High Growth Areas Projected in the RFID Market

I have been wondering for the last year or so why RFID applications have not been deployed more widely in various industries. I am sure the financial situation has not helped but RFID seems to have a good ROI in many situations. But maybe I am over optimistic and the costs are really higher than I perceive.

ABI has just issued a new report on how RFID is being used or trialed in a variety of industries. Global economic conditions and business necessities have resulted in mixed outcomes but they have identified the three most promising hot-spots as the retail apparel segment, asset management, and active RFID (in a number of verticals).

“2009 has confirmed those assessments,” says RFID practice director Michael Liard. “All three of these RFID application and technology areas have shown strong growth, and today account for 9.3% of the total RFID market, with combined revenues of more than half a billion dollars. We expect the trend to continue in 2010 and beyond: apparel, asset management and active RFID should show a 12.7% combined compound annual growth rate through 2014, outpacing the overall RFID market growth. This is considered strong growth given the level of maturity of many RFID-based asset management applications.”

The adoption of item-level RFID in the fashion apparel market is graduating from pilot testing to full-scale deployment. While installations at Marks and Spencer in the United Kingdom, American Apparel in the US, and Charles Vögele in Switzerland remain the largest contributors to market growth, scores of companies are now in various stages of implementation.

A few years ago at RFID Journal Live I was a part of a demonstration of what we called the "Magic Mirror" that would read tagged apparel and display all of the item details on a screen (intended to be placed next to on within the mirror in a changing room). The display would show all of the colors that were available, the construction and material details and other details about the item. It would also recommend other items or accessories that would match well with the item being tried on (e.g. a nice tie or scarf to go with the shirt or perhaps matching pants or skirts). I thought at the time this would be an immediate hit and prove to enhance sales tremendously.

ABI also thinks asset tracking and management is showing particular applicability to work-in-process tracking, including spare parts and tools; Returnable Transport Items (RTIs); IT asset management; medical assets, rental item management (library books, media, laundry, etc.); and yard management.

They also state that active RFID-based solutions, including real-time location systems (RTLS), is expected to experience solid growth in a number of verticals, such as healthcare, manufacturing, aerospace and defense, transportation, and commercial services, in support of asset tagging, people tracking, and more.

And the award goes to...

Some impressive milestones in the world of Microwave semiconductors were noted this week. Here's a glimpse of some of the noteable announcements

RFMD announced the receipt of its first purchase order from a tier-one wireless base station original equipment manufacturer (OEM) for a product featuring RFMD's state-of-the-art gallium nitride (GaN) process technology. The purchase order is for RFMD's RFG1M09180 180 W GaN broadband power transistor (BPT) and is in support of the global expansion of 4G wireless networks.

NXP Semiconductor touted their ranking at the top of the latest Vendor Matrix released by ABI Research.

The Strategy Analytics RF & Wireless Component market research service predicts that the market for power amplifiers (PA) in cellphones and related mobile devices will grow to $2.8 B over the next five years, in the report, “Cellular PA Forecast 2009 - 2014.”

TriQuint was one of five companies recognized by Raytheon at the four-star level; this is the second consecutive year that TriQuint was honored with a Raytheon SAS Supplier Excellence Award (SEA).

Peregrine Semiconductor, announced that they were the recipient of a 2009 TechAmerica ‘High Tech’ Award.

802.15.4 Chipset Market to Approach $155 Million in 2014

I really find the ABI Research and Strategy Analytics reports interesting as many of them focus on applications within our industry. ABI has stated that over the next five years, 802.15.4 chipset shipments will underpin a host of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) across home, building and industrial building automation, as well as Advanced Meter Infrastructures. This will help fuel the growth of the 802.15.4 chipset WSNs market from just over $10 million in 2008 to nearly $155 million in 2014, a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 87.9% over the period.

They say that wireless is set to become a key development in the transition to smart energy management. ZigBee – just one of a myriad communication protocols to leverage 802.15.4 silicon – is already the target of a great deal of investment for building management systems in residential and commercial building markets, with a range of projects and specifications leveraging the specification. There is increasing emphasis on energy management for a host of reasons. The availability of standardized 802.15.4 semiconductors to support widespread availability and support for WSNs to support these projects will help strengthen demand further.

I recently noticed another standard, DASH7, that intends to compete with ZigBee and active RFID. DASH7 is a new wireless sensor networking technology that evolved from a combination of existing radio-frequency identification and sensing technologies operating at 433 MHz. The underlying layers of DASH7 technology follow the globally implemented ISO 18000-7 standard and it uses less power with better range than ZigBee according to the DASH7 Alliance.

