RF & Microwave

University of Sheffield spin-out Phlux has announced its first product, a family of 1,550nm avalanche photodiodes. Called Aura, the infra-red devices are built using antimony alloy modified InGaAs. “The resulting sensors can be operated with APD gains up to 120, enabling even the smallest signals above the noise floor of a connected trans-impedance amplifier to be amplified,” according to the ...

Vodafone, Xiaomi, and Qualcomm  have successfully tested a new 5G technology that will pave the way for customers to get faster upload speeds and wider coverage with the arrival of new smartphones and devices expected during 2024. In the first European technical test of this  5G uplink technology, Vodafone, Qualcomm, and Xiaomi achieved peak upload speeds of up to 273Mbps. ...

Parallel Wireless (PW), the US  O-RAN specialist has deployed 1,500 O-RAN  sites across Africa. Expanding mobile connectivity throughout Africa is a unique challenge due to unreliable or inaccessible sources of electricity and challenging landscapes that make physical access difficult. PW partnered with regional telecommunications providers and governments in countries including Nigeria, Tanzania, Guinea Conakry, Ghana, South Sudan, Uganda, DRC, and ...

TI announced a 77GHz automotive radar for automated driving today at CES in Las Vegas. Called AWR2544 and made on 45 nm RFCMOS, it is aimed, for example, at vehicles with a radar at each corner that use ‘satellite’ rather than the more locally demanding ‘edge’ vehicle architecture, according to the company. With edge architecture, the radar will perform Doppler ...

Novocomms, the RF antenna design and manufacturing specialist, has unveiled NovoSat – a lightweight, dual-port, L Band antenna. Featuring high performance GNSS capability, the company highlights, it is also described as being ideal for high density environments, “urban canyons” and rugged terrains. The company writes: “The new antenna also performs well in poor weather conditions, thanks to its high gain, ...

5G services enhance safety and convenience in connected vehicles – but rely on a reliable connection. A project at the University of Warwick is dedicated to making sure cars and equipment are 5G-ready. The way cars are designed, made and used should significantly change with 5G connectivity. Critical properties include low latency, real-time determinism, the ability to handle large quantities ...

NXP has introduced an intelligent automotive RF IC that can implement automatic vehicle unlocking and short-range in-cabin radar, for example. “This enables OEMs to transform a single UWB-based car access system into a flexible, multi-purpose platform, enabling multiple use cases with the same hardware – for example, OEMs can leverage their secure car access system to also deliver features like ...

STMicroelectronics will be showing an evaluation kit that implements both power-line and sub-GHz RF comms for smart grid infrastructure this week at Enlit Europe. Called EVLKST8500GH-2, it combines the company’s ST8500 power-line communication SoC, STLD1 line driver and S2-LP low-power long-range sub-GHz radio transceiver – a chipset which is certified to the v1.4 Hybrid specification of power-line communication industry body ...

The race for comms from space is heating up. Viasat, the satellite communications company, and Skylo Technologies, a non-terrestrial network (NTN) service provider, have announced the launch of a global direct-to-device (D2D) network. Their infrastructure agreement will, they say, allow Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), device makers and chipset manufacturers to take 3GPP Release 17 compliant products to market using Viasat’s ...

A team of UK companies led by Stratospheric Platforms Limited (SPL), a Non Terrestrial Networks telecoms developer, has won a  contract trialling advanced airborne 5G connectivity from a Britten-Norman Islander. Aircraft manufacturer Britten-Norman will be providing key design and trials support for the project, with Marshall Futureworx providing cooling systems technology. SPL is pioneering the concept of using a High-Altitude ...