RF & Microwave

The Z-Wave Alliance has announced its ZWLR (Z-Wave Long Range) specification for the European market has been completed. It’s slated to be made available to member companies in an upcoming release. It marks the first steps towards members and manufacturers within the EU region being able to begin product development plans and certification of Z-Wave devices with ZWLR capabilities, the ...

Component distributor Richardson RFPD is to stock a range of 0603 (1.5 x 0.7mm) RF components from TTM Technologies, all branded ‘Xinger’ and “designed to meet the density and performance challenges of next-generation 5G transceiver and power amplifier applications”, according to Richardson. They include: Three Xinger 90° 3dB hybrid couplers at 1.8 – 2.3GHz, 2.2 – 2.8GHz or 3.1 – ...

Alpha Micro and The Antenna Company have signed an agreement to distribute cellular and short range connectivity produces in the UK and Ireland. Described as a strategic partnership and distribution agreement, the two companies will collaborate to reduce time to market for products in development, said wireless connectivity specialist, Alpha Micro. The Antenna Company is headquartered in the Netherlands and ...

NEC has developed a RAN autonomous optimisation technology that dynamically controls 5G Radio Access Networks (RAN) according to the status of each user terminal, thereby improving the productivity of applications such as the remote control of robots and vehicles. NEC will incorporate the technology into RAN Intelligent Controllers (RIC) and conduct demonstration tests using this technology by March 2025. There ...

Infineon has introduced a ~10 x 20mm antenna-inclusive Bluetooth 5.0 (core spec) module that consumes 1.3mA receiving (-95dBm) and 3mA transmitting (0dBm). Called CYW20822-P4TAI040, it sleeps at 2μA when retaining 32kbyte of ram, or hibernates at 800nA – the latter rising to 950nA hibernating with the wake-up receiver enabled. At maximum transmit power (+4dBm) up to 250m of range can be ...

U-blox is sampling a module that combine LTE-M cellular communication (23dBm output) and GNSS for precise location finding. SARA-R520M10 is the super-set device, combining on-board an LTE-M and NB-IoT IC (v2 of UBX-R5) with the company’s M10 GNSS receiver IC, allowing concurrent communication and location-finding in a 16 x 26 x 2.2mm package. Cellular coverage is global, and the module ...

University of Sheffield spin-out Phlux has announced its first product, a family of 1,550nm avalanche photodiodes. Called Aura, the infra-red devices are built using antimony alloy modified InGaAs. “The resulting sensors can be operated with APD gains up to 120, enabling even the smallest signals above the noise floor of a connected trans-impedance amplifier to be amplified,” according to the ...

Vodafone, Xiaomi, and Qualcomm  have successfully tested a new 5G technology that will pave the way for customers to get faster upload speeds and wider coverage with the arrival of new smartphones and devices expected during 2024. In the first European technical test of this  5G uplink technology, Vodafone, Qualcomm, and Xiaomi achieved peak upload speeds of up to 273Mbps. ...

Parallel Wireless (PW), the US  O-RAN specialist has deployed 1,500 O-RAN  sites across Africa. Expanding mobile connectivity throughout Africa is a unique challenge due to unreliable or inaccessible sources of electricity and challenging landscapes that make physical access difficult. PW partnered with regional telecommunications providers and governments in countries including Nigeria, Tanzania, Guinea Conakry, Ghana, South Sudan, Uganda, DRC, and ...

TI announced a 77GHz automotive radar for automated driving today at CES in Las Vegas. Called AWR2544 and made on 45 nm RFCMOS, it is aimed, for example, at vehicles with a radar at each corner that use ‘satellite’ rather than the more locally demanding ‘edge’ vehicle architecture, according to the company. With edge architecture, the radar will perform Doppler ...