I do think next year will be the time some of these protocols start to take off as Bluetooth did this past year. Which applications do you think will grow the fastest?

Univ of Utah Figures Out Cloaking and Seeing Through Walls

There has been some very interesting work going on at University of Utah - I was not aware that they were doing so much work in this area. They reported what appears to be the first active cloaking method for various types of waves including microwaves and a low cost radio tomography method to image through walls.

Active Cloaking:
In recent years, scientists devised and tested various cloaking schemes. Experiments so far have been limited to certain wavelengths such as microwaves and infrared light, and every method tried so far has limitations. "We have shown that it is numerically possible to cloak objects of any shape that lie outside the cloaking devices, not just from single-frequency waves, but from actual pulses generated by a multi-frequency source," says Graeme Milton, senior author of the research and a distinguished professor of mathematics at the University of Utah.

Most previous research used interior cloaking, where the cloaking device envelops the cloaked object. Milton says the new method "is the first active, exterior cloaking" technique: cloaking devices emit signals and sit outside the cloaked object. Compared with passive cloaking by metamaterials, the new method - which involves generating waves to protect or cloak an object from other waves - can cloak from a broader band of wavelengths. The problem with metamaterials is that their behavior depends strongly on the frequency you are trying to cloak from.

This cloaking method utilizes destructive wave forms so the drawback is that you have to know the characteristics of the incoming waves before the arrive so the exact opposite wave can be transmitted as it arrives.

Here is a link to the full announcement which includes a video.

Radio Tomography:
University of Utah engineers have shown that a low cost wireless network of radio transmitters can track people moving behind solid walls. The system could help police, firefighters and others nab intruders, and rescue hostages, fire victims and elderly people who fall in their homes or even be used in retail marketing and border control.

Their method uses radio tomographic imaging (RTI), which can "see," locate and track moving people or objects in an area surrounded by inexpensive radio transceivers that send and receive signals. They used commercially available ZigBee radios which are low cost and easily available. Several studies were done by placing transmitters around an area and measuring the variations in signal strength as people moved around to demonstrate the concept.

RTI measures radio signal strengths on numerous paths as the radio waves pass through a person or other target unlike radar that measures the reflected signal so it is more like CT or X-ray imaging. The researchers developed math formulas and used them in a computer program to convert attenuated signals - which occur when someone creates "shadows" by walking through the radio signals - into a blob-like, bird's-eye-view image of that person walking. So they were able to get rough images through a wall of people and objects moving around the room.

Here is a link to the full announcement about this subject which also has a video link. Great stuff - if you find any interesting research such as these projects going on, please let us know about them.

Space Data Successfully Completes CDMA Balloon Flights

I had not heard of this company before but Space Data Corporation has announced that last month it conducted successful trials of its CDMA SkySite®, a major milestone in the development of economically practical wireless voice and data communications to large areas with sparse population. It is expected that each SkySite will be able to provide coverage over approximately 20,000 square miles. The use balloon platforms to position basestations in the sky to enable communications in remote areas that do not have coverage.

During two trial flights, a prototype miniaturized CDMA 1X-RTT base station was carried aloft over a remote area in western Utah by the SkySite balloon platform to altitudes as high as 60,000 feet. At that point, the 1900 MHz PCS band BTS was used to carry calls from, to, and between ordinary CDMA handsets located on the ground approximately 60 miles away. Call quality was excellent, with low frame error rates on both the forward and reverse channels. Backhaul was provided by a high capacity digital microwave link operating in the 2.4 GHz band. After completion of each trial, the BTS “payload” was released, parachuted to the ground and recovered intact.

The successful trial confirmed the technical feasibility of serving ordinary wireless handsets from substantial distances using the SkySite system. Applications include serving remote areas of low population densities, “fill-in” for coverage gaps in rural networks, and providing emergency communications in areas where terrestrial systems are out of service due to widespread disaster situations.

I think this is an interesting method for enabling communications in remote areas if it turns out to be as cost effective as they describe. It seems well suited for temporary situations like military operations or disaster situations in remote areas or to increase capacity temporarily in certain emergency situations. It seems like providing long term coverage would hard to justify from a cost perspective.

What do you think?

