Assessing Japanese Quake Impact on GaAs Industry

Strategy Analytics issued a report today that the impact of the March 11 earthquake and ensuing tsunami, as well as the on-going issues with the nuclear reactors at Fukushima, are affecting the equipment and materials suppliers, consumer electronics companies, automotive, test and measurement companies in Japan. The Strategy Analytics' GaAs and Compound Semiconductor Technologies (GaAs) service report, “Japanese Quake Impact on the GaAs Industry,” contains a preliminary assessment of the impact of the tragedy on the global GaAs industry in Japan and throughout the world.

Strategy Analytics assessment of the situation indicates that there is no danger of immediate disruption to the supply of gallium and arsenide raw materials. The supply of SI (semi-insulating) bulk substrates will also be sustained. GaAs device manufacturing facilities were also largely unaffected. They state that the Japanese materials supplier were running at full capacity when the quake hit so if there was a surge in demand, shortages could result.

Japan is a leading player in the GaAs RF/microelectronics industry, accounting for 50 percent of bulk substrate supply, 18-20 percent of global SI GaAs epitaxial substrate production and up to one-fifth of the global GaAs device market. Japanese companies involved in the GaAs industry include Hitachi Cable, Renesas and Sumitomo Chemical.

TI to Acquire National Semiconductor

TI announced late yesterday that it is acquiring National Semiconductor. The purchase was for $25 per share in an all-cash transaction of about $6.5 billion and creates a combined product portfolio of 42,000 products.

Here is a letter Templeton wrote to stakeholders:

I am excited to let you know that TI has signed a definitive agreement to purchase National Semiconductor, uniting two industry leaders that have a common commitment to solving your analog needs. I want to reinforce TI's commitment to you, our customer, as we merge our two companies.

This acquisition will allow us to address your analog needs with a product portfolio of unmatched breadth and depth. National's 12,000 products plus TI's 30,000 means more performance, power and packaging options when selecting the right ICs for your application. And we'll provide a common set of best-in-class online tools to make the selection and design process easier.

Our combined sales and applications team of 2,500 will be larger than any in the industry so we can provide more customers with greater face-to-face support than ever before.

Our manufacturing operations will offer more capacity to support your growth. TI's fabs and National's available capacity can enable higher production levels.

While both companies will operate independently pending the close, our goal thereafter is to make the integration process as seamless as possible. No requalification of products will be necessary since National's manufacturing sites will continue to be utilized. Part numbers from both companies will remain the same. There will be no obsolescence of products.

I'm excited about what the integration of our two companies will mean for you: an unmatched portfolio to meet your analog needs, an extensive sales and applications network to ease the design process, and manufacturing capacity to support your growth.

You can learn more about the acquisition at www.ti.com/acquire, including answers to frequently asked questions and video messages from TI leaders regarding the acquisition.

Thank you for choosing TI. I look forward to a great future together.

Best regards,

Rich Templeton Chairman, President and CEO Texas Instruments

Active Antenna Markets Projected to Exceed $2 B by 2016

ABI Research released a new report last week that looked interesting to me. They stated that the global market for antennas for wireless infrastructure, including base station, fixed and active types, is set to reach almost $2.0 billion in 2016. So-called “active” antennas are the hot segment of this market. Widespread installations of active antennas, which combine the base station’s RF electronics in the antenna housing mounted at the top of the tower, have only begun quite recently.

According to research director Lance Wilson, “Active antennas offer a solution to the problem of rapidly growing wireless data traffic. Conventional designs are not as efficient; active antennas offer much greater efficiency and versatility when handling large quantities of signals, including wireless data.” Apart from the “active” segment, the antenna market can be described as stable and mature. “Market growth is gradual and steady,” says Wilson. ”That, along with the huge size of the market (from a component or subassembly standpoint), is precisely part of its appeal for vendors.”

The antenna vendor ecosystem is slightly unusual in that there are multiple tiers and many participants. The bulk of these vendors are small companies that command only fractional percentages of the total available market (why is that?). ABI Research believes that some market consolidation is likely. The scenario for active antennas is a bit different, with antenna manufacturers normally partnering with equipment builders.

Will 4G provide much stimulus to the antenna market? “Some upside is present with LTE/4G,” says Wilson, “but this will be moderated by the eventual decline in the GSM family of technologies. With the exception of still-developing regions, GSM infrastructure is largely built-out already. 4G won’t replace the millions of existing GSM base stations with similar quantities.”

I think antenna hardware and technology are overlooked in the most wireless markets as one of the more vital components of the system. Antenna articles are one of the most submitted types of articles we receive at Microwave Journal but few antenna manufacturers advertise or seem to be active at shows with the exception of the Satellite show.

