 2010, accounting for almost 75% of total shipments. This is followed by the notebook and UMD segments, taking approximately 12%. The demand for Bluetooth-enabled consumer electronic and home entertainment products is expected to grow steadily over the next five years. Shipments of portable media players are forecast to grow tenfold in 2015 as compared to 2010, and the total shipments of networked game consoles and handheld game consoles are expected to show a 14% CAGR between 2010 and 2015.

Bo adds, “Combination chip solutions that integrate two or more short-range wireless technologies will be broadly deployed in hundreds of millions of electronic devices due to their advantages of lower cost and smaller chip size, paving the way for expansion of the short-range wireless IC market.”

The Bluetooth+FM radio integration solution is taking the highest market share among the major integration solutions of “combo” chips today, followed by Bluetooth+Wi-Fi+FM radio and Bluetooth+FM radio+GPS solutions. Bluetooth’s integration with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) wireless technology will be adopted widely from next year and is projected to account for more than 50% of total Bluetooth combo IC shipments in 2015.

ABI also reported that shipments of “combo” chipsets for mobile devices that gather a variety of connectivity types in one small package are expected to approach 280 million worldwide by the end of 2010. Integrating different radio technologies such as FM, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPS on a single chip may sometimes involve performance compromises, but saves money, space and power. ABI Research forecasts that more than 979 million such chipsets will ship in 2015.

These forecasts bode well for the wireless industry. Hopefully, they will be on target or better.

SA Says 400 Million Connected Convergent Devices in 2014

The Connected Convergent Devices (CCDs) market will claim a global installed base of over 400 million units by 2014, according to research just released by analyst firm Strategy Analytics. The report, “Connected Convergent Devices: The New Battleground,” envisions CCDs filling the gap between smartphones and netbooks—a gap that is ripe for growth.

The firm estimates the value of the CCD market will exceed $50 billion in 2014. Some cannibalization is inevitable, according to the report, particularly among the tablets, netbooks, eBook readers and Mobile Internet devices (MIDs) categories.“ All categories have the potential to be very disruptive,” said Peter King, Director of the Connected Home Device service at Strategy Analytics. “However, all have their place in the market, and as casual computing develops, new products such as the tablet can be additive to the market as well as cannibalistic”.

CE, Mobile and PC companies are vying for the consumer wallet with a variety of Connected Convergent Devices, including tablets, netbooks, smartbooks, eBook readers and MIDs. “We have recently witnessed price erosion and product withdrawals in the eBook reader market, and the netbook market growth has slowed down since the introduction of the Apple iPad,” added King. “As rival tablets hit the market by year-end, many driven by Google’s Android, we will see even more competition in this dynamic new market segment.”

This sounds reasonable as these devices have come down drastically in price. With the Kindle now at $139, I am tempted to buy one. If it was over $300 like the original devices, I might as well buy an iPad or netbook and get a device the does several functions.

Terrafugia's “Roadable Aircraft” Engineered With Virtual Prototyping From ANSYS

I thought this was a very interesting news article from ANSYS about the world’s first commercial “flying car." Photo courtesy of ANSYS.

Massachusetts-based Terrafugia used ANSYS® engineering simulation software to design and verify its new production prototype of the Transition® aircraft that also can drive on the highway, which was unveiled yesterday at the EAA AirVenture airshow. Terrafugia engineers conducted whole-vehicle airflow tests that assessed the effects of design changes on overall performance — working in parallel across the various Transition components. The simulations were used to maximize wing lift in the air and to minimize the effects of crosswinds along the road.

“The Transition’s test flights identified some important engineering issues that ANSYS fluid dynamics software helped us to address in the production prototype,” said Gregor Cadman, an engineer at Terrafugia. "Our latest design improves both the in-air and on-road performance of the Transition, as well as ensures that the vehicle lends itself to full-scale manufacturing. Simulation software from ANSYS played a central role in these engineering efforts. Without the ability to work in a virtual environment, we would have had to construct complicated physical models, modify or rebuild them, and conduct hours of real-world testing, slowing down the process and adding significantly to development costs.”