SA Report - Avago, Eudyna and WIN shake up GaAs rankings

The latest GaAs rankings are out from Strategy Analytics and there were several surprises especially from the international competitors. Avago Technologies, Eudyna Devices and Taiwan’s WIN Semiconductor made impressive gains in GaAs market share in 2008, ascending the top-ten list in the annual Strategy Analytics ranking of the world’s leading GaAs companies. RF Micro Devices remains the leading GaAs vendor by revenue, but its closest rivals - Skyworks Solutions and TriQuint Semiconductor - are pushing this market leader hard.

GaAs Market Share (courtesy of Strategy Analytics)

Lower down the ranks:

• Avago Technologies overtook Anadigics as the fourth-ranked supplier in 2008

• Eudyna stole Mitsubishi Electric’s position as the leading Japanese GaAs vendor

• Fast-growing WIN Semiconductor is neck-and-neck with TriQuint as the largest supplier of GaAs foundry services

“Despite the onset of the global financial crisis, the GaAs industry grew 8% to reach a total value of $4 billion,” said Asif Anwar, Director of the Strategy Analytics GaAs service. “Although the end of the year saw production slump to a near-standstill, Strategy Analytics believes that the GaAs industry hit bottom during the first half of 2009, and has since recovered its former momentum, with no major casualties resulting from the global recession.”

Other findings from "GaAs Device Vendor Market Share 2008: North America" and "GaAs Device Vendor Market Share 2008: Asia Pacific and Europe," include:

• M/A-COM will benefit from its ownership change, and this will help the company challenge competitors moving forwards

• Revenues at Japanese GaAs device manufacturers increased sharply

• UMS cemented its position as the leading European source of GaAs devices.

What do you think of the latest rankings? Do you see any other suppliers making a run at the top ten??

China’s 145 Million Unit Gray Market

Like many other illicit enterprises, China’s vast gray-market cell phone business is one of those things that many know about but few actually discuss it. iSuppli has reported that with gray-market shipments in 2009 set to grow to 145 million units, or nearly 13 percent of the size of the legitimate global cell phone business, the gray market has become too big and too lucrative for the mobile handset supply chain to ignore anymore.

They report that China’s gray market wireless handset shipments are expected to amount to 145 million units in 2009, up 43.6 percent from 101 million in 2008. This will amount to 12.9 percent of the 1.13 billion unit global market for legitimate cell phones. The gray market this year is set to nearly quadruple from 37 million units in 2005. In contrast, worldwide unit shipments of legitimate cell phones will decline by 8 percent in 2009.

By 2013, the gray market will grow to 176 million units, expanding at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 11.7 percent from 2008. The legitimate cell phone market will achieve a CAGR of only 4.4 percent during the same period. The gray market will peak in 2012 at 192 million units. This figure presents iSuppli’s forecast of gray-market cell phone shipments.

Gray-market handsets are cell phones manufactured in China that are not recognized or licensed by government regulators. Makers of these products generally do not pay China’s value-added taxes and, therefore, profit illegally from their participation in the market.Such phones employ fake International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers, which are used by wireless networks to identify valid devices. These phones also do not carry test/quality certifications or network entry permits.

iSuppli says the gray cell phone market long has been a fact of life in China, with domestic demand propelling sales growth. However, the business underwent a fundamental shift in 2008, as domestic shipments began to decline, and exports started to boom. In 2009, exports are expected to exceed domestic shipments by a factor of more than three to one. These exports are starting to impact the sales of legitimate established global players.

With its large size and rapid growth, the gray cell phone market has become a major revenue driver for suppliers of semiconductors and other components. While MediaTek is one of the primary suppliers of semiconductors to the gray market, many other makers of semiconductors for legitimate handset OEMs also sell to gray-market manufacturers. However, the chips sold into the gray market often do not meet quality specifications of mainstream handsets. While this represents a lucrative opportunity for these semiconductor suppliers, it does come with some risks.

What do you think of the gray market and its affects on the legitimate market???

MIT Auto ID & Sensing Expo

The RFID Special Interest Group ran this event for the local RFID community at MIT in Cambrige, MA. The Expo provided a chance to educate, network and collaborate among the RFID community of the MIT Enterprise Forum so I could not resist attending this nice event in our own backyard.

There were 2 keynote speakers, Sam Madden (Assoc. Prof at MIT) and Carlo Ratti (Dir, Senseable City Lab). Prof. Madden discussed the CarTel Mobile Sensor Network where they had built applications on top of a system of wireless car sensors riding on taxis and volunteer cars around the city. They collect position, speed, etc. from the car's electrical system and GPS plus have an accelerometer and transmitter unit to send the data to the network. They even can detect and map potholes. They have mapped the size and position of all of the potholes in Cambridge and even verified the data with cameras. They collect the data via open WiFi networks and have a web interface where you can track the vehicles in real time, see trip history and even calculate the best routes via real time traffic information.

