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Power amplifier does not need DFD, CFR or ET, says Guerilla RF

Tue, Jun 28, 2022

Guerilla RF has developed its latest InGaP HBT power amplifier for wideband linear output power in 5G applications that cannot employ digital pre-distortion (DPD), crest factor reduction (CFR) or envelope tracking (ET). The GRF5317 power amplifier delivers 18dBm of wideband linear power and is the first of a series of 0.1W linear power amplifiers being developed by the company.

The InGaP HBT amplifiers were designed specifically for 5G wireless infrastructure applications requiring exceptional native linearity over large 500MHz bandwidths and temperature extremes of -40 to +85 degrees C.

Spanning a frequency range of 1.5 to 2.0GHz, the GRF5317 is tuned to operate within the n1, n2, n3, n25, n34, n39, n65, n66, n70, n80, n84, and n86 5G new radio (NR) bands. The devices typically deliver 18dBm of linear power over the entire operating temperature range while maintaining adjacent channel leakage ratio (ACLR) levels of better than -45dBc and IMD3 levels less than -25dBm are achievable without the aid of supplemental linearisation schemes like DPD.

The ability to beat the -45dBc ACLR performance metric without DPD is critical for cellular applications like home and commercial repeaters / boosters, femto cells, and pico cells, as well as cable loss compensators which are used in conjunction with automotive ‘shark fin’ antennas. Typically, sensitivity to cost, power and size constraints prohibits the use of elaborate linearisation techniques, meaning designers must rely on the power amplifier’s native linearity to meet the stringent emissions mask requirements imposed by the latest 5G standards.

The GRF53xx series was developed by Guerrilla RF, blending power and linearity to maximise the effective range and throughput for cellular systems. It was also designed to be footprint-compatible, enabling customers to rapidly customise designs for many cellular frequencies.

Ryan Pratt, CEO and founder of Guerrilla RF, commented: “GRF now provides pin-pin compatible linear [power amplifiers] PAs that can cover the 0.1W, 0.25W and 0.5W power spectrum, giving customers the ability to simply swap in different devices to address a variety of output power scenarios. The GRF53xx series can also work in conjunction with its 0.5W cousins, serving as linear drivers for the higher power cores.”

The GRF5317 comes in a 3.0 x 3.0mm, 16-pin QFN package. The power amplifier is sampling now. Evaluation boards for the GRF5317 are also available.

https://guerrilla-rf.com/

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Wideband test suite supports FiRa Consortium PHY conformance

Tue, Jun 28, 2022

Rohde & Schwarz has added an ultra-wideband (UWB) PHY test suite for the R&S CMP200 radio communication tester. A PHY conformance test tool (PCTT) supports conformance testing of the UWB PHY layer as specified by the FiRa Consortium.

The FiRa Certification Program is intended to support interoperability of UWB-enabled devices on different layers. This includes physical layer conformance testing performed by FiRa Authorized Test Laboratories (ATLs).

The FiRa-validated UWB PCTT supports further development of an open and standardised UWB ecosystem. UWB-enabled devices can accurately and securely measure the distance and direction of connected devices. These capabilities make UWB a suitable technology for indoor navigation, social distancing, hands-free access, asset tracking, ticket validation, mobile payment and point-and-trigger applications.

Rohde & Schwarz collaborates with industry partners and organisations like the FiRa Consortium to develop UWB test suites for R&D, certification, chipset characterisation and production. The set of UWB test capabilities of the R&S CMP200 radio communication tester are controlled by the new UWB PHY test suite for test automation to allow flexible pre-conformance testing. It also offers an option to run as a PCTT for FiRa certification.

Christoph Pointner, senior vice president for mobile radio testers at Rohde & Schwarz, said the company is pleased to support the FiRa Consortium in its efforts to establish a strong certification framework for an open UWB ecosystem by providing a validated physical layer test tool.

https://www.rohde-schwarz.com

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Allegro integrates TMR and vertical Hall elements in position sensors for ADAS

Tue, Jun 28, 2022

At this week’s Sensors Converge Conference in San Jose, California, USA, Allegro MicroSystems has launched the A33110 and A33115 magnetic position sensors.

Designed for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) applications that require high levels of accuracy and heterogeneous signal redundancy, the sensors combine the company’s vertical Hall technology (VHT) with tunnelling magnetoresistance (TMR) technology in a single sensor package. The angle sensors are claimed to be the first of their kind to feature this technology combination in a single package. VHT and TMR is a heterogeneous redundant sensor for automation in vehicles.

The A33110 and A33115 sensors provide magnetic angle sensing via both the primary (TMR) and secondary (vertical Hall) transducers, each of which are processed by two independent channels, each with independent regulators and temperature sensors. This configuration enables the high levels of safety and diagnostic coverage needed for automated driving, including on-chip channel-to-channel angle comparison and independent processing in digital signal paths, with no shared digital resources. Advanced algorithms in both sensors deliver the fast response time, independent gain/offset correction, angle calculation, and linearisation capabilities demanded by safety-critical ADAS applications.

