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M/A-COM has expanded its beam-lead
PIN diode group with the addition of the
MA4PBL027 HMIC silicon beam-lead PIN diode. The diode uses the HMIC performance advantages of lower loss, smaller frequency dispersion and improved RF incident operating power.
The MA4PBL027 diode is fabricated on epitaxial wafers, which are designed to provide highly repeatable electrical characteristics and extremely low parasitics. Plus, the diode is passivated with silicon dioxide, silicon nitride and a BCB protective polymer.
The low Ct (30 fF), respectable Rs (2.8 V) and small Ls (0.3 nH) make it useful for multithrow switches, switched-pad attenuators and switched-line phase shifters in microwave control circuits. The switching speeds, which are less than 50 ns, are achieved with a M/A-
COM-standard, DR65-0001, surface-mount,
+/- 5 V PIN diode driver.
The MA4PBL027 is available from stock and is priced at approximately $3.75, in quantities of 10,000.
M/A-COM
(800) 366-2266 www.macom.com
an attenuation step of 10 dB. This wideband digital attenuator offers low VSWR, +50 dBm input IP3, and attenuation accuracy of
+/- 0.2 dB.
The HMC603MS10(E) and the
HMC603QS16(E) are 0.5 dB LSB five-bit digital attenuators covering 0.7 GHz to
3.8 GHz. Both attenuators provide an attenuation range of 0.5 dB to 15.5 dB, with +48 dBm input IP3, and ±0.2 dB attenuation accuracy from 800 MHz to 2700 MHz.
The HMC539LP3(E), HMC540LP3(E) and HMC541LP3(E) are housed in leadless
QFN 3 mm x 3 mm SMT packages, while the
HMC603MS10(E) and the HMC603QS16(E) are housed in 10-lead MSOP and 16-lead
QSOP SMT packages, respectively. All five products are available in RoHS-compliant packaging.
Hittite Microwave
(978) 250-3343 www.hittite.com
Hittite Microwave Corporation has announced five positive-control GaAs MMIC digital attenuators that offer resolution to
0.25 dB, excellent accuracy, monotonic operation, high linearity, TTL/CMOS control and
RoHS compliance.
The HMC539LP3(E) dc- 4 GHz five-bit digital attenuator offers the an ultrafine resolution of 0.25 dB. Attenuation steps range from
0.25 dB to 7.75 dB, with +/- 0.05 dB typical step error and +50 dBm input IP3.
The HMC540LP3(E) is a four-bit digital attenuator that operates from dc to 5.5 GHz and provides an attenuation range of 1dB to
15 dB in 1.0 dB steps. The attenuator has an input IP3 of +50 dBm and an insertion loss of 1.1 dB at 3.5 GHz.
The HMC541LP3(E) one-bit digital attenuator is rated from dc to 5 GHz, and provides
In a compact casing, Laser’s LS/LT series of pulsed laser modules include all features required for safe pulsed laser diode operation.
The modules are easy to use and require a mere
+ 5/12 Vdc operating voltage and a trigger signal. With a maximum performance of up to 250 W, the modules are as easy to handle as common cw laser diodes.
Pulsed laser diodes are integrated at either
905 nm or 1550 nm. At 905 nm, the maximum performance spans 5 W to 250 W with a pulse length of 2.5 ns to 1 µs. In the “eyesafe” 1550 nm spectrum range, 3 W to 80 W modules are available, with a pulse length of
4 ns to 200 ns.
For most applications, running the PLD modules at constant pulse performance and pulse length is sufficient. Other modules are available where these parameters can be varied easily via a control voltage. Users can define the instrument’s parameters within a wider range, and can vary parameters even during operation. Another advantage is the costs saved during the development and trial phases. Another pulse length and performance range can be implemented with a single pulsed laser module.
In addition to a wide range of products for standard modules, customized versions are available on request.
