Analog Boards / Buses DSP Electromechanical Embedded Tools Interconnects Microprocessors Memory Logic and Interfaces Passives / Sensors PLDs / FPGAs Power Components Power Sources RF / Microwave Test / Measurement

Product Shopper New Product Info

(1)
XCEIVE CORP.
TV receiver combines tuning, analog demodulation in small package

eeProductCenter's Ismini Scouras says: "Xceive Corp. is sampling the XC4000 series of integrated hybrid silicon tuners for the terrestrial television and PC-TV market. The XC4000 is a single-chip hybrid analog and digital TV tuner combining both tuning and analog demodulation functions in an ultra-small 7mm x 7mm, 48-pin QFN package. "

Readers Say:
"What is the price?"
"Xceive has good product reputation."
"This device with its small circuit footprint is a natural for use in future cell phone technology especially when paired with Orp 802.11 implementation"
"Remarkable"
"With FCC mandated phasing out of analog TV, will these products have an adequate market window? Are they compatible or significant in the digital environment?"
"Analogue TV is being discontinued in the UK, so very limited product lifetime."
"TV in mobile phone or watch seems to be realistic with this IC."
"How much is it?"
"Will this not become obsolete in the USA when the move to digital high-definition television is made?"
"Starting in 2008 ATSC will completely replace NTSC, so the NTSC market will be null after that. Competition will play on ATSC tuner "add on" to help good error correction. I do not see XC4000 survive that competition without any extras!!"
"The scan rate is impressive. However, analog tuning is not a consideration for new products."
"It will make multiple PIP a standard feature"
"Lots of functionality on a little chip!"
"Quite an achievement"
"Cost would be the deterministic factor"
"This is neat."
"Your info sounds good but the proof is in the pudding."

USABILITY RANK: 1

(2)
ZARLINK
Body Area Network gets under your skin

eeProductCenter's Alex Mendelsohn says: "Some implantable medical devices, such as pacemakers, neuro-stimulators, drug pumps, and monitors, rely on wireless links to provide two-way communications between the device and doctors. These devices arguably improve patient care and sometimes lower healthcare costs, but their designers often have to sacrifice performance because of limited battery life."

Readers Say:
"Exciting new technology"
"More wireless solutions - this time in the medical field. Interesting product."
"Fascinating device; I want to play with one."
"Why is the operating frequency set to 402-405MHz?"
"Evolutionary approach"

USABILITY RANK: 3

(3)
TRIMBLE NAVIGATION
GPS module is low-power drop-in for mobile devices

eeProductCenter's Gina Roos says: "Trimble Navigation has introduced new firmware that adds Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) and European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) capability to its ultra-thin Copernicus global positioning system (GPS) receiver. The firmware allows users to take advantage of satellite-based augmentation systems for improved positioning accuracy."

Readers Say:
"Very good"
"I recommend to introduce this device to traffic police. Ideal for automatic tracking of cars or criminals' movements."
"great"
"It is not clear what is the precision, and signal (absolute time) acquisition delay. It is also unclear if it captures the new standard signal. The low power and size look promising."

USABILITY RANK: 2

(4)
SST COMMUNICATIONS
Wireless audio solution enables high-fidelity, pop-free sound

eeProductCenter's Gina Roos says: "SST Communications, a subsidiary of SST (Silicon Storage Technology, Inc.), has launched its MelodyWing SP advanced wireless audio solution, which offers uncompressed, wire-equivalent sound quality for home theater surround sound and multi-room audio broadcasting found in many home entertainment applications including HDTVs, home theaters, set-top-boxes, headsets, game consoles, home gateways, multimedia PCs and audio streaming."

Readers Say:
"Good"
"As part of new world of wireless media systems for home (and other such as PA systems?), this is interesting piece."
"Awesome"
"Looks very interesting for a number of applications."
"Very good performance, seems tough competition."

USABILITY RANK: 4

(5)
AVAGO TECHNOLOGIES
Antenna-routing hybrid endows cellular--plus-PCS handsets with GPS

eeProductCenter's Alex Mendelsohn says: "Avago Technologies's so-called quintplexer module is based on LC matching networks to impedance-match the company's FBAR (film bulk acoustic resonator) duplexers with an FBAR-based GPS (Global Positioning System) filter. The resulting magic is that your design's single antenna can now feed, and be fed from, five ports."