The Transition is the world’s first vehicle to combine a lightweight, aerodynamic aircraft with the stability needed for long-distance driving on the highway. The vehicle can cruise up to 490 miles at over 105 miles per hour, can drive at highway speeds on the road, and is capable of transforming from plane to car in less than 30 seconds. The sophisticated design features foldable wings that span more than 26 feet, a rear-wheel-drive system for the road and a propeller for flight. Terrafugia’s team of aeronautical engineers earned global attention when the Transition proof-of-concept vehicle completed a successful 60-second test flight in March 2009. The company expects to begin commercial production of the vehicle in 2011.

Working closely with ANSYS product specialists, the Terrafugia engineering team also studied the impact of the Transition’s propeller on air flows around the vehicle. As the project developed over time, engineers applied simulation tools to study ever-smaller and more precise design modifications, which added to their confidence that the Transition will perform well in flight testing.

“The dual challenges of driving and flying present significant challenges for aeronautical engineers,” said Greg Stuckert, aerospace industry manager at ANSYS. “Terrafugia’s use of engineering simulation to fine-tune designs throughout the development process — not just at the end for verification — contributed to an optimized historic vehicle and an efficient product launch. Their earlier successful test flights and this year’s production prototype are the proof that their efforts are paying off.”

Cellular M2M Market Forecast

ABI Research reports the Cellular Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication market has been a challenging place for cellular embedded module vendors over the past 18 months. 2007 was this market’s last “good year”: 2008 saw both shipment volumes and revenue decrease. In 2009, the cellular M2M module market grew somewhat in terms of unit shipment volume, although rapidly declining module prices meant that 2009 revenue was still below that of 2007.

Despite its difficulties, however, this market is on an upward path. Unit shipment volume growth and the growing importance of 3G are already resulting in stronger performance and a new ABI Research study estimates that the market will be worth $3.8 billion in 2015.

Qi Wireless Power Charging Standard Released

The Qi low power standard, was finalized at the end of last month by the Wireless Power Consortium. The standard calls for delivering up to 5 Watts into wireless power receivers. The goal is for the standard to be interoperable between chargers and gadgets from different makers. This would be a big step forward if they are able to accomplish this as many wireless applications are slow to the market or fail without standardization.

The Qi low power specifications consist of 3 documents:

• Part 1, Interface Definition. This document defines the interface for contactless power transfer between a power transmitter and a power receiver, based on near field magnetic induction between coils.
• Part 2, Performance Requirements. This document defines performance requirements for power transmitters and power receivers.
• Part 3, Compliance Testing. This document defines the compliance test procedure for power transmitters and power receivers.

Part 1 is currently available for members only, but will be made publicly available as download from this website on August 30, 2010. Part 2 and 3 will stay exclusive for members of the Wireless Power Consortium only.

The power is transfer ed via magnetic induction so the distance between the device and charger is only up to a few mm. Most of these are charging pads or areas where the device it set on top of or very near the charger but it certainly makes charging a whole lot easier and more convenient especially if multiple devices can be set in the charging area at one time.

And the results are in……

Leading RF front-end chip manufacturers RFMD, Skyworks and TriQuint each released their quarterly earnings last week and the results for each were very encouraging with revenue for the quarter up 29, 44 and 23%, respectively over the same quarter of the previous year .

For its fiscal 2011 first quarter, ended July 3, 2010, RF Micro Devices Inc. posted better-than-expected quarterly results, helped by growing demand for mobile broadband devices, and said it expects its September-quarter results to be in line with its first quarter. The company earned $28.1 million, or 10 cents a share, compared with $4.8 million, or 2 cents a share, a year ago. Excluding items, RF Micro Devices earned 16 cents a share. Revenue rose 29 percent to $273.8 million. "RF Micro Devices is currently on track to grow revenue and achieve double-digit earnings growth this fiscal year," Chief executive Dean Priddy said in a statement.

While on a different fiscal calendar, Skyworks Solutions Inc.'s also announced that its second-quarter net income nearly doubled, propelled by the booming market for mobile phones and other wireless devices that rely on the company's chips. The company indicated the favorable trends are likely to extend into the third quarter; it provided a forecast above analysts' previous estimates.

In the quarter completed July 2, Skyworks said it earned $34.7 million, or 19 cents per share, up from $18.7 million, or 11 cents per share, at the same time last year. If not for certain accounting items, Skyworks said it would have earned 32 cents share. That was two cents better than the average estimate among analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.
Revenue for the period increased 44 percent to $275 million, about $6 million above analyst forecasts. In the current quarter, Skyworks expects to earn 37 cents per share, excluding certain items, on revenue of $300 million. Analysts, on average, had predicted earnings of 34 cents per share on revenue of $287.5 million.