Laser Components
(603) 821-7040 www.lasercomponents.com
Mini-Circuits' Blue Cell technology allows the use of its 90  splitters to enhance the performance of a family of medium-power amplifiers. Balanced amplifier configurations can offer the improvement of both input and output return loss due to reflections canceling in the hybrid couplers. Amplifier design stability is also more predictable due to each active device being terminated in a 50  load.
Furthermore, output power and third-order intercept performance are twice that of a single device amplifier. Lastly, if one-half of a balanced amplifier fails, it will still operate with a gain reduction of about 6 dB.
The splitter/combiners are the QBA series of Blue Cell Technology low-temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) two-way, 90  quadrature hybrids. The input QBA divides and applies the power equally to the two amplifier halves. The output QBA recombines the two output powers from the amplifiers. The input and output reflected signals of A1 and A2 are coupled to the 50  ports of the hybrids.
The two gain stages in each side of the balanced amplifier have been designed to cascade for optimal overall performance.
Gain, frequency response, noise figure and third-order intercept points are all factors that must be considered when cascading amplifier stages. The design of this family of amplifiers was optimized for high third-order intercept performance while maintaining a combination of high dynamic range and wide bandwidth.
Mini-Circuits
(800) 654-7949 www.minicircuits.com
Sirenza Microdevices has announced an addition to a family of broadband amplifiers for use as drivers for wireless infrastructure,
ISM, and wireless access applications. The
SXB-2089Z amplifier operates from 5 MHz to 2500 MHz and features an output IP3 of
+43 dBm at 1960 MHz, gain of 17 dB and a noise figure of 4.3 dB.
The amplifier uses Sirenza’s patented approach to thermal distribution for lower junction temperatures and increased reliability.
The IC boasts an ESD rating of Class 2 (2
KV HBM) and is rated for MSL-1 for robust, rugged and reliable performance.
The SXB-2089Z is available for immediate www.rfdesign.com January 2006

shipment in RoHS-compliant, lead-free and older generation, non-RoHS packages.
Sirenza Microdevices
(303) 327-3030 www.sirenza.com
Silicon Laboratories Inc.
has announced the first product in its SiRX product family, which is a fully integrated single-chip satellite RF front-end for direct broadcast satellite
(DBS). The Si21xx devices are suitable for all free-to-air (FTA) and pay-TV DBS equipment including satellite set-top boxes, PC cards for satellite TV, DBS receivers for automotive or avionic use, DVD recorders and digital TVs with integrated satellite receivers.
The SiRX satellite RF front-end integrates a high-performance satellite L-band RF tuner, a dual-mode DVB-S/DSS digital demodulator and a power-efficient, step-up supply controller for the low-noise block converter (LNB) into a single 6 mm x 8 mm CMOS product.
The integration of the LNB supply controller includes support for DiSEqC 2.x and legacy tone/voltage LNB signaling.
The SiRX family provides sensitivity, intermodulation distortion, receiver implementation loss and LNB peripheral support.
The integration of the tuner, demodulator and
LNB supply functions eliminates the need for external signaling. The single-chip RF-todigital architecture of the SiRX satellite RF front-end family reduces design time and allows conversion from terrestrial or cable reception to satellite reception for existing designs.
Silicon Laboratories
(877) 444-3032 www.silabs.com
u-Nav Microelectronics has implemented a single-chip GPS receiver. This true monolithic GPS receiver is accomplished by combining u-Nav’s all CMOS RFIC core with its third-generation baseband IC core to form a single-die GPS receiver. A generation search engine has been added to support high sensitivity-assisted GPS signal acquisition well beyond the levels specified in the IS-801 and
3GPP standards.
The single-chip GPS receiver will use u-Nav’s Orion v2.0 software, which provides support for conventional GPS operation as well as synchronous (IS-801 and 3GPP2) and asynchronous (3GPP)-assisted GPS. Sampling of the single-chip GPS receiver is planned for the end of the fourth quarter of 2005 with production slated for the first half of 2006. u-Nav Microelectronics
(949) 453-2727 www.unav-micro.com
Actel Corporation has unveiled capabilities available with its Libero integrated design dnvironment (IDE). The Libero 6.3 software provides a secure design flow—from synthesis through implementation—for integrating
Actel’s CoreMP7, a soft ARM7 family processor, into Actel’s single-chip, non-volatile field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs).