I was not able to stay for Carlo Ratti's presentation but it focused on the Trash Tracking project that MIT has been doing which I remember seeing in the news recently. TrashTrack uses hundreds of small, smart, location aware tags and tracks the trash through the waste management system. The system hopes to understand the removal chain to achieve 100% recycling in the future.

There were table top exhibits from market research companies, universities, industry organizations, RFID suppliers and RFID integrators. Some of the well known names attending were Zebra, Alien, ThingMagic, EPCglobal, Nokia, and NXP. There were over 40 organizations participating which is great for a local event.

I made the rounds from table to table and found the following interesting tidbits:

• Conair, the small appliance manufacturer/importer, has a RFID division that supplies smart cargo tags, RFID labels and GPS tags. They have negotiated a RFID tag price under 10 cents as manufacturers continue the quest for the 1 cent tag
• Alien and ThingMagic have Gen 2 reader units now with integrated antennas on top of them which I had not seen. The ThingMagic unit uses a custom Laird antenna mounted directly on their reader and the Alien unit has the antenna integrated into the reader top.
• NXP was showing off ICs for LF, HF and UHF smart tags - I was not really aware they had such a broad offering of ICs for RFID. They have various options for memory, authentication, power, data rate, etc.
• I still love the Ford RFID tool tracking system available on F-series trucks and E-series vans. It uses a ThingMagic system and is done in association with DeWalt tools. When the vehicle is started or the system initiated, the antennas in the truck bed scan for the tagged tools and take an inventory to let the user know if anything is missing from their list of tools that is stored in the system.
• It has always been difficult to tag metal products with RFID tags that will be accurately read but Emerson & Cuming has developed specialized standard and custom designed tags that solve this problem. The have several versions from thin to flexible types for most any application.

What interesting RFID products or applications have you come across lately???

Top 10 Most-Anticipated Cell Phones

The list below came to me in an e-mail. The popularity of smart phones will hopefully continue and many of these soon-to-be released products will enjoy robust sales, translating into good earnings for component vendors. Media-rich phones also require more bandwidth capacity on the inforstructure-side, so strong smart phone sales will benefit many in the microwave field.


1. Motorola Droid (Verizon Wireless) - The most anticipated cell phone launch of the season is just days away, but the hype for this the Motorola Droid smartphone has been building for quite some time. Verizon Wireless has invested heavily in a national “teaser” marketing campaign, while keeping the details about this Android-based device close to the vest. The Droid is the first commercial phone released with the new Android 2.0 platform, and has been dubbed the “iPhone killer” by many a technology-writer. Verizon Wireless is stoking the fire with a campaign that touts all the things the Droid does that the iPhone doesn’t – from running multiple apps, to a full slide-out keyboard, to changeable batteries and memory to a 5.0 megapixel camera that takes photos in the dark.

2. Motorola CLIQ MB200 (T-Mobile) - The highly-anticipated Motorola CLIQ is the new king of the T-Mobile Android smartphone lineup, and the first since the original G-1 to have a full slide-out keyboard. What really makes it buzz-worthy, though, is that it utilizes the new MotoBlur user interface that syncs your social media, contacts, and e-mail in real time, providing instant access to the latest happenings and messages from friends. (The Cliq is currently available to existing T-Mobile customers, however, new customers will not be able to purchase the device until November 2nd, and therefore, it still garners a spot on our top picks.)

3. Samsung Moment (Sprint) - Sprint’s second Android device, the Samsung Moment, mark’s Samsung’s entry into the Android smartphone market with a full slide-out keyboard and a first-of-its-kind AMOLED touch screen, providing unprecedented brightness that’s also kind to your battery life.

4. LG Chocolate Touch (Verizon Wireless) – The LG Chocolate is an iconic Verizon Wireless phone, and this new touch version should be even sweeter than its predecessors.

5. Samsung Behold II (T-Mobile) – The Behold II is the sequel to the very successful Samsung Behold but with one MAJOR difference - the latest version runs on the Android smartphone operating system. The Behold II also features a "cube menu" that provides quick access to six multimedia features at the flick of a finger: music, photos, videos, the Web, YouTube, and Amazon MP3.

6. HTC Desire 6200 (Verizon Wireless) – Verizon Wireless is making headlines with the Droid, but is expected to follow quickly with a second Android-powered smartphone dubbed the Desire. The Desire will not have a keyboard, and will boast HTC’s touch screen “Sense” interface that has won rave reviews on the HTC Hero.