TriQuint Semiconductor also reported their financial results for the second quarter which ended July 3, 2010 with revenue for the second quarter at $207.5 million, up 23% from the second quarter of 2009. The company’s Networks products continued to enjoy a strong rebound from the lows of 2009 growing 19% sequentially and 64% year over year. Net income was $22.5 million, or $0.14 per diluted share. Non-GAAP net income was $33.1 million, or $0.20 per diluted share. Gross margin for the second quarter of 2010 was 41.2%, up from 32.3% in the second quarter of 2009. On a non-GAAP basis, gross margin improved for the fifth consecutive quarter to 42.3%, up from 33.2% in the second quarter of 2009. Gross margin improved sequentially due to strong factory utilization, a higher mix of networks and defense product revenue and favorable product mix.

Operating expenses for the second quarter of 2010 were $58.8 million, or 28.3% of revenue, up from $50.3 million, or 29.8% of revenue in the second quarter of 2009. Non-GAAP operating expenses for the quarter were $54.7 million or 26.4% of revenue, up 4.4% sequentially. Most of the increase was in research and development expenses.

IEEE EMC 2010 in Fort Lauderdale

We are at the IEEE International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility in Ft. Lauderdale, FL and finished our first day of attending the exhibition. Over 2000 attendees are on site with over 150 exhibitors at the Ft. Lauderdale Convention Center. The primary RF and microwave modeling, design, test/measurement and component companies that offer EMC/EMI solutions are here.

The theme of the 2010 Symposium is "Systems Engineering" and the emphasis is preventing or catching EMC issues early in design with proper modeling and early testing. The technical program is designed cover everything from EMC fundamentals to advanced numerical techniques for prediction and control. There are five days of papers, workshops, tutorials and demonstrations.

The exhibition was very busy for the first couple of hours on the first day but seemed to slow for most of the rest of the day until happy hour. Most exhibitors were happy with the quality of the leads so far so we hope this continues through the week. We are shooting some videos of demonstrations and products from the leading companies and will include them in our show wrap up next week.

Update on the iPhone 4 Antenna Issue

By now most everyone has heard about the iPhone 4 antenna problems. Holding it in certain areas can either bridge the gap between two of the antennas embedded into the outside frame causing them to not work properly or covering the lower part of the phone can attenuate the signal resulting in poor reception. There is no software that can fix this physical problem although Apple was pushing this as a solution by reprogramming the sensitivity of the signal strength indicator (number of bars displayed).

There were numerous complaints and now there are lawsuits against Apple that they shipped a defective product and mis-represented its performance (by the way, there are many reports that they are hiring antenna engineers if you want a job there). The final nail seemed to come last Monday when Consumers Reports reported they are not recommending the iPhone 4 due to its issues.

The $30 bumper Apple sells can fix most of the issues but they earlier insisted that customers pay for one. There are even YouTube videos showing how to fix the problem with a band-aid which people are now selling! After being in denial for many weeks and trying to divert attention to the real antenna hardware problem, Apple seems to have come to their senses and is now going to give away free bumpers to its customers although they still are not admitting it is a design flaw. This is estimated to cost around $175 million but this is probably much less than a recall or all the lawsuits, etc. that will be filed in the future.

It is a shame as the new iPhone has improved sensitivity and works very well when held so that the antenna is not covered or shorted out. I originally thought this new antenna design was a great idea but leaving it exposed has shown to be a very bad idea. The iPhone 4 antenna in the phone frame is really a poor design and should have been caught/fixed during modeling or at least during testing. It is standard practice to test a phone in several different hand positions next to a phantom head so it is hard to believe they did not know about this flaw.

A Legal Right to Broadband!

At the beginning of this month, everyone in Finland has been given the legal right to broadband service making it equivalent to a utility available to most everyone in developed countries. The Finnish law means that from 1 July all telecommunications companies will be obliged to provide all residents with broadband lines that can run at a minimum 1 Mbps speed and has vowed to connect everyone to a 100 Mbps connection by 2015.

