Communications

Neul has announced its first transceiver chip for ‘white space’ communications in 470-790MHz UHF TV bands. Called Iceni, the chip is intended for secure non-line-of-sight machine-to-machine (M2M) communications. Both 6 and 8MHz channel bandwidths are supported, and “adaptive digital modulation schemes and error correction methods can be selected according to the trade-off between data rate and range required for a ...

Broadcom has unveiled its smallest ever 4G LTE-Advanced smartphone wireless modem. The race is on to amongst chip suppliers to take the initiative for the generation of super mobiles which will come after this year’s LTE smartphones. The next generation will be based on the LTE-Advanced standard offering data rates up to 3Gbit/s. Broadcom hopes to challenge the dominance of ...

Cambridge Consultants has developed a sticky radio tag that will detect bad handling of parcels by delivery firms. Called DropTag, the gadget combines a battery, a low-energy Bluetooth transmitter, an accelerometer and a memory chip. Stuck on a parcel as it leaves an e-commerce warehouse, it logs any g-forces above a set risky shock level that it experiences. The idea is ...

Nujira says the first 4G LTE smartphones to use its power efficient RF technology will be on the market next year. “In the past it was an aspiration to get envelope-tracking (ET) technology designed into volume handsets, now we know it will happen in 2014,” Tim Haynes CEO, Nujira told Electronics Weekly. “We have worked with chipset vendors for five ...

Microsemi’s latest optical system linecard device is designed to address channel density issue with the uptake of 100G links. “Growth of 100G is exceeding our most optimistic predictions and, in turn, significantly bolstering the optical transceiver end-market,” said Andrew Schmitt, principal analyst for optical at market research firm Infonetics. “The availability of components that increase the density of linecards is ...

With the rollout of a global mobile standard like 4G LTE there are 20 or more frequency bands and operators have found themselves struggling with RF front end circuit technologies not up to the task, writes Jeremy Hendy, v-p sales and marketing, Nujira. The problems facing designers of RF front-ends for handsets and other cellular terminals have become increasingly challenging. ...

The Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) has appointed three new members to its Board of Directors. They are David Baillie, chief executive officer, CamSemi, Jeff Waters, senior vice president and general manager, Altera and Dr. Albert Wu, vice president of Operations, Marvell Semiconductor. Semiconductor companies Camsemi’s David Baillie has been appointed to represent emerging semiconductor companies. He has for some time been ...

A head-up display for joggers has been designed by German firm o-synce. The display system, which is mounted in the runner’s hat, uses a 2.4GHz transceiver from Nordic Semiconductor to provide wireless links to up to eight sensors. Called the Screeneye X, the display shows elapsed time, heart rate, speed, distance and calories consumed. The data is projected directly on ...

As the UK and Europe commits to 4G (LTE) technology, its successor LTE-A (LTE-Advanced) is already waiting in the wings to deliver the equivalent of a fixed-line broadband experience to the end user, promising peak data rates of around 3Gbit/s. With LTE-A, services and applications such as HD streaming, online gaming and video conferencing will become standard offerings. “Mobile operators ...

The recent spat between Samsung and Qualcomm with Samsung announcing an eight core IC for mobile phones and Qualcomm’s CEO dismissing it as a publicity stunt, is put in context by ST-Ericsson Fellow Marco Cornero and Andreas Anyuru. “Multiprocessing has been adopted as a marketing tool,” say Cornero and Anyuru, “this is used to pass the oversimplified message that more processors ...