Analog Devices Releases Integrated RF-to-Digital Baseband Transceivers

Analog Devices, a provider of semiconductors for signal-processing applications, announced it is adding to its broad RF portfolio with the announcement of new integrated RF-to-digital baseband transceivers.

The AD9356 and AD9357 integrated transceivers advance low-cost base-station designs and deployments for 4G technology, such as WiMAX and LTE (long term evolution). The deployment of WiMAX continues in both developed and developing nations to provide last-mile connectivity and wireless backhaul channels. As a result, the need for ubiquitous coverage and spectral efficiency requires operators and base-station manufacturers to deploy smaller picocells and microcells to increase network capacity, the company noted.

"Today's WiMAX and LTE infrastructure equipment generally rely on a multitude of discrete components, often exceeding power budgets while missing time-to-market goals," said Tom Gratzek, product line director, WiMAX Transceiver Group, Analog Devices. "Typical picocell base-station transceivers comprise six to eight active components, while microcell base stations can easily require double this component count. Designs that exploit ADI's new AD9356 and AD9357 integrated transceivers can reduce the component count for a 2x2 transceiver to a single device, while cutting power consumption by at least 50 percent."

The transceivers' configurability allows designers to develop and maintain configurable software to support multiple platforms (i.e. operators, transmit power levels, frequency bands, channel bandwidth).

The AD9356 and AD9357 transceivers integrate 12-bit ADCs, DACs, complete RF-receive and RF-transmit signal chains, and on-chip frequency synthesizers. Embedded real-time control and calibration loops reduce factory calibration and test times. The transceivers combine support for beamforming applications and include two complete receivers, as well as two complete transmitters for the support of MIMO (multiple-input and multiple-output) deployments. The transmitter's signal-to-noise ratio provides support for picocells and microcells from +13 dBm up to +36 dBm output power at the antenna port, while meeting the requirements for 4G base stations.

The AD9356 and AD9357 transceivers support the 2.3-to-2.7-GHz and 3.3-to-3.8-GHz ranges, respectively, covering existing WiMAX bands and channel bandwidths of 3.5, 4.375, 5, 7, 8.75 and 10 MHz, the company noted in a release.

((Comments on this story may be sent to newsdesk@closeupmedia.com))

Related terms: bandwidth, semiconductors, software, technology, wireless