Introducing xMax®--the world’s first mobile VoIP network

This came across my desk and I thought it was worth sharing - Chris Whiteley, director of business development for xG® Technology, will be one of the presenters at the COMPTEL Conference next week in Orlando, Florida. COMPTEL members are entrepreneurial companies building and deploying next-generation networks to provide competitive voice, data, and video services.

Whiteley will be on the Monday afternoon panel examining “Emerging Technologies.” He will present information on xMax®--the world’s first mobile VoIP network, which allows consumers to benefit from much lower-cost mobile calls via the Internet.

xG Technology developed xMax as an alternative solution that enables consumers to benefit directly using mobile VoIP technology. xMax is similar to Vonage or Skype, but in the form of a fully mobile handset that doesn’t require the use and extra cost of a computer or broadband Internet connection.

xMax offers consumers the prospect of lower phone bills because:
• xMax transmits over unlicensed spectrum—the same as baby monitors and cordless phones. Major national cellular carriers paid billions of dollars for licensed spectrum that they recoup from customers.
• xMax was built as a totally Internet-based digital system from top to bottom—an extremely cost efficient communication approach.

xMax networks can enable communication providers to aggressively compete with national carriers by offering customers unlimited voice and data plans both locally and long distance, extremely low-cost international calling, no contracts, as well as home phone and high-speed Internet service.

xMax is the product of xG Technology's extensive R&D activity, a $100 million international effort that involves companies in the US, Europe and Asia. xG's impressive patent portfolio, which includes 50 US and more than 100 international patents and pending patent applications, has been developed with the goal of bringing lower-cost communications to consumers.

To experience this new technology in the Ft. Lauderdale area, xG has deployed an urban/suburban showcase, which allows accredited journalists, published telecom analysts, and prospective partners to test the xMax platform at highway speeds.

Unique/Novel Subjects at EuMW 2009

I like searching through the paper/poster topics for unique, novel subjects that are not main-stream and might be areas for future growth. I was able to attend a few of these talks but was busy with customer visits covering the exhibition which made it impossible to attend more of them. Here are some that I came across:

• Design of a Cellular Energy Harvesting Radio
• New Fabrication Process to Manufacture RF-MEMS and GaN on GaN/Si Substrate
• Design of a Fully Planar Chipless RFID Transponder with 35 Bit Data Capacity
• SP48T Module Architecture RF-MEMS Multi-Throw Switches for a Multi-Beam Antenna Measurement Setup at K- and Ka-Band
• A W-Band MMIC Vector Modulator Utilizing Tandem Couplers and 50 nm MHEMTs
• Design and Characterization of a Novel Battery-less, Solar Powered Wireless Tag for Enhanced-Range Remote Tracking Applications
• A Wideband OOK for Wireless Receiver Capsule Endoscope
• Analysis of New Polarizing Properties of Negative Indexed Materials at Microwave Frequencies
• RF Devices Written with Carbon Nanotube Ink on Paper
• A Novel Fabrication Process for Printed Antennas Integrated in Polymer Multi-Layer Car Body Panels
• UWB Frequency Modulated CW Synthetic Aperture Radar for Through-the-Wall Localization
• Computer Simulation of the RF System Effects on a mmWave
• Doppler Radar for Human Vital-Sign Estimation

One that I attended that was very interesting was the Design of a Planar Chipless RFID Transponder where they are trying to integrate low cost, rugged tags on money in Australia. They print chipless tags onto money that are comprised of 2 UWD antennas and a multi-section resonator to improve security and prevent counterfeiting. The goal is to get the cost down to about one cent so it is feasible to tag currency.

A very interesting conference this year with interesting topics – Let us know what you found interesting this year in the technical sessions or tutorials.