7. Sprint Palm Pixi (Sprint) – The Sprint Palm Pixi is being touted as a tiny, sleek webOS-based handset that offers many of the same features and functionality as the Pre without the hefty price tag.

8. BlackBerry Storm 2 (Verizon Wireless) – This next generation of the touch screen BlackBerry Storm looks similar to the original model on the outside, but boasts notable improvements on the inside such as a Wi-Fi radio, sleeker design, and an improved SurePress typing system.

9. BlackBerry Bold 9700 (AT&T & T-Mobile) –This smartphone is an updated version of the high-end Blackberry Bold that hit the market last year. It is thinner and lighter with a faster Web browser than its predecessor and replaces the original Bold's track ball with an optical track pad.

10. LG Shine 2 (AT&T) – The successor to the immensely popular Shine; but as its name indicates, it promises to be twice as sleek and sexy.

AOC International Symposium & Convention

I am at the 46th annual AOC International Symposium & Convention in DC and saw most of the microwave companies serving the EW world yesterday. The top priority is still IED defeat systems and the AOC show daily stated that more than 36,000 devices have been fielded (that number surprised me as IEDs continue to be the biggest challenge to saving lives in Iraq and Afghanistan). An estimated $628 million is expected to be spent on the JCREW program alone over the next 10 years. Battlefield SIGINT is also important but does not seem to have as much priority as IED defeat along with EW systems for UAVs. There is also a significant emphasis to update legacy protection on existing systems.

Many of the high performance component and test companies are represented here. Rohde & Schwarz, Agilent, Anritsu and Aeroflex were represented as well as components manufacturers such as Anaren, Empower, Aethercomm, Miteq, Microsemi, CPI, e2V, Werlatone, TRU/Sage, Teledyne, etc. Of course, the system/sub-systems companies such as Cobham, BAE, Northrup Grumman, Selex, Elt, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, DRS, EADS, ITT, Raytheon, etc. are the largest booths at AOC although Rohde & Schwarz also had a large prescence.

I am impressed at the increases in processing speed, bandwidth, memory, etc. that are achieved in the hardware/software each year improving the capabilities of the systems. Real time video, spectrum capture/analysis and data processing speeds are achieving unprecedented levels. Several systems we saw can capture radar signals, analyze them and send out countermeasures in real time.

I have to mention my friend Jim Fallon as he is receiving the Life Achievement Award at the AOC Annual Awards Luncheon. He ran the AOC Convention a few years ago and did a fantastic job. He has dedicated his career to bringing EW technology to the field to save lives. At M/A-COM he was instrumental in getting some of the first mobile IED defeat devices (Warlock Blue) manufactured and delivered to the field in record time to save more lives in the Iraqi War.

MILCOM 2009 Kicks Off in Boston

MILCOM kicked off today starting with Plenary speaker Mr. David Gergen (Editor-at-large, U.S. News & World Report and Commentator, CNN) who discussed his views on how various presidents related to the military. He stated how past presidents from JFK to Bush Sr. all had military experience so they were familiar with the military where as more recent presidents since Bush Sr. did not have such experience so there was a learning curve as they got to know each other.

He said the Obama is off to a good start with his strategic appointments from the military and Michelle Obama's support for military families. He stated that Gates is a decisive person and has the freedom and trust of the president. The Pentagon has had to make tough budget decisions and that will continue for a while as we have the lowest revenue and the highest deficit ever. He said he thinks Iraq was handled well toward the end and sees hope that the same will hold true for Afghanistan.

The exhibition was fairly well attended but traffic could be a little stronger so hopefully that happens tomorrow. The Microwave Journal had several people meeting with various companies today as we are local and a media partner this year. Our Oct issue is available in all of the publication areas.

One thing I noticed was a number of companies were touting the OpenVPX platform as the US Department of Defense and other users are mandating improved implementation of open standards and interoperability. The VPX Systems Specification, according to their web site, defines an architecture that manages and constrains module and backplane designs and sets interoperability points within VPX while maintaining full compliance with VPX. This specification, developed by VITA members and other companies working together outside of VITA, shall be introduced into the VITA Standards Organization (VSO) in October 2009 as VITA 65 for final comment, ballot, and ratification as a standard.

We will have a wrap up summarizing what we saw at the show toward the end of the week or early next week. I am off to DC tomorrow to cover AOC and will post my experiences from that show in the next day or two.

