Radio equipment
Wavestream introduces amplifier
Wavestream Corp. has announced the introduction of its “Grid Amplifier” technology to military and commercial customers worldwide.
“The power available from individual transistors at frequencies Ka through W band (26 GHz-110 GHz) is very modest,” Wavestream President Jim Rosenberg explained. “Our Grid technology allows our chips to generate more than five times as much output power as conventional chips, allowing terrestrial and satellite systems to be designed with higher data rates and better quality of service.”
“Wavestream’s Grid Amplifier is an extraordinary achievement that provides solutions and capabilities across a wide range of commercial and military applications, including satellite links, radar and terrestrial communications,” Wavestream Chairman and CEO Ed Tuck added. “Our spatial combining technology will allow terminal manufacturers, system integrators, service providers and satellite operators to address previously inaccessible markets.”
Wavestream’s high-power millimeter-wave amplifiers address today’s commercial and military communications, radar and imaging systems. These systems use solid-state amplifiers for low-power applications and vacuum tube amplifiers for high-power applications.
Existing solid-state amplifiers provide small form factors and high reliability, but have limitations in total output power and overall power efficiency.
The Grid Amplifier overcomes these limitations by significantly reducing combining losses. Vacuum tube amplifiers provide high power output with reasonable power efficiencies, but are larger and typically higher cost with more complex support equipment.
In contrast, according to Wavestrem officials, the Grid Amplifier is small, lightweight, simple, and low cost.
Commercially, this high-output power capability, coupled with low-cost enables new applications in content delivery, distance learning, telemedicine and remote collaboration.
For military applications, the Grid Amplifier’s high power, efficiency, small size and light weight enable mobile and airborne communications and sensing systems to enhance battlefield management.
According to company officials, while Wavestream’s technology is capable of providing products for the 26-110 GHz frequency range, the first products are dedicated to providing Ka-band power at 29.5-31 GHz.
Features
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Higher power — Higher output power lets communication engineers design systems with higher data rates and better quality of service. Higher power also permits more efficient use of bandwidth by allowing more complex transmission waveforms.
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Greater efficiency — The greater power efficiency provided by the Grid Amplifier can yield lower DC power consumption and reduced thermal load for a given output power.
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Small form factor and mechanical ruggedness — The Grid Amplifier’s small form factor and ruggedness make it particularly attractive for mobile or airborne applications, where space and weight are critical.
Its small size also allows it to be installed closer to the antenna feed point, reducing losses.
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Low cost — Grid Amplifiers can be mass-produced, resulting in affordable, high-power, millimeter-wave commercial equipment.
RF Neulink debuts wireless modem
The RF Neulink NL6000 wireless data modem sets new standards for the wireless telemetry industry.
The modem and VHF or UHF transceiver are enclosed in one package. NL6000 radio channel data rates exceed typical land mobile radio (LMR) frequency standards while maintaining radio channel reliability.
A unique feature of the NL6000 is its ability to be IP addressable. The IP addressable feature, allows network connectivity of the NL6000 to Local Area Networks (LAN) via the onboard USB port.
This feature permits multiple NL6000s to be monitored and controlled via a users existing LAN.
This information can collectively be monitored and display in a central location.
Software upgrades and complete new product definitions can be downloaded through the Internet.
Due to several advanced signal processing techniques which correct for limitations of typical land mobile radios at high data rates, the NL6000 exhibits outstanding radio channel performance.
The NL6000 is ideal for any system where high performance RF specifications, high LMR data rates, and compact size are a requirement.
Specifications at a glance
Narrow band (12.5 KHz) or Wide Band (25 KHz) models
Radio Channel Performance: Greater than 95 percent reliability at 6db above 12db Sinad (.28uV)
Radio Channel Data Rates:
12 Kbps Narrow band (12.5 KHz)
22 Kbps Wide band (25 KHz)
Broadband Tx/Rx design: 26MHz VHF, 20 MHz UHF
RF output power 1-6 watts variable
Frequency Stability 1.5 PPM
Frequency Ranges: 136-162 MHz VHF
148-174 MHz VHF
400-420 MHz UHF
450-470 MHz UHF
Alavarion extends product reach
Alvarion Inc. has announced the commercial launch of its Cell Extender (CX) for the homeland defense and public safety industry.
The CX is designed to extend the reach of a city broadband wireless data system and to re-distribute broadband coverage from a primary wireless base station to remote locations outside the reach of the primary cell.
The CX can connect Mobile Data Terminals (MDTs) and remote city-maintained buildings that are beyond the range of the primary cell, or that were previously unreachable from the primary station due to obstructions such as foliage or hills.
