Honolulu hosted the 2017 International Microwave Symposium last week, complementing the technical sessions with stunning views and pleasant weather. Here’s a very incomplete summary of the many product announcements that were tied to IMS, as well as a few items from beyond the islands.

Companies and Products

Ampleon launched five LDMOS power transistors for the cellular bands below 1 GHz. The devices, which are fabricated with Ampleon’s Gen9HV 50 V process, achieve more than 57 percent efficiency and 18 dB power gain with a WCDMA signal at 634 MHz. Power levels range from 30 to 600 W.

Analog Devices (ADI) added the AD9375 RF transceiver to its RadioVerse™ portfolio. The AD9375 integrates digital predistortion (DPD) on-chip, which reduces DPD power consumption by 90 percent compared to other solutions.

Custom MMIC released two, low loss, high isolation, high linearity GaAs MMIC mixers that can be used for up- and down-conversion, image rejection mixers or single sideband modulators. Available as die, the two have RF input bands covering 26 to 45 and 30 to 46 GHz, respectively.

Custom MMIC also announced it received the 4-Star Supplier Excellence Award from Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems.

Filtronic Broadband announced two E-Band transceiver modules, named “Orpheus” and “Morpheus,” that have demonstrated 10 Gbps in a 2 GHz channel using Escape Communications’ modems.

The Intelsat–OneWeb merger collapsed when Intelsat’s bondholders rejected the proposed deal. OneWeb, with investment from SoftBank, is looking for a new partner.

Keysight announced a millimeter wave network analyzer with metrology-grade accuracy to 120 GHz. Magnitude stability is less than 0.015 dB and phase accuracy is less than 0.15 degrees over a 24-hour period.

MACOM released an RF energy toolkit, designed to enable non-RF designers to quickly prototype MACOM’s GaN amplifiers for RF energy applications between 915 MHz and 2.45 GHz. The beta version of the toolkit is available to qualified customers; MACOM plans wider availability in the fall.

Microsemi expanded their wideband MMIC portfolio with four LNAs, a PA and two switches, targeting EW and test and measurement applications to 27 GHz.

National Instruments (NI) demonstrated a system for generating and measuring pre-5G waveforms, including Verizon’s 5GTF and 3GPP’s proposed new radio (NR) physical layers. NI’s system combines the 1 GHz bandwidth of the PXIe-5840 second-generation vector signal transceiver with pre-5G software for waveform modulation and demodulation.

Peregrine Semiconductor introduced a high power, 700 MHz to 6 GHz, SPDT switch for receiver protection applications. The PE42823 has a peak power handling capability of 51 dBm with an LTE signal, an input IP3 of 70 dBm, input IP2 of 105 dBm and 120 µA current drain.

Qorvo is sampling a dual-channel, 39 GHz GaN on SiC front-end module that fits within the element spacing of a phased array. The QPF4005 FEM integrates two identical, multi-function GaN MMICs, each of which contains a three-stage PA, a three-stage LNA and a SPDT T/R switch, all fabricated with Qorvo’s 0.15 µm GaN on SiC process.

Qorvo is also sampling a 2575 to 2635 MHz, high power BAW filter designed for massive MIMO systems. The filter handles 5 W average, 40 W peak and — at 5 mm x 5 mm x 1 mm — is 90 percent smaller than ceramic filters.

Qorvo introduced three +50 V GaN on SiC transistors for public safety and tactical radios. The devices provide 7 to 25 W, with 60 to 73 percent power-added efficiency over the 30 to 1200 MHz band.

Tektronix announced the 5 Series mixed signal oscilloscope, offering four, six or eight analog channels; up to 64 digital channels; 12-bit signal acquisition; a large high definition capacitive touch display and an intuitive user interface.

Yahoo stockholders approved the Verizon acquisition. After closing on June 13, the acquired business will merge with Verizon's prior AOL acquisition to form a content business named Oath. Both Verizon and AT&T are pursuing strategies to offer their own content to subscribers.

Markets and Technology

Semiconductors — IBM, GLOBALFOUNDRIES and Samsung have developed a process for stacking silicon nanosheets that, according to the companies, will enable 5 nm transistors.

Broadband — Akamai reported average U.S. internet speeds were 18.7 Mbps in Q1, up 22 percent compared to the prior year. This places the U.S. at #10, compared to #1 South Korea, with 28.6 Mbps average. Download and read the Akamai report.

For $60 per month, Google Fiber's Webpass unit is offering 1 Gbps up and down internet access to a 146 unit condo in Seattle. Webpass uses a point-to-point radio link to reach the building, then the installed Ethernet cabling to reach each condo.

Autonomous Driving — Can Grand Theft Auto teach cars how to drive autonomously? Simulations are surprisingly effective because of the volume of images they can generate, compared to real world testing. Read this IEEE Spectrum article covering research done by the University of Michigan.

Last Word — The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detected a third set of gravitational waves, again confirming Einstein’s general theory of relativity. This measurment was from a pair of black holes that collided 3 billion light-years away.

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