Libero 6.3 provides an advanced blocklevel methodology that enables designers to aggregate IP around CoreMP7, map it into
Actel’s ProASIC3/E FPGA fabric with predictable timing, and verify operation.
Libero 6.3 also employs advanced matching algorithms to automate I/O voltage assignments, alleviating the time-consuming process of optimizing I/O schemes for complex, processor-based designs. This new I/O bank assigner automatically assigns VCCI voltages and VREF pins to appropriate unassigned
I/Os during layout. Automating this previously manual process simplifies FPGA design, especially for complex devices containing as many as 80 types of I/Os.
The Libero 6.3 IDE is available in a
Platinum edition for Windows and Unix platforms, which sell for $2495 and $4995, respectively. A free Gold edition is also available for Windows. All editions are one-year renewable licenses.
Actel Corporation
(650) 318-4200 www.actel.com
AT697’s higher performance.
The AT697 processor implements the
LEON2 FT (fault-tolerant) VHDL model owned by ESA, the European Space Agency.
It is produced on Atmel’s 0.18  m CMOS process in Atmel’s France manufacturing site. It includes a SPARC V8 integer unit, a floating point unit, separate instruction and data caches, a PCI interface and a flexible memory controller that can interface with
SRAM, PROM and SDRAM.
The AT697 operates with 1.8 V and 3.3
V power supplies for the core and the I/O buffers, respectively. It delivers 86 MIPs
(Dhrystone 2.1) and 23 MFlops (Whetstone) at 100 MHz. The ratio between performance and power consumption reaches a value as high as 150 MIPs/W, the power consumption being 7 mW/MHz.
The AT697 processor is available as a stand-alone component in a ceramic hermetic
MCGA 349-pin package. This package is space-qualified and brings a significant advantage in terms of size, weight and thermal resistivity compared to the existing quad flat pack solution.
The AT697 samples are available. The current version of the processor (AT697E) will be delivered tested to military quality flow
(QML-Q) for some ESA projects. The AT697 processor flight models will be delivered tested to either QML Q & V or ESCC quality flows.
This second version of the AT697 processor will have improved radiation capabilities up to 300 krads.
Atmel
(408) 441-0311 www.atmel.com
Atmel Corporation has announced the availability of the AT697, a radiation-hardened
32-bit SPARC processor (V8) for the space industry. Compared to the former SPARC processors, the AT697 improves the speed vs. power consumption ratio by eight, providing the spacecraft computers with an increased calculation capacity in a three-times smaller package.
The AT697 is also software-compatible with the previous Atmel SPARC processors, which are used in flight as the central component of the spacecraft computers. This allows engineers to reuse any software application that has been developed with Atmel’s previous SPARC processors, with the benefit of the
Millimeter Wave Technology has launched a custom absorber/isolation curtain. Electronic
Product Code (EPC) RFID users benefit from this isolation curtain since it enhances read accuracy and throughput while minimizing unintended reads.
Light, thin and flexible, as well as wear-, tear- and petroleum oil lubricant-resistant, these
RFID isolation curtains provide high isolation between the read area and balance of the facility as well as a quiet zone, which minimizes multipathing and associated read errors.
Available in custom and standard sizes, the curtains are designed to provide minimal resistance to product flow while maximizing data collection accuracy and throughput.
Millimeter Wave Technology
(413) 582-9620 www.millitech.com
RF Design www.rfdesign.com 65

Hittite Microwave Corporation has introduced three mixers within the company’s connectorized module product line. These hermetic mixer modules are intended for military, space, wideband telecom, industrial, microwave radio and test equipment applications from
4 GHz to 38 GHz.
The HMC-C009 is a 4.0 GHz to 8.5 GHz
I/Q mixer module that can be used as either an image reject mixer or a single sideband converter. The HMC-C009 features +23 dBm input IP3, 35 dB image rejection, and 40 dB of LO to RF isolation.
