(1)SPIRENT COMMUNICATIONS Scalable emulator checks RF paths for multi-path fading eeProductCenter's Alex Mendelsohn says: "Spirent Communications announces a new channel emulation test solution designed to accelerate time to market for WiMAX equipment manufacturers and service providers. The Spirent SR5500 Wireless Channel Emulator is the fifth-generation channel emulation platform from Spirent's wireless division."
Readers say:
» "The industrial design of this product is very plain! (boring)"
» "Wimax uses a complex RF mesh protocol, with dynamic frequency sharing and dynamic range. Thus it requires comprehensive testing. Wimax will become a very popular technology."
» "I think tools like this are excellent to assist in the development process."
» "Doesn't say how this equipment is connected to EUT."
» "Looks like a solid product."
» "Not surprising that they didn't give you a price. Spirent is difficult to work with. They have a "take it or leave it" attitude."
» "Great user interface!"
» "Very informative, too bad they won't qive ballpark pricing."
» "It seems useful, but looks kind of bulky. I wonder if there's a handheld version?"
» "It would take some time to build confidence in this. I can see the beneifts to emulation to hardware modeling as opposed to complete software modeling. It could be a good risk reduction tool."
USABILITY RANK: 1
(2)METAGEEK USB dongle sweeps 2.4-GHz ISM band eeProductCenter's Alex Mendelsohn says: "MetaGeek, LLC has successfully created the world's smallest 2.4 GHz Spectrum Analyzer: The Wi-Spy. It sells for about 40 times less than traditional spectrum analyzers. This revolutionary device will become an excellent resource in the future of troubleshooting Wi-Fi networks."
Readers say:
» "A price and value breakthrough. Looks like a winner."
» "Cool device. Price is right!"
» "I will buy one of these devices as soon as possible."
» "Call me a geek but at sub $100 I can see myself ordering this thing just to toy around with. The only complaint I can give is no external antenna attachment for directional antennas but that certainly doesn?t take away anything from this product."
USABILITY RANK: 2
(3)CYPRESS SEMICONDUCTOR Evaluation kit supports 2.4-GHz Wireless USB SoC eeProductCenter's Alex Mendelsohn says: "Choosing an RFIC based on a vendor?s datasheets alone can be daunting. It?s preferable to get some hands-on experience before committing to a specific IC. With WUSB (Wireless USB) being so new, that?s especially true.
Although evaluation kits are a great way to rapidly bring a new RFIC to life on the bench, an eval kit can also give you a tried-and-proven operational circuit so you can decide for yourself what?s needed with respect to impedance matching, board layout, antenna types, and power-supply decoupling, to name a few.
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Readers say:
» "Good info."
» "It is very difficult to select a component based solely on the datasheet when you have never used it. This and products like it make designers' lives easier."
USABILITY RANK: 3
(4)STMICROELECTRONICS Decoder streamlines satellite set-top-box designs eeProductCenter's Janine Love says: "Free-to-air satellite applications are one of the fastest growing set-top box (STB) market segments in the world. Many designers of STBs for this market have been clamoring for complete, low-cost, turn-key receive/decode functionality. The design team at STMicroelectronics' Retail STB Business Unit, which has developed a substantial portfolio of STB devices for various markets, heard the request and developed the STI5188. "
Readers say: USABILITY RANK: 4
(5)OPTICHRON 16-bit hybrid A/D modules address digital RF, imaging, ATE eeProductCenter's Alex Mendelsohn says: "Slated primarily for designers of RF systems, fabless semiconductor supplier Optichron, Inc. is starting to sample low-distortion 100-Msample/s hybrid 16-bit A/D (analog-to-digital) converter modules. The company claims these hybrids can reduce non-linear distortion by more than 90% in pipelined data converters.
When they roll out in quantity later this year, they should be just the ticket for high-IF (intermediate frequency) radio strips, where they offer an enhanced ENOB (effective number of bits), bestowing higher data rates. These modules will also enhance your ability to include more channels in a system, and lower overall system cost.
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Readers say: USABILITY RANK: 5
(6)LINEAR TECHNOLOGY Low power double-balanced mixers work from VLF through 4-GHz eeProductCenter's Alex Mendelsohn says: "Operable from VLF into the microwave regime, new mixer ICs from Linear Technology Corp. (LTC) can be impedance-matched over a range of frequencies. They?re useful from 10-kHz to as high as 4-GHz.
LTC's LT5560 mixers accommodate 50-ohm unbalanced signal inputs, but can also be driven differentially, including mixer injection. At higher frequencies you can match these mixers using baluns or wideband input-transformers. At very low IF (intermediate frequency) frequencies, coupling transformers can be large, however, so differential to single-ended conversion can be accomplished using an op-amp.
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Readers say: USABILITY RANK: 6
(7)SIRIFIC WIRELESS Single-chip HSDPA transceiver achieves receive diversity eeProductCenter's Janine Love says: "The team at Sirific Wireless Limited takes pride in being first, and with the release of its SW3210 single-chip CMOS HEDGE RF transceiver, the company claims that it is the first in the mobile industry to release HSDPA/WEDGE transceivers with multi-band receive diversity. "
Readers say:
» "Very significant achievement. Qualcomm must be jealous! 2.3x faster data rate too. What's the power consumption???"
USABILITY RANK: 8
(8)APPLIED WAVE RESEARCH Software kit abets UHF/microwave SiGe RFIC design eeProductCenter's Alex Mendelsohn says: "If your enterprise rolls its own RFICs (radio-frequency integrated circuits), you'll be interested in this announcement from a State-side EDA (electronics design automation) vendor and a European silicon provider. California-based Applied Wave Research, Inc. (AWR) and Germany-based Innovations for High Performance Microelectronics (IHP) jointly announce the availability of IHP's high-performance specialty SiGe (silicon-germanium) process for AWR's Analog Office 2006 design suite.
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Readers say: USABILITY RANK: 10
(9)TZERO TECHNOLOGIES UWB RF silicon to deliver broadcast-quality video eeProductCenter's Alex Mendelsohn says: "IC supplier Tzero Technologies is readying what it says will be the industry's first ICs that can support near-flawless broadcast-quality video over wireless networks. Tzero's TZ110 and TZ7210 CMOS chips, to be delivered as a WiMedia Alliance-compliant UWB (ultra wideband) chipset, are slated to ship in July.
Tzero says its UWB devices will let consumer electronics manufacturers provide wireless network products for connecting home entertainment systems, computers, and other CE (consumer electronics) devices within a home or office. Tzero claims its TZ110/TZ7210 chipset will provide non-line-of-sight operation, which lets video devices communicate through walls to extend across multiple rooms.
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Readers say: USABILITY RANK: 7
(10)ANALOG DEVICES;PORTERNOVELLI.COM Dual-channel logarithmic detector IC to measure and control RF signals eeProductCenter's Alex Mendelsohn says: "Chip maker Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) is pre-announcing availability of a RFIC (radio frequency IC) that comprises a dual detector/controller.
When it debuts in quantity later this year, the 6-stage demodulating device will be able to be used to closely measure and control gain across a transmitter and receiver signal path, letting it serve in AGC circuits, power-level control circuits, and even to measure forward and reverse VSWR (voltage standing wave ratio). The diagram here shows it throttling an RF power amplifier stage.
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