In Aftermath of AT&T Buying T-Mobile: Apple Buys Sprint

In the latest deal in a wave of consolidation sweeping the wireless industry, Apple has announced it plans to acquire Sprint, and its stake in Clearwire. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but there is a provision in the deal for Apple to also buy out Clearwire's other investors, which include Google, Intel, and several cable firms. For Apple and Sprint, this deal represents a quick resolution to several long-term challenges facing each company. Sprint, which had been reeling in the wake of the AT&T/T-Mobile deal, gains the iPhone, the cash it needs to buy out Clearwire from its existing investors, and a needed psychological lift after years of being pummeled by customers, the media, and analysts. Dan Stressee (pronounced Stress-ee), Sprint's CEO, expressed delight at the news, saying: "I was looking at plowing all of the profits I was just starting to make again into lawyers and lobbyists to fight the AT&T deal. I met with Steve last week and we agreed that we'd prefer to focus on just selling a #$&%$load of phones." Steve ['creating lotsa'] Jobbs, seemed similarly ebullient. "Sprint completes us", he said, recognizing that a wireless network is "the only part of the value chain I don't already control." A network is a critical component of Apple's cloud strategy. The company is building a super-secret, underground, $1 billion data center in North Carolina, codenamed: Operation: Beat Google and Amazon At Their Own Game. "I realized that Sprint and Clearwire own a boatload of spectrum", said Jobbs. "Plus, by getting Sprint to throw in Clearwire, I take Google and the cable companies out of the picture as investors. So, Ha." Apple is going to need all of the spectrum it can get if it wants to offer cloud-based access to all of the music, apps, and video content to the hundreds of millions of devices it sells every hour. Despite his well-known disdain for telcos, Jobbs spoke highly of Sprint and Clearwire. "Combine them and you get "fast", and "simple", which is what we're all about." Apple, predictably, was not prepared to comment on its cloud strategy, though its CFO, Tim 'I can' Cooke, said in a recent interview that "we hope by 2013, our customers will never have to physically connect their iDevice to a computer again." Sources tell me the plan is called Operation Sync the Cable. Ironically, Jobbs and Stressee met, secretly, at the same bar near Redwood City where, nearly a year ago, Gizmodo's Jason Chen found an early version of the iPhone 4, mistakenly left there by an Apple engineer. "I needed to get those demons out of my system", said Jobbs. "Plus, I know that no Apple employee would ever set foot in the place again." The two men hit it off immediately. "Dan is clearly the best pitch man among the operator CEOs", says Jobbs. "I really like his folksy manner." In an immediate goodwill gesture, Apple will provide Sprint with a cash infusion, so its next round of TV commercials can be produced in color. "Yeah, it is 2011 after all", said the typically understated Stressee. Addressing concerns that there might be layoffs at Sprint/Clearwire, Jobbs said the severance package would include an iPad, and tickets to Disney theme parks and the upcoming Cars 2 (Jobbs is on the Disney and Pixar boards). "Who needs more than that?", said Jobbs. Customers Are Winners Customers are clearly among the winners in this deal. They'll be able to buy an iPhone from all the major U.S. operators. There were rumors that Apple wanted to make all future iPhones in the U.S. exclusive to Sprint, but Jobbs realized that this wouldn't pass muster with the DOJ. Given that he slipped by the feds, relatively unscathed, in the stock backdating scheme, Jobbs decided he didn't want to ruffle any feathers. One key benefit for consumers is that the Apple-Sprint deal solves the "CDMA iPhone problem" of not being able to handle voice and data calls simultaneously. A consumer can now talk on a Verizon iPhone with one hand, while running a data session on a Sprint iPhone with the other hand. In order to facilitate simultaneous voice and data, Verizon and Sprint, in an uncharacteristic moment of cooperation, will be offering a "Buy One Get One Free" (BOGO) deal on the CDMA iPhone for the next three months. Said a Verizon spokesperson: "I gotta admit - those AT&T ads are pretty effective." Reaction Across the Industry Needless to say, there was plenty of reaction from companies across the industry. Verizon was, particularly, peeved, having waited for three-plus years for AT&T's iPhone exclusivity to run out, only to then witness the T-Mobile and Sprint deals signed in a fortnight. The company plans to oppose the deal. Said a Verizon spokesperson: "We were content with 'Ruling the Air'. Apple wants to 'Rule The World'." AT&T, which thought it now had bragging rights to being the "biggest and baddest wireless carrier" in the country, said it did not plan to oppose the deal. "I'm a gambling man", said AT&T Mobility CEO, Ralph de la Vegas. "I'm bettin' on every smartphone platform - iOS, Android, Windows, Symbian, WebOS, BREW, BADA, you name it." True to form, the company is unveiling a new advertising slogan, 'if you want it, we've got it'. Google's stock took a major hit from the announcement. "We were so used to the operators spending billions of dollars to advertise Android phones", said George 'I am Not Helmut' Schmitt. "We might actually have to spend our own money to market the things." Asked what Google might do to get a leg up on Apple, one analyst commented that Google could improve the customer service experience for Android. But Schmitt said Google is sticking to its strategy: "I promise you, it will never be possible for an Android customer to call us and actually talk to a human being." In a related development, taking advantage of the mania around cloud services, Oracle announced that it would rename its Sun subsidiary, which had been underperforming of late, to...you guessed it... RIM, which has seen its stock slide precipitously amidst all the competition in smartphones, seemed prepared for an Apple-Sprint scenario. It has renamed all existing Blackberries "Blackberry Classic", hoping to put a retro spin on the messaging-centric devices. It has also been seen handing out Playbook flyers to all those standing in line for an iPad2. Amazon is clearly gearing up for a tectonic battle with Apple and Google over mobile services, apps, and the cloud. Emphasizing that it remains the only one-stop-shop on the Internet for just about anything, an Amazon spokesperson snipped: "let them find an app for that." Among the wireless and digital media giants, Netflix seemed perhaps the most perturbed. Said the company's CEO, Reid 'the battle of' Hastings: "Man, we've taken on video stores, Blockbuster, Redbox, Tivo, Hulu, Cable on Demand services. We thought it would be sufficient to offer all possible content across all possible media, to all possible devices, at an impossibly low price. But even that's not enough." Even though this is clearly the right move for Apple, the company is sensitive to possible regulatory and customer concerns about becoming too powerful. In one sign of humility, Apple has decided to rename its MobileMe product, which it has been revamping as part of its forthcoming cloud-based offering, to MobileYou. "We thought MobileMe sounded a bit egocentric", said an Apple spokesperson. Still, as Apple focuses on closing the Sprint deal, many analysts believe the much-anticipated iPhone 5 launch might be delayed until fall. Even though Apple rarely comments publicly about future plans, the Apple spokesperson hinted that there might be some validity to the rumors: "Listen, we still don't know if there will be a new Mad Men or NFL season. Focus on that." (Is it April 1st? - this April Fool's day spoof was provided by Mark Lowenstein's Lens on Wireless )