It is believed up to 96% of the population are already online and that only about 4,000 homes still need connecting to comply with the law so they are much closer to realizing this goal than any other country. Of course, they are in Nokia-land where wireless is their second language.

In the UK, the government has promised a minimum connection of at least 2 Mbps to all homes by 2012 but has stopped short of making this a right in law. The US broadband plan is being developed and funded but the broadband penetration is only about 64% so it is far behind Finland while S. Korea enjoys the fastest broadband speeds worldwide.

RF/Microwave Calculator and Converter Apps

I recently came across this very nice microwave toolbox for Android mobile devices that Faust Nijhuis developed (posted on our LinkedIn Community). He has created a free lite version with a few useful calculators and a 1.99 euro version that has 6 calculators and 2 converters for the full toolbox. Below are a couple of sample screen shots from his web site.


MW calculator lite is the lite and free version of the microwave tool box with the following tools:

• PI and T attenuator calculator
• Reflectometer calculator
• Mismatch error limits calculator

MW calculator is a microwave tool box with the following tools:

• PI and T attenuator calculator
• Reflectometer calculator
• Mismatch error limits calculator
• Microstrip calculator
• Stripline calculator
• Coplanar waveguide calculator
• Power and voltage converter
• Field intensity and power density converter

You will find the applications in the Android Market and more information can be found on his web site at http://www.mwave-design.nl/mw/index.php?title=Android.

At IMS 2010, Agilent launched the Agilent MicroWave calculator to help calculate the errors in microwave measurements. It consists of Directivity Error Calculator, Mismatch Error Limit Calculator, and Ratio-to-dB Calculator. The Directivity Error Calculator shows the accuracy of a reflection measurement of unknown impedance based upon the directivity of the coupler used for the measurement. The Mismatch Error Limit Calculator shows the potential error in a transmission measurement due to imperfect source match and load match. The Ratio-to-dB Calculator simply converts between voltage ratio, power ratio, and dB.

It can be downloaded at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/microwave-calculator/id369705771?mt=8.

Please let us know if there are RF/microwave related tools that you would like to have in an app. What other mobile phone apps have you seen that would be useful to microwave engineers? This should be a very interesting area to watch as new apps are developed for our industry.

No link between Mobile Phone Base Stations and Early Childhood Cancers

There is no association between risk of early childhood cancers and a mother’s exposure to a mobile phone base station during pregnancy, concludes a new study published on bmj.com last week. This is the first study to look at phone masts in Britain as a whole and is the largest of its kind.


Use of mobile phones has increased markedly in recent years and questions have been raised about possible health effects, including brain and other cancers, especially after prolonged use. Surveys also indicate high levels of public concern about the potential risks of living near mobile phone masts. Previous reports of apparent cancer clusters near mobile phone base stations are difficult to interpret due to small numbers and possible biases that could have affected the results. Also, any radiobiological explanation for such cancer excesses is lacking.



So researchers at Imperial College London set out to investigate the risk of early childhood cancers, such as brain tumours and leukaemia, and proximity to a mobile phone base station during pregnancy. Here is a link to the full story.

ADI Data Converters Buried Under South Pole Ice Cap

This ADI news release came out today and it is a very interesting piece of science so I have to share it here:

Buried two kilometers under solid ice on one of the coldest continents on Earth, Analog Devices’ (ADI) data converters and amplifiers are helping scientists at the South Pole build the world’s largest telescope to search for the smallest subatomic particles known to humankind.

The innovative “underground” telescope project is called IceCube and uses a cubic kilometer of pure, ultra-translucent ice at the South Pole as a telescopic “window” or particle detector to search the universe for its smallest known particles, called neutrinos. Neutrinos are subatomic particles that lack an electric charge produced by the decay of radioactive elements and elementary particles. Neutrinos travel at near the speed of light and are so tiny that they can typically pass through solid matter without colliding with any atoms. However when neutrinos collide with an atom, light energy is emitted that can help detect the presence and direction of these sub-atomic particles.

IceCube will search for neutrinos from the most violent astrophysical sources, including events like exploding stars, gamma ray bursts, and cataclysmic phenomena involving black holes and neutron stars. The IceCube telescope is a powerful tool to search for dark matter, and could reveal new physical processes associated with the enigmatic origin of the highest energy particles in nature.