Going Non-linear

Like at IMS, there was a lot of buzz about various new non-linear characterization techniques at EuMW 2009. X-parameters from Agilent seem to be catching on and they now have many case studies/examples that show the benefits or using them. There is also S-functions from NMDG which was in the Rohde & Schwarz booth and MWJ has an article in the Sept issue covering their non-linear extensions. I also visited with Heuermann HF-Technik GmbH which is also involved with non-linear measurement and provides software that will work with any NVNA for automation of non-linear measurments.

Mesuro is working with Tektronix and has developed a high performance active load pull system that simplifies and speeds up the measurement and characterization. This lead me to check out the load pull companies such as Maury and Focus. Maury has added a high power capability so you can test X-parameters at up to 25 or 50 Watts and impedance can be a variable now. They have drag and drop capability for file import into ADS. Focus has also improved their system greatly with the measurements made before the tuners so calibration only has to be performed once and the results are more accurate.

A group of companies including Anritsu, AWR, HFE, Mesuro, NMDG, R&S and Tektronix have joined to create the Openwave Forum. The alliance seeks to standardize the data format for the industry so that customers have the choice of tools, equipment and vendors to use. You can visit their web site at http://www.openwaveforum.org/.

There is a lot of information out there on these new techniques and models so we hope to bring you future articles and information that will sort it all out. Our March Test and Measurement issue will also cover the subject in detail.

Accel-RF

I always like to find one new product that catches my attention that is from a smaller company that I have not seem before. At EuMW that was Accel-RF. Their new High Power RF (HiPR-AARTS) Automated Accelerated Reliability Test System will help manufacturers prove reliability for application specific GaN devices.

Manufacturers are using Accel-RF’s equipment to prove intrinsic reliability and performance degradation characteristics of GaN technology on discrete devices and lower power MMICs. The next stage in the development of the technology is to build and test high power devices for use in radar and military and communication electronics. The new system is either liquid or air cooled, has RF and DC pulsing capability, and can handle device power dissipation of up to 200 watts each. The system is very compact and can now test devices up to 60 GHz. I was very impressed with its capabilities.

EuMW Gala Celebration at Vatican

I was lucky enough to get a ticket to the Wed night gala at the Vatican and it was a spectacular event. We received a full tour, visit to the garden area and dinner in the Vatican. What a great opportunity for about 350 EuMW attendees to experience.

We broke up into small groups for the tours with headsets (wireless) that receive the guide's narration as there are many groups around as you walk through. We ended in the Sistine Chapel and then made our way out into the garden. After, we sat inside the Vatican for a beautifully catered dinner. Paolo Lampariello, General Chairman of EuMW, welcomed everyone and challenged next year's chair to top his event with perhaps a visit to the Louvre in Paris. Could be a great opportunity to attend the gala next year!!!

Free Workshops at EuMW

Don't miss the workshops and tutorials at EuMW as a chance to learn about a new area or brush up on an existing expertise. This year there is quite a wide range of exhibitor workshops that are free and open to anyone. Agilent has a series of test and measurement workshops ranging from nonlinear measurement to MIMO design. Rohde & Schwarz also has nonlinear plus other types of measurement workshopds. And Keithley has one covering LTE testing so there is quite a selection on the test/measurement front. Ansoft has a series of 3 workshops on simulation and modeling and CST is giving in-booth tutorials. So don't miss the chance to learn something new - free workshops are always a plus.

Agilent Unveiling of PXA

Agilent unveiled the PXA signal analyzer today which replaces the high end PSA unit and completes the X series with a full line ranging from the low cost CXA to the high performance PXA. The unit features 75 dB spurious free dynamic range at 140 MHz bandwidth which is the best in the industry.

Agilent now has the low cost CXA which starts as low as $12.5k. Then the economy class unit is the EXA, the mid class is the MXA and of course, the high performance unit is now the PXA. Guy Sene and Ron Nersesian were on hand to pull the blanket off the surprise unveiling in their booth complemented with champagne. Not a bad way to announce it!

