JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2019

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RF - Microwave www.mwee.com

5G deployment brings
OTA testing into focus

The European journal for the microwave and wireless design engineer
 Contents

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 Comment

LoRaWAN ‘sees’ growth of over 60 percent in 2018

covering nearly 100 countries
Experiencing massive growth of over 60
percent in 2018, the LoRaWAN protocol
for IoT LPWANs now reaches close
to 100 countries with both public and
private network deployments passing the
100 networks milestone.
According to Donna Moore, CEO
and Chairwoman of the LoRa Alliance,
the phenomenal growth in LoraWAN
deployments of over 60 percent in 2018
underscores how rapidly the technology
is being adopted, especially when one
considers that the LoRa Alliance is only
just over 3 years old.
Based on a chirp modulation
spectrum, LoRaWAN delivers the lowest
power network versus distance making it
ideal for most IoT devices that are either
low-bandwidth or transmit infrequently,
and especially those that rely on battery
power or energy harvesting.
LoRaWAN networks are being
actively deployed globally, with the Asia-
Pacific and European regions showing
the most growth, at 30% and 50%,
respectively, throughout 2018. Regional
specifications are established in all key
regions with additional regions being
added continuously. The total operator
investment in LoRaWAN is significant on
a global basis, offering compelling proof
that network operators are making a
long-term commitment to the LoRaWAN
standard and supporting the market
demand for IoT applications.
Donna Moore explains why LoRaWAN
is the best choice, “Only LoRaWAN has
strong, established networks with broad
coverage areas, while also offering the
private network option. For companies
looking to launch IoT products and
solutions today, the LoRaWAN standard
is the only viable solution. Features like
firmware updates over the air and the fact
that LoRaWAN is an open specification
with a robust certification program ensure
network and device interoperability.
These benefits give confidence to the
market that companies are future-proofed
and can deploy solutions today with
assurance they will work in the future.”
The adoption of LoRaWAN is driven
by a variety of factors, including support
for private network capability, a key factor
driving growth, especially for industrial
installations where companies want
to have full control over their network,
access and data. In addition, the ability
to provide firmware updates over the air
(FUOTA) is a key differentiator and critical
for future-proofing today’s deployments.
The LoRa Alliance™ ecosystem is
based on an open standard protocol
that future-proofs the technology – and
supports a collaborative input to develop
the standard. This open-standard also
delivers a wide choice and high degree
of flexibility when developing systems as
users can leverage the best technology
for their specific products.
The utility and reach of LoRaWAN is
summed up in the following quotes, one
form a growing economy and the other
from a developed economy.
“LoRaWAN has seen tremendous
interest and growth in India in the past
year. In that market alone we already
provide network coverage in 30 cities to
support IoT applications such as smart
metering, smart parking, and smart waste
management solutions and see no signs
of this slowing as we enter 2019,” states
Ali Hosseini, Founder & CEO, SenRa.
“Building a powerful IoT ecosystem
that aided in the acceleration of IoT
enabled innovation is paramount for
Swisscom,” says Julian Dömer, Head
of IoT, Swisscom. “As a result we were
among the first operators to roll out
LoRaWAN nationwide in 2016. Today,
the Swisscom LoRaWAN network covers
96.6 Percent of the Swiss population.”
Looking forward, the LoRaWAN
Alliance will be targeting specific
verticals including logistics, Utilities,
Smart Cities, Smart Buildings, Smart
Homes, Smart Ag, Industrial IoT to
show the value of LoRaWAN in key
applications.
In terms of certification the focus
in the near future will be on adding RF
testing as well as battery life as part of
mandatory certification; developing pre-
testing options to accelerate certification
and make it easier and more feasible
to have devices tested, and releasing
certified reference stacks for developers
to accelerate designs.
The LoRaWAN Alliance going forward
will continue to expand roaming, tracking
and FUOTA capabilities; create and
release a LoRaWAN™ QR code format
for device personalization; and continue
to add regional parameters initially
targeting Middle East and Africa.
Public operators and private
companies or individuals interested in
deploying a LoRaWAN network can apply
for a NetID from the LoRa Alliance, which
can be assigned up to six months prior
to joining the LoRa Alliance. Companies
interested in learning more or requesting
a NetID allocation should contact admin@
mail.lora-alliance.org.
– Jean-Pierre Joosting, Editor MWEE

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 COVER STORY
5G Deployment Brings OTA Testing into Focus
By Benoît Derat, Corbett Rowell and Adam Tankielun, Rohde & Schwarz
I
ncreased capacity in 5G mobile com-
munication requires rolling out mas-
sive MIMO base stations along with
network and mobile terminals imple-
menting both sub 6 GHz and millimeter-
wave technologies. The requirement for
dynamic beamforming and the absence
of RF test ports on devices mean that
performance evaluation entails system-
level characterization.
5G new radio (NR) communication
systems will increase the capacity of
mobile radio networks using frequency
bands in the sub 6 GHz frequency
region, called frequency range 1 (FR1)
by 3GPP, or in the millimeter wave range
(FR2). In order to offer more bandwidth
at lower operational expense, new
technological approaches have been
selected by the industry and 3GPP.
In the FR1 range, the main innova-
tion effort is focused on the base station
(BS) side with the enabling of Massive
MIMO techniques. In particular, 5G
multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) moves the
complexity from the UE to the BS by
using a pre-coding matrix where each
data stream is received independently
by separate receivers. Beamforming
is required to reduce interference to
adjacent users in a MU-MIMO scheme,
using antenna arrays of 64 to 512 ele-
ments. As well as increasing capacity,
beamforming reduces the energy con-
sumption and hence the overall network
costs of operation.
In the FR2 range, transmission sys-
tems use large available bandwidths at
frequencies around 28 and 39 GHz. That
leads to more than 60 dB path loss in
1 m distance and large electromagnetic
field absorption in nearby objects. At-
tenuation is mitigated through antenna
arrays and beam-steering, increasing
pattern directivity on both mobile de-
vices and network sides.
PERFORMANCE METRICS
OVER THE AIR
Transceiver and antenna performance
metrics must be measured over the air
(OTA). Metrics include antenna param-
eters of radiated and received power
using CW and modulated signals (EIRP,
TRP, EIS, TIS) in addition to transceiver
specific metrics (EVM, ACLR, SEM).
Antenna characteristics are usually
measured in the far-field (FF), but large
6 MW January - February 2019
Figure 1: CATR set-up illustration with a roll-edged reflector collimating a
spherical wavefront into a planar wavefront (fields computed with a model of the
actual setup implemented in CST MWS at 28 GHz).
OTA anechoic chambers are needed
for FF measurement at such distances,
which brings high initial outlay and cost-
of-ownership. Fortunately, techniques
based on software or hardware near-
field to far-field (NFFF) transformations
are possible.
NEAR-FIELD SOFTWARE
TRANSFORMATIONS
Mathematical implementations of NFFF
require assessing two or more polariza-
tion components of the electromagnetic
field (E, H or a mix of both) in magnitude
and phase over a surface encompass-
ing the DUT. Commercial systems scan
over a sphere around the DUT, for
example using a conical-cut positioner
with the DUT mounted on a turntable
rotating in azimuth. A dual-polarized
Vivaldi antenna is mounted at the tip of
a boom rotating in elevation and an RF
test port at the DUT provides the phase
reference. The test port connects to one
port of a vector network analyzer (VNA)
whilst measurement antenna ports con-
nect to two other terminals of the VNA,
then allowing measurements of complex
S-parameters which relate to magnitude
and phase of two components of the
electric field.
Measurement data is processed
using functions to propagate the fields
towards larger distances and extract far
field radiation components. Near-field
transformations are typically based on
underlying assumptions applying to
“passive or RF-fed antenna testing”,
so further hardware and processing
are needed where the DUT transmits a
modulated signal with no access to the
antenna feed port (Tx mode). Examples
include interferometric techniques or
multi-port phase coherent receivers, to-
gether with a dedicated phase reference
antenna. Alternative approaches fall
in the category of phaseless methods
when the phase information is retrieved
from magnitude-only measurements.
The Rx mode is more complex. OTA
solutions with near-field software trans-
formation do not allow fast and reliable
EIS (effective isotropic sensitivity) evalu-
ation. However, it turns out that EIRP
(effective isotropic radiated power) can
be evaluated accurately in the near-field
using software NFFF.
RADIO TRANSCEIVER
PERFORMANCE
OTA evaluation of radio transceiver
performance includes EVM (error vector
magnitude), ACLR (Adjacent Chan-
nel Leakage Ratio) or SEM (spectrum
emission mask). Obtaining good results
depends on the SNR at the spectrum
analyzer in Tx mode or the DUT in Rx
mode. The impact of SNR can be over-
come by first assessing the complete
3-D Tx or Rx pattern to determine the
peak direction, allowing demodulation
and other measurements to then be
conducted at this specific location. The
question remains whether results are
reliable and reflect the results obtained
in the FF. In the case of a single trans-
ceiver, the NF EVM must be the same as
the FF EVM if the SNR is over a cer-
www.mwee.com
 COVER STORY

tain threshold: say, better than 20 dB.

For multiple independent transceivers
operating simultaneously, the NF EVM
may not be straightforwardly related to
the FF EVM because the noise figure
depends on position in the near field.
Different testing methods enable OTA
assessment in the NF without applying
a software transformation. A hardware-
based approach - “indirect FF” - aims to
physically create far-field conditions in a
specified QZ region within a short range.

COMPACT ANTENNA TEST RANGES

Indirect FF is embodied in the compact
antenna test range (CATR) as well as
in planar wave synthesis. CATR uses a
parabolic mirror to transform a spherical
wave into a planar wave focused ide-
ally in a single direction. Here, reliable
measurements depend on optimiz-
ing the mirror geometry. Edge treat-
ment and surface roughness affect the
frequency range over which quiet zone
of acceptable quality can be achieved.
Techniques such as using serrated or
rolled edges will help to mitigate edge
effects by scattering the energy away
from the quiet zone. The size and shape
of the serrated/rolled edges determines
the lowest operating frequency, whilst
surface roughness determines the upper
frequency. (see figure 1)
Feed antenna pattern characteristics
have a direct impact on the size of the
QZ as the mirror, figuratively speak-
ing, projects the radiation pattern of
the feed antenna onto the QZ. QZ size
depends on the reflector characteristics
rather than range length, so it is much
easier to create a large QZ inside small
enclosures. This is important for testing
UE or BS operating in 5G NR FR2 as it
significantly decreases the size of the
test environment. In addition, CATR
shares many of the advantages of FF
systems in terms of instantaneity of
measurement and direct measurements
of RF transceiver metrics. Dynamic
range is also improved over the direct
FF approach.
PLANE-WAVE SYNTHESIS USING
PHASED ARRAY
Whilst 5G NR FR2 DUT size require-
ments in millimeter-wave allow for
smaller and lighter (20-40kg) reflectors,
in the sub-6-GHz 5G FR1 range reflec-
tor weight significantly increases – up to
hundreds of kilograms for base-station
sized DUTs. Cost, fabrication time, and
handling of large heavy mirrors becomes
prohibitive. The alternative is to use “an
electronic version” of the CATR mirror,
Figure 2: R&S PWC200 showing the PWC antenna array and calibration array
mounted on a great-circle cut positioner.
combining the radiation of multiple an- either be connected to a signal gen-
tennas assembled in a phased antenna erator, a spectrum analyzer, or a VNA,
array. Fed with predetermined signal enabling measurement of devices with
magnitude and phase, a plane-wave or without RF test ports.
condition is created within a defined QZ. The conclusion for OTA testing of
Consider a plane-wave converting 5G devices is that solutions employing
(PWC) system comprising an array of software and hardware near-field trans-
156 wideband Vivaldi antennas and a formations are up to the challenge of
beamforming network of phase shift- assessing user equipment and base sta-
ers and attenuators at the back. This tions at minimum cost. Methods utilizing
PWC array is 1.8 m wide and creates a hardware field transformations such as
spherical QZ of 1 m diameter at a dis- CATR and PWC overcome the limita-
tance as short as 1.5 m in between 2.3 tions of software NFFF. When Rx or de-
and 3.8 GHz (see figure 2). The calibra- modulation is involved with a DUT and
tion antenna is the DUT, mounted on a multiple non-identical RF transceivers,
combined-axis positioner to enable full they also provide compact and reliable
spherical measurement. It is used for alternatives to direct far-field measure-
evaluating the appropriate compensa- ments. Meanwhile, near-field techniques
tions of individual RF channels as well employing software transformations are
as determining path loss of the entire suitable for the evaluation of EIRP and
test system. The PWC is reciprocal and TRP quantities.
has single RF input/output, which can
Massive MIMO
Eight things to consider
when testing antenna arrays
What exactly is massive MIMO and how important are
active antenna arrays for 5G base stations? Rohde
& Schwarz has created a new eGuide that gives RF
engineers an overview of key aspects of massive MIMO
technology and related testing challenges. Download the
eGuide to learn more:
www.rohde-schwarz.com/ad/5G_MWEE

