WiMAX Xohm update; Service was launched inBaltimore on September 29, 2008

A lot has happened in two years, Xohm's official date of conception is considered to be August. 8, 2006, when Sprint announced it would use WiMAX to populate its long-dormant 2.5 GHz frequencies. But Xohm's origins can be traced back to 2002, when Nextel's network was built on iDEN, a proprietary technology from Motorola with no 3G evolution path. While Nextel was exploring technology alternatives, a few major events occurred. Nextel acquired WorldCom's vast 2.5 GHz holdings and then Sprint bought Nextel, creating a vast pool of 2.5 GHz licenses. Not only have WiMAX deployments accelerated worldwide, an infrastructure market has emerged involving every single major global vendor except Ericsson. Perhaps most telling is the sudden focus on long-term evolution (LTE) from operators worldwide: The 3GPP accelerated its standardization timeline, vendors have shortened development timelines, and operator after operator has declared future rollout plans for the new technology. You could make the argument that LTE wouldn't be where it is today if it weren't for the threat of WiMAX. Many of the world's major wireless service provider's address their own plans for next-generation networks. Most of them committed to LTE. To compound matters, those service providers weren't just the GSM/UMTS operators for which LTE is tailored. GSM's old technology-wars nemesis CDMA has turned ally: Alltel and Verizon Wireless were welcomed into the LTE fold after a decade of following CDMA's standards path. The whole of the wireless industry seems suddenly arrayed against WiMAX. That resistance from the wireless community has led WiMAX to look toward non-traditional wireless operators: local exchange carriers, cable operators, wireless ISPs and new entrants, many of which already own spectrum but haven't selected a technology. For example, Comcast owns 700 MHz and Advanced Wireless Services licenses, and it has talked up the potential of WiMAX. The WiMAX community, however, is clearly looking for another marquee operator to join Sprint/Clearwire as WiMAX's ambassador. The biggest hopes are pinned on BT. The British wireline giant plans to bid in the U.K.'s 2.6 GHz auction later this year and has all but confirmed it would use any winnings to launch a new WiMAX network. The technology wars have begun, pitting WiMAX against LTE the way CDMA was pitted against GSM in the '90s. The potential for a huge WiMAX community is there. Licenses covering half the world's population have been issued that are optimal for WiMAX. Those license-holders just need to be convinced to deploy it. http://www.rec-usa.com/catalog/ferrites/3G5NWM.pdf

18A7NF-1 MEMS Based 8X8 Switch Matrix

Renaissance Electronics is proud to introduce the first to market 8 x 8 MEMS Switch Matrix. This state of the art product has 80 SPDT embedded MEMS Switches with a life expectancy of greater than 100 Billion cycles. Renaissance MEMS uses a conventional silicon micromachining approach to produce a very high force cantilever switch structure, along with a wafer bonded hermetic package to insure hermeticity. Although the stiffness of this cantilever structure results in even higher operating voltages (90 V), switching times are reduced to 10 microsecond. Electrical connection is provided by wire bonding from the top surface of the chip to either a chip carrier or directly to the printed circuit board. Application and Industries: MEMS switch prices are currently competitive with alternative switch technologies, and average sale prices will continue to decrease as volume manufacturing increases, making MEMS Switches a viable option for some of the most price-sensitive consumer applications. Today, most commercial applications take advantage of one or more of the unique features of these devices: small size, low (repeatable) loss, high linearity and broad bandwidth. Leading applications include high speed digital channel switching in Automated Test Equipment, antenna switching in wireless communications and filter bank switching in instrumentation, military and aerospace applications. Finally, it should be noted that a number of MEMS switch development activities are still underway at leading companies and research institutions worldwide.   Only two MEMS suppliers have demonstrated the ability to deliver MEMS Switches in production volume. Three key trends will drive new applications for MEMS Switches over the next three to five years: proliferation of a wide variety of new product configurations, substantial improvements in reliability, and significant reductions in switch size and cost. MEMS switch technology shows that despite lingering concerns about the reliability of this technology, a handful of MEMS switch manufacturers are finally delivering the first of a new family of high performance, high reliability switch products. These products are already finding high volume applications in automatic test equipment, instrumentation and communications. The list of applications is expected to explode as customers take advantage of all the benefits that MEMS Switches have to offer. Click here for datasheet and more information on 18A7NF-1.pdf Contact the Renaissance Sales Switch Product Group for more information at 978-772-7774.

Cost, Size and Performance Benefits from Integrating Products

Renaissance Electronics has long been known for our expertise in components, but a newer development is our RF Sub-system product line.  Because each component will be designed and selected to be part of this sub-system we will choose a design which will not only be smaller but also provide better electrical specifications.  Also this integration allows for a lower material cost as well as less labor time which will lead to a lower selling price for our customers.   Current Sub-Systems have produced customized units integrating isolators, filters, duplexers, programmable attenuators, LNAs, switches, delay lines, phase shifters, modulators and combiners.   In addition the development of custom software to control integrated assemblies has progressed to include fully programmable and computer controlled applications with Windows API dll driver with header and NI source codes to be easily integrated.   Please contact Sales at 978-772-7774 for more information.

 

Renaissance Electronics has a Solution to your Switch Matrix Problem! Renaissance Electronics Corporation has successfully developed many custom switch matrices for ATE and other applications by integrating active and passive components, such as power dividers/combiners, circulators, LNA's, etc., a custom NxM matrix can be realized with standard reciprocal, non-blocking and full fan out options. With over 200 years of combined engineering design experience, Renaissance Electronics Corporation is your single source for custom-built switch matrices that meet your specific requirements for all power levels and for delivery on-time. Our expertise in components makes us the ideal switch matrix supplier for integrating and optimizing active and passive devices such as circulators/isolators, filters, dividers/combiners, switches, delay lines, programmable attenuators, phase shifters, modulators, LNA's and more. We have Switch Matrices, including;     - NxM Matrices     - Reciprocal/Non-Reciprocal     - Blocking/Non-Blocking     - Electromechanical, Solid State or MEMS Each switch matrix includes an integrated driver with standard or customized interface (GOIB, RS 232, RS 485, USB, PXI or Ethernet with the option of Labview based drivers) along with full documentation. At Renaissance, we can configure any switch matrix from DC to 40 GHz for all power levels and deliver it on-time and within budget. Some examples of the reciprocal, non-reciprocal, blocking and non-blocking switch matrices designed and developed for the commercial and military applications are linked below: MEMS Based 8x8 Switch Matrix 18A7NF-1.pdf: DC to 2.5 GHz DAC/ADC Switch Matrix 18A1NA: DC - 500MHz Solid State Switch Matrix 18A2BA.pdf: 10-1200 MHz RF Head-End Switch Matrix 18A7NA.pdf: DC to 6.0 GHz RF Switch Matrix 18A7NAC: DC to 18 GHz Base Station Emulator Test System (18 Series Emulator Rack) Call Renaissance Sales for more information at 978-772-7774 or click to see our website.