LoRa (long-range) technology ensures reliable long-range communication between a node and gateway, making it well-suited for a range of Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications. The purpose of building a LoRa node is to reduce costs while ensuring long-term, low-power use for devices. LoRa’s low power is affected by several features, covered below. Features Smart programming. The written […]
Wireless
RF power transistor delivers 2500 W
The ART2K5TFUS and ART2K5TFUG power transistors from Ampleon amplify signals from 1 MHz to 400 MHz.
Spectrum measurements shed light on sign malfunctions
Interference in the 900 MHz band appears to produce random errors in a gas station price sign. Spectrum analyzers help track it down. I received a call recently from a former client who manufactures electronic signs. A gas station was experiencing intermittent loss of wireless control of its signs, which displayed the price of various […]
Four-port switch lets you connect antennas to radios and test equipment
Signal Hound announced the addition of the RFS44 to its expanding product line. This powerful, ultra-fast antenna switch is in stock and available to Order Now. The RFS44 is a single pole four-throw (SP4T) absorptive solid state switch. Using silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology, the RFS44 provides RF switching across four ports at up to 44 GHz.…
RF generators produce test signals to 40 GHz
The SMB100B series from Rohde & Schwarz produces microwave carriers to 40 GHz. Test-instrument manufacturer Rohde & Schwarz introduced a series of four microwave signal generators, the SMB100B. The instruments come with four models depending on top frequency: 12.75 GHz, 20 GHz, 31.8 GHz, and 40 GHz. All models support AM, FM, phase, and pulse […]
How do 5G eMBB and FWA data services compare?
Fixed-wireless access is a special use case of enhanced mobile broadband, one of the three use cases specified for 5G. FWA brings different challenges for deployment than eMBB.
Choose a 5G base station’s PA bias control circuit
Bias control of PAs is crucial to ensure optimum radio performance under all conditions. Current sensing and temperature sensing provides the feedback needed to control the PA bias. The choice of sensing and biasing circuits brings design trade-offs. 5G base station power amplifiers (PAs) need biasing using a separate bias controller to maintain optimum performance…
What is intermodulation, and is it good or bad? Part 2
A mixer can upconvert and downconvert a modulated signal with no loss of baseband information. Part 1 of this series described intermodulation resulting from the combining of two or more sinusoidal signals through a nonlinear device such as the mixer in Figure 1. The mixer’s output is the product of its two inputs, and its […]
Mixer converts 20 GHz to 80 GHz frequencies down to IF
mmTron Inc. announced an innovative active mixer providing frequency conversion from 20 to 80 GHz. In addition to its bandwidth, the TMC170D stands out with 0 dB average conversion loss across the band with an LO drive of only 0 dBm. The InP semiconductor-based design achieves RF and LO coverage from 20 to 80 GHz…
6G: Sub-THz device reaches 100 Gbps data rate
NTT DOCOMO, INC., NTT Corporation, NEC Corporation, and Fujitsu Limited jointly announced the development of a top-level wireless device capable of ultra-high-speed 100 Gbps transmissions in the 100 GHz and 300 GHz sub-terahertz bands. The four companies have been jointly conducting R&D on sub-terahertz devices since 2021 in anticipation of the coming 6G era. To…