www.mwee.com January - February 2019 MW 7

 News
Raman spectrometer targets
smartphones, handheld test
Imec in Belgium has developed a chip-
level system for Raman spectroscopy
that can be used to create
handheld testers or even
integrated into a smart-
phone. Raman spectros-
copy is a powerful tech-
nique, most often used to
determine chemical and
material composition with
applications in the medical, food and
even space industries.
Existing devices are bulky tabletop
systems and costing several hundred
thousand euros. Handheld solutions
exist, but for the moment fail to reach
the desired performance for high-end ap-
plications, largely because of the limited
scaling capacity of conventional disper-
sive Raman spectrometry whereby scat-
tered light is focused on a slit. Maintaining
a high spectral resolution under 1nm
requires reducing the size of the slit which
immediately limits the optical throughput.
The patented technique developed at
imec in the EU-funded IoSense pro-
VTT and ESA to develop
nonterrestrial 5G networks
VTT and the European Space Agency
(ESA) have agreed on a strategic part-
nership to develop 5G communications
networks for the needs of the space
industry. The three-year agreement will
further deepen the long-term coopera-
tion between VTT and ESA. The strate-
gic partnership between VTT and ESA
provides support for the objectives of the
Finnish Space Strategy and responses to
its priorities.
“Integrating satellite into 5G is vital
both for the growth of the commercial
space industry and for making 5G ubiqui-
tous. Our intent is to encourage European
space and non-space industry to make
use of the live trial platforms that VTT
have developed, which are necessary to
enable and demonstrate satellite/5G inte-
gration,” says Senior Telecommunication
Systems Engineer Maria Guta from ESA.
VTT and ESA are currently examining
what would be the requirements and the
necessary technologies for the integra-
8 MW January - February 2019
gramme uses massive parallelization of
waveguide interferometers integrated
monolithically on top of
a CMOS image sen-
sor, providing both high
optical throughput and
high spectral resolution
can be reached in a
miniaturized device. The
device is built in imec’s
SiN robust biophotonics platform that is
compatible with high-volume manufac-
turing.
“With the right partners we see many
application opportunities in areas like
food analysis, melanoma detection, or
skin hydration. In the medical domain,
we see opportunities for in-line measure-
ments during surgery or endoscopy. For
space exploration, the ability to perform
material analysis with a compact system
is of tremendous value,” said Pol Van
Dorpe, principal member of the technical
staff at imec.
www.imec.be
tion of 5G satellite networks and terres-
trial networks, and the common use of
5G pioneer bands. VTT and ESA intend
to implement several projects within the
sector under the Letter of Intent over the
next three years.
“The key aspect of the projects is the
use of VTT’s extensive test networks.
This is one of the most important means
in the development of communications
systems,” explains Team Leader Marko
Höyhtyä from VTT.
The integration of satellite and terres-
trial networks would benefit the whole so-
ciety, since even many everyday services
are based on data produced by satellites.
“Satellite connectivity is needed par-
ticularly in areas where it would not be
economically feasible to build terrestrial
networks, such as sparsely populated or
distant areas, including the sea, air traffic
or frontier areas, lists Höyhtyä.
www.vtt.fi
AccelerComm funding
for 5G LPDC codecs
AccelerComm Ltd. (Southampton, Eng-
land), a startup developing forward error
correction semiconductor IP for 4G and
5G communications, has completed a
funding round worth £2.5 million (about
$3.25 million). The money will be used for
the further development and commer-
cialisation of low delay, low density parity
check (LDPC) polar and turbo channel
coding products for use in 5G New Radio
and 4G LTE networks.
AccelerComm was founded in 2016
by engineers and managers from ARM
Holdings and Vodafone, and has recently
appointed ARM veteran Tom Cronk as
executive chairman and CEO. The fund-
ing round was led by Bloc Ventures and
IP Group. The company’s polar coding
chain is already in commercial use today
in 5G New Radio products, less than
eight months after Release 15 of the
5G NR specification was concluded by
3GPP. It includes the encode-decode
engine, channel interleaving, rate match-
ing, cyclical redundancy checking (CRC)
and early termination functions.
www.accelercomm.com
Radar firm XeThru
secures Series C funding
Novelda AS (Oslo, Norway), a developer
of sensors based on CMOS ultra-wide-
band impulse radar and which trades
as XeThru, has secured US$15 million
in Series C funding. This brings the total
raised by the company to more than $39
million since it was founded in 2004.
The latest round was led by Norwegian
government backed Investinor AS and is
earmarked to further develop the XeThru
radar sensor technology and take it into
high volume applications.
XeThru is a microwave radar system
integrated on a single CMOS chip that
can act as ground-probing radar, a
sensor for human vital signs monitoring
(even through walls), robotics, automa-
tion, and personal security.
For example, operating at sub 10 GHz
frequencies, the X4 UWB radar enables
sensors to see through obstacles and
detect even the smallest movements, its
performance being optimised for occu-
pancy sensing and respiration monitoring.
www.xethru.com
www.mwee.com

