Challenges in Designing a New Modulation Scheme for LTE
LTE, or Long Term Evolution, is the latest mobile broadband standard and represents the start of the fourth generation of cellular communication systems. The downlink for LTE uses OFDMA modulation, which is a well understood technology from development of existing systems like WiMAX.
...continue
Network Operator Acceptance Testing of LTE Devices
The use of wireless devices, whether handsets or data cards, has increased substantially during the last few years. To accelerate device time-to-market and ensure customer satisfaction, many 2G/3G network operators have considered simulation tests in the lab as part of their acceptance programmes, and have established a device validation ecosystem with UE manufacturers and chipset vendors.
...continue
Wireless Sensor Networks Expand the Reach of Wireless Technology
Every day, smart devices are collecting more and more data from the world around us. Wireless technology continues to grow to meet an increasing demand for data, and it delivers a more efficient, more flexible solution with lower installation costs.
...continue
MIMO-Analysis for WiMAX, WLAN and LTE
Due to ongoing growth in demand for channel capacity, more and more radio standards such as WiMAX, 3GPP HSPA, 3GPP LTE and WLAN are adopting MIMO technology. Using MIMO it is possible to boost the data rate and achieve better transmission quality through simultaneous usage of multiple transmit and receive antennas.
...continue
The Role of Wideband Transceiver Technology in Enabling LTE
Long term evolution (LTE) is firmly on course to be the dominant wireless communications standard in the next decade. There is overwhelming operator commitment to adopting the LTE standard and capitalising on the unquestionable benefits it will bring to their subscribers, even more so than was demonstrated for its 3G predecessors.
...continue
Introduction to LTE Base Station RF Conformance Testing
The successful deployment of 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) depends in large part on the compatibility and effective interworking of the system's different elements. Conformance testing ensures that these elements meet a minimum level of performance as defined in the 3GPP specifications.
...continue
Bringing the Real World into the Lab for 4G Wireless Testing
Wireless receiver testing can be a frustrating undertaking due to the breadth of the technologies and the depth of technical detail involved. Conformance tests are mandatory, but are not meant to quantify or predict realistic mobile operation.
...continue
Radio Channel Emulation Challenges in 3GPP LTE
In recent years there has been a major change in the way people communicate. Now wireless connections are nearly everywhere. A wireless connection is subject to unpredictable phenomena and therefore is far more complex than a wired system.
...continue
Dual Channel MIMO Measurements for WiMAX™ Wave 2
Systems using Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) configurations can provide higher data rates with improved spectral efficiency when compared to traditional Single-Input Single-Output (SISO) implementations. Characterizing and troubleshooting these advanced WiMAX systems often requires a dual-channel signal analyzer with channel estimation capability, a “matrix decoder” and an OFDM demodulator.
...continue
Testing LTE and WiMAX OFDM/MIMO-Based Systems
Mobile wireless systems have dramatically evolved over the past two decades. Commercial wireless networks in the early 1980s provided low-capacity, voice-only services, whereas, in today's world, a growing number of mobile wireless networks are evolving to support higher capacity throughput for data-hungry applications.
...continue
GPS Environmental Challenges Drive Common Test Practices
Geocaching involves discovering various "caches" whose coordinates can be found on the Web and whose contents are located all over the world. Several weeks ago, I joined hundreds of thousands of other GPS enthusiasts by trying my luck at geocaching for the first time.
...continue
The Development of a Standard Hand Phantom for Wireless Performance Testing: Part 2
An informal survey of advertised handsets on the market revealed that they could generally be separated into two categories by width. Devices between 40 to 56 mm wide included most mono-block or “candybar”, fold or “clamshell”, slider, and rotator devices having a telephone-style keypad
...continue
Testing Challenges of SDR's
Today’s communications industry has found it essential to be able to rapidly adapt their design methodologies in order to meet their customers’ ever increasing demands and expectations for more speed, range and reliability, all at a lower cost.
...continue
Developing a Standard Hand Phantom for Wireless Testing
A standardized hand phantom used together with the SAM head phantom for radiated performance testing mirrors real-world use. In the early '90s, the IEEE began working on a standardized model for the human head and upper torso for use in Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) testing of wireless devices.
...continue
Testing LTE
Emerging standards such as 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) present a number of design and verification challenges for system engineers.
...continue
Testing MMS Functionality in Mobile Phones
Over the years, the mobile-phone usage model has changed quite dramatically. No longer is it used solely for its voice services. Instead, the mobile phone is now being used for a growing number of social and mobile, data-centric applications.
...continue
Building an FPGA-based SoC Framework for LTE Baseband Designs
Radio Access Networks (RANs) are undergoing an architecture change to an all-IP flat network to reduce network deployment costs as well as to offer rich mobile applications and services at a lower end-to-end latency.
...continue
LTE: The Insatiable Need for Bandwidth Drives Architectural Change
The baseband processing function represents a key area of product differentiation for Telecommunications Equipment Manufacturers (TEMs). However, the advent of 3.9/4G systems poses a difficult challenge to TEMs, as they struggle to evolve traditional DSP-centric channel cards to meet a new set of technical and commercial challenges.