Strategy Analytics: Compound Semiconductor Market Cools Down

Strategy Analytics reported that after a strong rebound in the first part of 2010, revenue growth in the microelectronics segment of the compound semiconductor industry flattened in the final quarter. The recently published Strategy Analytics GaAs and Compound Semiconductors Service (GaAs) viewpoint, “Compound Semiconductor Industry Review January 2011: Microelectronics,” captures product, financial, contract and technology announcements for microelectronic companies such as RFMD, Skyworks Solutions, Hittite Microwave, ANADIGICS, Freescale Semiconductor, Microsemi and Cree for January 2010.

“Overall, the compound semiconductor industry rebounded strongly in 2010, thus slowing growth at some of the major suppliers in the fourth quarter should not be viewed with concern,” noted Eric Higham, Director of the Strategy Analytics GaAs and Compound Semiconductor Technologies Service. “The January announcements show significant product development activity that will serve to strengthen growth in 2011.”

Asif Anwar, Director in the Strategy Analytics Strategic Technologies Practice, added, “Results from some of the wafer suppliers were very strong and this also bodes well for growth throughout 2011.” Their viewpoint summarizes January 2011 financial, product, contract and employment developments from major GaAs and silicon suppliers addressing a variety of commercial and military applications using GaAs, GaN, SiC, and CMOS technologies.

CTIA Wireless Opens with a Bang

Of course, the biggest news at CTIA is the proposed merger of AT&T and T-Mobile. The keynote auditorium at CTIA Wireless was packed as everyone wanted to here what AT&T and T-Mobile executives had to say about their proposed $39 billion deal which would create the country’s largest wireless operator. AT&T understandably did not say much and T-Mobile was not there. But CEO Dan Hesse of Sprint expressed concern as he said there would be 79% market share in the top 2 providers so he has concerns it would stifle innovation if that much power was in the hands of two providers. That is a valid point and of course he message is that it is not a good idea.

The first day of the exhibition was busy but not overly packed and all the big players seem to be here. Lots of 4G phones and tablets but there seems to be significant activity with 3D devices which I did not expect but should have as CES was full of 3D electronics. The RF/Microwave Zone was our first priority as that is where many of the companies we cover are present. We are glad to welcome Infineon and NXP this year in addition to many other companies who have exhibited before. With Freescale also in the Zone, there is of course a major representation of high performance Doherty LDMOS amplifier technology. All are offering various configurations (symmetric, asymmetric and single package solutions). NXP and Freescale are offering a lower cost plastic package with up to 200 W of power which seemed unique. Also near the RF/Microwave Zone are the Backhaul Pavilion, M2M Zone and Test & Measurement Pavilion so we are in a perfect position. The test and measurement companies are featuring MIMO OTA and PIM testing solutions which are both very hot topics and areas of high interest. We are running the MIMO OTA Expert Forum on Thurs which will be simulcast online so anyone can attend. It will include a question and answer session after the presentations so you can even submit questions online if you are not here in Orlando.

We will have a complete show wrap up next week.

Tektronix Contest - "Scopes, Camera, Action”

To celebrate and highlight the beloved oscilloscope, Tektronix is introducing a “Scopes, Camera, Action” contest to showcase the many different uses for the instrument. Engineers, technicians, students and even electronic hobbyists will be invited to upload short 1-5 minute videos to MyTektronixScope.com about their most brilliant, novel, ingenious or fun use of a Tektronix oscilloscope.

Community members will have the opportunity to vote on their favorite “Scopes, Camera, Action” videos throughout the 8-week duration of the contest which started Feb 28. The person uploading the video that receives the most votes will receive a new Tektronix MSO2024 oscilloscope and each of two runners up will receive a TDS2024C oscilloscope. Each video entry qualifies the submitter for a chance to win an Apple iPad®.

Engineers by nature are a very creative group and Tektronix wants to give them the opportunity to showcase the cool uses they are applying to Tektronix equipment, whether that is in a work environment or in a garage shop or basement lab. Not only is this contest a nice way to win one of several great prizes but more importantly provides a mechanism to showcase great ideas and share best practices among the design engineering community.

To learn more about the “Scopes, Camera, Action” contest, or to upload, view or vote on videos, and review contest rules, visit www.mytektronixscope.com. Free registration to the site is required in order to participate.