EM simulation specialist,
Helic, bought by Ansys
Engineering simulation company Ansys
Inc., (Pittsburgh, PA) has signed an agree-
ment to acquire electromagnetic simula-
tion company Helic Inc., (Santa Clara,
CA). The proposed purchase price was
not disclosed but Ansys said that further
details regarding the transaction and its
impact on the 2019 financial outlook will
be provided after the closing, which is
expected in the first quarter of 2019.
Helic was founded in Athens, Greece,
in 2000 and has developed analog/RF
and high-frequency IC design engineers
to synthesize inductive devices and
model electromagnetic and parasitic
phenomena. The company now has
more than 50 employees, including loca-
tions in Greece, Japan and Ireland and
considers Santa Clara as its corporate
headquarters.
Ansys said the acquisition will
complement its own engineering and
high-frequency simulation portfolio and
would enable the creation of products
to address 5G and artificial intelligence
applications.
www.ansys.com, www.helic.com
Anritsu in successful
eCall sledge test
Anritsu Corporation has announced the
success of an eCall (a built-in emergency
call in IVS) sledge test demo at the ADAC
Technology Centre in December 2018,
taking advantage of the performances of
the Anritsu Network Simulator MD8475A.
The MD8475A is an all-in-one base
station simulator supporting LTE,
LTE-Advanced, W-CDMA/HSPA/HSPA
Evolution/DC-HSDPA, GSM/EGPRS,
CDMA2000 1X/1xEV-DO Rev. A. and TD-
SCDMA/TD-HSPA.
The test was equipped with several
supplies including IVS and 12-V DC crash
proof external battery on the sledge as
well as the MD8475A Network Simula-
tor and Anritsu’s PSAP Simulator. The
eCall Test was performed over the air
(OTA) which demonstrates the excellent
dynamic range of the MD8475A. Addi-
tionally, the BTS/Site Master and Neon
Signal Mapper from Anritsu were used to
verify the spectrum occupancy of the site
and the excellent from the MD8475A.
www.anritsu.com
www.mwee.com
Ericsson to advance RAN
architecture, joins O-RAN Alliance
Ericsson has joined the O-RAN Alliance,
a group of leading telecom service
providers and suppliers
with the commitment to
evolving radio access
network (RAN) architec-
ture and orchestration
built on openness, intel-
ligence, flexibility and
performance.
As a member, the company will focus
on the open interworking between RAN
and network orchestration and auto-
mation, with emphasis on AI-enabled
closed-loop automation and end-to-end
optimization, to lower operating cost
and improve end-user performance.
Ericsson will also focus on the upper-
layer function as specified in 3GPP
to provide interoperable multivendor
profiles for specified interfaces between
central RAN functions, resulting in faster
deployment of 5G networks on a global
scale.
Erik Ekudden, Senior Vice President
and Chief Technology Officer, Ericsson,
Researchers boost sodium-ion
battery performance
Lithium-ion batteries are ubiquitous in
devices such as laptops and cell phones
as well as in hybrid and fully electric cars.
One downside to lithium is the fact that
it is a limited resource. Not only is it ex-
pensive, but its annual output is (techni-
cally) limited (due to drying process). To
address this issue researchers at the Na-
goya Institute of Technology (NITech) in
Japan have demonstrated that a specific
material can act as an efficient battery
component for sodium-ion batteries that
will compete with lithium-ion batteries for
several battery characteristics, espe-
cially speed of charge. However, sodium
cannot be simply swapped with lithium
used in the current battery materials, as
it is a larger ion size and slightly different
chemistry. Consequently, researchers
are looking for the best material for the
sodium ion battery among vast number of
candidates by trial-and-error.
Scientists at NITech have found a ra-
tional and efficient way around this issue.
January - February 2019
News
says: “Ericsson is a strong supporter of
openness in the industry, and the bene-
fits this has on global
ecosystems and inno-
vations. Our ambition
is to actively support
and drive discussions
and developments
around future RAN ar-
chitectures and open
interfaces. The O-RAN Alliance is an
important coalition that creates an arena
for these discussions, complementing
other standardization and open-source
initiatives in the industry which we are
already active in.”
The O-RAN Alliance was formally
formed at Mobile World Congress
Shanghai on June 27, 2018 as a network
operator-led effort to drive openness
and intelligence in the RAN of next-
generation wireless systems. At the end
of 2018, the O-RAN Alliance was opened
also for non-service providers to join.
www.ericsson.com
After extracting about 4300 compounds
from crystal structure database and fol-
lowing a high-throughput computation of
these compounds, one of them yielded fa-
vorable results and was therefore a prom-
ising candidate as a sodium-ion battery
component. The researchers identified
that Na2V3O7 demonstrates desirable elec-
trochemical performance as well as crystal
and electronic structures. This compound
shows fast charging performance, as it
can be stably charged within 6 minutes.
Further, the researchers demonstrated that
the compound leads to long battery life as
well as a short charging time.
The findings were published in Sci-
entific Reports in November of 2018,
headed by Naoto Tanibata, Ph.D., an
Assistant Professor at the Department of
Advanced Ceramics at NITech.
Article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/
s41598-018-35608-9
www.nitech.ac.jp/eng/index.html
MW 9
 News
2D materials convert WiFi energy
to electricity
Researchers in Spain and the US have
used a 2D material for a flexible device
that can convert energy
from Wi-Fi signals into
electricity that could
power electronics.
The rectenna design
developed at the Techni-
cal University of Madrid
and MIT uses a flexible
radio-frequency (RF) antenna that cap-
tures the WiFI signals as AC waveforms.
This is connected to anAC-DC converter
that uses molybdenum disulfide (MoS2),
which at three atoms thick is one of the
thinnest semiconductors in the world.
When it is exposed to certain chemicals,
the material’s atoms rearrange in a way
that acts like a switch, forcing a phase
transition from a semiconductor to a me-
tallic material, creating a Schottky diode.
A key advantageof this thin layer is
that the device can be built on a flex-
ible substrate in a roll-to-roll process to
cover very large areas. The device can
produce about 40 microwatts of power
‘Digital Ghost’ enables real-time
cyber-defense for control systems
GE Research (Niskayuna, NY), the
research and development division of
General Electric, has announced a new
real-time, active cyber-defense system
for industrial control systems. Called
Digital Ghost, the system, says the com-
pany, offers a first-of-its-kind capability to
both rapidly detect and neutralize cyber
threats against industrial control systems
(ICS). Residing beyond the traditional
information and operational technology
(IT/OT) firewalls, Digital Ghost lives inside
the industrial control system itself.
It uses a network of sensors, controls,
and key insights from AI-driven digital
twins of key assets to continuously moni-
tor and – when necessary – enable real-
time actions to thwart cyber threats. In
simulation testing and field trials, says the
company, Digital Ghost has been shown
to rapidly – within seconds – detect and
isolate threats with 99% accuracy.
According to the company, Digital
Ghost will help address two big challeng-
10 MW January - February 2019
when exposed to the typical power lev-
els of Wi-Fi signals (around 150 micro-
watts), a conversion effi-
ciency around 30 per cent.
This compares to 50 to 60
per cent silicon or gallium
arsenide converters.
“We have come up with
a new way to power the
electronics systems of the
future — by harvesting Wi-Fi energy in a
way that’s easily integrated in large areas
— to bring intelligence to every object
around us,” said Tomás Palacios, a
professor in the Department of Electrical
Engineering and Computer Science and
director of the MIT/MTL Centre for Gra-
phene Devices and 2D Systems in the
Microsystems Technology Laboratories.
Another possible application is
powering the data communications of
implantable medical devices, said Jesús
Grajal, a researcher at the Technical
University of Madrid.
www.mit.edu
es facing industrial control systems: The
rapid rise in the number of cyberattacks
on industrial control systems over the
past five years, and the long lag times for
detecting an attack. Recent ICS viruses
have been shown to go undetected for
months, even years.
A key enabler of Digital Ghost is the
company’s Digital Twin technology, in
which GE researchers have created
more than 1.2 million digital models of
critical parts, assets, systems, and pro-
cesses across the company’s industrial
product portfolio. Digital Twins, says the
company, are “living, learning models”
that generate specific insights from
operational and sensor data, human
engineering expertise, fleet data, and
simulation testing to deliver a desired
business outcome.
Commercial plans for Digital Ghost are
being formalized.
www.ge.com/research
China Unicom, ZTE
complete 5G call
ZTE Corporation has announced that the
Guangdong branch of China Unicom and
ZTE have made the first 5G call using
5G prototype smartphone from ZTE in
a Shenzhen 5G field trial. The test also
completed the verification of diverse
services, such as Wechat group voice
call, online video and web browsing. The
Shenzhen field trial by China Unicom
claims to be the first commercial call in
NSA mode that is in compliance with
3GPP Rel-15. Known as “the City of Inno-
vation”, Shenzhen is one of the first China
Unicom 5G pilot cities with the aim of fully
verifying 5G network equipment network-
ing capabilities, special services, roaming
and interconnection, as well as the inheri-
tance of existing services in phases.
The test used a 5G end-to-end system
developed by ZTE, including radio access
network, core network, transport network
and intelligent device. The test verified
several 5G key technologies such as
Massive MIMO, 5G NR, NSA dual con-
nectivity, FlexE transport technology and
5G Common Core.
www.zte.com.cn
IoT partnership to drive
smart home security
Wi-Fi motion detection technology
company Cognitive Systems (Ontario,
Canada), Wi-Fi networking hardware
and software provider Plume (Palo Alto,
CA), and Qualcomm Technologies (San
Diego) have announced a partnership
with industrial tools and household
hardware and security products provider
Stanley Black & Decker (New Britain, CT)
in the creation of the latter’s “ground-
breaking” home security product.
The Omni security product, say the
companies, is a self-install security and
motion detection system that alerts
users to motion in and around their
homes and businesses without the
privacy risks, set-up hassles, or high
costs that come with security cameras
and sensors. It is enabled by Cognitive
Systems’ Aura WiFi Motion technology,
Plume’s cognitive service curation plat-
form, OpenSync device software stack,
and Qualcomm’s advanced Qualcomm
Mesh Networking Platform.
www.stanleyblackanddecker.com
www.mwee.com
Make the Connection
Connecting to the World, With and Without Wires

You face enough challenges in your day. Microchip understands that, so we make
adding connectivity to your design easy. Whether you need a robust and reliable
wired connection or the mobility and convenience of wireless, Microchip’s broad
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For added ease, our MCUs and MPUs are designed to be compatible with our
wired and wireless devices. And we can help you get to market quickly with certified
modules and production-ready protocol stacks.

Connect with Microchip and learn how to securely connect to the world around you.

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 News
MEMS energy harvester with off-
chip electret ideal for IoT
Scientists at Tokyo Tech developed a
micro-electromechanical energy har-
vester that allows for
more flexibility in design,
which is crucial for future
IoT applications.
Nowadays, it would
be hard to not notice that
electronic devices have
become incredibly small.
The use of miniature
sensors in the upcoming
Internet of Things (IoT)
era could enable us to
develop applications that were only seen
in science fiction. However, microelec-
tronic devices still require power to run,
and energy-harvesting micro-electrome-
chanical systems (MEMS) can be used
so that these minuscule contraptions
can run on ambient energy, such as that
coming from mechanical vibrations.
Conventional MEMS energy har-
vesters use an electret (the electrical
equivalent of a permanent magnet; it has
permanent charge stored in it) placed in
Anti-drone market driven by
security breaches, illicit activities
A new market research report by Mar-
ketsandMarkets forecasts that the
anti-drone market will be worth $2,276
million by 2024. The report – which looks
at the anti-drone market by technology,
application, vertical market, and geogra-
phy – expects the market to grow from
$499 million in 2018 to $2,276 million by
2024, at a compound annual growth rate
(CAGR) of 28.8%. Major factors driving
the growth, says the report, are rising
incidences of security breaches by un-
identified drones and increasing terrorism
and illicit activities across the world.
In terms of anti-drone technology, the
market for laser counter-drone systems
is expected to grow at the highest CAGR
during the forecast period, as laser
systems offer great speed, significant
flexibility, high precision, and low cost per
shot. Such systems – which are being
developed by companies such as Boeing,
Lockheed Martin, Rheinmetall Defense
Electronics GmbH, and Raytheon – are
12 MW January - February 2019
an MEMS tunable capacitor, which has a
moving electrode that is pushed by am-
bient forces, inducing the
movement of charges.
Unfortunately, this design
is very constrained
because the fabrication
processes for both the
electret and the MEMS
components have to be
compatible. Therefore,
a team of scientists,
including Assistant Pro-
fessor Daisuke Yamane
from Tokyo Tech, proposed a new MEMS
electret-based energy harvester that
consists of two separate chips: one for
the MEMS tunable capacitor, and one
containing an electret and dielectric
material to form another capacitor (see
above).
“This allows us to physically separate
MEMS structures and electrets for the
first time,” states Yamane.
www.titech.ac.jp
expected to mostly find their applications
in the military and defense vertical market.
During the forecast period, the “de-
tection and disruption” application – in
the form of anti-drone technologies – is
expected to account for a larger share
of the market. Anti-drones are used for
detection and disruption applications,
especially in the military and defense
sector – which is expected to account
for the largest share of the anti-drone
market during the forecast period – where
unauthorized drones that enter prohibited
areas of any country need to be detected,
as well as destroyed, on the spot.
In addition to potential terrorist activi-
ties, the use of drones for border tres-
passing, smuggling, and spying has in-
creased. As a result, says the report, the
demand for an efficient anti-drone system
is expected to rise in the coming years in
the military and defense sector.
www.marketsandmarkets.com
Diamond substrate
startup in Huawei sting
Akhan Semiconductor Inc., (Gurnee, IL),
a 2013 startup that has been developing
poly- and nanocrystalline diamond mate-
rials, has said it has cooperated with a
US federal investigation into an apparent
theft of its intellectual property by Huawei
Technologies Co. Ltd.
Akhan CEO Adam Khan was recruited
by the FBI to wear a wire during a meeting
with Huawei executives at the Consumer
Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January,
which resulted in a raid on Huawei prem-
ises in San Diego, according to reports.
Akhan states that is sent examples of its
Miraj diamond glass to Huawei under a
specific contract expecting the material to
be returned “unharmed.”
Akhan said in a statement: “Akhan
believes that Huawei destroyed our prod-
uct, shipped it to China without autho-
rization, subjected it to tests that it was
not authorized to conduct, and returned
most of it to us in pieces. We still have
not recovered all of our product from
Huawei, despite repeated written and oral
requests and inquiries to Huawei.”
www.akhansemi.com
Private LTE market still
growing quickly
According to ResearchAndMarkets, the
private LTE market size is expected to
grow from USD 2.4 billion in 2018 to USD
4.5 billion by 2023, at a CAGR of 13%
during the forecast period.
The report stipulates the need for
unique and defined network qualities and
the convergence of 5G and private LTE
as the major factors driving the growth
of the private LTE market. However, on
the downside, the challenge of spectrum
fragmentation could restrain the market
growth. As the private LTE market is in
its initial phase, most of the vendors are
not capable of providing a standalone
system and its associated services to the
customers. This forces them to manage a
few of the services from expert vendors.
The Americas is expected to have the
highest share of the overall private LTE
market. It holds a major portion in the
adoption of private LTE in this region and
leads LTE technology usage with around
94% 4G LTE penetration.
www.researchandmarkets.com
www.mwee.com