CEL introduces MeshConnect Extended Range ZigBee module

This week CEL released the new MeshConnect™ Extended Range module, which offers
+20 dBm output power, extended the range of operation to over two miles. The power boost also provides more reliable transmission and allows fewer nodes in the network. It is especially useful for open outdoor applications where the nodes are physically far apart, or for indoor use where the nodes have to connect in a noisy RF environment. The Extended Range Module’s outstanding +123.5 dB link budget ensures high quality connections even in such harsh environments.

For both the original Module and the new Extended Range Module, the company has complete development kits which include a wide range of software packages that will help engineers develop their end product more quickly. The modules support SNAP™, a software tool that quickly establishes simple mesh networks with minimal development time. Both modules also support SMAC, MAC and the full ZigBee stack where needed.

Data rates up to 1 Mbps help you meet the demands of higher bandwidth networks, while a unique, on-chip voice CODEC opens the door voice transmission applications. The MeshConnect modules are ideal for mesh, point-to-point, and point-to-multipoint networks. Their low current consumption especially in standby mode makes them ideal for battery-powered designs, while their miniature footprint and integrated antenna helps to further reduce system size.

Implantable Antennas/Power Amp Design

I attended the AnSys/Ansoft Smart Engineering Simulation Application Workshops earlier this week in Newton, MA. They had a complete RF/microwave track including sessions on Electrically Large Antennas and RCS; Statistical Modeling, DOE and Optimization; HFSS Tips and Techniques; RF Power Amp Design Using Coupled Circuit, EM and Thermal Analysis; Method of Analysis for Implantable Antenna Systems and RF Product Mgmt. Road Map and Dialog.

The Power Amp Design was very interesting as they showed how you can model the chip and package separately and merge the results to simulate the device. Then with a link to AnSys Mechanical, you can make a full model for thermal analysis and evaluate the performance. This allows you to trade of electrical and mechanical/thermal parameters to optimize device performance which is pretty powerful.

I also was intrigued by the Implantable Antenna Systems presentation given by Cambridge Consultants local here to the Boston area in Cambridge, MA (and headquartered in Cambridge, UK). They discussed how most of the radiation energy from a wireless signal is lost just by exiting the body due to losses in the tissues it goes through (especially fat) and reflections due to the changes in interfaces (fat, skin, tissue, etc. have large changes in permittivity). This loss also varies tremendously person to person depending on their build, etc. so over 99% of the energy is typically lost.

Therefore it is very important to have a optimized antenna system to maximize the gain and sensitivity of the signal. They use magnetic coupling for these applications since most of the energy is lost but the typical range requirement is 2 m. The FCC medial band used is 401-405 MHz but sometimes they used the unlicensed 2.4 GHz band for wake up since the FCC only allows 25 micro Watts ERP (if using an agile signal) for the medical band. Another design concern is a shift in frequency from the fat layer which varies by individual so they have to design for a broader bandwidth.

They have designed patch antennas that greatly improve sensitivity over the typical loop antenna currently used in many applications. The patch antenna results in about 3.4% of the radiated power while the loop antenna is only about 0.6% and the patch has better coverage. All of this has to fit into an enclosure about an inch square.

There were some very interesting applications that were presented here and it is very good to see the interaction with their customers as they strive to solve to their problems.

Power Amp Market to Double with MIMO 802.11n

Strategy Analytics reports that 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.

“As prices for single-stream 802.11n (1 x 1) chips dropped to match 802.11g, OEMs have quickly begun to switch from 802.11g to 802.11n in new products. Consequently, 802.11n will ship in more than half of all Wi-Fi systems by the end of 2010,” says Christopher Taylor, Director of the RF and Wireless Components service.

Not only will 802.11n quickly replace 802.11g, but as Wi-Fi continues to proliferate in new devices and applications, multi-stream MIMO configurations of 802.11n (i.e. 2 x 2, 3 x 3 and 4 x 4, transmit x receive) will rapidly grow in support of demand for greater range, faster file transfers and streaming multimedia in many of these applications.

SiGe Semiconductor has established a firm lead in power amplifiers despite increasing competition from GaAs PA module specialists such as Skyworks, RFMD, TriQuint and Anadigics. “A relatively small and nimble company, SiGe Semiconductor owes much of its success to concentrating its resources almost exclusively on Wi-Fi PA modules,” notes Asif Anwar, Director of the Strategy Analytics GaAs and Compound Semiconductor market research service.

I am impressed that SiGe has done well in target markets against some of these larger companies. They seem to have identified the markets that best fit their core technology.

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.