...continue
Designing a Wireless Heart Rate Monitor with Remote Data Logging
Important improvements in Human-to-Machine Interface (HMI) functionality have been made possible by continuing advancements in Machine-to-Machine interfaces in terms of increased baud rate, low power consumption and reach (distance) of communication.
...continue
Simultaneous Multimode RRH Design Made Easy
The diverse modulation formats and sampling rates between standards such as MC-GSM, WCDMA, and LTE make designing common building blocks, including digital upconverters (DUCs) and digital downconverters (DDCs), challenging.
...continue
Next-Generation Wireless Sensing is Moving Forward
Consider the gaming industry and you will find motion sensing at the forefront. The leading gaming platform today (and subsequent aftermarket equivalents) consists of a wireless sensing handheld remote.
...continue
Electronic Packaging RF SiPs Demand Early Packaging Focus
Wireless technologies have evolved swiftly over the past two decades. What were once large RF/microwave modules and monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) have become miniaturized, multi-function systems.
...continue
Designing Handsets with Modularity
ith worldwide shipments of 990 million units in 2006 and in excess of 1.1 billion units in 2007 (source: iSuppli), mobile handsets have rapidly become the most dominant consumer electronics device in the market today.
...continue
Low Cost FPGA-Based HD/SD SDI Transceivers
As the explosion of HDTV, IPTV, VoD and YouTube downloads continues, together with the increased capabilities and falling prices of FPGAs, it is inevitable that the two technologies will intertwine.
...continue
F-RAM Moves to Automotive Infotainment Applications
The use of non-volatile ferroelectric RAM (F-RAM) in automotive applications began with airbag applications. This type of safety critical application was particularly well suited to F-RAM's high endurance.
...continue
Next Generation Wireless IP Networking Applications
Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) provides security at the network layer of the protocol stack. By using IPSec, protection is offered to all IP packets regardless of the protocols and applications running in the upper layers of the protocol stack.
...continue
LTE Femtocell Roadmap from Concept to Reality
The market is buzzing about the critical role of "small cells" in Long Term Evolution (LTE) deployments – femtocells, picocells and microcells. LTE is the next generation 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standard for mobile networks born out of the GSM family of cellular technology.
...continue
Model-Based Design for Hybrid Electric Vehicle Systems
Energy security, fuel prices, and environmental concerns have increased pressure on the automotive industry to create energy-efficient and environment-friendly vehicle designs. Research in the last decade and a half has led to a range of vehicle designs based on electric drives.
...continue
WiMAX 101 The Evolution of WiMAX
It is always interesting whenever a new standard is adopted or starts to gain some ubiquity in the marketplace. When this occurs, it is important to ask the question: "So what? What does this new stuff give me that I don't already have?"
...continue
Femto Mass Market Mobilization
To be successful, femtocell installation will need to be a “zero-touch” experience for the consumer, similar to that of a cable modem or a WiFi router.
...continue
Bluetooth Low Energy – Not Just Another Radio Frequency Networking Protocol
Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is fast-becoming the hottest buzz-word in low-power wireless communications. Within five years, we have seen a variety of standard and proprietary networking protocols emerge, begin to show promise, and occasionally open up new market spaces and fundamental opportunities for technical innovation.
...continue
Integration and Power Management Open the Door for RKE Applications
Wireless transceiver technology is truly established in the automotive industry with Remote Keyless Entry (RKE) now a standard feature of even basic specification vehicles. Following on its heels has been Passive Keyless Entry (PKE), dual transceiver devices that combine remote entry and remote starting, and systems that enable features such as tyre pressure monitoring and car-to-home communications.
...continue
Protecting Chinese 3G Base Stations
Despite the worldwide recession, the Chinese economy continues to expand, and in an effort to move it along faster the Chinese government announced in November of 2008 an economic stimulus package totaling a massive $586 billion.
...continue
Remote Possibilities
"Smart infrastructure" programs could generate significant demand for remote wireless sensors interfacing with advanced communications, computers and the internet to efficiently monitor and manage everything from intelligent transportation systems to vehicle infrastructure integration (VII), vibration and stress sensors for bridges and tunnels, smart grids and smart metering, as well as smart water technologies.
...continue
Trend Report: Energy Conservation and Sustainable Design
One of the most interesting trends in the electronics industry at the moment is the movement towards designing products in an environmentally friendly way. Buzzwords such as Carbon Neutral, Sustainable Design and Eco-design have recently entered the vocabulary of designers and in the near future, energy efficiency may become just as important as performance and cost are now.
...continue
How US Design Engineers Can Meet Global Legislation Challenges (Part 2)
Designers of electronic and electrical equipment are increasingly challenged to design new products that comply with legislation which applies in the markets where their products will be sold. Previously, we took a look at all the different flavors of RoHS. If you missed this, you can read about it at our Legislation Center on www.newark.com/edworld.
...continue
How US Design Engineers Can Meet Global Legislation Challenges (Part 1)
Designers of electronic and electrical equipment are increasingly challenged to design new products that comply with legislation that applies in the markets where their products will be sold. As more US manufacturers sell their products internationally, design engineers not only need to consider legislation in the U.S., but also the rest of the world.
...continue