Iridium completes
constellation upgrade
Iridium Communications has com-
pleted its $3 billion satellite constellation
upgrade campaign known as Iridium®
NEXT, and has also introduced a new
small-form-factor transceiver known as
the Iridium CertusSM 9770, which will
enable the creation of new consumer and
industrial applications that are highly por-
table and IoT-friendly, optimized for small
size and low cost, yet with higher speeds
than in the past.
The completion of the Iridium NEXT
campaign comes as the final two satel-
lites required to complete the network
refresh were activated on February 5th
at approximately 2:15 p.m. EST. With a
fully operational constellation, featuring
66 new Iridium satellites and no further
launches planned, Iridium has concluded
its nearly decade-long capital-intensive
program. The upgraded Iridium constel-
lation enables never before possible
services such as the AireonSM global
aircraft tracking and surveillance system
and Iridium Certus, the company’s latest
broadband service
www.iridium.com
LG G8 ThinQ gets front-
facing ToF camera
LG Electronics (LG) and Infineon Tech-
nologies AG have teamed up to introduce
leading edge Time-of-Flight (ToF) technol-
ogy on the LG G8 ThinQ™. Infineon’s
REAL3™ image sensor chip will play a
key role in the front-facing camera of the
upcoming LG G8 ThinQ, to be unveiled
at Mobile World Congress 2019. Building
upon the combined expertise of Infineon
and pmdtechnologies in algorithms for
processed 3D point clouds, the chip
provides sophisticated security for phone
unlocking and payment authentication.
While other 3D technologies utilize
complex algorithms to calculate an
object’s distance from the camera lens,
the ToF image sensor chip delivers more
accurate measurements by emitting and
capturing infrared light as it is reflected
off the subject. As a result, ToF is faster
and more effective in ambient light,
reducing the workload on the applica-
tion processor and subsequently limiting
power consumption.
www.LG.com, www.infineon.com
www.mwee.com
Wireless backhaul demo
achieves fiber-like results
Ericsson and Deutsche Telekom claim to
be the first to successfully demonstrate
a millimeter wave link
with a data transmission
rate of 40 Gbps in a joint
innovation project at the
Deutsche Telekom Ser-
vice Center in Athens.
An important mile-
stone in the evolution
from today’s 10 Gbps reality toward the
100 Gbps future, the partners achieved
four times greater data throughput com-
pared to current commercial millimeter
wave systems to prove the commercial
viability of future wireless backhaul
technology.
The test also focused on the stringent
latency requirements in 5G network
architecture to support low latency or
ultra-low latency use cases. The round-
trip latency performance of the link
tested was less than 100 microseconds,
confirming the positive contribution of
wireless backhaul technologies to satisfy
network-specific latency targets.
Startup developing Wi-Fi HaLow
preps chips for IoT
Morse Micro Pty Ltd., (Sydney, Australia),
a fabless semiconductor startup develop-
ing Wi-Fi HaLow chips for the Internet of
Things (IoT) market, is now planning to
have chips available to ship at the end of
2019. Wi-Fi HaLow is a wireless network-
ing protocol, written as an extension to
the IEEE802.11 standard, that’s intended
to operate at low power and longer range
than Wi-Fi. The IEEE802.11ah extension
was announced and published in 2016.
The extension uses the license-free
ISM band around 900 MHz rather than
the 2.4, 5 and 6 GHz bands used by
conventional Wi-Fi. In theory, the lower
power consumption allows HaLow to
compete with Bluetooth but with higher
data rates and wider coverage. It is
thought that HaLow could be a boon
to the Internet of Things (IoT) as well as
migrating into smart wearables, smart
homes, logistics and agricultural IoT.
Morse claims on its website that
its chips are capable of 40 Mbps data
January - February 2019
News
Alex Jinsung Choi, SVP Strategy &
Technology Innovation, Deutsche Tele-
kom, says: “A high-perfor-
mance transport connec-
tion will be key to support
high data throughput
and enhanced customer
experience in next-gen-
eration networks. While
fiber is an important part
of our portfolio, it is not the only option
for backhaul. Together with our partners,
we have demonstrated fiber-like per-
formance is also possible with wireless
backhauling/X-Haul solutions.”
The live trial was completed at the
Deutsche Telekom Service Center in
Athens over a hop distance of 1.4 kilo-
meters in the millimeter wave (E-band)
spectrum. Technical setup included the
use of Ericsson’s latest mobile trans-
port technology including Ericsson’s
MINI-LINK 6352 microwave system and
Router 6000.
www.ericsson.com
rates, for single-stream, single-antenna
products using channel widths vary-
ing between 1, 2, 4 and 8 MHz, and of
up to 80Mbps when using an optional
16 MHz channel width. The technology
trades off the higher speeds of tradi-
tional Wi-Fi for the power efficiency of
its protocol and the ability to penetrate
buildings and walls.
According to Morse Micro its HaLow
transceiver chips will be 5x smaller and
lower cost than conventional Wi-Fi chips
while providing 10 times the range at
200x lower power.
Morse Micro has said its SoCs provide
a “complete solution” incorporating the
radio, phy, MAC, security, processor and
memory components as well as I/O and
connection interfaces and host applica-
tions processor options.
Morse Micro was founded by co-CEOs
Andrew Terry and Michael De Nil in 2016.
www.morsemicro.com
MW 13
 Wireless Infrastructure

RF Converters Enable Efficient Multiband Radios

for Next-Generation Wireless Base Stations
John Oates - Analog Devices, Inc.
ABSTRACT
To support rising wireless data demand,
modern base station radios are being
designed to support multiple E-UTRA
bands, as well as carrier aggregation
techniques. These multiband radios
employ next-generation, GSPS RF ADCs
and DACs that allow frequency agile,
direct RF signal synthesis, and sampling
techniques. To deal with the sparse
nature of the RF wireless spectrum,
sophisticated DSP is used to efficiently
process the data bits to RF and back
again. An example direct RF transmitter
is described for multiband application,
considering DSP configurations and
power versus bandwidth trade-off.

INTRODUCTION—10 YEARS,
10× BANDS, 100× DATA RATES Figure 1: Carrier aggregation of noncontiguous spectrum highlights the sparse
It has been 10 years since the smart- spectrum problem. In red is shown licensed spectrum bands.
phone revolution began, when Apple In green is shown the interband spacing.
released the original iPhone® in 2007.
10 years and two generations of wire-
less standards later—a lot has changed.
Perhaps not as glamourous as the
headline grabbing consumer smart-
phones, known as user equipment (UE),
the infrastructure base station (eNodeB)
of the radio access network (RAN) has
gone through its own transformation to
enable the data deluge of our now ever Figure 2: Wireless radio architecture has evolved to accommodate increasing
connected world. Cellular bands have bandwidth requirements and in turn, become more frequency agile through SDR
increased 10×, while data converter techniques.
sample rates have increased 100×.
Where does this leave us?

MULTIBAND RADIO AND EFFICIENT

USE OF SPECTRUM
From 2G GSM to 4G LTE, the number of
cellular frequency bands has exploded
10×—from four to over 40. With LTE
networks coming on the scene, base
station suppliers have found themselves
multiplying radio variants. LTE-advanced
increased the requirements of multiband
radios by adding carrier aggregation to
the mix whereby noncontiguous fre-
quency spectrum inside the same band
or more importantly, in different bands,
could be aggregated in the baseband
modem as a single stream.
However, the RF spectrum is sparse.
Figure 1 shows several carrier aggre- Figure 3: A direct RF transmitter. RF DACS such as the AD9172 include
gated band combinations highlighting sophisticated DSP blocks with parallel, digital upconverting channelizers to
the sparse spectrum problem. In green enable efficient multiband transmission.

14 MW January - February 2019 www.mwee.com

 Wireless Infrastructure

is interband spacing and in red is the

band of interest. Information theory dic-
tates the system does not waste power
converting the undesired frequency
spectrum. Multiband radios with an
efficient means of converting sparse
spectrum between analog and digital
domains are needed.

BASE STATION TRANSMITTER

EVOLUTION TO DIRECT RF
To facilitate the increased data con-
sumption of 4G LTE networks, the wide
area base station has undergone an
evolution in radio architecture. Super-
heterodyne, narrow-band, IF-sampling
radios with mixers and single-channel
data converters have been replaced
with I/Q-based architectures that dou-
ble the bandwidth, such as complex-IF
(CIF) and zero-IF (ZIF). ZIF and CIF
transceivers require analog I/Q modula-
tors/demodulators with dual- and quad-
channel data converters. However,
these wider bandwidth CIF/ZIF trans-
ceivers also suffer from LO leakage and
quadrature error images that must be
corrected.
Fortunately, data converter sampling
rates have also increased 30× to 100×
in the last 10 years, from 100 MSPS
in 2007 to 10 GSPS+ in 2017. This
increase in sampling rate has ushered
in GSPS RF converters with very wide
bandwidths, enabling frequency agile
software-defined radio to finally be- Figure 4: Dual band scenario: Band 3 (1805 MHz to 1880 MHz) and Band 7
come a reality. (2620 MHz to 2690 MHz).
Perhaps, the holy grail of sub-6 GHz
radio BTS architecture has long been
direct RF sampling and synthesis. Di-
rect RF architectures eliminate the need
for analog frequency translation devic-
es, such as mixers, I/Q modulators, and
I/Q demodulators, which themselves
are the source of many unwanted spuri-
ous signals. Instead, the data converter
directly interfaces with RF frequencies
and any mixing can be done digitally by
integrated digital up-/downconverters
(DUCs/DDCs).
Multiband efficiency gain comes in
the form of sophisticated DSP included
in ADI’s RF converters that allow digital
channelization of only the desired
spectrum bands while simultaneously
giving access to the full RF bandwidth.
Using parallel DUCs or DDCs, which
combine interpolating/decimating Figure 5: Band 3 and Band 7 LTE transmission through direct RF transmitter using
up-/down-samplers, half-band filters, the AD9172 RF DAC.
and numerically controlled oscillators
(NCOs), the band(s) of interest can be The parallel digital up-/downconverter valuable cycles converting unused
digitally constructed/deconstructed architecture allows you to channelize interband spectrum (shown in green
before conversion between analog and multiple bands of desired spectrum in Figure 1). Efficient multiband chan-
digital domains. (shown in red in Figure 1) and not waste nelization has the effect of lowering the