Satellite 2011 is Taking Off

According to a release this morning, the 30th annual SATELLITE Conference has record attendance this year. More than 10,000 satellite communications professionals from 70 countries are at the event which continues today and tomorrow at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center located in Washington D.C.

The SATELLITE 2011 Exhibition has grown to include 325 companies, more than 60 of which are exhibiting at SATELLITE for the first time. In addition to enjoying the variety of products and services available on the show floor, attendees have enjoyed the outdoor exhibit area featuring large antennas, truck- and car-mounted satellite systems and more. I was excited about the outdoor exhibit but was somewhat disappointed that is only had 2 displays - hopefully it will grow next year.

The SATELLITE 2011 Conference began yesterday with chief executives from the world’s four largest satellite operators discussing the future of the satellite marketplace. Today’s general session is Competing For Customers: The MSS CEOs Speak Out.

The conference’s remaining sessions include High Throughput Satellites: Broadband and Beyond; A New Generation of MSS Terminals: What’s Next for MSS Equipment: Hosted Payloads: Thinking Outside the Box; 3-D TV via Satellite: Building Foundations for Success: Earth Observation- A Luxury Item or a Commodity?; How Can Commercial Satellite Providers Best Meet Government Requirements for COTM?; Satellites and Broadcasting: A 30-Year Warning, among many others.

There are a large number of RF/microwave companies here ranging from T&M to antennas to components. There are a very large number of filter and high power amplifier companies represented along with the system companies like L-3, Cobham, Rockwell Collins, Boeing, GD, LMC, Hughes, Thales, EADS, etc. We will do a complete wrap up of the show in a few days and then it is on to CTIA next week. Hopefully I will have time for a few videos today and will try to include those also.

Internet for Everyone - FREE

About a year ago Kosta Grammatis contacted Microwave Journal about satellite and communications experts he might contact to start an effort to supply Internet to everyone in the world for free. A huge challenge but a great idea and if anyone can pull it off, he can. He is now part of BuyThisSatellite.org which says it'll take $150,000 in contributions to take the first step toward a successful bid on the bankrupt Terrestar-1 satellite (they will probably need over 10 times that much to purchase the satellite plus costs to supply modems and maintain the whole system). After obtaining the satellite, they plan to move its orbit to point over a poor country in order to supply Internet access for free.

The group also plans to manufacture and distribute cheap satellite modems to get people hooked up on the ground. A lot of other things will have to be overcome but countries like Papua New Guinea—which has an open orbital "slot" which the Terrestar-1 could move into—only has Internet access for 2.1% of its population and would be the first to benefit from this effort. Terrestar-1 is a school bus-sized satellite (launched in 2009) that is for sale as its corporate owner is going bankrupt. But rather than let it go to waste, this non-profit is raising money to re-purpose it as a free Internet provider for the poor.

The organization believes that "Internet access is a tool that allows people to help themselves - a tool so vital that it should be considered a universal human right. Imagine your digital life disconnected. Without access to the 100 million man-hours that have been put into Wikipedia, how much do you actually know? Without your contacts online social networks how much can you accomplish? Without access to the news, weather, your bank account-- how in charge of your life are you?The Internet has transformed what it means to be human - we are now more connected to one another than ever before. Yet, over 5 billion people do not have access to this incredible invention, do not have a voice in the global dialog, or the opportunity to share ideas and learn from the Internet's ever-expanding knowledge pool.We believe that access to information and the Internet is a necessity for every global citizen and We plan to address the information inequality by making Internet access so ubiquitous you can take it for granted: Free, global, seamless connectivity."

They have a concrete plan spelled out on their web site:

PHASE 1
Our goal is to raise $150,000 USD to do the following: 1. Finalize a business plan for large scale funders. 2. Process the legal and business aspects of submitting a bid for the satellite. 3. Hire several full-time engineers to make our calculations and planning into a concrete reality. While this work is in process we will meet with investors, businesses, governments, and foundations who are interested in funding the purchase of Terrestar-1. Partnerships will be created with the country or countries over which the satellite will be positioned. When our plan is funded we will.

PHASE 2
1. Make an official bid for the Terrestar-1 satellite. 2. Begin development of an open source low cost modem. 3. Acquire an orbital slot (satellite parking spot) and spectrum (radio wave allocation). 4. Finalize plans with partner governments. 5. Continue all of the technical work required to reposition a satellite.When all of these details are finalized we will continue,

PHASE 3
1. Move the satellite to a new orbit over our partner country/countries. 2. Distribute low cost modems. 3. Roll out service.

They are asking for donations so if you agree that this is a worthy cause, please visit their website at http://www.buythissatellite.org/.

TriQuint and Skyworks Power iPhone 5

The upcoming Apple iPhone 5, due this summer, will be powered by TriQuint and Skyworks PAs. While it is disappointing that it will not have 4G LTE capability, according to an article from The Street about TriQuint, the Apple iPhone 5 will be a full featured world phone equipped with "seven power amplifiers" to improve the wireless reception on the full array of WCDMA and EVDO frequencies in the U.S. and Europe, says Rodman Renshaw analyst Ashok Kumar. This is good news for power amp supplier Triquint, which was left out of the Verizon iPhone 4 this year.