The HMC-C014 and HMC-C015 doublebalanced mixer modules operate from 16 GHz to 32 GHz, and from 24 GHz to 38 GHz, respectively. Both mixers offer IF bandwidth of dc to
8 GHz and high LO to RF and LO to IF isolations of up to 40 dB. These passive mixer modules require no DC bias and may also be used as bi-phase modulators/demodulators or as wideband phase comparators.
Each of these mixer modules feature removable SMA connectors that can be detached to allow direct connection of the module’s I/O pins to a microstrip or coplanar circuit.
Hittite Microwave
(978) 250-3343 www.hittite.com
Designed to minimize the interference between co-located Inmarsat and Iridium systems, K&L’s 6FVSP-00078 provides sharp rejection and low loss.
Space in locations such as ships and aircraft is at a premium, creating interference between these two systems. This co-location filter has extremely low insertion loss in the Iridium band while providing 40 db of rejection in the adjacent Inmarsat transmission band. Independent tests have indicated that using the filter reduces the required antenna spacing for acceptable operation of both systems from as high as
700 meters to as low as 1 meter, depending on the application.
K&L Microwave
(410) 749-2424 www.klmicrowave.com
Atheros Communications Inc.’s dual-
66 www.rfdesign.com January 2006

68 band, concurrent wireless LAN (WLAN) access point (AP) reference design, Atheros
AR5002AP-2X, has been Wi-Fi certified for
Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM) Power Save by the
Wi-Fi Alliance. The dual-band AP solution has also been chosen for inclusion in the WMM
Power Save certification test bed.
Atheros’ AR5002AP-2X 802.11a and
802.11g dual-band, concurrent WLAN AP reference design will be used to test 802.11g or 802.11a/g products that are submitted for certification of WMM Power Save. Wi-Fi certified for WMM Power Save products increase battery life in small-form factor devices by enabling an advanced set of features for
WiFi networks including improved signaling capabilities and fine-tuned power consumption that increase the efficiency and flexibility of data transmission to conserve power. Atheros’
AR5002AP-2X is also used by the Wi-Fi Alliance in its test beds for 802.11a, 802.11g,
WPA2 and WMM.
WMM Power Save has been optimized for small-form factor, battery-operated devices running latency-sensitive applications such as voice, audio or video, but can benefit any
WiFi device. With WMM Power Save, the same amount of data can be wirelessly transmitted in a shorter time while allowing the
WiFi device to remain longer in a low-power mode of operation.
Atheros
(408) 773-5200 www.atheros.com
Mini-Circuits has introduced five models of the ZX10-4 family of four-way 0° splitters/ combiners, designed to operate from 800 MHz to 3000 MHz, delivering performance in a small rugged package.
The ZX10-4 devices are suitable for panel mount, conserving space on a panel, maintaining high isolation (20 dB typical) and low insertion loss (0.6 dB typical). The devices are suited for antenna arrays, signal distribution, and test bench use.
ZX10-4-series models from $38.95 each for quantities up to 24.
Mini-Circuits
(800) 654-7949 www.minicircuits.com
of SDRs conforming to the SCA.
A key component of the Zeligsoft-Harris solution is the pre-integrated PC core framework. This desktop development and testing environment closely matches the embedded target to allow for seamless evolution onto actual radio hardware. On completion of the development project, the radio application is easily ported to the embedded system CF of choice for field deployment.
Zeligsoft
(800) 935-4479 www.zeligsoft.com
Linear Technology has announced the
LTC2284, a 14-bit 105 Msps dual high-speed
ADC that delivers a flat SNR response of
72.2 dB up to 70 MHz, as well as SFDR of
88 dB at baseband. The LTC2284 is the latest in a pin-compatible family of dual ADCs.