They have some 20 demos in their booth covering ADS, NVNA/X-parameters, wideband receivers, scanning MW microscopy, etc. which we will cover in our wrap up article.

We arrived in Rome on Sunday and the weather is beautiful (sunny and 80s during the day, high 60s are night). After some quick sightseeing in the afternoon we made our way over to the conference Monday morning. The venue is nice but quite spread out and not much surrounding the area. The sessions are in large, nicely arranged rooms all in the same area with a cafe so the setup is very well done for the conference. The exhibition is in a separate building next door so hopefully everyone will make there way over when it opens tomorrow.

In quickly looking through the sessions, there seems to be much more about higher class amplifiers (Class E and F including inverse versions) as the demand for more power/efficiency increases and the characterization techniques improve. It will be interesting to hear the details about power amplifiers that are over 75% efficient! There also seems to be more CMOS based devices as Si is ever improving its upper frequency limits and of course, more about GaN amplifiers. The passive devices are always getting smaller and doing more functions than their previous generations.

The exhibition starts tomorrow and the setup is nearing completion. The exhibition hall is well laid out and just the right size for this type of show. The large test and measurement companies dominate the entrance with Agilent, Rohde & Schwarz and Anritsu present with large booths. Of course, the component and software companies are well represented along with the large Italian defense companies Electtronica/Selex and Finmeccanica providing a large sponsorship which we don't typically see at the other European locations. It is nice to see such good local support - maybe they can continue in the other locations.

Let me know your impressions of the conference and exhibition.

EuMW 2009 News Coverage

As I head over to Rome this weekend, I see the EuMW news starting to pour into our e-mail box. We have the EuMW Online Show Daily posted on our home page that will be updated continuously during the week but with so much news to cover, we decided to make a news summary page so you can quickly browse the headlines.

Please use this blog to talk about or comment on any news items, new products, interesting papers, hot events, etc. during the week. Also, as noted below we have quite a number of companies and individuals using Twitter to post the happenings at the conference and exhibition as they occur. Remember to include the text #EuMW in your Tweat as our feed and others searching for show information can easily find them.

EuMW 2009 Coverage Has Started!

The Microwave Journal Online Show Daily for EuMW 2009 is live at http://www.mwjournal.com/#EuMWOSD (on our home page). Our September show issue contains several articles about the conference, exhibition, events and what to see and do in Rome. The site is updated frequently with news and featured products from the show plus a live Twitter Feed. Set the keyword to "EuMW" to follow the action and follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/pathindle.

We will have various entries on this blog over the next couple of weeks covering the show and what we find are hot topics and products in Rome. After attending IMS 2009 MTT-S, I think the two hotest topics might be new non-linear characterization techniques and high power GaN/LDMOS products. What do you think?

Is that a cell phone in your pocket....

Fertility researcher, John Aitken, is advising men wishing to have children to avoid keeping their active mobile phones below the waist. His research group at the University of Newcastle in Australia has found that human sperm exposed to mobile phone radiation (1.8 GHz) for 16 hours had reduced vitality and motility, two key indices of fertility. Notably, he has also confirmed his own previous study, published in 2005, which showed that RF radiation could lead to DNA damage. In that earlier experiment, he had exposed mice to 900 MHz signals and then looked at the animals' sperm, in contrast to the new study in which he exposed semen collected from human volunteers.

The new data show striking dose responses for all three effects over a wide range of SARs —above 0.4 W/Kg and up to 27.5 W/Kg. The changes in motility and vitality became statistically significant at 1 W/Kg and the DNA damage at 2.8 W/Kg. In all cases, the statistical reliability of the effects became much more significant with higher SARs. These new results appear in a paper published on July 31 in PLoS ONE, a Web-based, peer-reviewed journal. All Public Library of Science journals offer free access to all.