The Street goes on to say that Triquint is back in the iPhone 5 and sharing power amp supply duties with rival Skyworks. "We expect Triquint to gain share and outgrow most of its peers in mobile phones, while improving margins," according to Charter Equity Research analyst Ed Snyder. Snyder says chipmaker Triquint is in a sweet spot as phone makers push for better wireless performance.



Apple's move to improve its wireless reception performance comes after three rough years of complaints about poor service at AT&T. And as industry experts have pointed out, not all of Apple's iPhone connection quality issues were due to AT&T. Apple's effort to design the iPhone to use less power apparently caused some unintended effects with signal jamming. The iPhone was recently released on Verizon and while there does not seem to be major reception complaints, Consumer Reports has said that their tests show the Verizon iPhone 4 version still has some antenna issues when the antenna element gaps is bridged by holding it.

RFMD, Skyworks and TriQuint continue to dominate the cellular front-end market ast the big three but Avago and Anadigics are fighting for larger market share. We are seeing a lot of innovative changes coming in the front-end modules as different configurations are being developed including new switch technologies such as SOI/SOS switches, miniature BAW filters, tunable devices such as MEMS and others, and wide band power amps that can support multiple bands. It will be interesting to see how these technologies play out over the next year or so.

MWC - the week after

Everyone who "does" trade shows knows how a week away from the office and three days of back to back meetings can put you in the weeds. So while Richard Mumford and I have posted our show wrap-up and impressions earlier this week, I've been playing catch up on a number of fronts, including at least one more intended blog about events from Mobile World Congress. So here's some more on what we did not cover so far. For the complete Journal coverage of MWC try the links below.


MWC news and twitter feed
http://www.mwjournal.com/Article/MWC2011/AR_10287/

see Richard's wrap-up
http://www.mwjournal.com/News/article.asp?HH_ID=AR_10365

David's MarketWatch
http://www.mwjournal.com/News/article.asp?HH_ID=AR_10370

My networking started Sunday, the day before my first day at MWC, in an Irish bar on La Rambla where we met VP of Sales John Loia and Kevin Dobis, American/EMEA Director of Sanjole. Chances are that during MWC week, if the person next to you in a restaurant or bar isnt a native, they are there for the congress. John and Kevin were great guys to hang with (and sing anthems with under pressure for the Irish), but they also represent an interesting company, Sanjole. Turns out that John is an old hand in the industry with over 20 years experience selling telecom test equipment to chip manufacturers, network equipment manufacturers and service providers and tenure at well-known industry leaders such as Spirent Communications, TTC and Hekimian.

Sanjole makes the WaveJudge WiMAX and 3GPP LTE test system. This test system determines what messages were sent, what events occurred, and the timing of those messages and events. Diagnosing the root causes of problems between layers often takes hours, days or even weeks, resulting in delays in certification, late deployment, reduced credibility, added costs and lost revenue for network providers.

The WaveJudge 4900 architecture supports four independent ports. Each can be configured as either a receive (RX) or transmit (TX) port, supports AGC to allow accurate reception of DL/UL signals with a wide range of power levels, and has its own radio and internal resources. In addition, the ports can be driven either from the same or from separate low-noise highly accurate oven-controlled crystal oscillators (OCXOs), providing maximum flexibility in test configurations requiring multiple ports, such as:

• Tower handover


• Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) solutions including transmit diversity, spatial multiplexing, and UL Collaborative with rank measurements


• Co-channel interference across multiple sectors

Check out the company and their products at: http://www.sanjole.com/index.htm

here's a summary of meetings that did not make the show wrap-up

Monday Afternoon

- meeting with Steve Caliguri of Acorn Technologies. Steve is now out in sunny La Jolla California but he's an ex-east coaster with plenty of knowledge about the microwave industry nestled on and around Route 128 in Massachusetts. As VP of Biz dev, Steve wanted to introduce me to the company's HellaPHY technology a set of advanced signal processing algorithms designed to improve the reception of OFDM, the digital modulation scheme of WiMAX, LTE and Wi-Fi by significantly improving the channel estimation.

HellaPHY allows for equal-or-higher modulation-coding sets at any given point in a cellular network. For example, at some location a modem using a conventional OFDM PHY may only allow for QPSK due to high mobility and interference from other users. At this same point in the cell, a modem using an OFDM HellaPHY™ can allow for higher-rate 16-QAM or 64-QAM. Such gains in capacity can greatly impact an operator’s bottom line, and such improvements in data rate allow for attractive product differentiation.

see more at: http://acorntech.com/

- met with Skyworks and Thomas Richter, Sr. marketing director for Front-end solutions. I run into Thomas yearly at MWC, he is a knowledgable and colorful guy with no shortage of opinions about technology and market trends... and the shortcomings of his competitors, which we will keep off the record. Its always a pleasure to spend some time with Thomas and so I was happy to save this meeting for the end of the day, when I wouldnt have to rush off to another meeting.

The company's big show announcement was the introduction of a new family of antenna switch modules (ASM) for dual- and triple-mode smart phones, tablets and datacards. These devices are based on both gallium arsenide (GaAs) and silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technologies, targeting a wide range of applications from low-cost 3G handsets to HSPA+/LTE-enabled datacentric devices such as high-end smart phones, data dongles and tablets, all of which require design flexibility, high performance and cost-effective architectures.

