9 June 2011

RFMD launches P2P radio chipsets for cellular backhaul  

At this week’s IEEE international Microwave Symposium (IMS 2011) in Baltimore, MD, USA (6–8 June), RF Micro Devices Inc of Greensboro, NC, USA announced the expansion of its multi-market product portfolio to include several point-to-point (P2P) radio chipsets targeting the growing cellular backhaul market. The highly integrated radio chipsets combine multiple RF/microwave radio front-end components and expand the firm's product portfolio to encompass all critical RF and IF functions in the P2P radio transceiver.

The P2P radio market is growing rapidly, as the proliferation of smart-phones and the increasing demand for mobile data are forcing cellular operators to expand capacity in cellular backhaul networks. RFMD says that its highly integrated P2P radio chipsets help to satisfy operators’ capacity expansion requirements by optimizing each front-end component for next-generation high-capacity 3G/4G radios using complex modulation schemes. The front-end components deliver what is claimed to be industry-leading narrowband performance, allowing state-of-the-art radio performance. Also, the broadband nature of the front-end components enables radio designers to maximize design flexibility and simplify inventory bill-of-material control, RFMD claims.

“RFMD is rapidly expanding our product portfolio in support of the point-to-point microwave radio market,” says Jeff Shealy, general manager of RFMD’s Defense and Power business unit. “With the launch of these highly integrated radio chipsets, RFMD enables our customers to develop high-reliability, next-generation point-to-point radio solutions while reducing design time requirements and lowering overall bill-of-material costs,” he adds.

Each new RFMD P2P radio chipset is available in a surface-mount QFN package. The integrated up-converters include a LO amplifier (with integrated x2 multiplier where applicable), IQ mixer, VVA and driver amplifier in a single package. The integrated down-converters use 0.15 micron gallium arsenide (GaAs) technology to deliver what is claimed to be industry-leading IIP3 and noise figure performance. Finally, the integrated MMIC VCOs also exhibit what is claimed to be industry-leading phase noise performance coupled with flat output power over the frequency tuning bandwidth. To complement the new radio chipsets, RFMD also offers a comprehensive portfolio of converters and gain blocks aimed at the IF section of the radio.

Tags: RFMD MMIC VCOs GaAs

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