Here's the industry news that caught my attention during the past couple of weeks. I was surprised by the number of executive changes.

Companies and Products

Apple announced the long awaited and discussed iPhone 7. While some analysts panned the latest model as only an incremental evolution, Guy Daniels of Telecom TV sees innovation and disruption. Key to the RF/microwave sector, will the iPhone 7 bring back the halcyon days for the RF component suppliers (e.g., Broadcom, Qorvo, Skyworks)?

Autoliv, whose mission is auto safety, and Volvo plan to form a joint venture (JV) to develop autonomous driving software. The JV kicks off in 2017 with 200 employees, growing to 600 within a few years. Volvo will use JV developed software in their own cars; Autoliv will offer it to other auto manufacturers.

Broadcom Ltd. reported fiscal Q3 revenue. The wireless segment achieved $1 billion in revenue, which was 27 percent above the prior quarter's revenue. CEO Hock Tan attributed the growth to the iPhone 7 ramp, “further enhanced by a substantial increase in Broadcom’s content in the new handset.” He said Broadcom “also benefited from continued demand increases from our large Asian handset customer” (i.e., Samsung).

Custom MMIC added two packaged GaAs MMIC driver amplifiers to their portfolio: The CMD231C3 covers 2 to 6 GHz, with 13.5 dBm P_1dB and 14.5 dB gain; it draws 45 mA from a +3 to +8 V supply. The CMD232C3 covers 2 to 9 GHz, with 17 dBm P_1dB and 15 dB gain; it draws 90 mA from a +5 V supply.

Ericsson introduced the first 5G new radio (NR), which it plans to deploy commercially in 2017. The AIR 6468 has 64 Tx and 64 Rx antennas and will supporting massive MIMO and multi-user (MU) MIMO. Ericsson states they are the first company to deliver all required components of a 5G access network: the AIR 6468, 5G plug-ins announced in June and their commercially available baseband (5216).

Keysight Technologies announced a leadership change: Guy Séné will step down as head of global sales and retire at the end of January. Mark Wallace, currently VP and GM of the Americas field operation, will assume the global sales role on November 1. Séné joined HP (Keysight's predecessor) 40 years ago, in 1976.

MACOM is expanding the company's MMIC catalog with two 50 Ω amplifiers: A Darlington design (MAAM-011206) covers DC to 15 GHz with 14 dB gain and 20 dBm P_1dB. A 50 MHz to 4 GHz LNA (MAAM-011229) has less than 2 dB noise figure (1.3 dB typical at 1.2 GHz), with 19 dB flat gain to 3.25 GHz, rolling off 1.2 dB at 4 GHz.

Midea's latest solid-state oven is using NXP's 300 W LDMOS power transistor. The MHT1004N is a +32 V device developed for consumer and commercial cooking appliances. According to NXP's press release, “NXP RF cooking technology delivers perfectly even-heated food with no cold or hot spots.”

National Instruments (NI) announced that Alex Davern will become NI's CEO and president on January 1. Co-founder and current CEO James Truchard (Dr. T) will remain chairman of the board.

Pasternack introduced two radar demonstration kits for the 2.4 GHz ISM band. Designed as a tool to study and learn about the principles of radar, the kits support CW, FMSW and Doppler operating modes, with single tone, frequency ramp or sawtooth output waveforms.

Poland is seeking formal U.S. approval to buy eight Patriot missile defense systems from Raytheon, a $5 billion deal for the company. Raytheon has agreed to perform at least half the work in Poland.

Skyworks appointed Kris Sennesael to the role of CFO, replacing Don Palette. Sennesael comes from Enphase Energy, a semiconductor-based renewable energy firm, where he served as CFO. Palette is moving to a non-executive role before he retires next May.

Wolfspeed released an internally-matched, GaN driver to complement the C-Band output device. Operating from a +50 V bias, the CGHV59070 covers 5.2 to 5.9 GHz, with an output power of 90 W (typical), 55 percent drain efficiency and 14 dB power gain.

Markets and Technology

Broadband — FCC chairman Tom Wheeler is moving ahead with his plan to free consumers from leasing their set-top boxes from service providers. Read his blog post.

Defense — The Marines ordered nine more G/ATOR radars from Northrop Grumman. G/ATOR provides air surveillance, weapon cueing, counter-fire target acquisition and air traffic control. The T/R modules use GaN technology, which increases the threat detection and tracking range and saves $2 million in life cycle cost per system, according to Northrop Grumman.

If you come across news that you think is worth including in the weekly report, please send it to me at glerude@mwjournal.com. Your feedback about content is always welcome.

Have a good week.