"After 16 hours exposure, there was clear evidence of DNA damage," Aitken said at a fertility conference in Brisbane last fall when he first presented these findings. Aitken is the director of the Australian Research Council's Center of Excellence in Biotechnology and Development. "Several independent lines of evidence suggest that RF-EMR has the potential to influence semen quality and could be an important contributor to DNA damage in the male germ line."

Aitken also demonstrated a "potential causative mechanism" as to how RF radiation can lead to DNA damage. He acknowledges that cell phone signals do not have enough energy to directly break chemical bonds, but, he goes on, "[T]his form of radiation may have other effects on larger scale systems such as cells and organelles, which stem from the perturbation of charged molecules and the disruption of electron flow." Specifically he believes that the RF can cause leakage of electrons from the mitochondria and produce reactive oxygen species (ROS), which in turn can attack DNA. This process, he states, is unrelated to thermal stress.

Is Obama Apeasing the Russians with a Change in Missile Strategy?

Appeasing the Russians or making a smart strategic move for the US? Obama announced yesterday that he has modified the previous Bush administration's missile defense strategy by changing it from a long range, fixed system based in Poland and the Czech Republic to a mobile short/medium range defense system. This could ease tensions with the Russian's who strongly objected to such a system in their back yard and possibly help the US convince them to put pressure on Iran to curb their nuclear efforts.

I think this change in strategy seemed to be presented poorly (or sensationalized by the press) as a scrapping of the Bush strategy rather than a modification of Bush's strategy as the threats have changed. Iran seems to have adapted to the initial Bush era system and bulked up its production of short and medium range missiles after we started working on a system to intercept long range missiles so the threat changed (assuming our intelligence is accurate which in the past has proven to be wrong). Therefore a more mobile, short/medium range intercept system could be the right strategy now and it should save money which is another benefit. Coupled with the improvement in Russian relations which could put pressure on Iran, this seems to be a very smart move providing our intelligence is accurate. It also protects our troops fighting in the area and our allies in the middle east such as Israel and Turkey. Having a mobile system (sea and land based) also makes it more flexible by being able to move the missiles around the globe to where the threats exist at the time.

How will this affect our industry? Do you think it is a better strategy or a mistake?? Below is video coverage from MSNBC.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

M2M Markets Seeing Life

ABI Research has new M2M report out showing how the market grew rapidly from 2003-2007 but collapsed in 2008. They began tracking the cellular machine-to-machine (M2M) module market in 2003, and for five years shipments increased on average more than 25% per year. In 2007 module shipment growth peaked at a phenomenal 45%. The economic collapse of 2008 put an end to such double-digit growth rates, but the M2M market was still up 4%.

Feedback from vendors indicates that most feel the market bottomed out in the fourth quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009. Starting in 2Q 2009, they report that activity seems to be picking up again. ABI Research now forecasts that 2009 will show modest growth, with unit shipments projected to be about 16% higher than in 2008, and revenue up 10%. Below is a graph of projected growth for M2M module shipments by application:

Cell Phone Radiation Report Out

Last year around this time there was some renewed concern that cell phone radiation could be dangerous, especially to kids. The Environmental Working Group has brought up the subject again with their release of the best and worst phones for radiation emissions and bringing up their concerns of the possible dangers. But there still does not seem to be any scientific evidence that they are dangerous and non-ionizing radiation is not known to be dangerous to the human body at the levels one would experience in everyday use of cell phones.

It is interesting that Samsung dominated the top 10 best phones list with 5 out of the 10 that have the lowest emission levels with the Samsung Impression taking the top spot. Motorola seems to dominate the top 10 list of the the worst rated phones with 5 out of 10 on that list (they do have one in the top ten best list also so it seems to be phone specific).

As I said in my entry last year, the FCC does limit the radiation levels of cell phones to a maximum specific absorption rate (SAR) of 1.6 W/kg (European limits are 2.0 W/kg). You can find the measured SAR values for many cell phones on CNET's website (one of my favorite sites for Tech Info.).