IceCube uses Antarctica’s ice sheet as the largest instrumented volume of ice/water in the world. Neutrinos passing through the ice sheet collide with atoms creating a blue light at impact that can be detected by IceCube’s digital optical modules (DOMS).

Analog Devices’ data converters and amplifiers are installed in more than 5,000 of these DOMS. The DOMs, which are 13–inch-diameter glass pressure spheres, are deployed under the ice on a cable at depths of between 1.5 and 2.5 km. Over the next 25 years while embedded in ice, the DOMs will detect and transmit experimental data about particle collisions.

“We needed low-power, reliable products capable of providing the longevity needed for this project, especially on the main board in the DOMs. Design teams at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison used ADI data converters and amplifiers that fit our needs and requirements," said Jerry Przyblski, LBNL Design Engineer. “We used ADI products, such as ADCs (analog-to-digital converters), DACs (digital-to-analog converters) and amplifiers, in the DOMS and the communications system. So far, IceCube’s scientists have gathered data equal to thousands of DOM years of operation.”

iPhone 4 Antenna Design NOT So Revolutionary

I blogged about the iPhone 4 and its revolutionary new antenna design a little of a week ago and how it might be the future for antenna design for handsets. But I was concerned about how touching the antenna in different ways would affect its performance and how they designed for that.

Well, I guess the answer was they did not completely take that into account and now have reception issues with the iPhone 4. Various reports last week highlighted this issue including a user's e-mail directly to Steve Jobs in which he responded to the user saying well, if it does not work well when you hold it a certain way, don't hold it that way. Are you kidding me? The user has to avoid holding it in the lower left corner or buy a $30 case from Apple to solve a problem that no phone should have in the first place.

Here is a video (there are many of them now) demonstrating the phone showing 4 bars of reception strength without holding it and going to no reception if you hold it normally in the palm of your hand. It also shows that holding it without touch the side band where the antenna resides does not affect the reception. I am very surprised this was not discovered in testing and re-designed.

Motorola poised to spin off a debt-free handset group

Details are emerging about Motorola's plan to split in two entities next year, resulting in the spin off its handset unit. This division, according to reports in The Wall Street Journal, will emerge largely debt-free, and will have a cash reserve of $3bn to $4bn. Following a slew of smartphone launches, the company’s handset division is expected to regain profitability by the end of this year, after losing about $5bn over the past three years, resulting in a severe cost cutting program.

The separated device business would be called Motorola Mobility, say the reports, and will also include the set-top-box businesses. The remaining assets, which include the wireless infrastructure, enterprise and public safety activities, will be grouped under the name Motorola Solutions. This division will take on the remaining pension obligations and liabilities - it has been positive in most of its units over the past few years, unlike handsets, and generated a combined $11.1bn in 2009.

GaN and Si Based Technologies Invading GaAs Territory

Our June cover story takes a look at the state of GaAs foundries, their market outlook and how GaN and Si based technologies are impeding on their market share in several applications. SiGe is active in highly integrated mmWave application areas such as automotive radar and high frequency backhaul. Si CMOS designs for handset front ends are starting to find traction in some lower end cellular handsets (Javelin, Skyworks/Axiom, Blue Sand Technolgies, RFAxis, etc). And GaN is taking over some of the very high power niches in commercial and military applications. Read the full cover story here.

Since writing this article, additional news items have been released to support this story as we will continue to follow it. About a week ago, Skyworks announced a cost-effective CMOS front-end module (FEM) for GPRS handsets. Skyworks’ new device offers handset OEMs architectures and high-performance solutions for entry-level phones in a small 5 x 6 mm package. By eliminating the need to optimize matching between the amplifier and the switch, this module helps accelerate customers’ time-to-market relative to other more traditional architectures, and simplifies the supply chain for high-volume, cost-sensitive phones. I believe this device is a continuation of the work done by Axiom Microdevices that they acquired about a year ago. This keeps them in the cellular handset market with both technologies.

And now Engalco has released a new report on how GaN and SiGe are making in roads into traditional GaAs markets. According to their market report – MMICs2 – the compound semiconductor MMIC market to 2015 – GaAs MMICs will remain important, while GaN and SiGe MMICs will progressively invade these markets. Although the overall worldwide total markets are forecasted to reach $6.26 B in 2015, this total continues to be dominated by the commodity markets of cell phones (over $3 B) and both intelligent cruise control and mobile WiMAX ($1.2 B each). After these end-users have been considered, the remaining market segments of defense, ISM, microwave radio, millimeter-wave radio, SATCOM and SATNAV all come in with much lower market shares. Of these, microwave radio accounts for a market worth around $280 M in 2015; millimeter-wave radio exhibits exceptionally high (double-digit) growth to reach $420 M in the same year. The latter market is driven by the exploding capacity requirements of multi-Gbit links.

