News
Spray-on antennas can be made
extremely thin
Researchers at Drexel University (Philadelphia,
PA) have developed a method
for spraying extremely thin antennas
made from a two-dimensional
(2D) metallic material
that perform as well as
those being used in mobile
devices, wireless routers,
and portable transducers.
The breakthrough, say
the researchers, could
make installing an antenna
for next-generation flexible electronics
“as easy as applying some bug spray.”
The key is the use of a new family of
atomically thin 2D metal inorganic compounds
– called “MXenes” – that have
unique properties compared to conventional
three-dimensional materials.
Graphene – which comprises just a
single layer of carbon – is probably the
most well-known 2D material, however
it is limited to carbon in its composition.
The new family of materials includes 2D
early transition metal carbides, nitride,
and carbonitrides. An MXene titanium
carbide material was used in the Drexel
research. The MXene titanium carbide
used by the researchers can be dissolved
in water to create
an ink or paint. Its exceptional
conductivity, say the
researchers, enables it to
transmit and direct radio
waves, even when it’s applied
in a very thin coating.
Initial testing suggests
that the spray-on antennas
can perform with the same range of
quality as current antennas made from
conventional metals, but which are much
thicker than MXene antennas. When
compared against a variety of antennas
made from other 2D materials – including
graphene, silver ink, and carbon nanotubes
– the MXene antennas were 50
times better than graphene and 300 times
better than silver ink antennas in terms
of preserving the quality of radio wave
transmission, say the researchers.
https://drexel.edu
LTE, mobile devices drive
RF tunable filter market
The latest research report from MarketsandMarkets
™ finds that the RF tunable
filter market is expected to grow from
USD 55.4 million in 2018 to USD 87.0
million by 2023, at a CAGR of 9.43%.
The report finds that growth of this
market is mainly driven by the factors
such as the growing demand for smartphones
and connected devices and
increasing use of long-term evolution
(LTE) network. RF tunable filters based
on MEMS capacitors and digitally tuned
capacitors are the most popular types of
tunable filters used in consumer electronic
devices. These tunable filters are
widely used in smartphones to minimize
the manufacturing cost.
According to the report radar systems
are expected to hold the largest
share of the RF tunable filter market
based on systems, in terms of value, by
2023, while the market for smart cities is
expected to grow at the highest CAGR
from 2018 to 2023, attributed to the
successful implementation of smart city
projects.
www.marketsandmarkets.com
Qualcomm, Ericsson in first 3GPP
5G NR sub-6 GHz OTA call
Qualcomm and Ericsson announced have
successfully completed a 3GPP Rel-15
spec compliant 5G NR over-the-air (OTA)
call over sub-6 GHz bands on a smartphone
form factor mobile test device.
The OTA call was conducted in the
Ericsson Lab in Stockholm, Sweden on
the 3.5 GHz band. Similar to the first
OTA calls performed using millimeter
wave (mmWave) in both 28 and 39 GHz
spectrum bands, which occurred in
September 2018, today’s sub-6 GHz call
utilized Ericsson’s commercial 5G NR
radio AIR 6488 and baseband products
and a mobile test device powered by
the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ X50 5G
modem and RF subsystem.
In December 2017, Ericsson and Qualcomm
Technologies announced interoperability
development testing (IODT) to help
pave the way for commercial launches of
5G NR standard-compliant infrastructure,
smartphones and other mobile devices
in the first half of 2019. The successful
5G OTA calls using both sub-6 GHz and
mmWave bands are critical milestones in
the commercialization process.
Per Narvinger, Head of Product Area
Networks, Ericsson, says, “Achieving
interoperability on different spectrums
shows the strength of the 5G ecosystem.
Together with Qualcomm Technologies,
we’ve successfully tested 5G NR on 39,
28 and now, 3.5 GHz band. These milestones
add to the commercial readiness
of 5G.”
“Sub-6 GHz spectrum is instrumental
to the global 5G NR rollout as it will
provide wide area, high performance
connectivity and has been allocated and
auctioned in numerous regions around
the world, including the US, Korea and
Europe, with others to follow shortly,”
says Durga Malladi, senior vice president,
engineering and general manager, 4G/5G,
Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.
www.qualcomm.com
Apple buys PMIC
capabilities from Dialog
Dialog Semiconductor plc has announced
a deal that will see it transfer 16 percent
of its workforce to Apple, while receiving
license fees and prepayment for three
years of products. In return Dialog is set
to be paid $600 million and will then its
focus on opportunities to supply configurable
mixed-signal, audio and charging
ICs into the IoT, mobile, automotive, computing
and storage sectors.
Dialog described the deal as a
strengthening of its partnership with Apple
while adding that it would continue to
deliver PMICs to other customers globally.
Under the terms of the deal Dialog will
license certain of its power management
technologies to Apple, transfer assets and
over 300 employees to Apple to support
chip R&D in return for $300 million in
cash. Apple will pay another $300 million
for the development and supply of power
management, audio subsystem, charging
and other mixed-signal ICs to be delivered
over the next three years.
www.dialog-semiconductor.com
6 MW November - December 2018 www.mwee.com
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