The 10-bit LTC2280 and 12-bit LTC2282
105 Msps dual ADCs accompany the LTC2284.
Featuring a wide bandwidth sampling rate of
105 Msps, these three dual ADCs expand an already extensive 3 V family of 10-, 12- and 14-bit parts ranging from 10 Msps to
105 Msps. Pin-compatibility offers designers more flexibility during product development and provides a fast and cost-effective upgrade path for existing designs. All three 105
Msps ADCs have low power consumption of
270 mW per channel and low crosstalk between channels of -110 dB.
All three devices are supported with demo boards for quick device evaluation, which can be purchased online. The LTC2284, LTC2282 and LTC2280 are available in production quantities in commercial and industrial temperature grades and are priced at $61.50,
$34.50 and $11.25, respectively in 1000-piece quantities.
Linear Technology
(408) 432-1900 www.linear.com
Zeligsoft Inc.
and Harris Corporation have announced a strategic alliance resulting in the offering of a complete software communications architecture (SCA)-based design and development environment for developers of software-defined radio (SDR).
The Zeligsoft-Harris product integration allows a complete middleware suite (Harris
Core Framework + CORBA environment), coupled with comprehensive development tools for rapid prototyping and test deployment
Agilent Technologies Inc. has announced an extensive set of measurement tools to ensure high-speed downlink packet access parametric performance. HSDPA is the 3.5G, packet-based data service added to the third- generation partnership project (3GPP) release
5 to improve the wireless code-division multiple-access (W-CDMA) downlink.
The frequency-division duplex and radio bearer test modes give manufacturing test developers flexibility in structuring their test processes for optimized performance. Both modes provide comprehensive support for Hset 1 through 5 and cover user equipment (UE) testing demands up through category 6.
The Agilent 8960 test set with the E1963A
W-CDMA mobile test application with option
403 HSDPA test modes provides a complete set of accurate and repeatable RF parametric measurements, giving users confidence in the
UE quality. Graphical dynamic power analysis of DPCH, HS-DPCCH, CQI, ACK, NACK, and DTX channels validates relative power levels between the channels over time.
Parallel W-CDMA bit error rate and HS-
DPA block error rate receiver measurements reduce overall receiver measurement test time while providing accuracy of Tx power and frequency measurements.
The Agilent E1963A W-CDMA mobile test application is available at a starting price of
$14,200, and the E1963A-403 test modes are priced at $9000. The Agilent E8875A 3GPP
FDD W-CDMA design library and E4438Cwww.rfdesign.com January 2006

70
418 signal studio for HSDPA over W-CDMA are offered starting at $33,035 and $6,000, respectively.
Agilent Technologies
(800) 452-4844 www.agilent.com
Anritsu Company has introduced the
MT8860B WLAN test set, a protocol-based single-instrument test solution for analyzing the performance of 802.11b/g devices and consumer products. Simulating an access point, the MT8860B creates a standard connection to the device under test (DUT), eliminating special DUT test mode software or signal generator programming commonly used by other
WLAN test systems. The MT8860B’s single connection design improves measurement speed and accuracy, while also decreasing test costs for developers and manufacturers of WLAN devices and end products.
All major 802.11b/g transmitter and receiver measurements can be made with the
MT8860B, making it a superior testing alternative to traditional test systems consisting of power meters, spectrum analyzers, Golden
Radios and attenuators. Because it simulates an access point, the MT8860B can directly measure a DUT’s receiver sensitivity and all transmitter parameters. Transmitter measurements, such as OFDM, EVM, power profile, spectral mask, and CCDF, can be conducted in parallel.
All transmitter measurements are conducted via the MT8860B’s packet loopback measurement capability that eliminates the need for DUT test mode software. In packet loopback, the MT8860B establishes a connection to the DUT via a standard 802.11b/g protocol. The MT8860B sends user-defined packets to the DUT, which are then returned to the test set by the DUT. Subsequently, the
MT8860B performs measurements on the returned packets. The same single connection can also be used for receiver measurements.