In the defense segment the report says North America (principally the US) leads, but both Europe and Asia (especially) are increasingly important. The report indicates how both GaN- and SiGe-based MMICs will progressively invade many market segments. The utility of GaN MMICs for high-power/high-efficiency RF amplification is becoming well known; the application will also be extended to other functions in RF modules. SiGe-based MMICs are already being implemented in low-power signal processing roles, mainly in receivers and switches.

Anadigics Stock Price Jumps as Trading Opens

According to the Boston Globe today, shares of Anadigics jumped ahead of regular trading Thursday after a Stifel Nicolaus analyst upgraded the stock, saying the company's earnings are likely to beat expectations in the second half of the year. Stifel Nicolaus analyst Patrick Newton raised the company to "Buy" from "Hold" and gave it a price target of $5.50.

Newton said he expects the company to be taking a bigger share of the market as the year goes on. He said that should help the company's earnings outstrip Wall Street forecasts in the near term. Further out, the company's quarterly revenue of about $80 million to $90 million should pick up to $160 million to $200 million, Newton said. Anadigics shares rose 25 cents, or 6.2 percent, to $4.25 in premarket trading.

Find out what Anadigics it doing right in Microwave Journal interview with Mario Rivas, CEO of Anadigics: http://www.mwjournal.com/News/article.asp?HH_ID=AR_9321

Low Cost 2.4 GHz Weatherproof Antennas Targets M2M Apps

Since Pat has brought up the topic of antennas with his blog about this component's "five minutes of fame" sharing the stage with Steve Jobs as the Apple founder introduced the new 4G iPhone, I thought I would share the following product release that came across my desk today as well. After all, any RF/microwave device targeting Smart grid applications has as much of a cool factor as any in the latest smartphone. Well, maybe not. But helping to save the planet by being green gets my seal of approval.

Pulse, a Technitrol Company (NYSE: TNL), a manufacturer of electronic components and subassembly design and manufacturing, introduces its new low cost, weatherproof antennas for 2.4 GHz devices used in industrial, smart grid metering, security, broadband access, and other machine-to-machine(M2M) applications. These robust, high-efficiency, compact antennas meet Bluetooth, WLAN, WiFi, IEEE 802.11b/g, ZigBee IEEE 802.15.4, and 2.4 GHz ISM band system standards.

Pulse's W5001, W5010, and W5011 antennas function in ruggedized conditions, offering IP65 water ingress protection in accordance with international standard IEC 60529, UV protection, and the ability to withstand 100 mph wind loading. They have a maximum gain of 1.5 dBi in the 2,400 to 2,500 MHz range, an efficiency of 70%, and an operating temperature range of -40°C to 85°C. The antennas have a small footprint and low profile, measuring only 128mm x 18mm.


Pulse's W5001, W5010, and W5011 antennas are available in three SMA connector configurations: fixed right angle, straight SMA, and RP-SMA. They are packaged in quantities of 20 pieces per bag. Additional information regarding these antennas is available on the Pulse website at www.pulseeng.com/file.php?3685.

Antenna Design Enables Multi-band iPhone 4

It is not often that RF technology is one of the leading features mentioned in the release of a new phone even though it is the the enabling technology for wireless devices, but one of the main features mentioned in the iPhone 4 announcement was the external antenna design. Apple cleverly uses the stainless steel band around the phone as a the antenna for GSM, UMTS, WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth (there are spaces separating the multiple antennas around the phone - photo via intomobile.com). This is an amazing example of maximizing the antenna size (for better performance) and minimizing the space it occupies. The iPhone has been notorious for dropping calls so it was imperative that Apple did something about this issue and featured it in the announcement. This could be the future of the way antennas are designed into phones and should improve the performance of the phone especially at lower frequencies where larger antennas are typically provide better performance.

