RF&WirelessBlog

HSPA/LTE accounts for 20.6% of all Europe’s PC broadband connections

According to a new research report from the analyst firm Berg Insight, HSPA/LTE accounted for 20.6% of the total number of broadband connections in Europe at the end of 2010. The number of HSPA/LTE mobile broadband subscribers (connected PCs and tablets) grew by 33% year-on-year in 2010 to reach 33.9 million and is forecasted to continue to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.9% to 96 million by 2016.

Cambridge Consultants develops industry's smallest 2G and 3G femtocell base station

Cambridge Consultants has developed a platform for the industry’s smallest commercially available 2G and 3G femtocell. Called Sidewinder, the small-cell platform is software configurable for GSM/GPRS/EDGE, WCDMA/HSPA+ and other SDR applications, providing new levels of adaptability for cellular base stations. It offers a low cost of entry for companies wishing to exploit these standards and sets a new benchmark in flexible, cost effective designs.

Anritsu Signalling Tester evaluates multimode LTE smartphones

Anritsu’s new MD8475A Signalling Tester is aimed at multimode smartphone and mobile terminals which support high-speed LTE communications system as well as being suitable for chipset and mobile telecom operator acceptance testing. The MD8475A also operates as a base station simulator supporting both 2G and 3G GSM/GPRS/EGPRS, W-CDMA/HSPA and CDMA2000 1x/1x EVDO technologies.

Picochip powers SK Telecom’s femtocell-based data-offload deployment

Picochip has been chosen to supply the technology for the second wave of femtocell access points from Contela, used by Korea’s SK Telecom (SKT) for data offload. Building on the success of Contela’s first-generation data-only product, also based on Picochip technology, the new 2FA combines a 16-user ‘dual-carrier’ HSPA+ femtocell with Wi-Fi in an integrated access point. SKT will deploy the 2FA in high-traffic areas such as cafés, shopping malls, train stations, offices and apartment blocks.

Femtocells to the fore at the Fira – Mobile World Congress 2011

This year more than ever before, femtocells were one of the key technology stories at Mobile World Congress. But far from just conventional residential femtocells, larger enterprise and 'metro' femtocells were much in evidence this time, and the distinction between these and microcells or picocells is now largely based on which platform they have been developed on rather than their physical size or capacity. At the opposite end of the spectrum, a residential femtocell can now be realised in a USB dongle form factor.

Antenova announces nine-band LTE mobile broadband antenna

UK integrated antenna and RF modules vendor Antenova has announced the new DATANOVA 4G nine-band antenna with LTE and GPS for the new generation of lightweight notebooks and netbooks.

DATANOVA 4G is a custom mobile broadband antenna that covers LTE (bands 4, 7, 13 and 17), 3G, CDMA/GSM, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, UWB and GPS. Like the other antennas in the DATANOVA range, it can cover all or as many of the bands as required, and provides a choice of wireless broadband connectivity options. The antennas eliminate the need for exposed or unsightly external antennas, and are provided in small volume, low profile form factors – down to the width of PCB, 0.8mm, making them particularly suitable for use in ultra thin, lightweight notebooks and netbooks, including the Dell Adamo XPS, which is the world's thinnest notebook at only 9.99mm in height/thickness.

Mobile World Congress: wireless PA chips evolving – single-chip phone getting closer?

The RF power amplifier (PA) has always been the key component in a mobile handset design in terms of defining the power efficiency of the whole phone, and finding ways to optimise its power consumption has been an ongoing quest for semiconductor vendors. And for many years the industry has speculated on the feasibility of the single-chip phone, but the main stumbling block has always been the inability to integrate the PA – which has traditionally been a GaAs chip − with the silicon parts of the circuit because of the different semiconductor technologies.

Some announcements at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last week may well have shifted expectations on both of these issues. Firstly RF Micro Devices (RFMD), which leads the GaAs handset PA market, has introduced what it claims is a new category of device based around the PA – the 'power platform'.

But GaAs now has real competition from silicon in its traditional PA stronghold.

Wireless moves into a new decade

The first week of a new year may seem a rather unsociable time to hold a major trade show, but the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas has become established as a showcase for the new product developments that will shape the immediate future of the consumer electronics market. In recent years wireless technology, and wireless-enabled IT products, have increased to become a dominant part of this market. The first days of a new year are also the traditional time for looking forward to what the future will bring, so the conjunction is timely.

So what will the new decade bring for the wireless and RF industry?

Basestation market up 10% in 2009, says In-Stat

The number of newly deployed macro cellular basestations worldwide has grown by over 10% during 2009, according to a newly published report by analysts In-Stat. The basestation market is thriving despite the poor state of the worldwide economy, and is being driven by demand for mobile phones, especially smartphones, and wireless broadband services. macro cellular basestations will grow over 10% in 2009.

ST-Ericsson and Ericsson achieve first handover between LTE and HSPA

Working in Stockholm – where TeliaSonera launched its first LTE network this week –  ST-Ericsson and Ericsson have reported the first successful data call handover between LTE and HSPA networks, using a multimode LTE/HSPA device powered by ST-Ericsson's M710 multimode platform. The companies describe this demonstration of a mobile broadband data call in an LTE network, and its successful handover to an HSPA network, as a further step towards the widespread deployment of LTE.