www.mwee.com January - February 2019 MW 15

 Wireless Infrastructure
required sample rates
of the data converters,
as well as the number
of serial lanes required
for transport across
the JESD204B data
bus. Reducing system
sample rates reduces
the cost, power, and
thermal management re-
quirements on the base-
band processor saving
CAPEX and OPEX of
the total base sta-
tion system. It remains
true that implementing
channelization DSP
in a highly optimized
CMOS ASIC process is
far more power efficient
than implementation Figure 6: A Direct RF observation receiver used for digital predistortion. Wideband RF ADCs such as
in generalized FPGA the AD9208 can efficiently digitize multiple bands across 5 GHz bandwidth.
fabric—even if the FPGA
is in smaller geometries.
DIRECT RF TRANSMITTER WITH DPD
RECEIVER: AN EXAMPLE
The RF DAC has succeeded in replac-
ing the IF DAC in these next-generation
multiband BTS radios. Figure 3 shows
an example direct RF transmitter with
the AD9172, 16-bit, 12 GSPS RF DAC
that supports tri-band channelization
with three parallel DUCs, allowing flex-
ible placement of subcarriers across
1200 MHz bandwidth. Following the RF
DAC, the ADL5335 Tx VGA provides
12 dB of gain and 31.5 dB of attenua-
tion range up to 4 GHz. The output of
this DRF transmitter can then drive a
power amplifier of choice depending on
the output power requirements of the
eNodeB.
Consider the Band 3 and Band 7
scenario shown in Figure 4. Two dif-
ferent approaches can be employed to
convert the data stream to RF directly.
The first approach (a wideband ap-
proach) would synthesize the bands
without channelization, requiring a data
rate of 1228.8 MHz. 80% of this band-
width yields a DPD (digital predistortion)
synthesized bandwidth of 983.04 MHz,
sufficient to transmit both bands and
their 740 MHz of interband spacing.
The advantage of this approach is for
DPD systems, which allows for predis-
tortion not only of the intraband IMDs
of each individual carrier, but also other
unwanted nonlinear emissions between
the desired bands.
The second approach is to synthesize
channelized versions of these bands.
Since each band is only 60 MHz and
16 MW January - February 2019
70 MHz, respectively, and since opera-
tors will only have licenses for a subset
of this bandwidth, it is not necessary
to transmit everything and incur high
data rates consequently. Instead let us
utilize a more appropriate, lower data
rate of 153.6 MHz, 80% of which results
in a DPD bandwidth of 122.88 MHz. If
an operator owns licenses for 20 MHz
in each band, there is still enough DPD
bandwidth for 5th-order correction of
intraband IMDs for each band, respec-
tively. This mode can save up to 250 mW
of power in the DAC from the wideband
approach above and much more power/
thermal savings in the baseband proces-
sor, as well as reduce serial lane count,
allowing for smaller, lower cost FPGA/
ASIC implementations.
Observation receivers for DPD have
also evolved to DRF (direct RF) architec-
tures. The AD9208 14-bit, 3 GSPS RF
ADC also supports multiband chan-
nelization through parallel DDCs. The
combination of RF DAC and RF ADCs
in the transmitter DPD subsystem has
many benefits including shared converter
clocks, correlated phase noise cancel-
lation, and overall simplification of the
system. One such simplification is the
ability of the AD9172 RF DAC, with its in-
tegrated PLL, to generate up to a 12 GHz
clock from a low frequency reference
signal, removing the need to route high
frequency clocks around the radio board.
Additionally, the RF DAC can output a
phase coherent divided down version
of its clock for the feedback ADC. Such
system features truly enhance the BTS
DPD system by creating an optimized
multiband transmitter chipset.
SUMMARY
Ten years after the smartphone revolu-
tion, the cellular business is all about
data throughput. Single band radios
can no longer keep up with the capacity
requirements of consumers. To increase
data throughput, more spectrum band-
width must be made accessible through
carrier aggregation of multiple bands.
RF data converters can access the en-
tire sub-6 GHz cellular spectrum, being
quickly reconfigured for various band
combinations, making software-defined
radio a reality. These frequency agile
direct RF architectures reduce cost,
size, weight, and power. This fact has
made the RF DAC transmitter and RF
ADC DPD receiver the winning architec-
ture of choice for sub-6 GHz, multiband
base stations.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John Oates is a system engineer focus-
ing on wireless base station architec-
ture in the Communications Systems
Group. Lately, his focus has been on
GSPS converters for direct RF transmit-
ters and observation. John joined ADI
in 2008 and holds a B.S. in Cp.E. from
North Carolina State University.
www.mwee.com

IoT: Using Application Intelligence to Design for
10 Year Operation
Vanja Samuelsson, Founder, Qoitech
T
he IoT is shaping up to be bigger
than anyone imagined, even taking
into the account the huge amount
of hype that has surrounded it for the
last five years or so. Some believe that
by 2020 the revenue generated from
the data services and analytics the IoT
creates will be twice as much as the
revenue generated from actually supply-
ing the technology that will enable those
services (Figure 1).
With that in mind, it is obvious that
the IoT isn’t just a massive opportunity
in the short-term, but could become a
huge liability in the long-term, if the un-
derlying technology isn’t designed and
manufactured for longevity. In simple
economic terms, if an operator has 10
million low-cost IoT endpoints in the
field, generating data that they then sup-
ply at an equally low cost, their business
model will probably only allow them to
physically service a small percentage of
those endpoints before they start to see
a loss. For this reason, and many others,
reliability and long time-in-service will be
key in the IoT. Service will be measured
in years, rather than hours or days. It
isn’t extraordinary for endpoints to be
expected to operate for 10 years from
a single primary cell, which presents
OEMs with a significant challenge.
POWER PROFILE
Achieving 10 years of operation from a
single primary cell demands that engi-
neers pay particular attention to applying
ultra-low power design techniques. This
is not trivial, nor can it be assumed that
a design based only on low power de-
vices will be inherently low power in op-
eration. While there are many low power
solutions on the market to choose from,
the way those devices are used and the
mode in which the endpoint operates
will ultimately dictate the power profile of
the overall design. It is entirely possible
to run an ultra-low power microcontroller
in a way that consumes far more power
than the data sheet might suggest.
At a system level there are many
trade-offs to be made. The fact that an
endpoint is connected to the Internet
may imply that it relies heavily on cloud
computing, however there is an energy
cost associated with transmitting and
www.mwee.com
IoT Design
receiving every single
bit of digital data to a
cloud-based server; it
can be broken down to
that level of granular-
ity if necessary. The
trade-off here involves
deciding just how much
energy should be used
to transmit data, and
how much should be
assigned to process- Figure 1: The biggest opportunity in the IoT will come
ing the data locally. from leveraging the data it generates, according to con-
Sending two bytes of sultancy firm Bain & Company (Source: Bain & Company).
processed data instead
of 100 bytes of raw data may deliver
better energy efficiency, but this isn’t
something that is easily calculated from
a data sheet.
At a lower level there are other design
trade-offs to be made, at both the hard-
ware and software level. This includes
clock rates (process faster for short
periods, or slower for longer – which
consumes less power?), the hardware/
software divide (how much power do the
hardware accelerators use compared
to processing on the main CPU?), what
type of memory delivers the best power
efficiency (what is the energy cost of
moving up to the next highest Flash
density device?). From a software per-
spective it may be beneficial to evaluate
the impact of using compiler directives,
or even the style of coding used.
DEVICE PROFILING
Developing an IoT endpoint that needs to
operate for up to 10 years from a single
primary cell requires a holistic approach
to design; a single snapshot of power
consumption isn’t going to extrapo-
late linearly over 3,600 days. The cost
of communication, in terms of energy,
can be particularly difficult to estimate.
This is true even when using a wireless
technology designed for the IoT, such as
an LPWAN like Sigfox or LoRa, because
the link budget can vary based on the
network’s capacity and level of traffic.
Wireless connectivity is a large energy
consumer, so when and how frequently
the wireless link is used will clearly im-
pact the overall power budget. Collect-
ing data on how the endpoint operates
in practice, in terms of power consump-
January - February 2019
tion, would enable application intel-
ligence to be fed back into the design
process, at a hardware and software
level, in order to influence the product’s
final and optimal design.
DESIGNING FOR 10 YEARS
The need for power management has
become endemic within the electronics
industry, which has given rise to a num-
ber of solutions. However, implementing
the techniques developed for power
management in servers and large main-
frames isn’t restricted to these systems,
the same approach can be taken with
ultra-low power design and by using a
power monitoring solution like the Otii
Arc, developers can measure the ef-
ficacy of these techniques on the bench.
As an example, consider the PMBus
(or Power Management Bus). This is a
protocol used to control PMBus-com-
pliant power supplies, by enabling or
disabling their outputs and setting their
voltage and/or current levels. During
periods of low activity the power supply
can be disabled or its output scaled
down, and ramped up during high activ-
ity. The power saved by dynamically ad-
justing the output can be significant and
the same principle is now being applied
in ultra-low power microcontrollers, so
there are potential benefits to extending
this approach to an entire design. For
example, large parts of a circuit could be
isolated from the main supply rail when
not in use, or the duty cycle of certain
features reduced at certain hours of the
day or night.
Furthermore, by monitoring the bat-
tery’s health on a continuous basis, a
MW 17
 IoT Design

system can dynamically adjust its opera-
tion, as well as signal the backend that
it will need some preventative main-
tenance in the near future. These are
features that may not immediately form
part of the overall design specification,
but they could significantly extend the
lifetime of an endpoint. Using Otii Arc
to profile a design in this way, over an
accelerated lifetime using the system’s
scripting capability, could help engineer-
ing teams develop design practices that
would lead to products that are more
power efficient.
CONCLUSION
Ultra-low power design is going to be
synonymous with the IoT, as endpoints
will be expected to operate for multiple
years, reliably and without maintenance.
Entire business models will rely on de-
vices working for 10 years or more, while
providing high levels of functionality and
Internet connectivity.
Using power profiling tools, develop-
ers can run multiple ‘what if’ scenarios
to evaluate low power design techniques
or to identify the modes of operation
most responsible for power consump-
tion. But perhaps more importantly,
teams can conduct accelerated simu-
lations to glean valuable application
intelligence and feed this data back into
the design process, to
deliver the user experi-
ence necessary to fully
leverage the oppor-
tunity presented by a
connected world.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Vanja Samuelsson has
an M.Sc. in Electrical
Engineering and a Ph.D.
in Technology manage-
ment specializing in
Electromagnetic Theory,
both from Lund Uni-
versity in Sweden. Her Figure 2: The Otii Arc provides application intelligence to
professional journey has enable better low power designs.
seen her work across
a variety of markets, from space to the
telecoms industry. She has gained valu-
able experience in test and measurement,
product development and research, as
well as innovation in 5G, cellular IoT con-
nectivity and low power IoT whilst in her
recent role at Sony Mobile Communica-
tions. Vanja´s entrepreneurial spirit and
passion for smart and sustainable IoT led
her to establish Qoitech in 2017 – a Sony
Group company start-up, which brought
an innovative energy optimization solu-
tion Otii to global markets. Vanja Samuelsson, Founder, Qoitech.

Project looks to integrate drones into ‘automated

airports’ to boost safety
A new project ASAS – Airport Surveil-
lance for Airport Safety, led by RISE
Research Institutes of Sweden and to be
conducted together with LFV (Luftfarts-
verket), Swedish Regional Airports (SRF),
Örnsköldsvik Airport (OER) and FlyPulse
will develop and demonstrate drone
solutions to help automate daily opera-
tions in airports.
The key aim of the project is to iden-
tify use cases that address the needs of
daily operations at airports, develop and
demonstrate drone systems that help
automate airport operations, improve air-
port safety, optimize resource utilization,
and reduce environmental impacts.
A world first and a big step towards
automated airports, LFV introduced
Remote Tower Center (RTC) in 2015,
which enabled traffic control for the OER
airport to be taken over by Sundsvall/
Midlanda airport (SDL) through remote
control. Again in 2017, connected vehi-
cles were introduced to improve airport
safety based on results from the project
DRIWS – Digital Runway Incursion Warn-
ing Systems, where physical stop-lights
were replaced by digital signals within
the vehicles to prevent ground vehicles
from approaching the runway without
clearance from air traffic control (ATC).
To further develop airport automation,
LFV in collaboration with OER airports
has initialized a program to realise the
concept of an “Autonomous Airport”. The
program will test and evaluate future-ori-
ented systems to enable safe, cost-effec-
tive and remotely controlled automated
airports. One application area involves the
integration of drones in airport operations.
Airport inspection includes many
routine tasks such as frequent border
surveillance of airport fences, wild animal
detection and runway surface condi-
tions. These tasks are usually time and
labor intensive and introduce emissions
when fossil fuel vehicles are in operation.
“Instead of driving a terrain vehicle to
check airport fences, electrically pow-
ered drones could be used for automatic
checking and streaming live video to
personnel for supervision. This will save
considerable amounts of time and daily
vehicle driving and thereby reduce costs
and vehicle emissions,” says Jonas
Didoff, senior advisor at LFV and project
manager for DRIWS.
The project leverages years of experi-
ences of drone development at FlyPulse
and will deliver drone systems that are
tailored for the needs of airports.
RISE Research Institutes of Sweden
is leading the project and will offer their
skills in wireless communications and
automation for the drone system devel-
opment, as well as provide business
development for market introduction.
The project will last for 14 months
and there will be a public demonstration
in mid 2019. The project is funded by
VINNOVA, Sweden’s innovation agency
through its program on future drones.
www.ri.se
www.flypulse.se
www.lfv.se
www.oer.se
www.flygplatser.se

18 MW January - February 2019 www.mwee.com

 AI

AI takes the guesswork out of being human

By Rudy Lauwereins

I
n 2035, artificial intelligence will be
everywhere, but it will be invisible.
Behind the scenes, it will help steer
the choices we make, offering us the
best options to lead a good, healthy
life. It will help customize the services
and products we buy to best match our
preferences.
All this by its lightning-fast ability to
process huge swaths of data and extract
knowledge. And we might hope: also
adding some creativity and wisdom.