Antenna technology is really being pushed to its limits with all of the different frequencies they have to accommodate in smart phones as they need to connect via multiple cellular bands, WiFi, Bluetooth and receive GPS signals not to mention the coming of mobile TV and video which may require even more frequencies. Tunable antennas seem to be the upcoming technology as a single antenna might be used for all the frequencies by changing its impedance to optimize performance at various frequencies but this can lead to other issues. Most of these tunable antenna are still in development so using the space around the phone body of the phone is an ingenious way to free up board space that would be taken up by multiple antennas. Apparently, the iPad also uses a similar approach where the antenna is the LCD frame around the screen.

One draw back (which must have been considered in the design) is that touching the antenna body will change it characteristics significantly, so I would be curious how that affected the design. There will also be people who will question the radiation being directly in contact with the skin, but I don't think there is much difference in having the antenna touch your skin versus being a few millimeters away inside the phone (the phone is now only 9.3 mm thick).

The new antenna design in the iPhone 4 could revolutionize the way in which antennas are designed in future phones and has enabled Apple to reduce the size of the phone while improving performance to solve the problem of dropped calls and poor reception. Do you think this is the future of antenna design for phones?

On another note, I noticed in the iPhone teardown of the prototype on Gizmodo showed that the Skyworks FEM is again the winner for the RF section last the previous iPhone design. That is a big win for them (I could not make out if there were any additional FEMs on the board).

Cell Phone Market Forecast by Forward Concepts

Forward Concepts has published an in-depth study of the worldwide cellphone market and the associated ecosystem of subscribers, operators and technologies. Some of the key findings from the study are:

• Worldwide unit cellphone shipments fell by 0.5% in 2009, as the entire electronics market was muted by global economic conditions. They are forecasting a much healthier 11% growth in 2010 to 1.4 billion units.
  
• Unit growth varies markedly by region, with China's market forecast to grow by 23% in 2010, while Western Europe's will grow by a more sedate 4%.
  
• India will lead in subscriber growth this year, growing an estimated 30% compared to China's 7%.
  
• Apple exhibited the greatest unit growth of all cellphone vendors in 2009, with an 83% growth. Following Apple was Tianyu with 68%, NEC with 46%, RIM with 44%, Inventec with 23%, LGE with 21%, TCL and Huawei each with 17%, Samsung with 16% and HTC with 10%. Of course, the lesser-known companies began with smaller shipment bases.
  
• In smartphones, ZTE had the highest 2009 unit growth, at 160%, with revenues of $400 million in that category, followed by Apple's 83% growth, but with much higher revenues of $13.8 billion.
  
• Smartphones, such as those by RIM, Apple and HTC get the most press, but they only constitute 13% of the unit cellphone market, while so-called feature phones make up 25%.
  
• Budget cellphones, popular in India, China and Africa presently make up 23% of the market, while mid-range units account for the largest market, at 39%. We forecast that the budget market will flatten as their replacements will lead to better growth of mid-range models.

TriQuint and Avago Supply RF FEMs for New HTC Evo

Earlier this week I saw that iFixit.com had already performed a teardown on the new HTC Evo 4G phone. It shows the RF device winners to be TriQuint and Avago for the RF front end modules which is significant as this is expected to be a hot phone that can compete with the iPhone (although the new iPhone is set to release soon). The TriQunt device is a TQM613029 (outlined in green - image from iFixit.com) CDMA PA-duplexer module that integrates a single-ended transmit filter, duplexer, high efficiency PA die, RF power coupler, matching and built in voltage regulator functionality eliminating the need for external switch circuitry (all in 28 sq mm). The Avago device is a AFEM7758 (outlined in orange) front end module is a fully matched CDMA Front-End Module featuring the integration of power amplifier, duplexer, band- pass filter and coupler. The module uses FBAR-based technology that offers low insertion and good isolation.

These components are the typical RF platform for HTC designs of this type but new here is the 4G capability supplied by the Sequans SQN210 WiMAX chip that supports mobile WiMAX baseband and three frequency bands: 2.3-2.4, 2.5-2.7, 3.3-3.8 GHz. This includes a low-complexity MIMO algorithm on the downlink and 2Tx on the uplink for 2Tx diversity and optional full 2×2 uplink MIMO. This type of integration is impressive and they will offer LTE solutions also.

Is it too early for a 4G phone with such limited infrastructure in place? What do you think??