Front End I News
Mobile World Congress: Is the world coming alive to envelope tracking?
It looks like that after 10 years in development mobile phones with Envelope Tracking (ET) could make an appearance later this year, according to the market leader in this technology. Speaking before the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona Nujira, the UK company that has been leading the way in the development of Envelope Tracking, said that around twelve chipset vendors were testing the technology and, as if to prove that point, Qualcomm chose the congress to announce that it was entering the RF front end market with its new RF360, incorporating an Envelope Tracking power supply IC. The roll out of Envelope Tracking comes at a time when mobile handset developers face a number of RF engineering challenges such as needing to simultaneously support different operating modes (e.g. LTE, TD-LTE, WCDMA, HSPA and GSM) in one handset, while supporting an increasing number of frequency bands.
For Nujira the announcement by Qualcomm was seen as great validation for Envelope Tracking but it questioned Qualcomm’s approach and raised doubts over both the lack of performance data made available, such as which LTE bandwidths will the device be able to support, as well as the design approach being taken both in terms of the partitioning and packaging of the device. Qualcomm is offering Envelope Tracking as part of a 3D packaging solution and according to Tim Haynes, CEO, Nujira “Offering the whole RF chain as a module, as Qualcomm have attempted to do with the RF360, means a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach is being taken and we believe
that is a significant drawback when RF performance is seen as the key differentiator for 4G handsets.” By contrast Nujira’s new “Woodstock” 16-band Multi-Mode, Multi-Band (MMMB) ET reference design for 4G smartphone RF Front Ends covers up to 16 frequency bands from 700MHz to 2.7GHz . The reference design can provide multi-band 2G, 3G and 4G performance, while using less PCB area and battery power than in existing 3G smartphones.
operator-specific LTE ET PA, which means that the design is able to ensure maximum frequency band coverage and energy efficiency at minimal costs. By enabling handsets to operate on almost all worldwide 3G and 4G bands, the design significantly reduces the need for regional variants. The reference design integrates the NCT- L1200 Envelope Tracking supply modulator with PA devices, switches and filters from a number of Tier 1 suppliers, providing
reference design provides vendors with a rapid solution for single-SKU global 4G handsets which can beat today’s 3G phones on cost, size, RF performance and power consumption. The mobile industry needs a Multi-Mode, Multi-Band reference design that can be quickly incorporated into handsets. MMMB front ends are undoubtedly the future.” Nujira has also released details of significant test results that demonstrate how ET technology can unlock the potential of RF CMOS PAs for high end 3G and 4G smartphone applications. According to a research white paper using ET the linearity, efficiency and output power of CMOS PAs can be boosted to beyond the performance of today’s Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) PAs, even for high linearity LTE signals. Nujira said that test results showed that the combination of ET power modulators and a prototype CMOS PA device were able to achieve the performance required for 4G. The key metrics achieved were 57% efficiency, 28dBm average output power, and -38dB ACLR, with a high peak-to-average power ratio LTE signal.
Woodstock has been designed to
overcome the energy efficiency and frequency band challenges that mobile operators and handset OEMs are having to contend with since the introduction of 4G. The Woodstock reference design
provides an integrated solution incorporating a multi-mode, multi-band ET Power Amplifier (PA), a broadband 2.3-2.7 GHz ET PA, and an additional region- or
handset manufacturers with a complete solution from transceiver to antenna. Nujira’s ET modulator enables the handset to deliver full power to the antenna port, while at the same time both maximising coverage and boosting data rates, even for LTE signals with high Peak-to-Average Power Ratios (PAPR), eliminating the need for Maximum Power Reduction (MPR). According to Haynes “Our new
These high end performance results have been made possible by Nujira’s patented ISOGAIN Linearization which removes the need for Digital Pre Distortion in CMOS PAs and linearizes the PA at no extra cost, power or complexity, while keeping the device in a highly efficient compressed state across a wide power control range. By demonstrating the potential for high end applications of CMOS PAs, Nujira looks to have opened the door for what is set to be a hugely disruptive technology shift in the RF market.
CEVA’s latest multi-core system technology enriches architecture framework
CEVA has unveiled a new suite of advanced processor and multi-core technologies that enhance the CEVA- XC DSP architecture framework for high performance wireless applications such as wireless terminals, small cells, access points, metro and macro base-stations. New enhancements include: comprehensive multi-
core features, high-throughput vector floating-point processing and a complete set of co-processor engines that are able to offer power-efficient hardware- software partitioning. CEVA has collaborated closely with a number of leading OEMs, wireless semiconductors and IP partners for the definition and optimisation of these technologies. “In addition to improving performance the use of
ARM’s latest interconnect and coherency protocols, along with advanced automated data traffic managers, and a dynamic scheduling software framework, CEVA has been able to position itself as the only DSP licensor today that is able to offer such extensive support for multi-core DSP-based SoCs, “ said J. Scott Gardner, Senior Analyst at The Linley Group. “The CEVA-XC architecture framework includes all the essential DSP platform components for a wide range of user equipment and infrastructure applications.” CEVA’s advanced multi-core technology - MUST - is a cache-based technology with advanced support for cache coherency, resource sharing and data management and to
6 March 2013 Components in Electronics
facilitate the development of advanced multi-core SoCs containing ARM processors and multiple CEVA DSPs, CEVA has also added extensive support to the CEVA-XC architecture framework for the ARM AXI4 interconnect protocol and AMBA 4 ACE cache coherency extensions simplifying the software development and debugging process for SoC designs. The LTE-Advanced and 802.11ac standards leverage multiple input multiple output (MIMO) processing, where the system utilises multiple antennae to transmit and receive data. In order to achieve ultra-high precision and optimal performance when processing these complex data streams, CEVA has added support for floating-point operations to the CEVA-XC vector processor unit, in addition to the traditional fixed-point capabilities. CEVA has also added a comprehensive set of tightly-coupled extension (TCE) coprocessor units which are able to address functions of the modem where greater performance can be achieved through the use of hardware that is tightly coupled with the CEVA-XC.
Eran Briman, vice president of marketing at CEVA commented: “The suite of technologies introduced for the CEVA-XC will serve to vastly improve the
performance, power consumption and time-to-market for multi-core DSP SoC designs targeting wireless applications.”
www.cieonline.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44