USING THE WORLD AS

KNOWLEDGE BASE
Imagine, one day in 2035, you are
taken down to the hospital. Some rare,
complex condition, it seems. Imme-
diately, the doctors run your personal
history and medical parameters through
their AI system, searching for identi-
cal patterns in a worldwide database
of anonymized patient data. They find
a dozen matches and see potential
treatments and their effects. So there is
less guessing, relying solely on human
experience, and luck to be in the right
hospital: wherever you live, and whom-
ever you are, you’ll get the best avail-
able diagnosis. But wait … chances
are that you’re not going to get to the
hospital. Because with your physical
parameters constantly monitored, you’ll
be offered intelligent choices at every
step in your life. Whether it’s about the
food you eat, the workout you do, your
career choices... And all this will keep
you healthy much longer.
One of the most successful branches
of AI is machine learning. Machine
learning algorithms allow comput-
ers to learn and detect patterns in
huge amounts of data, establishes the
relation between inputs and outputs,
between huge swaths of data and
meaningful conclusions. They can e.g.
learn to identify individuals in camera
footage, steer cars away from moving
objects, detect planets around distant
stars, or recognize clusters of health
parameters that predict a disease. And
once they have learned their trick, they
can apply it at lightning speed, without
pause or getting tired.
SPREADING INSIGHTS
INSTANTANEOUSLY, WORLDWIDE
Another 2035 scene. You’ve just been
picked up by a self-driving car that
covers part of your trajectory to the AI
conference. It’s raining heavily and while
the car picks up speed on the highway,
it suddenly has to swerve to avoid a tree
branch that was blown into its track.
The vehicles next to and behind your car
have to break and there is a short mo-
ment of chaos. A near miss. Very rare,
but possible. Overnight, the data of the
vehicles involved are analyzed and an

NASA used artificial intelligence to discover planets outside our solar system, such as a recently discovered eight planet
circling Kepler-90, a Sun-like star 2,545 light-years from Earth (courtesy NASA).

www.mwee.com January - February 2019 MW 19


update is sent to all cars worldwide on
how to handle this situation in the future.
Of course, by then you’ve long reached
your destination – unaware of how your
journey influenced, even improved the
driving behavior of all cars worldwide.
Humans can change their mind,
adapt their behavior to new circum-
stances and new learning. So can
intelligent agents, such as cars. And
because the world of 2035 is tightly
interconnected, the new knowledge
can be spread to all intelligent agents
almost simultaneously. So there’s no
risk of colliding with a car that’s running
on last year’s intelligence.
As was to be expected with such a
pervasive technology, there are techni-
cal and ethical caveats. One is the issue
of explainable AI: if a critical system
takes a decision, we humans should
be able to track down its reasoning, to
understand why the system did what
it did. Another issue is that machine
learning is only as good the data it
is fed. Therefore, technologists are
continuously on the lookout for biases
that may pop up in behavior of smart
systems. Or biases that are added with
malicious intent. Examples are recogni-
tion or profiling on the basis of ethnicity
or gender, or seeing as global what in
effect are only local customs or behav-
iors, or even just temporary, commercial
hypes. And last there’s the concern
that people should remain free in their
choice to contribute or retract personal
data, or to act upon the suggestions of
AI systems.
GLOBAL BUT INDIVIDUALIZED
Of course: in 2035 your shoes and
clothes are made to fit to perfection.
When you need a new pair, your local
shoe factory consults your digital twin,
derives all possible parameters and
produces a pair of shoes that’s unique
in the world – costing no more than you
used to pay for the average Joe’s size 11
shoes which left your left ankle always
hurting. But there’s more: you just bought
and attached a sport’s sensor that’s now
breaking in. Give it a few more hours with
you, learning the very intimate relation
between your blood pressure, heart beat,
temperature and many more… and it will
have become part of you, a sensor that
matches up with no other person in the
world but you.
The industry is no longer making
a small range of average products.
Instead, they are able to make sepa-
rate, individual products for everyone.
Like the good, old cobbler used to do,
20 MW January - February 2019
AI
Rudy Lauwereins, VP digital and user-centric solutions at imec.
individual but at the cost and speed of
mass-manufacturing. And some prod-
ucts even keep on changing and learn-
ing after you bought them. It’s machine
learning but no longer trained at the
manufacturer’s with labeled input, but
on your body with unlabeled data.
BUDDING AI WISDOM
You’ve arrived at your holiday destina-
tion to find that your luggage has gone
missing. You call the airline’s helpdesk
and are put through to a competent op-
erator, whose voice and body language
are immediately comforting and reassur-
ing. Within minutes, even while you are
speaking, your luggage is located and
an appointment is scheduled to have it
delivered at your hotel the same eve-
ning. You full heartedly thank the opera-
tor, who smiles and wishes you a good
holiday. For a split second, the thought
registers that this was probably a bot,
but by now you’ve become so used to
being helped by imaginative, empathic
bots that you’re rather pleased.
Machine learning, you might have
guessed by now, is only apparent intel-
ligence. ML systems still have to be
trained by humans, who supply it with
the training data and determine the
question to be solved. That makes for
hugely useful systems, but not really
intelligent ones. But by 2035, we’re
also seeing a first budding of really
intelligent systems, systems that show
some measure of reasoning, creativity,
imagination, common sense, and above
all empathy.
HOW IS IMEC CONTRIBUTING TO
THIS FUTURE?
Leveraging its expertise in hard- and
software, imec is setting up an ambi-
tious AI program – together with indus-
trial partners that are active in domains
as diverse as personalized healthcare,
smart mobility, the new manufacturing
industry, smart cities and smart energy.
Our approach? Bringing AI to the
sensors at the edge of the Internet of
Things (IoT) by introducing a pipeline
of innovative hardware and software
that – instead of hundreds of watts –
consume less than a watt, or even mere
milliwatts. And by developing machine
learning applications that get custom-
ized for specific uses and for individual
people – on the spot, instead of with
pre-learned parameters.
In the fall, Flanders has earmarked
a considerable sum to AI research, in-
dustrial applications, and policies. And
imec signed a collaboration agreement
with the French R&D center CEA-LETI
to advance AI and quantum computing.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rudy Lauwereins is vice president at
imec responsible for the digital and
user-centric solutions unit. He is also
director of the imec.academy, coordi-
nating external and internal technical
training curricula – www.imec.be
www.mwee.com
New class of VNA for
the next decade
The ZNA is a new-
generation of high-end
vector network analysers
(VNAs) that combines
leading-edge RF per-
formance with a unique
operating concept that
delivers flexibility and
simplifies measure-
ment configuration. Key
attributes include unprecedented measurement stability, the
lowest trace noise available and a dynamic range up to 170
dB to enable demanding measurements on active and pas-
sive components and modules as the industry heads into the
5G era.
A universal test platform for characterizing active and
passive DUTs, the ZNA is currently available in two models
– the ZNA26 (10 MHz to 26.5 GHz) and ZNA43 (10 MHz to
43.5 GHz), which both offer an outstanding dynamic range
of 146 dB (typical) and a trace noise as low as 0.001 dB at
1 kHz IF bandwidth. These two features are essential for
measurements on high-rejection filters.
The unique hardware configuration of the ZNA includes
four internal, phase-coherent sources, eight truly parallel C

receivers and two internal local oscillators (LOs). This simpli- M

fies the test setups for characterizing frequency-converting

devices, amplifiers and even complex T/R modules, requiring
Y

the DUT to be connected only once. Users can perform vec- CM

tor corrected conversion loss, phase and group delay mea- MY

surements in half of the time required with the conventional

approach and without the need for a reference mixer.
CY

The ZNA’s hardware configuration enables it to perform CMY

mixer measurements for RF and IF in parallel, delivering K

measurement speed twice as fast as with the conventional

approach. Amplifier characterization becomes easy with a
100 dB power sweep range, a pulse generator and modulator
per test port, versatile intermodulation measurement capabili-
ties and spectrum analyzer functionality.
Further, the ZNA offers a new approach, focused on the
DUT, to simplify measurement configuration. The user first
selects the type of DUT (e.g., mixer or amplifier) and is then
guided step by step through configuration to the desired test
setup. This significantly speeds up and facilitates test setups.
Alternatively, users can take the conventional approach and
configure measurements individually, providing high flexibility
to master even the most challenging measurement tasks.
In a hint at the changes expected over the next decade,
the ZNA is the first purely touch-operated vector network
analyzer, using a 12.1-inch touchscreen as the main dis-
play and a 7-inch touchscreen instead of a hardkey panel.
Together with the DUT-centric approach, the second touch-
screen provides a seamless user experience. It also enables
easy upgrades to the instrument that includes changes to the
operating panel that can now be done in software.
One key feature is intermodulation distortion – where with
up to four internal high quality RF sources it is possible to
determine the intermodulation characteristics of amplifiers
and mixers fast and with high accuracy.
The VNA offers many other features including spectrum
analyzer mode, millimeter wave extensions, pulsed measure-
ments, mixer measurements and arbitrary frequency convert-
ing measurements, time domain analysis, and so on.