The short of our market conversation was that the RF front-end for mobile device market is extremely strong with enormous growth potential and fabs cranking at full speed to keep up with demand.

to be continued....

Mobile World Congress - Bueno Dias

From our hotel just off La Rambla in the heart of Barcelona, Publisher Carl Sheffres, European editor Richard Mumford and I take the metro to Place Espanya among a sea of black suits, which must be the official business attire color for those attending Mobile World Congress. At the top of the salida (exit), we stop for a quick photo opportunity. Anticipating a mob at the registration desk (attendance estimates are north of 50,000 attendees) each of us had already obtained our passes the day before and so with passes in hand the three of us glide past the front gate security.

Mobile World Congress is one of those mega-events on par with Electronica in terms of scope and size, CES in terms of style and cool factor. The congress is devoted to all things mobile, which has transformed from the early days of cell phones to today’s smart phones and is evolving toward a future that connects the entire planet to the internet via mobile devices. Connected tablet devices, cloud computing, HD and 3D mobiles and some seriously powerful processors being stuffed into mobile devices dominated much of the tech news coming out of the show. Partnerships (Nokia adopting Microsoft’s window platform 7 – WP7), more accessible social networking mobility, gaming, mobile banking and lifestyle were among the themes delivered by various keynote speakers throughout the week.

Among all the new devices, services, and applications that were unveiled and opportunities for connecting mankind in previously unfathomable ways that were envisioned over the course of the week, one underlying concern will be the challenges behind fixing the “capacity crunch” as demand continues to grow. Many conversations in the various exhibition halls were focused on this less glamorous but real problem of optimizing the use of available spectrum to support the connectivity dream.

For many of us in the microwave trenches, this eco system of user devices, cell equipment and backhaul represents our end customers. The majority of exhibiting companies that Microwave Journal readers would recognize include RF test and measurement manufacturers, front-end semiconductor and module vendors, filter and backhaul equipment providers. The high cost of exhibiting at this event may have kept other microwave categories from appearing in an official capacity, but I would not be surprised if more component, cable and connector folks were working the exhibition floor as attendees.

Day one
First meeting - Agilent. The Test & measurement powerhouse are well-prepared for their day of press and customer meetings with a presentation touching upon the past, present and future of mobile communications and their part in this unfolding story. In their booth the company was demonstrating test and measurement solutions for 3GPP LTE-Advanced, LTE, W-CDMA, HSPA+, E-EDGE (EDGE Evolution), UMA/GAN, WiMAX™ and femtocells.

With an eye on what’s to come, team Agilent is prepared to talk about the challenges of LTE-advanced. With a lock-down of features in the 3GPP release 10 standard scheduled for sometime in March, Agilent is looking to get ahead of the curve with providing test solutions. LTE-A at a glance will introduce carrier aggregation, clustered SC-FDMA (for enhanced uplink multi-access) and higher order MIMO. Several products have been enhanced for the challenges of the new standard including LTE-Advanced signal generation and analysis tools, Signal Studio and 89600B vector signal analysis (VSA) software which were shown performing both user equipment and eNB RF measurements.

Other solutions being shown: Agilent’s PXB baseband generator and channel emulator supporting MIMO test performance in real-world conditions, closely characterizing end-user environments. Agilent PXT wireless communications test set supporting development phase testing ( RF characterization, protocol test and functional test of LTE user equipment). This solution is highly scalable from a single PXT on the developer’s bench to a full conformance test system with the latest release supporting user equipment performance tests during handover between LTE and legacy technologies. Test automation tools are also available.

more day one (and the rest of the show) to come....

Microsoft and Nokia to Join Forces in Smartphone Market

ABI Research has commented on the fact that Nokia has announced this sweeping and profound change in its strategy. Accepting that the Symbian operating system cannot meet the needs of today’s smartphone consumer, Nokia has opted to throw in its lot with Microsoft and use the Windows Phone 7 operating system in future Nokia smartphones. In addition, the Nokia devices unit has been split into two business units that will address smartphones and low cost phones separately. I have heard rumblings about this partnership but thought it would take more time to pull it off with these two giants.

The sweeping changes made at Nokia will begin immediately and likely take two years to be completely digested as the two technology giants try to merge their mobile service ecosystems and product development roadmaps. ABI Research VP Kevin Burden states, “With Nokia taking over the Windows Phone 7 universe, the other OEMs who have initially supported Window Phone 7 may rethink their commitment, and eventually end support of Windows Phone 7 the way they did with Symbian, due to Nokia’s dominance and influence over the platform.”

The speed at which such a major decision was made speaks to the desperate situation Nokia CEO Stephen Elop perceived in Nokia’s device strategy. Senior Analyst Michael Morgan states “Elop’s decision to go with his old employer makes sense up front; however the decision to tie an incomplete operating system with an ailing handset design company is a very risky proposition.” Microsoft and Nokia need a strong partner to push their mobile efforts forward. While this alliance may not be optimal for either party, when fighting for survival it is always nice to have a partner.

