At this year’s IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium, Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) is showcasing 14 new RF products designed to advance radio architectures in a broad array of end applications (Booth #1616). ADI now offers designers the most complete portfolio of RF ICs, covering the entire RF signal chain in performance-driven applications, such as cellular and cable infrastructure; industrial and test equipment; medical instrumentation; avionics and satellites; marine radar and RFID readers. Designers can now source a wide range of general purpose and specialized RF ICs from a single supplier for solutions in both the transmit and receive paths of the entire RF signal chain.
ADI’s new offerings include a comprehensive suite of 12 RF amplifiers and new phase-lock loop (PLL) and direct digital synthesis (DDS) synthesizers.
In addition to the booth demonstrations, ADI will present a discussion on PLLs and short range devices at various times throughout the day at the Avnet (booth #1623). DDS and clocks will also be highlighted at the Avnet booth throughout the day on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The new products being announced today leverage ADI’s expertise in RF systems design and analog signal processing. The amplifiers deliver the industry’s best performance, while the DDS provides unprecedented levels of spurious-free dynamic range to ease design efforts. The PLL extends power supply voltage, providing designers with a wider tuning range for broadband frequency synthesis.
The products introduced at this year’s MTT-S International Microwave Symposium include:
RF Amplifiers:
With unprecedented levels of performance, the four RF amplifier product families Analog Devices is introducing today include LNAs (low-noise amplifiers), IFAs (intermediate frequency amplifiers), driver amplifiers and RF gain blocks (see press release). Each amplifier family is fully specified for operation over temperature, supply voltage and operating frequency, thereby easing the selection and design-in process. Within each RF amplifier family, Analog Devices optimized the performance to cover both broadband and narrowband applications with the minimum number of external passive components, providing considerable savings in board area and design complexity.
ADF4113HV PLL Synthesizer:
This new RF IC is the industry’s first PLL synthesizer with a high voltage charge pump, which extends the power supply voltage up to 16.5 V, compared to most PLL synthesizer ICs, which are limited to 5 or 6 V. This extended voltage provides a wider tuning range for broadband frequency synthesis and is necessary for the design of products such as private mobile radios (PMR) and communications test equipment. With the ADF4113HV, a high voltage VCO can be controlled directly through a passive loop filter, eliminating the need for active loop filters and as a result, reducing bill of materials cost as well as noise and current consumption. The new PLL joins Analog Devices’ extensive PLL synthesizer portfolio, which serves applications such as wireless base stations, mobile handsets/PDAs, broadband wireless access, industrial and instrumentation, test equipment and satellite equipment.
AD9912 DDS Synthesizer:
Targeted at test and measurement equipment, wireless base stations and secure communications devices, Analog Devices’ AD9912 DDS provides analog and mixed-signal engineers with a new level of SFDR (spurious-free dynamic range) performance through the integration of spur-reduction technology. The AD9912 helps ease design efforts and enables engineers to spend less time frequency planning, especially in applications such as military receivers where every last dB is important to maintain critical system functions. The innovative spur reduction capability expands the benefits of DDS into designs where previous wideband SFDR performance was a limiting factor. The new level of performance provided by the AD9912 is attainable using the spur-reduction channels to knock down the two largest harmonic spurs by up to 10 dB. Used in a wide range of applications from test and measurement equipment to wireless and satellite communications, ADI’s complete DDS solutions employ an on-chip high performance DAC (digital-to-analog converter) to convert a reference frequency to a sampled sine wave with extremely fine frequency control.
RF Design Tools Simplify Product Development:
Analog Devices offers a number of complementary tools that enable rapid RF prototype development and design optimization to significantly reduce design cycle time and improve time to market. The ADIsimPLL™ development tool is available to designers at no cost and offers a comprehensive PLL design and simulation package for ADI’s range of PLL frequency synthesizers. Additionally, ADI has a complete range of evaluation boards equipped with user-friendly driver software to quickly and accurately design, optimize and evaluate new PLLs. Analog Devices also offers the ADIsimDDS™, which supports ADI’s broad DDS portfolio by assisting users in selecting, evaluating and troubleshooting DDS ICs. The ADIsimDDS tool, which is accessible in real-time and does not require a software download, uses parametric data to mathematically model the general behavior of a selected DDS IC. Analog Devices also offers a range of DDS evaluation boards that consist of a PCB, software and documentation to facilitate bench analysis of the performance of the device.
Newest RF Products Complement Portfolio of Full Solutions and Functional Blocks:
Using a unique combination of design skills, process technologies and system understanding, Analog Devices has a broad portfolio of RF ICs, including complete chipsets and a full range of high performance RF function blocks. ADI’s extensive offerings include: direct digital synthesizers (DDS); phase-locked loop synthesizers (PLL); detectors and logarithmic amplifiers; X-AMP® fixed and variable gain amplifiers (VGA); TruPwr™ RF power detectors; mixers, modulators and demodulators; integrated IF amplifiers; RF transceivers and transmitters; and the Othello® family of direct conversion transceivers for cellular terminals.