Readers Say:
"Good"
"I need GPS and VHF (150-170MHZ) operation...."
"Top of the line"

USABILITY RANK: 10

(6)
ONE RF TECHNOLOGY
ZigBee module features TI SoC

eeProductCenter's Gina Roos says: "One RF Technology has introduced a System-on-Chip (SoC) based ZigBee solution for building automation and wireless sensor networks applications. The miniature ZigBee module, dubbed uTiny, is based on the Texas Instruments CC2430 SoC."

Readers Say:
"Availability of these single chip, highly integrated ZigBee solutions is critical to developing low cost ZigBee ports."
"The best product so far."

USABILITY RANK: 6

(7)
MARVELL
Chip integrates Bluetooth baseband, RF transceiver and FM receiver

eeProductCenter's Gina Rooshttp://www.targetgroups.net/survey/up_edit_content.php says: "Marvell has introduced the 88W8689 Bluetooth single-chip solution that features a Bluetooth Core Specification Version 2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate (EDR)-compliant baseband, a radio frequency (RF) transceiver, and a worldwide FM radio receiver."

Readers Say:
"Good stuff"
"I am interested in working with this chip to see what I can do with it."

USABILITY RANK: 5

(8)
RF ARRAYS
Tiny package packs 2.4-GHz RF deck

eeProductCenter's Alex Mendelsohn says: "RF Arrays, Inc. announces the world's smallest front end solution for Wi-Fi systems. The RWF111 delivers industry-leading performance for both Power and Low Noise Amplifier and antenna switch in a 3x3 mm package and an external component count of just 2 bi-pass capacitors."

Readers Say:
"Very reasonable advanced approach"

USABILITY RANK: 8

(9)
MERCURY COMPUTER SYSTEMS
VME multi-board RF tuner part of distributed COMINT/ELINT

eeProductCenter's Alex Mendelsohn says: "Mercury Computer Systems's Echotek Series RF 1800GT tuner is a wideband microwave receiver, equipped with DDS (direct digital synthesis) frequency generation. Its two VME modules comprise a down-converter that's tunable from 0.5-GHz out to 18-GHz range, developing simultaneous analog outputs. The modules should fulfill a range of military receiver applications. The 1800GT is priced starting at about $92,000."

Readers Say:
"Great"
"Probably uses a DDS and a Comb generator to generate the LO for the downconverters. DDS is great technology, but I sort of prefer the good ol' days, when we could just build a colpitts oscillator + varactor and tune it using a DAC, or something like that. I mean, wasn't that REAL engineering? These days, people are just taking a bunch of COTS parts and stitching together app-note circuits, without using any originality or ingenuity. I'm not saying that this tuner module has been built without ingenuity... on the contrary. But, I just have to think back to my days at NASA, when slide-rulers were all we had, and we built the best down-converter LO's in the world... and put them on the Saturn-5. They worked great! We didn't need any of this DDS-stuff to get pure sine waves, or fast channel changing. And back then, we didn't use these SAW-filters to attenuate harmonics... no, we built our filters using laplace transforms, and inductors and capacitors. We didn't use any of this DSP-stuff either. We didn't need it. Hey, people! Know what I'm sayin'??"
"Very smooth transition to upper frequency band for state of the art system. Lacks companion up converter."

USABILITY RANK: 8

(10)
MAXIM
Zero-IF TV tuner eliminates SAW filters

eeProductCenter's Gina Roos says: " Maxim Integrated Products has introduced a fully integrated, zero-IF (ZIF), direct-conversion TV tuner for digital video broadcasting-terrestrial (DVB-T) applications including TVs, set-top boxes and automotive TV. By using unique ZIF architecture and integrating an RF tracking filter, the MAX3580 tuner eliminates the need for external discrete filtering components and a SAW filter required by older, IF-based tuners."

Readers Say:
"Love it"
"I worked with zero-IF SSB and CW radios years ago; the concept for television seems very interesting, but will this not be obsoleted in the USA with the move to digital high-definition television?"
"Important for follow up."

USABILITY RANK: 7

In case you were wondering, here's how Ultimate Products works: Our editors select up to 10 of the most significant products posted at www.eeProductCenter.com during the calendar quarter. Then, using an electronic balloting process, we submit the products with the accompanying editorial reviews to selected, qualified readers. Those readers score the products by technical significance and
USABILITY on a scale of 1 through 5, with 5 being the highest score. The product ranked No. 1 in each category was judged as most technically significant for that category. Relative
USABILITY rankings and selected reader comments are also reported. More than 1,000 of you helped to choose these products. As always, we are grateful for your enthusiastic participation.

Patrick Mannion
Editor-in-Chief, Techonline Network and eeProductcenter.com
pmannion@cmp.com