(1) ZARLINK SEMICONDUCTOR New tuner improves reception of Free-to-Air satellite signals and simplifies set top box design eeProductCenter's Janine Love says: "Many world markets offer Free-to-Air satellite signals, and, until now, set top box manufacturers have been challenged to find a low-cost, good-quality receiver IC to satisfy customers and engineering budgets." Readers say: » "With the many satellite companies giving away set top boxes when sub to DirectV or DishNet, FTA is currently not mainstream to the best of my opinion."
» "Just starting to use...wait"
» "Does it have Muti appication, TV and Radio?"
» "Designers of PayTV satellite, thnk about ..., designers can drop the receiver right on the motherboard."
» "There are some limited programs I am aware of that I may be able to recommend this device for."
» "This is a very good product to build DTV or set-top box. I like to read over the datasheet and get the chip solution."
» "This product offers the ability to make a significant cost impact on the product."
» "It would be interesting to understand whether this device is compliant with the standards in the emerging FTA markets. No discussion of target markets, standards, etc.. in the press release."
USABILITY RANK: 3
(2) ANADIGICS North American handsets get a boost from dual-band PA module eeProductCenter's Janine Love says: "The AWT6310 product family was a natural evolution for the design team at Anadigics, and was based on technologies developed for their single-band 3x3 mm PA modules that were already in production. The driver behind the development of this product is that RF design teams are struggling as their available board real estate shrinks to make way for adding multimedia functionality to wireless phones." Readers say: » "Well developed solution, works on applications that require European Union's Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) products."
» "As DecisionOne Corporation continues to pursue additional businnes in 2006 we acquire new product repair and to component level which this should support those requirements. We would indeed be interested in the use of this type of product."
» "Application based."
» "Looks and reads like a very powerful product."
» "I'm a little fuzzy regarding the future of GaAs. I keep hearing that RF CMOS and SiGe will take over this space with improved integration.. I guess we'll see."
USABILITY RANK: 2
(3) ANALOG DEVICES Tuning gets easier with industry's first multi-channel direct digital synthesizer eeProductCenter's Janine Love says: "As compared to its analog counterpart, phase locked loop (PLL) frequency synthesis, DDS is popular for high-performance applications because, with acquisition/settling times of less than 5 ns, it appears to work instantaneously. The team at ADI believes its products are unique because they are the only multi-channel DDS on the market, and they have developed filtering methods to address many of the spurious performance issues that plagued DDS products in the past." Readers say: » "I could use multiple channel synchronized outputs. I also like
the phase and frequency resolution."
» "In the line of multiple synchronized output channels and its exceeds the design team's target of 60 dB, wich is very useful for this applications."
» "Excellent product worth getting designed in!"
» "This device looks extremely useful. I see several test/instrument applications that would benefit from this product."
» "Good product for second designs."
USABILITY RANK: 4
(4) LINEAR TECHNOLOGY Log detector helps pick up the weakest signals eeProductCenter's Janine Love says: "Better than 80-dB dynamic range. Operational from below 10MHz to 1000MHz. Typical temperature coefficient of 0.01 dB/deg C at 200MHz. These are the kind of specs that basestation receiver designers are looking for, and these are the specs that the LT5537 RF/IF log detector from Linear Technology delivers." Readers say: » "Great product. It has come a long way since the 80's. This product do not fit into our application here at Dade."
» "I like the DR, but only 1 GHz???"
» "I could see using this product in future generations of my application."
» "Great dynamic range." USABILITY RANK: 1
(5) MAXIM INTEGRATED PRODUCTS New basestation mixer offers unique features to improve signal handling and streamline design. eeProductCenter's Janine Love says: "Cost. Noise. Component count. Across the entire communications industry, these are major drivers. The wireless basestation market is no exception, and as designers work to accommodate different standards, such as GSM, cdma2000, and WCDMA, they can benefit from the latest SiGe mixer from Maxim, the MAX2031, which is in available now in production quantities and offers low noise, which is in part due to the performance of its on-chip LO buffer, and exceptional linearity." Readers say: » "Excellent."
» "Would like to view actual field results but if performs as says it does, it could be a winner."
» "Please provide a simulation model for ADs."
» "Maxim has extreme lead-time problems for new products."
USABILITY RANK: 7
(6) NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR Log Amp power detectors shrink to 1.0 square mm eeProductCenter's Janine Love says: "For handset designers on the look out for power detectors, there are some major areas of concern: temperature stability, dynamic range, waveform response, power consumption, and size. With its new line of LMV225/226/228 log amp RF power detectors and the LMV232 mean-square RF detector, National Semiconductor has skillfully looked over the list and hit or exceeded all of its design target specs." Readers say: » "Very useful in some customer upcoming designs." USABILITY RANK: 6
(7) TEXAS INSTRUMENTS Do you want to simplify your transmit chain design? eeProductCenter's Janine Love says: "Sometimes it is hard to believe it is possible, but wireless system designers are becoming even more pressed for time. For years, the norm has been shrinking design cycles that were made possible by more integrated devices, better modeling tools, and hard-earned RF expertise. Now, TI has found a way to streamline the process even more for its customers, allowing them to evaluate a transmit signal chain rather than its individual parts. The TSW3000 demo platform combines some of TI's most popular high-speed parts to form an entire digital to RF transmit solution, optimized for use in wireless base band infrastructure." Readers say: » "Excellent."
» "Very complete offering. Very valuable to those in the market."
» "Being able to evaluate a whole platform is an excellent idea."
» "I would definitely reccommend this to the RF engineers." USABILITY RANK: 5
(8) PEREGRINE SEMICONDUCTOR Peregrine Semiconductor delivers "world's most linear, high-power RF switches" for 3G phones eeProductCenter's Janine Love says: "Peregrine Semiconductor Corporation showed the next generation of its world-class UltraCMOSý process technology at the European Microwave Conference in Paris, France. Peregrineýs HaRPý technology enhancements enable dramatic improvements in harmonic results, linearity and overall RF performance, which are the key specifications required by the 3GPP standards body for GSM/WCDMA applications." Readers say: » "Needs to be offered as packaged part as well." USABILITY RANK: 8
(9) CIRRONET Transceivers boost signal range and base station capabilities eeProductCenter's Janine Love says: "Cutting costs and boosting range are two attractive benefits for transceivers used in wireless networking systems. Cirronet has designed its latest transceiver products to do exactly that for both 900-MHz and 2.4-GHz applications. Featuring "store and forward" capability, these transceivers can also be used in lieu of repeaters in star network topologies with long-range needs or in those with many natural or architectural obstructions." Readers say: » "Excellent."
» "Product has limited market."
USABILITY RANK: 9
(10) SST COMMUNICATIONS PA pumps out power for WLANs eeProductCenter's Janine Love says: "As WLANs continue to pop up all over our lives, designers continue to look for ways to boost range, boost data rates, and still not devour the battery in our notebook computers. The team at SST Communications has developed such a product with the SST13LP02, which is optimized for high linear output power (conservatively specified at +20dBm for 802.11b, +18dBm for 802.11g and +18dBm for 802.11a applications) to serve 802.11 a/b/g systems." Readers say: » "Well optimized invention for high output power performance."
USABILITY RANK: 10