www.rohde-schwarz.com/product/zna

www.mwee.com January - February 2019 MW 21

 Products
Precision connectors
specified up to 90 GHz
A precision connector series to meet the
increasing demand for proper RF-connec-
tions up to 90 GHz, the RPC-1.35 – the “E
connector” – is characterized by a highly
robust mechanical design, minimum 3000
mating cycles, high connector repeatabil-
ity, and maximum return loss values.
Designed for high-performance RF
measurements in the E-Band, the product
range covers semi-rigid and flexible cable
assemblies, PCB connectors, test PCBs,
cable connectors, in-series and inter-
series adaptors, test port, floating and
waveguide-to-coaxial adaptors as well as
gauge and calibration kits.
A working group, consisting of PTB
(Physikalisch Technische Bundesanstalt),
Rosenberger, Rohde & Schwarz and Spin-
ner, has designed the new 1.35 mm con-
nector to close the gap between 1.85 mm
and 1.00 mm connectors. The interface
standardization is in progress.
www.rosenberger.com
IoT/cloud platform
beta release, cloud-enabled
hardware
Californian startup and Google Cloud
partner UrsaLeo has released its IoT
and Cloud platform beta release, cloud-
enabled hardware that collects data and
delivers dashboards, sensor diagnostics,
and data storage management.
B2B customers can start using the
platform by purchasing a development
kit from an UrsaLeo online distributor,
Mouser or RS Components. All kits come
22 MW January - February 2019
with a Silicon Labs Thunderboard Sense
2 carrying ten environmental sensors
and are loaded with code for connect-
ing to the UrsaLeo platform and sending
data within a few minutes after setup is
complete. Users of the Beta platform can
work directly with UrsaLeo engineering to
add sensors, port the code to their own
hardware, and white label the platform for
existing and potential customers.
The company also announced the clos-
ing of a $500K seed round, which will be
used to further develop the IoT and Cloud
platform. UrsaLeo is currently working on
raising a second seed round.
www.ursaleo.com
Digital attenuator
offers 8 channels, covers 200
to 6000 MHz
Vaunix Technology Corporation has
released a new 8-channel high resolution
digital attenuator, designated LDA906V-8,
that is specifically designed for errorless
attenuation transitions in ultra-high speed
5G, WiFi and PTP networks.
Part of the company’s Lab Brick port-
folio, the LDA-906V-8 is a highly accurate,
bidirectional, 8-channel step attenuator
that provides calibrated attenuation from
200 to 6000 MHz with an amazing step
size of 0.1 dB and typical accuracy of
<0.25 dB over 90 dB of control range.
Vaunix Lab Bricks use a native USB
HID interface to avoid the difficulties
inherent in using older serial or IEEE-488
interfaces implemented over USB. As a
result, Lab Brick users can get to work
faster without having to install kernel level
drivers, and Lab Brick devices can be
easily used on any system that supports
USB HID devices, including low cost
embedded computers using Linux or simi-
lar operating systems.
The Vaunix Windows Graphical User
Interface (GUI) enables easily program-
mable fixed attenuation, swept attenuation
ramps and fading profiles. Alternatively,
for users wishing to develop their own
interface, Vaunix supplies LabVIEW driv-
ers, Windows API DLL files, Linux drivers,
Python examples and much more.
www.vaunix.com
Test contactor maintains
native DUT impedance
maximises RF power transfer
The ICON contactor is designed specifi-
cally for maintaining the native impedance
of a device–under–test (DUT) through the
contactor to the test system.
Functional and AC parametric test-
ing of high speed devices requires a high
and bandwidth low noise interconnect to
maintain the quality and/or fidelity of the
test signal. As an impedance controlled
contactor the ICON maximizes high
frequency power transfer by minimizing
signal reflections (Return Loss).
The ICON is simple in its design and
effective in use with insertion loss greater
than 52 GHz at – 1 dB without distorting
the test signal. The ICON spring probes
carrying test signals that are impedance
matched to the DUT and the test system
at 50 Ohms. The ICON’s metal body is a
Faraday shield/cage, which reduces cross
talk (electromagnetic radiation) the primary
cause of signal jitter. Along with this, the
aluminium body blocks both static and
non-static external electric fields (random
noise). The 50 Ohm ICON is impedance
matched to the device under test is the
best way to maximize high frequency
power transfer by minimizing signal reflec-
tions (Return Loss).
www.cohu.com
Bluetooth IoT SW
improves location accuracy to
sub-1-metre
Silicon Labs has released new Bluetooth
software for its Wireless Gecko portfo-
lio, leveraging the new direction finding
feature added to Bluetooth in version 5.1
of the Bluetooth Core Specification to
enhance location-based services, such
as indoor navigation, asset tracking,
space utilization and point-of-interest
engagement.
The new feature supports multiple
methods for determining signal direction
including angle-of-arrival (AoA) and angle-
of-departure (AoD), and Silicon Labs’
implementation of the new Bluetooth fea-
ture enables detection of signal direction
within 5 degrees. To date, Bluetooth asset
www.mwee.com

tracking and indoor positioning solutions
have typically provided location accuracy
within a range of 3-4 meters.
With the Silicon Labs Bluetooth 5.1
solution, developers can create products
that improve location accuracy down to
the sub-1-metre level, opening the door to
applications previously not possible.
Bluetooth 5.1 also helps developers
reduce power consumption with sleep
clock accuracy updates, improve smart
home connection performance using
GATT caching functionality and optimize
beaconing for Bluetooth mesh in crowded
RF environments with the advertisement
channel index feature.
www.silabs.com
Oscilloscopes
enable frequency response
analysis using Bode plots
Analyzing the frequency response of a
device, using Bode plots, is available now
for the RTB2000, RTM3000 and RTA4000
oscilloscopes from Rohde & Schwarz
using a new option for frequency
response analysis.
With a the RTx-K36 software option,
users can analyze the response to
frequency changes from 10 Hz up to
25 MHz without any additional piece of
equipment and at a fraction of the price
of dedicated systems.
Equipped with the RTx-K36, the oscil-
loscopes can display Bode plots for both
phase and gain against frequency simul-
taneously. For performing control loop
response and power supply rejection ratio
(PSRR) measurements, or for character-
ization of passive components, the vector
network analyzer-based methods often
do not cover frequencies under 9 kHz, or
are simply too costly for smaller budgets.
When using the RTB2000 entry-level oscil-
loscope, it is possible to make frequency
response measurements from 10 Hz at
almost half the price previously offered on
the market.
Apart from the conventional time
domain measurements available with
oscilloscopes, and the wide range of gen-
www.mwee.com
eral-purpose measurements supported,
with the new Bode plot application the
RTB2000, RTM3000, and RTA4000 can
also perform gain and phase frequency
response analysis. All three oscilloscope
families come equipped with 10-bit ADCs
not available on other oscilloscopes in
their class, enabling superior vertical
dynamic range compared to existing
oscilloscope-based solutions.
www.rohde-schwarz.com
IoT-AI-blockchain
gateway device
delivers ‘out-of-the-box’
capabilities
NetObjex (Irvine, CA), a provider of digital
operating platforms for smart products,
has announced what it says is a “revolu-
tionary” new IoT-AI-blockchain gateway
device. PiQube, says the company, is
a state-of-the-art IoT-blockchain edge
device that enables developers to build
and develop serious enterprise grade
applications with IoT and blockchain
capabilities out of the box.
Powered by NetObjex OS, a variant of
Yocto Linux, PiQube provides IoT users
with a plethora of connectivity options,
including analog I/IO and up to 128 digital
I/O ports, and storage of up to 1 TB.
The system also includes a Secure
Element hardware chip for edge device
authentication and encryption of data
packets over a wide variety of protocols.
What makes the PiQube stand out from
the crowd, says the company, is its con-
nectivity to the NetObjex Operating Plat-
form thereby bringing AI and blockchain
capabilities within reach.
The NetObjex philosophy, says the
company, has been to use IoT for data
acquisition, AI for analytics and machine
learning, and blockchain for data sharing
and transactions in an ecosystem.
“Quite often,” says Raghu Bala, CEO of
NetObjex, “the last-mile issue of collect-
ing good, clean data has been the bane
of many a blockchain system and that
is solved with the PiQube and its built-in
security mechanisms.”
January - February 2019
Products
The NetObjex Platform is also an
interoperability layer to multiple block-
chains including Ethereum, Hyperledger,
IOTA, NEM, and Stellar. Each PiQube
will come with access to the NetObjex
Platform and have the capacity to act as
a light node on a blockchain. The PiQube
supports firmware development in C, PHP,
Python, and Java for simplifying the inte-
gration of edge devices to the blockchain.
“Each PiQube will be an edge node in
the NetObjex Platform and hence lever-
age all of its capabilities,” says Georgey
Jacob, Director of Growth at NetObjex.
“Enterprise developers can utilize our
Distributed Ledger Query Language (DQL)
to construct rich applications capable of
interacting with multiple ledgers.”
The company also sees PiQube as a
first foray into the space of inter-device
communications.
“As smart products evolve there is a
need for them to discover, authenticate,
communicate, and transact with a wide
range of other device across ownership
and trust boundaries in a safe and secure
manner,” says Jacob. “The combination of
the PiQube and the NetObjex Platform’s
decentralized registry and data market-
place capabilities make this a reality.”
www.netobjex.com
2400 to 2500 MHz RF
transistor
outputs up to 500 W
The 500-Watt BLC2425M10LS500P
LDMOS RF power transistor from
Ampleon has been designed for pulsed
and CW applications operating in the
2400 MHz to 2500 MHz frequency range.
Suitable for use in a wide range of
industrial, consumer and professional
cooking RF energy applications, the
BLC2425M10LS500P has an excellent
high-power to footprint ratio as it delivers
500-Watt CW from a single SOT1250
air cavity plastic package. The device’s
67% efficiency keeps the required cool-
ing capacity to a minimum while also
ensuring low energy consumption and
MW 23
 Products

operating costs of the end-equipment.
The transistor also exhibits excellent
ruggedness by being able to operate with
a VSWR 10:1 load mismatch through all
phases, further simplifying the system
design and protection circuitry.
www.ampleon.com
SMD antenna
ment solutions for payment authentica-
tion, banking know-your-customer (KYC)
procedures, logins for e-services and
many other types of secure applications
that run on personal devices.
The SDK provides a subset of the
capabilities in Neurotechnology’s more
full-featured VeriLook SDK for facial iden-
tification, and it has a smaller library size
compared to the previous Face Verification
ing a non-destructive preload the design
eliminates pad wear on the test interface
board. The cDragon design features a
self-cleaning reverse wipe action for
extended cleaning intervals and longer pin
life resulting in significantly higher uptime
of the test cell.
https://resources.cohu.com

pinpoints locations within

centimetres
Antenova Ltd has developed a new
SMD positioning antenna that achieves
an extraordinary level of accuracy in the
GNSS bands, it can pinpoint a location to
within centimetres.
The Raptor antenna uses the L2,
1200 MHz satellite bands which recently
became available for civilian use. It is the
latest addition to Antenova’s lamiiANT
range of rigid FR4 antennas designed for
easy insertion onto a PCB. The antenna
itself is very small – it is a GPS single
feed antenna in SMD form, measur-
ing just 16.0- x 8.0- x 1.6-mm, which
makes it suitable for small PCBs within
all kinds of small electronic devices. The
L2 frequency band combines multi-band
satellite signal reception and GNSS cor-
rection data. This helps to mitigate posi-
tion errors, greatly improving accuracy,
especially in urban areas.
www.antenova.com
SDK
simplifies integration of facial
authentication applications
Neurotechnology has released a face
verification software development kit
(SDK) designed for the integration of facial
authentication into enterprise and con-
sumer applications for mobile devices and
PCs, providing enhanced security through
biometric face recognition and liveness
detection to prevent spoofing.
The Face Verification SDK library has a
simple API that makes it easy to imple-
library in VeriLook version 10, allowing it to
be deployed in even smaller applications
Broadband 6-18 GHz
based on Face Verification technology. 3-way power divider
The Face Verification SDK also inherits
from VeriLook the ability to perform ICAO
face image checks in accordance with the
ISO 19794-5 standard. The checks may
be used by the integrators to ensure the
quality of the captured face image and
used in combination with liveness detec-
tion to reinforce anti-spoofing measures.
Face Verification SDK also includes
a flexible deployment mechanism
which helps system integrators use it in
transaction-based environments. At the
same time, it allows face verification to
be performed offline and keeps the server
component on the end customer’s side.
A 3-way Wilkinson power divider from
www.neurotechnology.com MECA has been optimized for excellent
performance covering; 6.0-18.0 GHz
Contactor (P3S-12.000). Key specifications include
isolation of 20 dB minimun (25 dB typical),
enables RF final testing at high maximum VSWR of 1.4:1, 0.7 dB maxi-
temperatures mum insertion loss and amplitude balance
of 0.4 dB maximum. The device comes in
Cohu has launched a high speed test a compact package measuring 2.5- x 3.8-
system that combines advanced test fea- x 1.0-cm (1- x 1.5- x 0.4-inches).
tures at temperatures from -55 °C to +155
°C with extensive RF capabilities and an www.e-MECA.com
innovative pin design for high test yield
and low cost of ownership. The closed-
loop Intelligent Contactor Option on the
Cellular IoT module
cDragon controls the required conditions small, low-power, integrated
for the device under test (DUT). cDragon’s security features
compatibility with existing setups allows
for fast and easy conversion.
The temperature performance is
achieved by a unique design integrating
per pin heat exchangers and applying a
closed-loop for temperature control to
stabilize the temperature at the DUT. Low
contact resistance with 22 GHz operation
means the system is aimed at contacting
advanced analogue and RF technology in
DFN, QFN, QFP and SO packages.
The design of the cDragon pin ensures The nRF9160 has GCF certification for
high test yield due to precise point- compliance to the 3GPP LTE specification
ing accuracy and highly repeatable test and global cellular network interoperability,
results. Motion decoupling tabs hold the as well as required FCC and CE regulatory
returning pin in a fixed free height position certifications. This means it is approved
while the force-controlled wipe ensures for deployment globally.
reliable contact avoiding objectionable At 10- x 16- x 1-mm, the nRF9160 SiP
impacts on DUT pads and pin. Apply- is a complete solution that only needs