Antenna Products Deployed to Handle SuperBowl Data Traffic

PCTEL, Inc. (NASDAQ: PCTI), a provider of antenna and scanning receiver solutions, unveiled its new high-performance, dual-band Multiple Input and Multiple Output (MIMO) panel antenna. This antenna is optimized for cellular data offloading applications. The antenna enables high speed video and data applications on mobile devices through the use of 802.11n based WiFi networks. Offloading data reduces the traffic load on cellular networks in areas with a high concentration of data users such as stadiums, other entertainment venues and transportation hubs. PCTEL’s MIMO antenna has recently been deployed by a major carrier at the Cowboys’ Stadium in Dallas, initially used for the Cotton Bowl.

Over the last two years, there has been a significant increase in the number of smart phones and real time video and data applications. This has strained the capacity of cellular networks, resulting in blocked or dropped calls. Cellular carriers are utilizing MIMO enabled WiFi networks to “offload” cellular data traffic so that when a smart phone user enters the coverage area of a MIMO WiFi hotspot, the cellular carrier diverts data traffic over to the WiFi network, keeping voice traffic over the cellular network. This shifts the data traffic to unlicensed spectrum, reserving licensed spectrum for a better quality voice call experience. MIMO antennas for these WiFi systems have multiple radiating elements covering multiple frequencies and need to be properly designed and optimized. PCTEL’s MIMO antennas will be one element of the data coverage system for this Sunday’s championship football game.

PCTEL's new MIMO panel antenna provides six RF ports, three each, covering 2.4 GHz and 5GHz frequencies. The antenna has been designed with beam width and gain characteristics to provide optimal coverage for areas with a large number of data users without overloading access point capacity and minimizing interference to adjacent sites. The antenna comes with a flexible mounting solution and can be customized by PCTEL to blend in with the aesthetics of the environment in which it is going to be deployed.

"PCTEL has invested significant resources in the development of high performance directional and omni-directional MIMO antenna solutions to enable cellular offloading applications," said Jeff Miller, Senior Vice President Sales and Marketing for PCTEL. "We will continue to work with leading carriers and WLAN radio OEMs to develop custom antenna solutions to enable offloading in more than five hundred entertainment venues nationwide," added Miller.

Microwave Snow Removal

I was shoveling (still) more snow from my driveway this morning and found myself thinking about a blog parody concerning scientists having successfully developed a way to remove snow using microwaves. In my fictitious report, I would embed quotes from Dr. Mi Bak Aches and his colleague Dr. Pho Zen Tose on how they came up with the technology to efficiently melt an 8 inch covering of snow from a 700 square foot driveway in the time it takes to microwave a large Idaho potato. Ah, a truly wonderful fantasy as the snow banks surrounding the end of my driveway surpassed the six feet high mark.

Returning to the warmth of my office (and lap top), I decided to check the internet first, to see if anyone had preempted my early April fools story with an actual use of microwaves to fulfill this fantasy. Lo and behold (such an odd phrase), ANZAI HIROKI(Tsuruoka National Coll. Technol., JPN) and SHIRAHATA DAIKI(Tsuruoka National Coll. Technol., JPN) have already beaten Dr. Bak Aches and Pho Zen Tose in this effort. Why am I not that surprised?

From Science Links (Japan), a paper titled: “A Melting Snow Experiment for Road Heating with A Microwave Snow Melting System and Its Estimation of Electric Power”.

The scenario laid out by the authors - it is winter in Hokkaido and Tohoku region, the Sea of Japan side of Honshu, there are more snowfalls. An accident during the snow-removal work and a slip accident by icy roads occur in conjunction with this, and a problem to affect human life gets up. Therefore a melting of snow system and melting snow agent plans prevention such as icy roads, but there are various problems when they execute the work, and a cost side, environment side do not reach large use expansion. Therefore the author put an important point for melting snow of a road surface (a road, stairs, a parking lot) by this study and did the measurement and an electricity test calculation of a microwave melting of snow system and examined possibility of a microwave melting of snow system. As a result, the author understood that there was melting snow ability enough.

http://sciencelinks.jp/j-east/article/200603/000020060306A0065609.php

Has there been any progress in this area? I'm listening.

Military Spending and GaN Driving RF Power Markets

Although spending on RF power semiconductors in wireless infrastructure markets has continued to stagnate, according to ABI Research other markets – notably the military – are seeing increased activity. Also, according to a new study from ABI Research, Gallium Nitride – long seen as a promising new “material of choice” for RF power semiconductors – is continuing to gain some market traction. Gallium Nitride (GaN) increased its market share in 2010, and is expected to do the same in 2011. Although its adoption hasn’t been as rapid as originally expected, it is nonetheless forecast to be a significant force by 2016.

Other than wireless infrastructure, the vertical market showing the strongest uptick in the RF power semiconductor business has been the military. While the producers of these devices are located in the major industrialized countries, the military market is now so global that equipment buyers may come from anywhere.

High Growth Electronics Drive Wireless Chipset Markets

According to ABI research, Surging sales of netbooks, media tablets, and other “always connected” consumer and industrial electronics products mean equally robust performance in markets for wireless connectivity ICs. ABI Research expects that when the final numbers for 2010 are gathered, shipments of wireless connectivity chipsets will reach a total of approximately two billion units, a 22% shipment increase compared to 2009.

"Market demand for wireless connectivity chipsets has been increasingly robust in recent years, a trend that will continue in the medium term," says industry analyst Celia Bo. “Total shipments of wireless connectivity chipsets are forecast to reach seven billion units in 2015, with a 2010-2015 CAGR of 30%.”

