eeProductCenter Ultimate Products 5.2

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)
SEQUANS
Mobile WiMAX device integrates baseband, RF and memory
eeProductCenter's Ismini Scouras says: "WiMAX chipmaker SEQUANS Communications announced availability of its newest chip, the SQN1170, which integrates baseband, RF, and memory in a single device. Sequans also announced that system-in-package module maker Mitsumi is the first to use the chip to develop an SDIO module consisting of full Mobile WiMAX system functionality. The SDIO module offers manufacturers a flexible product to quickly build high performance, low power-consuming Mobile WiMAX end user devices. The SDIO module is the first of several modules Mitsumi is developing based on Sequans' SQN1170."

Readers say:
"More integration means fewer points of error/failures. Less components, less board space, reduced cost. All positive aspects."

"Nice module. When talking about combination of WiFi/WiMAX, how about BT? If this is single chip solution for three that will be great! Cost and power might be concern."

"Great step toward wimax mobile station"

"It appears to be a very good product and compact and efficient/easy to consolidate parts."

USABILITY RANK: 1

(2)
U-BLOX
GPS module with precision timing delivers high accuracy, tracking sensitivity
eeProductCenter's Gina Roos says: "u-blox has unveiled the LEA-5T precision timing GPS module capable of a (compensated) time pulse accuracy of up to 15 ns at CTIA in Las Vegas, Nevada. The high-performance module requires only one satellite to operate, targeting telecom network synchronization such as UMTS, CDMA or the Chinese TD-CDMA, as well as for applications that need time-accurate data communication between geographically dispersed systems and devices such as NTP servers."

Readers say:
"It is nice to see a GPS module that only requires acquiring one satellite to translate time."

"Nice that it can use one satellite but it has to be stationary or compensated for movement. What if that one satellite signal path itself is compromised?"

USABILITY RANK: 3

(3)
GCT SEMICONDUCTOR
RF chip provides WiMAX, WiFi connectivity
eeProductCenter's Ismini Scouras says: "GCT Semiconductor has launched what it claims is the market's first single chip that supports Mobile WiMAX IEEE 802.16e WAVE 2 and WiFi 802.11 b/g. The single-chip GDM7215 integrates mobile WiMAX RF/MAC/PHY and WiFi RF/MAC/PHY on a monolithic die. It supports multimode wireless connectivity with its on-chip RF transceivers, allowing seamless broadband and local wireless roaming. Based on GCT's CMOS RF technology, the GDM7215 integrates WiMAX and WiFi radios, a high performance ARM9 RISC processor along with a 32-bit uniscalar DSP, and a full range of advanced interfaces for network, storage, and audio/visual device applications."

Readers say:
"Allows multi standard connections and WiMax. 802.11 b/g/n would have been better."

USABILITY RANK: 6

(4)
MICROCHIP
Microchip launches FCC-certified RF transceiver module
eeProductCenter's Gina Roos says: "Microchip Technology Inc. has introduced the MRF24J40MA FCC-certified radio-frequency (RF) transceiver module. This module services the 2.4-GHz unlicensed industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) short-range wireless frequency band for the IEEE 802.15.4 specification for ZigBee or proprietary wireless-protocol systems."

Readers say:
"Stack is important,total system cost important!!"

USABILITY RANK: 2

(5)
SIGE
SiGe rolls out smallest GPS receiver
eeProductCenter's Ismini Scouras says: "SiGe Semiconductor Inc. has released the SE4150L GPS radio receiver featuring dual-antenna input capability for next-generation GPS systems. SiGe Semiconductor designed the SE4150L to address the three primary challenges associated with embedded GPS applications: small size, low power, and low price, all while raising the bar for performance."

Readers say:
"Late to market. Market is saturated. Price is too high. Performance average."

USABILITY RANK: 5

(6)
CSR
Bluetooth wireless chip integrates four radio functions
eeProductCenter's Rich Pell says: "Wireless chip maker CSR has announced a single-chip solution combining Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR, Bluetooth low energy, eGPS (enhanced Global Positioning System) and FM transmit and receive capabilities. The device - called BlueCore7 - is claimed to significantly reduce the power, size, cost and complexity of adding multiple radios into a mobile phone."

Readers say:
"WOW ! a lot of functionality in one solution."

USABILITY RANK: 4

(7)
BECEEM COMMUNICATIONS
Beceem rolls out 65-nm Mobile WiMAX chip
eeProductCenter's Ismini Scouras says: "Beceem Communications has developed a 65-nm WiMAX Wave 2 device, the BCSM250, that it says is the first to combine a Wave 2 baseband, dual-band radio, memory and power management in a single chip."

Readers say:
"Functional block that may or may not need additional RF circuitry."

USABILITY RANK: 7

(8)
NEXTWAVE
NextWave's WiMAX chip set integrates Wi-Fi and multicast receive capability
eeProductCenter's Jack Shandle says: "NextWave Wireless' second-generation WiMAX chip set has been optimized for bandwidth-intensive mobile multimedia applications, including streaming video, video conferencing, and VoIP. It also integrates a complete Wi-Fi solution."

Readers say:
"Niche market."

USABILITY RANK: 9

(9)
NUWAVES ENGINEERING
Small wideband RF tuner delivers versatility, flexibility
eeProductCenter's Ismini Scouras says: "The RF200-2500TUNV1 is the first in a family from NuWaves Engineering of wideband, RF tuners (HiPerTUNER) that is designed for both receiver and transmitter filter applications. The RF200-2500TUNV1 can be used as a premier pre-selector in a receiver or as a post filtering in the transmit-driver. The RF200-2500TUNV1 model covers an industry first wide frequency range of 200 MHz to 2500 MHz with multiple cascaded tunable varactor tuned filters to achieve superior out-of-band frequency rejection."

Readers say:
"Other competitors exist, varactor tuning is flexible but tied to analog dynamic range & BW issues."

USABILITY RANK: 10

(10)
MAXIM
RF transceiver targets WiMAX
eeProductCenter's RF Designline says: "Maxim Integrated Products has introduced the MAX2839, reporting that it is the industry's first single-chip, 2.3GHz to 2.7GHz, WiMAX MIMO RF transceiver in high-volume production. This device uses a dual-receiver architecture to mitigate RF channel fading. The company boasts that this increases the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) by as much as 10dB compared to a single-receiver architecture."

Readers say:
"Maxim is a GOOD company and innovative at a decent price-point."

USABILITY RANK: 8

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