The MT8860B has a built-in reference radio that allows calibrated receiver packet error ratio (PER) measurements to be performed out-of-the-box. Traditional multi-instrument test systems require DUT test mode software and operators who can program test packets into a digital signal generator ARB.
Anritsu
(800) 267-4878 www.anritsu.com
Teledyne Microwave has announced a low phase noise YIG-tuned oscillator (YTO) in a miniature 1.25-inch cube package. The YTO operates at 8 GHz to 18 GHz with a phase noise performance of -125 dBc/Hz maximum and is part of Teledyne Microwave’s Ferretec family of YIG-based products.
The YTO, model FS2637, provides a typical phase noise performance of -125 dBc/Hz at 100 KHz offset across the entire 8 GHz to 18 GHz band. Additional performance includes output power of +13 dBm, typical, and an operating temperature of -55 °C to
+85 °C. The YTO is designed for test and instrumentation applications such as bit error rate and spectrum analyzers and is also suitable for high-frequency military and aerospace electronic systems.
The miniature cube style package measures only 1.25 inches x 1.25 inches and 1.32 inches high, including the SMA connector. The steel package is hermetically sealed for military applications, weighs 20 ounces (570 grams) and is designed to meet the requirements of
MIL-STD-883C manufacturing and screening.
Teledyne YTOs can be ordered with optional screening levels, with or without an FM coil, analog driver or digital driver.
Teledyne Microwave
(800) 596-3855 www.teledynerelays.com
Valpey Fisher is offering a line of voltage-controlled oscillators (VCO) and phasedlocked loop (PLL) modules, adding to its platform of high-frequency, low phase noise timing solutions. With a frequency range of
200 MHz to 5010 MHz, wide tunability and broad selection of package options, these
VCOs are suitable for high-precision signal sources used in a wide range of applications including ISM bands, D-AMPS, GSM,
CDMA, TDMA, GPS, WLAN, and point-topoint radio.
Valpey Fisher
(800) 982-5737 www.valpeyfisher.com
Endwave Corporation has announced the commercial introduction of an integrated transceiver board that is designed to eliminate
30% of the typical mechanical packaging cost from conventional modules, while preserving 100% of electrical performance. The proprietary packaging technique used is called Epsilon Packaging. In addition to cost reduction, Epsilon Packaging reduces the size and weight of a typical transceiver subassembly. This is accomplished by replacing heavyweight metal mechanical items with plated FR-4 and injection-molded metallized plastics.
The Epsilon Packaging approach also enables mixed technology integration, allowing MMIC, chip-on-board (COB), and surface-mount technology (SMT) components to co-exist, thus easing assembly and yielding further cost reductions. Crosstalk between receiver and transmitter sections has been addressed through a sophisticated high isolation trenching technique, while reflow issues have been resolved through extensive temperature profiling and new plating and assembly methods.
Endwave
(408) 522-3140 www.endwave.com
Melexis has extended its line of low-power and low-cost RFICs with a transmitter. The
TH72016 works in virtually any FSK, ASK or FM system in the 380 MHz to 450 MHz unlicensed industrial-scientific-medical (ISM) and short-range-devices (SRD) frequency bands. Its extended operating temperature range of -40 °C to +125 °C and clock output to drive a microcontroller make it fit for automotive applications such as tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) or remote keyless entry (RKE) that require enhanced data timing. The TH72016 comes in a spacesaving 10-pin quad flat no-lead (QFN) package with a footprint of 3 mm x 3 mm. Melexis’
ICs do not require external components to set up the PLL loop filter or the VCO. The
TH72016 IC accepts battery voltages from
1.9 V to 5.5 V. Power consumption ranges from 3.5 mA to 12.8 mA depending on the frequency and power setting. In standby mode, the current consumption is below 50 nA. The programmable RF transmit power range between -12 to 10 dBm allows the designer to adapt to his requirements.
Melexis
(603) 223-2362 www.melexis.com
www.rfdesign.com January 2006