WiFi is Pushing RF ICs to New Heights

Strategy Analytics states that vendors will ship $4 billion in Wi-Fi radio chips in 2013, most of these for cellphones, notebooks, netbooks, infrastructure, home entertainment systems and wireless gaming consoles. At the same time, adoption of 802.11n MIMO with multiple transmit streams will help boost the market for Wi-Fi power amplifier modules to twice its 2008 size, despite continued pricing pressure.

They have determined that Broadcom will probably remain on top, but the firm faces increasing competition from cellular chip vendors bundling connectivity with their platforms, and from chip specialists targeting emerging applications, such as Wi-Fi for home entertainment. In RF power amplifiers, SiGe Semiconductor has established a firm lead despite increasing competition from GaAs PA module specialists Skyworks, RFMD, TriQuint and Anadigics.

WiFi is becoming pervasive now and soon you won't be able to buy a phone, camera, printer, TV or PC that does not come with it. Remember when only the new and more expensive phones and PCs had cameras? Now you can hardly find them without one. That will be WiFi soon in consumer electronics.

461 GB of Data Per Day Sent Back to Earth!

Over the next year NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) will scout and collect more information about the moon's surface and environment than any previous mission. It takes a powerful system to send all of this information more than 238,800 miles back to Earth so equipped with a new type of TWT amplifier, LRO can transmit 461 GB of data per day. It transmits this information at a rate of up to 100 MB per second. The 13-inch-long TWT is the first high data rate Ka-band transmitter to fly on a NASA spacecraft. L-3 Communications Electron Technologies built the amplifier under the supervision of NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.

As the orbiter collects information about the moon's geography, climate and environment, the communication system transmits this information to a receiver at a Ka-band antenna network at White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico. Scientists are using the data to compile high-resolution, 3D maps of the lunar surface.

TWT Amplifiers have been used for other planetary missions, such as Kepler and Cassini, but previous designs were less powerful and less efficient. The amplifier underwent vigorous spaceflight testing -- including vibration, thermal vacuum, radiation and electromagnetic interference tests -- to ensure that it could withstand the intense conditions of launch and lunar orbit.

I wish I could get a wireless connection that fast!

Wireless Temperature Sensors in Football Helmets

There have been 40 deaths (30 high school players) to football players due to over heating since 1995. Now wireless transmitter systems are being tested that are embedded into football helmets with temperature sensors to monitor player's body temperature. The cost is about $100 per player - pretty cool stuff. See the video below from CBS:

First American Recieves WiFi Implanted Pacemaker

Carol Kasyjanski has become the first American recipient of a wireless pacemaker that allows her doctor to monitor her health automatically over the Internet. The wireless home monitoring system collects the data through a WiFi connection and transmits it over the Internet to her doctor. The server and the remote monitor communicate at least once a day to download all the relevant information and alert the doctor and patient if there is anything unusual. Now when she visits the doctor, about 90% of the tests are already completed from the data collected.

She has suffered from a severe heart condition for more than 20 years so the device has given her renewed confidence because if her pacemaker were to have a problem, immediate action could save her life.
She previously had a problem with her lead being nicked and until she collapsed, no one knew what the problem was as nothing in the tests showed up until she passed out.

The wireless pacemaker is made by St. Jude Medical Inc. and received FDA approval in July. The director of St. Francis' Arrhythmia and Pacemaker Center said the new technology helps him better treat his patients and will likely become the new standard in pacemakers.

This could also be a way of in the future to lower health care costs by automating monitoring and testing in the home. Other testing such as blood pressure monitoring, glucose measurement and heart monitoring could benefit from this technology down the road.

WiFi is truely everywhere now. Market data just released by ABI estimates that WiFi chipset vendors will ship one billion units in 2011. By the end of the following year a cumulative five billion such chipsets will have shipped since the firm began tracking WiFi chipsets in 2000. Most of this is due to consumer devices like smartphones, netbooks, portable media players, TVs, cameras, etc.

