CIE Components in Electronics
Integrated Device Technology (IDT) is expanding its RF signal chain portfolio with a high-performance digital pre-distortion (DPD) demodulator. The new integrated DPD demodulator is able to improve system performance while reducing the cost, physical size and power consumption in 4G, 3G, and 2G wireless base stations and repeaters.
The IDTF1320 and IDTF1370 are high-performance, low-power DPD demodulators which have been optimised for 400 MHz to 1200 MHz and 1300 MHz to 2900 MHz wireless systems, respectively. The fully-integrated solutions include a demodulator, digital step attenuator (DSA), and high-isolation single-pole double-throw (SP2T) switch to minimise system solution cost, board footprint, and bill-of-materials.
The devices’ architecture and design, coupled with a high level of integration, offer over one Watt of power savings compared to conventional solutions resulting in reduced heat dissipation and energy usage, helping to ease cooling requirements, promote smaller equipment form factors, and lower operating costs. In addition, the new DPD ICs offer improved linearity and high bandwidth, making them an ideal, flexible solution for linearizing any type of BTS transmitter.
According to Christian Kermarrec, vice president and general manager at IDT, “Innovative design techniques have allowed us to integrate important functions into a single chip, producing a highly-compact, low-power solution with exceptional linearity and high bandwidth. This enables our customers to reduce solution cost, simplify the PCB, and minimise heat dissipation – critical factors in next-generation wireless base station equipment designs.”
The new DPDs include a high-isolation SP2T switch, allowing for easy integration into multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) systems, while the integrated Glitch-Free DSA enables dynamic adjustment to optimise the power of the incident signal reaching the demodulator. Furthermore, the Zero-Distortion demodulator is able to drive the analogue-to-digital converters (ADCs) directly, eliminating the need for intermediate frequency variable gain amplifiers (IF VGAs) in most applications.
In addition, the extremely high dynamic range of the IDTF1320 and IDTF1370 results in enhanced DPD loop performance, minimising the adjacent channel leakage-power ratio (ACLR) and error vector magnitude (EVM). This promotes better system-wide transmitter performance and enables wireless service providers to deliver higher-bandwidth internet and data services over existing frequency bands – a key challenge in today’s heavily-utilised wireless communication infrastructure.
