RF&WirelessBlog

Ubidyne to show active antenna system for 700MHz LTE at Mobile Word Congress

Ubidyne has announced that it will be featuring a new active antenna solution for the US LTE 700MHz digital dividend band at next month's Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona. The uB700 Antenna Embedded Radio with flexible beam forming and tilting capabilities has just completed independent network trials with a leading US mobile operator, reportedly delivering double throughput at the cell edge and an increase of over 40% cell capacity with the same output power. Ubidyne says these results show that operators can use active antenna technology to address the exploding demand for wireless data by maximising coverage and capacity from their existing macrocells before they need to invest in small cells.

In addition to the new uB700, Ubidyne's uB900 Antenna Embedded Radio supports GSM, UMTS and LTE in the 900MHz frequency band to address mobile networks in Europe, Africa, Oceania, Asia and the Middle East. Future products are also in development for the European digital dividend bands of 800MHz and highband up to 2.6GHz as well as multi-band solutions.

By removing the need for bulky coaxial feeder cables, remote electrical tilt assemblies and additional amplifiers on antenna towers and masts, Ubidyne says that its active antenna technology significantly reduces installation costs and energy consumption while improving radio performance, deployment flexibility, coverage and network capacity. OPEX costs and outages are further reduced by a self-healing mechanism that secures antenna coverage in the event of a system failure.

"The US trials show that active antennas can significantly increase cell capacity using vertical sectorisation and double the uplink throughput at the cell edge as well as increase the coverage area with independent uplink and downlink tilting," said Michael Fränkle, CEO of Ubidyne. "Active antenna technology offers end users a continuous service, while operators will save both CAPEX and OPEX costs; we have the potential to dramatically change the radio architecture and operations of mobile communications without migrating to small cells at tremendous cost. Active antennas have arrived and we are seeing increasing interest and demand from operators around the world."

New technology for RF MEMS reaches volume production

Barcelona, Spain-based Baolab Microsystems’ NanoEMS technology, which is used to create MEMS structures within the standard metal structure of a CMOS wafer, is now in volume production on a standard CMOS production line. The first device to reach volume production is the company’s 3-axis CMOS MEMS NanoCompass compass device, but the technology has potential for RF antennas, RF filters and other RF devices.

Tunable LTE antenna module features aperture-tuned technology

SkyCross has launced its VersiTune-LTE tunable antenna module for 4G LTE mobile devices. The antenna module promises enhanced data speeds and multiband, multifunction operation. According to SkyCross, the module simplifies 4G LTE device design and reduces antenna volume by up to half.

A new, sustainable way of producing RFID antennas

The manufacturing of RFID antennas through the process of etching is being challenged by a new patented technology. Developed by Finland-based Walki, Walki-4E technology is a new way of producing flexible circuit boards using a dry process and paper as the substrate, which the company says is the first real alternative to the wet, chemical based process of etching. The company says Walki-4E is both efficient and sustainable. It also allows for computer to antenna production and extremely accurate laser cutting of the circuit board patterns.

Molex introduces internal mobile TV standard antenna for CMMB enabled devices

Molex has released an internal mobile TV Standard Antenna compliant with China's Multimedia Mobile Broadcasting (CMMB) standard for AV encoding. The economical, passive plug-and-play Mobile TV Standard Antenna can be integrated internally into any CMMB enabled mobile device.

Cobham buys satellite communications antenna company Trivec

Cobham has completed the acquisition of US based Trivec for US$126 million. An additional cash consideration of up to US$18 million is payable between 2013 and 2014, contingent on future performance.

AWR and Antenna Magus partner to accelerate antenna design

High-frequency EDA company AWR and Antenna Magus have joined forces to try to accelerate the pace of antenna design for wireless products. The first result of this relationship is AWR Connected for Antenna Magus, an interface between the companies’ software products that speeds up antenna design from synthesis with Antenna Magus to full circuit/EM simulation with AWR’s Microwave Office and AXIEM software tools.

Spiral antenna is a launchpad for adaptations

Q-par Angus has launched a ‘base-line’ compact ultra-wideband 0.5 -18GHz spiral antenna intended for UWB communications, feeds, radio surveillance and direction finding applications. The 152 mm diameter antenna is circularly polarised (CP) with bore-sight axial ratio better than 3 dB above 0.7 GHz.

Indoor remote unit uses existing coax for 3G & 4G

At Mobile Broadband World in Berlin this week, TE Connectivity showed off its FlexWave Prism indoor remote unit, a new indoor version of its FlexWave Prism Distributed Antenna System (DAS) that uses existing coaxial cabling to bring 3G and 4G coverage to enterprises, college campuses, and urban/suburban macro networks. FlexWave Prism IRU uses rack-mountable, indoor remote units and works with coax cable direct to service antennas, so it is ideal for passive indoor wireless system upgrades or venues that want to deploy a system quickly by leveraging existing cabling.

Pulse Electronics debuts 700-LTE switchable antenna for tablets

Pulse has introduced the first 700-LTE, high-performance, low profile antenna for LTE-enabled tablets to the market. This switchable antenna for mobile connected PCs is only 1mm high. It enables 4 states for low band: 700-750MHz (LTE low), 750-790MHz (LTE high), 820-900MHz (GSM850), and 880-960MHz (GSM900), and covers 1800/1900/2100 for high band applications, with switching implemented directly from the device's display area.