24 MW January - February 2019 www.mwee.com


an external battery, SIM, and antenna to
operate. For the integration, Nordic part-
nered with Qorvo to make a SiP resembles
an IC more than a module. The nRF9160
SiP leverages Qorvo’s RF front-end,
advanced packaging, and MicroShield
technology to combine high performance
with low power consumption.
The nRF9160 SiP is the first cellular
IoT module to incorporate the Arm Cortex
M-33 CPU core, which is supported by
1MB Flash and 256kB of RAM. It also
is the first module to incorporate Arm’s
TrustZone and Arm CryptoCell security for
Internet-level encryption and application
protection. The nRF9160 SiP also features
a broad range peripheral set, integrated
GPS, analogue and digital interfaces, 32
GPIOs, a stand-alone modem with full LTE
capability, plus a multiband RF front-end.
www.nordicsemi.com
Low cost flexible
RFID ICs
suitable for smart packaging
Designed for use in closed HF RFID sys-
tems, PragmatIC’s PR1101 and PR1102
flexible integrated circuits (FlexICs) are the
first products in the company’s ConnectIC
family.
Developed using PragmatIC’s unique
platform of patented technologies, Con-
nectICs deliver connectivity solutions at
the lowest cost point in the market, claims
the manufacturer, delivering an ultra-thin
and flexible solution that can be embed-
ded into a wide range of substrates,
including paper and plastic.
The devices reduce the complexity
of inlays by using single layer antennas,
delivering a further step down in cost
to brand owners and retailers. These
ConnectICs are extremely attractive for
high-volume fast-moving consumer goods
(FMCGs) and other mass market appli-
cations, with electronic connectivity no
longer limited to high value, luxury items.
The PR1100 product series facilitates
rapid detection of objects when one
or more low-cost custom readers are
integrated into the system. Designed
for proximity identification applications,
these FlexICs are suitable for applications
www.mwee.com
including hierarchical inventory manage-
ment, item identification and tracking,
supply chain assurance and brand authen-
tication. They are targeted at market
segments such as food and beverage,
personal and home care, pharmaceuti-
cal and healthcare. They also support
the introduction of digital interactivity into
physical toys and games. x
www.pragmatic.tech
10-Gb/s 802.11ad
networking platform
The EVK-W130-AP4 10-Gb/s 802.11ad
networking platform developed by Peraso
Technologies is now available to meet the
demand for the ever-increasing push by
service providers to provide multi-gigabit
internet access to the home.
The platform will incorporate the Peraso
W130 802.11ad, 16-element phased array
chipset. In addition to increased capacity,
the 60 GHz band brings greenfield spec-
trum that is virtually interference free, in
contrast to the existing 2.4/5 GHz bands,
which have become saturated, and do not
provide a reliable channel of communica-
tion. The paltform was demonstrated at
CES 2019.
“The introduction of the EVK-
W130-AP4 networking platform ushers in
a new era of performance and reliability
in the residential networking market”,
explains Bill McLean, President and CEO
of Peraso. “For example, in China, our
access point customers are telling us that
the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands are fundamen-
tally saturated. Customers are looking for
an alternative solution.”
www.perasotech.com
Wi-Fi flexible antennas
are side-fed for compactness
Molex’s Wi-Fi flexible antenna series is
designed for fast and easy integration
into wireless devices with minimal imple-
mentation cost.
January - February 2019
Products
The 206994-series side-fed cable-flex-
ible antenna enables high-performance
RF transmission for the most demand-
ing Wi-Fi applications, including those
with space constraints. When centre-
fed cable antennas do not address the
needs of particular applications, side-fed
cable antenna designs are required: the
206994-series monopole side-fed flex
antenna addresses the requirements of
small-size devices, while the 204281-
series dipole supports applications that
need fully balanced transmission and
ground-plane independence regardless of
cable length. The 206994-series antenna
measures only 15.0- x 6.0-mm in order
to fit within today’s space constraints.
The antenna deliver over 70% radiation
efficiency and a return loss under -10 dB.
www.molex.com
28 GHz GaN front end
module
targets fixed wireless base
stations
Qorvo® has expanded its offering for
5G applications with the industry’s first
28 GHz Gallium Nitride (GaN) front-end
module (FEM), which reduces overall
system costs for base station equipment
manufacturers as they expand into 5G.
The QPF4001 FEM integrates a high
linearity LNA, a low loss transmit/receive
switch (TR SW) and a high-gain, high
efficiency multi-stage PA in a single MMIC.
The compact 5- x 4-mm air-cavity lami-
nate surface mount package is optimized
for the phased array element spacing at
28 GHz for 5G base station architectures.
The QPF4001 operates from 26 GHz
to 30 GHz. The receive path (LNA + TR
SW) is designed to provide 17 dB of gain
and a typical noise figure of 3.5 dB. The
transmit path (PA + SW) provides 27 dB of
small signal gain with high linearity of 35
dBc ACPR and low EVM of 3% at 23 dBm
average output power, while supporting
peak power of 1-W.
The new GaN FEM enables smaller,
more powerful and efficient millimeter-
wave, phased array systems, which will
MW 25
 Products
steer signals to areas of greater bandwidth
demand. Using Qorvo’s highly efficient
0.15-micron GaN-on-SiC technology in
this application allows the user to more
efficiently achieve higher EIRP levels while
minimizing array size and power dissipa-
tion, resulting in a lower cost system.
According to SNS Telecom & IT, the
28 GHz frequency band is widely preferred
for early 5G-based fixed wireless access
(FWA) deployments, enabling operators
to meet the speed, latency, reliability and
capacity requirements of 5G.
www.qorvo.com
Qualcomm Snapdragon
processor is 5G ready
Qualcomm Corp. (San Diego, CA) has
announced the Snapdragon 855, a
5G-ready processor with numerous
enhancements designed to exploit 7nm
manufacturing process technology includ-
ing the first glimmers of machine learning
support in hardware.
The Kryo 485 CPU features a prime
core capable of up to 2.84 GHz clock
frequency. The 855 comes with a built-
in Snapdragon X24 LTE modem but is
presumably designed to work with an
external 5G modem chip.
Graphics are improved with the
Adreno 640 GPU and the Hexagon 690
DSP has been rebuilt for AI, with vector
accelerators and a Tensor accelerator.
This allows for voice and audio enhance-
ments based on machine learning such
as Elevoc’s noise cancellation and voice-
recognizing assistants from Google,
Amazon and Baidu.
Qualcomm said it has also revamped
its AI software engine to its fourth ver-
sion. Together with the hardware support
this is now three times the performance
of its predecessor, the company said.
The Snapdragon includes a dedicated
computer vision image signal processor
core, the Spectra 380 and for rendering
the chip includes the Adreno 640 GPU,
which supports Vulkan 1.1 API.
www.qualcomm.com
26 MW January - February 2019
Real-time remote
analyzer
based on the SignalShark
Narda Safety Test Solutions has released
an equivalent remote-controlled version
of its SignalShark at an attractive price/
performance ratio. This latest real-time
remote analyzer detects and analyzes,
classifies and localizes RF signals in the
frequency range between 8 kHz and 8
GHz to the highest degree of precision
and reliability.
The real-time remote analyzer has
been modified and optimized for universal
applications requiring efficient, centrally-
controlled monitoring of systems, the
components of which may be widely
spaced and spread out over a large area.
The module solves complex measurement
and analysis problems, thanks to its high
RF performance (i.e. super sensitivity, yet
with high immunity to overmodulation),
ITU compliance, reliability, and speed.
www.narda-sts.com
Bluetooth sticker sensor
tag operates battery-free
With a vision to connect people with pack-
aging and products using paper thin bat-
tery-free Bluetooth sensors, Israeli startup
Wiliot has raised $30 million in series B
funding with Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Investment Arm, Samsung Venture Invest-
ment Corp., and Avery Dennison.
The new investors have joined Nor-
west Venture Partners, 83North, Grove
Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, and M
Ventures to raise an additional $30 million
of funding. This follows its demonstration
of the first-ever sticker-sized Bluetooth
sensor tag incorporating an ARM proces-
sor powered solely by scavenging energy
from ambient radio frequencies.
A Wiliot chip glued to a simple antenna
printed on plastic or paper can authenti-
cate the proximity of a product by trans-
mitting an encrypted serial number along
with weight and temperature data from a
device the size of a postage stamp. Elimi-
nating most of the components associ-
ated with traditional Bluetooth, these tags
lower sale and maintenance costs to pre-
viously unachievable levels. The tags use
Wiliot’s breakthrough in nanowatt com-
puting to communicate with any device
enabled by Bluetooth Low Energy, such
as smartphones, Wi-Fi access points and
Internet of Things (IoT) devices that can
connect to digital displays, Wi-Fi and LTE
cellular networks.
“We believe that disposable elec-
tronics based on battery-free, low-cost
systems are the foundation for future IoT
systems. We are on the edge of dra-
matically changing the way products are
made, how they are distributed, where
and when they are sold, and how they are
used and recycled,” said Tal Tamir, Wiliot
CEO and co-founder.
“Re-cycling the radiation around us to
power sticker-size sensors can enable
new ways for consumers to interact
with products that were previously not
feasible. Products can share when they
are picked up, their temperature, or when
they need to be replenished. Without
batteries or other high-cost components,
tags have unlimited power and lifespan,
so can be embedded inside of products
that were previously unconnected to the
Internet of Things.”
Real-life applications for Wiliot tags
include real-time item tracking through a
manufacturing process, to the warehouse
and from the store to the end consumer,
all while gathering critical information. At
the retail level, the Wiliot transponder can
overcome the limits of human-readable
product information on tags or packag-
ing, unlocking interactive engagement
through the consumer’s own phone
or displays. At home, consumers can
communicate with their products to get
instructions and reminders of when and
how to use them, and Wiliot-enabled
containers can automatically reorder
themselves when empty. Valuable prod-
ucts can be tracked in case they are lost
or stolen without having to add a dongle
with limited battery life.
www.wiliot.com
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