Sector News

Two four-channel, dual-polarised analogue beamformers, the MMW9012K and MMW9014K enable advanced precision in beam steering for 5G mmWave, improving system reliability, said NXP.

The analogue beamformers have been developed using NXP’s silicon germanium (SiGe) process. They support dual-polarisation to improve 5G reliability and offer a high degree of integration to help reduce 5G base station size and costs, said the company. They also reduce current consumption for 5G mmWave designs. 

5G mmWave solutions are typically deployed in dense urban areas, where the higher frequency and bandwidth are well-suited to meet consumers’ needs for higher bit rates. However, the higher frequency also decreases the distance an mmWave signal can cover, as does the interference of buildings and other obstacles. The dual-polarised, four-channel analogue beamformers enable more precise steering of simultaneous beams to users, explained NXP, mitigating the propagation loss common to 5G mmWave deployments and improving overall system reliability.

The MMW9012K operates at 28GHz, while the MMW9014K operates at 26GHz. Both devices offer a high transmit and receive gain with EVM (error vector magnitude) at 2.5 per cent at Pout of 9dBm.

Doeco Terpstra, vice president and general manager, Smart Antenna Solutions, NXP, said: “Reliability is more important than ever, and OEMS need the ability to precisely direct simultaneous beams to the different users that require the low latency and high bandwidth that 5G mmWave offers. At the same time, utilising a dual-polarisation on a single antenna panel enables a higher degree of integration for 5G mmWave panels, reducing system size and cost for OEMs.”

NXP also announced an antenna system developer kit to complement the beamformers. It features an 8×8 antenna panel, with a control board with GUI (graphic user interface) and power supplies. According to NXP, the antenna developer system makes it easy for OEMs to accelerate their panel designs to more quickly build 5G antenna systems.

The MMW9012K and MMW9014K four-channel, dual polarised analogue beamformers are in volume production. 

http://www.nxp.com

Low power indoor-outdoor geolocation company, Abeeway, partnered with Murata to develop the LBEU5ZZ1WL geolocation module. It is a low power wide area network (LPWAN) module, designed to maximise battery life and is claimed to be sensitive and flexible enough to build customised, inexpensive, IoT tracking devices. Applications are both indoors and outdoors and include asset recovery, traceability, inventory management and theft prevention.

The modules integrate LoRaWAN [long range WAN] connectivity. The low power technology has become the de-facto standard for connectivity over public and private networks. In addition to a dual-core, multi-protocol wireless microcontroller, the modules contain a high-performance multi-constellation GNSS receiver (GPS, GLONASS, Beidou and Galileo) and support a patented low-power localiser performance (LP) mode. 

On-board Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) 5.2 (Bluetooth SIG cert is underway) connectivity allows for short range communication with smartphone apps and other devices for applications such as contact tracing or monitoring BLE tagged equipment. The multi-technology modules have full power-optimised FreeRTOS, drivers and a LoRaWAN stack.

“The key requirement is to minimise time to market for device manufacturers embracing LoRaWAN for industrial or consumer applications. The new geolocation module . . .  brings a market-ready reference for anyone wanting to develop a customised tracking device,” said Olivier Hersent, CEO at Actility, Abeeway’s parent company.

The module implements Semtech’s latest transceiver and ST’s STM32 wireless microcontrollers for security features and device management for LoRaWAN deployment, he added.

According to Akira Sasaki, general manager – connectivity module marketing, Murata: “This exciting collaboration greatly simplifies the development of new LoRaWAN tracking devices and offers customers faster time to market by minimising BoM [bill of materials] size, TCO [total cost of ownership] and complexity”.

The modules are designed and manufactured by Murata Manufacturing. The company encapsulated an array of enabling devices within one system in package (SiP). The compact module helps engineers save valuable board space for space-restricted tracking applications, as well as helps them to reduce certification risk and budget, test time and cost for mass production, said Murata.

The Abeeway-Murata Geolocation Module with a fully featured evaluation kit will be available in production quantities after September 2022. The modules will be demonstrated at Embedded World (21 to 23 June) in Nuremberg, Germany and LoRaWAN World Expo in Paris, France (6 to 7 July).

http://www.murata.com