It therefore expands hotspot coverage and makes citywide wireless access a reality — which is especially important for public safety officers who work in primarily mobile environments.
In fact, the CX, which is intended for use within any existing or new BreezeACCESS network, was created so street patrol officers could gain access to their station’s LAN network at broadband speeds while in the remote locations of the city limits.
“While BreezeACCESS already can provide a large coverage radius, sometimes obstacles, such as hills, prevent access to outlying areas of the city — areas where the public safety official needs access to a broadband system,” notes Duane Buddrius, Alvarion USA’s director of product engineering and product manager for the CX.
“Now the city can place a CX on, for example, a water tower, fire station, or other city-maintained structure to extend high-speed data coverage far beyond the reach of the downtown hotspot or metro area high-speed wireless network. In doing so, they invest a fraction of the cost of a new base station and can better utilize the capacity they already have,” he added.
The CX uses a two-piece architecture with both components designed to be installed completely outdoors.
The components are connected using an intermediate frequency (IF) that carries both power and data.
This design permits a high degree of installation flexibility and eliminates the need for expensive runs of large LMR or heliax cables.
To further increase simplicity, the CX accommodates all antennas certified with the BreezeACCESS system by the FCC.
Like all BreezeACCESS products, the CX can be configured remotely or locally.
It also uses the same software as other BreezeACCESS products.
Retail pricing for the CX is $2,995.
RFS Transmitter Combiners
Wireless communications leader Radio Frequency Systems (RFS) is pleased to announce the availability of their new SJD series coaxial cavity-ferrite transmitter combiners operating in the 403-512 MHz band.
These combiners use low-loss, low IM dual-stage isolators with integrated coaxial cavities. These cavity-ferrite transmitter combiners offer a solution to your 450 MHz land mobile needs.
Their low-loss characteristic maximizes system performance while their high isolation minimizes the possibility of intermodulation. Integrated sampling ports permit in-service diagnostics. Integrated isolator loads can withstand open and short conditions at the antenna port up to 150 watts per channel. Precise compensation ensures optimal performance over power and temperature.
The SJD series is a four-channel combiner. Two four-channel units can be converted to an eight-channel unit with the addition of an optional harness kit.
SJD series combiners are available with options for N or 7/16 female connectors for the antenna output.
New GaAs FET delivers
California Eastern Laboratories has announced the availability a new 10 Watt Medium Power GaAs FET from NEC.
With 40 dBm (typ) of output power, the new NE650103M is designed to serve as an Output Stage amplifier in medium power transmitters (repeaters, point-to-point radios) or as a driver in high power transmitters.
The NE650103M is housed in NCSD’s new 3M package — with a two-hole copper composite flange for superior power dissipation and a hollow plastic cover for lower cost.
RF Solutions rolls out WLAN amp
RF Solutions Inc. has introduced the WLAN an efficient, low-cost power amplifier (PA) for 802.11b/g applications — the multimode RFS P2023.
The RFS P2023 is designed to achieve maximum linearity and efficiency for IEEE 802.11g (draft) and 802.11b standards, thereby significantly improving the range of WLAN networks while extending system battery life, according to the press release. For 802.11g (draft) at a data rate of 54 Mbps and an output power of +19 dBm, the P2023 has an Error Vector Magnitude (EVM) of less than 3 percent and consumes only 135 mA. In the same configuration, the PA meets all 802.11b Adjacent Channel Power Ratio (ACPR) requirements at +23 dBm output while drawing only 220mA of current.
This flexibility in the P2023 enables a seamless transition between the “g” and “b” modes. The P2023 is fabricated in a small 3×3mm LPCC package and operates from a single +3.3V power supply.
Unlike other power amplifiers on the market today, the RFS P2023 is fully matched to 50 ohms at input and output. As no additional external matching components are needed to create a final PA solution, the total bill-of-materials cost is the lowest in the industry, according to company officials. With a strict design goal of eliminating the RF from the WLAN system manufacturing process, the P2023 enables a trouble-free transition into high-volume production.
The RFS P2023 is equipped with an easy-to-use, on-chip output power detector critical to the dynamic power control of any WLAN system. The power detector provides a simple single-ended voltage feedback indicating the precise operating output power.
Using self-regulating dynamic power control to further enhance system performance, the RFS P2023 requires no additional external control circuitry to preserve high efficiency at lower output power.
In addition, the PA is equipped with a sleep mode feature limiting the consumption to less than 1 mA when the power amplifier is not in use.