ABI also states that the market for wireless devices that monitor patients’ condition and report that data to health care providers is on the verge of explosive growth. Over the next few years it will show a 77% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) resulting in global revenue of almost $950 million in 2014. A lot of this is due to the cost pressures in the health care industry. Some interesting trends backed up by real life examples.

What applications do you think would work best with WiFi monitoring?

August SatCom Issue

Euroconsult states that growth in the fixed satellite market has remained strong despite the adverse economic environment. According to their latest forecast, the fixed satellite sector grew in terms of both transponder demand (+9%) and overall revenues (+10.7%) representing a peak in the current decade. Digital entertainment and emerging digital markets remain the primary growth drivers, with corporate networks, military communications and broadband access uptake also contributing to growth.

Our August Satellite and mmWave themed issue is live online today with the cover feature focusing on the Mil SatCom Capacity Crunch. It includes survey responses from companies in the RF/microwave industry on what sectors are growing, what new products they are releasing and programs to help else the capacity crunch. There is also a nice article on Wireless HDTV solutions and the state of the industry and standards. The author, Dr. Jonathan Wells, is also our expert for the monthly Expert Advice column writing about the GigaBit mmWave Superhighway. To go with the issue this month is our supplement Military Microwaves. Check out these features and the other articles in this issue along with the monthly “MWJ Puzzler” technical cross word puzzle.

Diamond Microwave Devices and Partners Awarded £1.34million to Demonstrate Pulsed PA

Diamond Microwave Devices Ltd (DMD) and its partners have won funding worth £1.34M from the Technology Strategy Board, the government-funded body that supports technological innovation in the UK. The investment will help to fund a £3 million project that will see the development of a new, innovative diamond-based high power, high-temperature, microwave transistor and build a demonstrator microwave pulsed power amplifier capable of >100W output power.

Dr Richard Lang, general manager of DMD says, “We are delighted to receive this significant backing for our work on the next generation of microwave transistors based on innovative diamond material and device concepts. It marks the next phase in the company’s development and our ambitions to bring breakthrough technology into a key market area.” The investment – through the Technology Strategy Board’s High Value Manufacturing funding competition – will support a project dubbed Microwave Power using Diamond (MPower-D) and also involves Element Six Ltd, MBDA UK Ltd, the University of Sheffield and INEX.

Element Six, the world leader in diamond synthesis technology is developing the diamond material and INEX will continue sub-contracted work for DMD, further developing the diamond processing technology. MBDA, Europe’s leading missile systems company, brings its application knowledge and potential pull-through while the III-V Centre at the University of Sheffield is contributing to fundamental research related to materials growth and device processing.

Diamond transistors being developed in this project could be used in power amplifiers for microwave signals in communications, space and defence applications. The technology offers the opportunity to create a world-leading UK-based solid state microwave module development and manufacturing value chain. Commenting on the Technology Strategy Board's support for the project, their Lead Technologist for High Value Manufacturing, Tonino Amorelli, said: "We are committed to stimulating the development of technologies which, as well as maintaining the UK's international competitiveness, also represent major business opportunities. We are therefore very pleased to support the MPower-D project, which brings together world-class expertise from around the UK to develop an innovative technology that could be exploited globally."

DMD and its partners bid successfully for the funding against stiff competition for the limited funds. When the successful projects were announced, Iain Gray, Chief Executive of the Technology Strategy Board, said, "This investment is intended to maintain and develop the international competitiveness of UK manufacturing companies against a backdrop where manufacturing often gravitates to countries with the lowest overall costs. Manufacturing in high wage economies, such as the UK, has to continue to innovate and change to remain competitive. It's also important to ensure that companies continue to innovate during the downturn to ensure a successful recovery for the UK economy. "DMD was set up in 2006 and is currently an E6 Ventures portfolio company.