The A33115 also includes a turns counter that tracks motion in 90 degree increments and a low power mode with a user-programmable duty cycle that reduces power consumption when the IC is in a key-off position.

Future automated and autonomous vehicles require advanced electric power steering (EPS) systems with precise motor control capabilities, as well as brake-by-wire or electromechanical braking systems with fast response time. Present day systems commonly use giant magnetoresistance (GMR) or Hall-effect sensors. Compared to the GMR equivalents, Allegro’s TMR on silicon technology offers improved resolution and accuracy, said the company, providing up to eight times greater sensitivity. Measured against traditional Hall-effect sensors, the improvement in resolution is even more pronounced, added the company.

The safe operation of a vehicle requires the highest level of diagnostic coverage in safety-critical systems. Allegro’s VHT enables accurate safety checks, including low-field and missing-magnet detection. The high-resolution sensors are ASIL D-compliant, with heterogeneous redundancy reducing the likelihood of dependent failures, claimed Allegro.

Car manufacturers and Tier 1 suppliers are looking for position sensors that provide the greatest accuracy and safety while reducing system footprint and cost, said Scott Milne, business line director for position sensors at Allegro. Integrating both vertical Hall and TMR elements in a single package, enables the customers to meet those needs with a sensor that provides high resolution and heterogeneous redundancy along with integrated diagnostics, he added.

http://www.allegromicro.com

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OTA wireless power charges Bluetooth beacon for smart IoT

Tue, Jun 28, 2022

Two companies have collaborated to demonstrate wireless charging of a Bluetooth beacon over a distance of 120 feet (36.5m), paving the way for battery- and maintenance-free long range smart IoT sensor systems, said Powercast.

The company specialises in radio frequency (RF) -based over the air (OTA) wireless power technology and has teamed up with InPlay, the company that invented the programming-free, inexpensive, low power Bluetooth sensor, NanoBeacon SoC.

Powercast’s RF-to-DC power harvesting technology is used to power InPlay’s active Bluetooth sensor IN100, the first of its NanoBeacon SoC family. The battery-free Bluetooth Low Energy sensor beacon can communicate using only micro Watts together enabling battery-free, maintenance-free, long-range smart IoT sensor systems

The resulting long range wireless IoT sensor systems can be deployed for monitoring in the retail, medical, warehousing and industrial IoT markets, Powercast proposed.

Previously documented to power sensors over 80 feet, Powercast’s far-field wireless technology has now powered the NanoBeacon IN100 from 120 feet away from the commercially-available PowerSpot transmitter, enabling a beacon signal every minute. NanoBeacon’s low power design features fast start-up and data transmission using only micro Watts of power. As the NanoBeacon moves farther from Powercast’s RF transmitter, beacon signals become less frequent, and moving it closer allows more frequency if the application requires it.

The new distance achievement is also due to Powercast’s new reference design for its PCC110 Powerharvester chip and companion PCC210 boost converter, which join forces to harvest RF out of the air with up to 75 per cent efficiency.

Powercast and InPlay will demonstrate the low power, battery-free, maintenance-free combination at the Sensors Converge Conference in San Jose, California, USA. The Powercast booth is 641 and InPlay is at booth 333. In both booths, visitors will see Powercast’s RF-to-DC power harvesting technology powering InPlay’s active Bluetooth sensor IN100. The NanoBeacon SoC can be attached to nearly anything for real-time location monitoring, and paired with sensors to monitor conditions such as light, humidity and temperature, said InPlay.

“Powercast’s and InPlay’s technologies combine to make every microwatt of power count in efficient and green IoT networks powered over the air, now at unprecedented distances, without batteries,” said Charles Goetz, CEO of Powercast. “Together we are advancing the IoT, creating the opportunity for new battery-free sensor types, low-power intelligent endpoints, and smart tracking tags used in retail, asset tracking and industrial sensing.”

InPlay’s NanoBeacon SoC family aims to make smart sensor systems using active RFID technology affordable and easy to deploy, via Bluetooth Low Energy. It can be configured via an app, requires no software programming, transmits data up to 300 feet (91m) and features software-defined radio (SDR) edge networking to connect tens of thousands of IoT devices.

“Maintaining billions of battery-powered IoT devices in the field is an expensive challenge, but with Powercast’s technology, our customers can design battery-free wireless sensors to avoid downtime and maintenance issues,” said Jason Wu, co-founder and CEO of InPlay. He added that the technology is easy and affordable to deploy compared with traditional RFID deployments which normally require technical experts. “Now customers can also eliminate battery maintenance, and monitor more asset conditions when adding sensors to the system,” said Wu.

http://www.powercastco.com

https://inplay-tech.com

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Power amplifier does not need DFD, CFR or ET, says Guerilla RF

Wideband test suite supports FiRa Consortium PHY conformance

Allegro integrates TMR and vertical Hall elements in position sensors for ADAS

OTA wireless power charges Bluetooth beacon for smart IoT

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