Bluetooth maintained its lead among all wireless connectivity chipset categories, accounting for almost 60% of all 2010 shipments. Wi-Fi chipsets take second place with approximately a 38% market share. They are expected to achieve the highest growth rate among connectivity chipsets, with a 22% CAGR between 2010 and 2015.

For technology applications, the increasing demand for Wi-Fi-enabled mobile and consumer electronics devices is a key engine driving market growth. Wi-Fi-enabled mobile handset shipments have increased as much as 50% since 2009, and the adoption rate of Wi-Fi technology in mobile handsets is set to reach 32% in 2015. Today almost every netbook, media tablet, and gaming console has Wi-Fi embedded, and 2010 shipments of Wi-Fi-enabled consumer devices showed an increase of about 18% compared to 2009.

Besides the already established segments, other Wi-Fi-enabled consumer electronics devices such as digital still cameras (DSCs), digital camcorders, TVs, DVD players, DVRs and set-top boxes (STBs) are all set for strong growth in the coming years. Between 2010 and 2015, the CAGRs of Wi-Fi-enabled digital still cameras and TVs are expected to reach 63% and 65% respectively, followed by DVD players with a 47% CAGR.

Verizon iPhone 4 Antenna Better Than AT&T?

I am very happy the iPhone 4 is coming to Verizon soon as I have been with them for many years and would welcome the chance to get one. We have covered the antenna issues in a couple of previous posts and the Verizon iPhone brings some changes to the antenna design. Initially, Apple seemed to indicate that the changes to the antenna design were only to make it compatible with CMDA.

Taking a close look at the exterior antenna, one can see that there are now 4 spaces between the antennas instead of 3 so there appears to be a 4th antenna or antenna component. There are now reports that Apple has addressed the "death grip" antenna problems that degrade reception when the antenna is held a certain way. When the antenna is covered by a hand in the right position, this can happen. Because the antenna is around the border of the phone, it can happen in normal use unlike other phone where it is embedded near the top of the phone where a person would not naturally hold it. Reports are that Apple has duplicated antennas so that when one is covered degrading reception, the other one should be unobstructed and function properly.

Let me know what you have heard and if you have other information about the antenna design. In the mean time, I am looking forward to getting my wife one and I may wait for the iPhone 5 which is rumored to be available this summer.

Femtocell Applications Could be Key to Success

I have not seen that Femtocells have really caught on in the market as they seem to be only used for local range extenders. ABI Research says they are now attracting consumers’ attention in other ways. Their initial use-case has been to enhance indoor cellular coverage, but it is now clear that their potential utility is much wider. It is based on “femtozone services” that use key attributes such as location and presence to trigger innovative applications residing on the mobile device, or in the access point, the core gateway, or the cloud.

A simple example: a family alert system. A young person arrives at the family home, and the femtocell there registers the presence of his or her mobile phone and sends out an SMS notification to the parents. Such systems are already in use in Japan. Other kinds of femtozone applications can turn on lights or activate security systems, while still others can be used to sync content between mobile phones and other devices in the home such as TVs, laptops and media players. Via the mobile network, they can even allow remote access to digital content stored at home.

ABI Research forecasts about 2.3 million femtozone subscribers in 2012, providing revenue of more than $100 million. These numbers rise sharply to 2015, when 45% of femtocell users will subscribe to femtozone services. Femtozone services will see initial adoption in the Asia-Pacific region, but ultimately the North American market will be by far the largest.

Practice director Aditya Kaul says, “Femtozone services will be bundled with femtocell subscriptions and will also be available individually, increasing the perceived value of having a femtocell in the home. Eventually, mobile apps available from Apple or Google App stores may be designed to work via a femtocell. The femtozone services market is expected to reach almost $2 billion in revenue by 2015, but operators need to act fast, as the popularity of Wi-Fi/GPS-based over the top applications could pose a hindrance.”

Top Ten Viewed Technical Articles for 2010 in Microwave Journal

Below is a list of the Top 10 most viewed technical articles for 2010. Many of these articles are from ealier in the year or 2009 as they had more time to be read than articles published toward the end of this time frame so don't miss our Nov cover story, The State of RF/microwave Switches, and Dec cover story, Smart Grid Communications Evolution, as they have been quite popular over the limited time they have been onilne. Here is the list:

1. Fundamentally Changing Nonlinear Microwave Design (March 2010 Cover Story)


2. RFID: The Next Generation Auto-ID Technology


3. The Current State of Technology and Future Trends in Wireless Communications and Applications (2006 article)


4. RF Design of Avionics L-band Integrated Systems (Leo's articles are always very informative)


5. Supporting the Warfighter: Adapting to the Changing Paradigm of the Defense Market (Jan 2010 cover story)


6. The Missing Link in Ethernet Cellular Backhaul: IEEE 1588-2008, Precision Time Protocol


7. A Compact, Omni-directional, Circularly Polarized Microstrip Antenna


8. Development Report of Power FETs for Solid-state Power Amplifiers from GaAs to GaN Devices


9. The Distances Chart: A New Approach to Spurs Calculation (very innovative approach)


10. RFID Reader Architectures and Applications

For a complete list of 2010 articles (categorized by type), see our 2010 Editorial Index. RFID was the only topic that had 2 of the top ten in 2010 (both were written in 2009) - what do you think? What would you like to see covered in 2011??