Mobile & Consumer Applications

Smart Phones utilize GSM/EDGE, W-CDMA and TD-SCDMA for wide area connections. 802.11 and Bluetooth interfaces support local area connections. LTE provides an All-IP backbone and High Quality of Service applications to mobile devices over the E-Utra standard. E-Utra usesSC-FDMA and OFDM schemes to support 326.4Mbps data rates. Location based services are enabled with GPS or GNSS signals.

Terrestrial or Satellite DAB or DVB tuners turn mobiles into personal entertainment centers.

The trend towards high speed wireless mobile connectivity in a range of networks and applications requires highly integrated system level RFIP solutions as well as high performance RFIC and System in Package (SiP) Solutions.

Power Consumption, Cost and RF Integration are key.

4G and LTE4G and LTE

4G and LTE refers to fourth generation cellular wireless standards. 4G systems will provide a comprehensive and secure all-IP based solution where ultra-broadband (giga-bit speed) Internet access, IP telephony, gaming services and streamed multimedia are available to mobile users. Pre-4G technologies such as mobile WiMAX and  Long Term Evolution (LTE) are already available. ITU-R requirements provide for date rates up to 1 Gbit/s using multi-carrier transmission schemes such as OFDMA,  MIMO  antennas systems, dynamic channel allocation and dynamic channel dependant equalization. Long Term Evolution (LTE) has a theoretical net bit rate of up to 100 Mbit/s in the downlink and 50 Mbit/s in the uplink in 20 MHz channels. LTE promises smooth handoff across heterogeneous networks, seamless connectivity and global roaming. The high quality of service will enable real time audio, high speed data, HDTV video content, mobile TV with high performance RFIC and advanced RF and Analog IP.

E-UTRA Frequencies and Bands

The physical radio interface for 4G systems, Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) offers up a mix of FDD and TDD systems and 35 operating bands worldwide. The need  for wideband high performance RFIC solutions has never been more pressing. See chart

Mobile TVMobile TV

Mobile TV allows cell phone owners to watch television on their phones. Television data can be obtained either through an existing cellular network or Terrestrial or Satellite Sources. Standards include DVB-H (Europe), ATSC-M/H North America, ISDB-T , DMB-T/H (China and Hong Kong) and S-DMB (Korea). Mobile TV receivers require high linearity low power CMOS receivers embedded in SoCs. RF and Analog IP cores support this level of integration.

Network Assisted GPSNetwork Assisted GPS

Network Assisted GPS improves the startup performance, (Time To First Fix) of a GPS positioning system in mobile applications. It is used extensively with GPS-capable cellular phones. In a city, GPS signals may suffer multipath propagation where signals bounce off buildings, or be attenuated by passing through the atmospheree, walls or tree cover. Mobile phones combine A-GPS and other location services including Wi-Fi Positioning Systems and cell-site triangulation. Adding additional signals at L1C, L2C and L5 bands together with Compass, Galileo and GLONASS signals will provide improved performance. Highly integrated wideband GNSS RF IP is needed.

Personal Area NetworksPersonal Area Networks (PANs)

Personal Area Networks (PANs) using WiFi and Bluetooth have become pervasive in mobile devices. A Bluetooth PAN, called a piconet, allows a master device to communicate with other devices within a 10 meter range. 802.11 WiFi connectivity facilitates data transfer to and from the internet as well as wireless gaming on mobile platforms. PAN connectivity in mobile platforms continues to drive the need for highly integrated embedded RF solutions. The need for low power and miniaturization drive the integration of the RF and Analog IP with lower power digital processing.