| In This Issue.. | |
| Letter from the Director | RF Alliance Spring 2010 Conference |
| Omega Micro Technologies Inc. | Upcoming Conferences |
| Radio Wireless Week 2010 | |
RF Reflections from the director, Larry McPike
Greetings friends and colleagues. I have been in discussions and meetings with many of you regarding what is happening in the RF technology industry and I want to share a few thoughts I have gathered. Over the past several years, the Department of Defense strategy was developing systems, with performance being the most important criteria. The current economic times have obviously made things a little more difficult when it comes to transitioning innovative RF technology out of the laboratory and into production. Cost has always been a factor, but mostly it has come down to “the lowest bidder.” I believe it is now critical to consider total life cycle cost in our design. This is not about being the lowest bidder on developing a system, but about understanding the bigger picture. We must know how systems work together and their similarities, and design systems that reduce the cost over the lives of several systems. However, we must also incorporate technology innovations that maximize performance. Examples include: Gold, GaAs, COTS, plastic, and processors.
Gold: What is the most expensive portion of active arrays? The RF modules. What is the most expensive portion of the RF module? Gold. Why do we use it? Because it has the best conductivity. Is there something that we can create that is conductive enough for what we need, but costs much less? I believe so.
GaAs: The DoD started using Gallium Arsenide in the 1980s in production systems, but it was rather expensive. The commercial market is what drove the cost of GaAs chips down. GaN is leaps forward when we compare the lifecycles of the two technologies. Where is the commercial market going to drive the cost down so that the DoD can afford the technology?
COTS: Designing for COTS is obviously not new. The idea behind it is simple and makes sense. Implementing the plan is sometimes difficult. There are multiple commercial systems and components with innovate RF technologies that, with minimum modification, could be effective in military systems andsub-systems. For example, can low cost automotive radars and cameras be adapted for military applications? We must be visionaries in using RF technologies in both commercial and military applications.
Plastic: Low cost packaging is important in all DoD systems. However, reliability as well as power and heat dissipation have been strong enough concerns that the DoD has not fielded RF systems with plastic packages to date. The research is showing that this technology is ready for use in DoD systems. Manufacturers have tested and proven this technology. The next step is for DoD to field a system with plastic packages. What system will be the first to have a plastic packaged RF system or plastic packaged components?
Processors: All DoD systems have gone through a similar design process. The DoD writes a specification for a system, vendors design and build a system that meets that specification. If a different vendor designed the system, the components and even subsystems would be completely different. This creates a completely different logistics train in order to support that single system. Then each system is built differently even if it is built by the same manufacturer. This again creates a separate logistics train. Imagine if multiple systems were developed using the same processors, but loaded with different functions within those processors in order to complete different missions. Imagine a legacy system that is upgraded with the same processor as several other next generation systems. Could that system even have enough internal testing and intelligence to order parts and show users how to repair it when something fails?
Some of these may cost more to implement, but in the long run will reduce the total cost of the systems. These are all examples of the way our DoD is starting to design for cost. The RF Alliance is assisting the DoD in this transition as part of our mission to enable transition of innovative RF technologies into DoD and commercial systems. Many of the above examples will be discussed in our next conference or in future conferences. I hope to see you at Purdue University on April 5th and 6th to hear your opinion on how the DoD can better design for cost.
RF Alliance Conference: Enabling Multi-Antenna & Broadband RF Systems
On April 5th and 6th Purdue University will host the 5th biannual RF Alliance conference on Enabling Multi-Antenna & Broadband RF Systems. This Conference is designed to bring together engineers in industry and researchers in academic and government laboratories to explore the opportunities in DoD and latest technological developments in antennas and propagation for wireless communications.
April 5th will feature an afternoon short course, Advances in RF Array Technologies, lead by Dr. William Chappell of Purdue University. In this workshop we will have an overview of emerging technologies that advance the state of the art in array technologies. These include the ability to put multiple RF channels on a single IC, digital trends for beamforming, advanced waveform creation, and waveform diversity for arrays.
April 6th will include presentations from government speakers from the Office of Secretary of Defense as well as the three services and Major manufacturers. Emphasis will be on understanding the requirements and how to transition technology to meet these requirements. Plenary speakers will include: Cynthia Gonsalves, Director, Office of Technology Transition OSD (OTT), Office of the Secretary of Defense; Dr. Eli Brookner, Raytheon; Mr. Duane Embree, NSWC Crane; Dr. Barry Perlman, CERDEC; and Dr. France Cordova, President of Purdue University. Military to Commercial Technology Transition will be discussed in the following areas: broadband systems, low cost arrays, reconfigurable systems, MIMO systems, phased arrays, unique waveform generation, smart antennas, coherent receiver/transmitters, low cost packaging, active electronically steered antennas (AESA), EMI detection and tracking, and low probability of intercept (LPI) signals. Day 2 of the conference will also include a poster session highlighting the current research in this technology area.
Registration, sponsor, and poster submission information, along with conference details can be found on our website: www.rfalliance.org. Space is limited; early registration is suggested. We hope to see you in April.
New Technology Brings Increased Reliability at Reduced Cost
to Electronic Devices and Components
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Officials of Omega Micro Technologies Inc. announce a new method to produce high reliability ceramic substrates for electronic devices used in military applications as well as automotive commercial applications at a greatly reduced cost.
Omega Micro Technologies, based in the Purdue Research Park of West Lafayette, has developed a proprietary electroless nickel gold plating process for fabrication of high reliability low temperature co-fired ceramic substrates used in electronic devices and modules. The Omega Micro Technologies process utilizes a multi-layer ceramic substrate constructed exclusively with silver conductors which are then electrolessly plated with nickel followed by a thin layer of gold, as opposed to traditional high reliability low temperature co-fired ceramic substrates for electronic modules which utilize gold exclusively for all conductors within the substrate.
"The nickel gold plating process over silver provides a high reliability substrate which allows for a cost saving of anywhere from 40 to 70 percent of a comparable substrate fabricated with all gold conductors," said Jacob Smelser, president of Omega Micro Technologies. "The cost of this new nickel gold plated substrate is comparable in price with traditional commercial substrates fabricated with all silver conductors but has the reliability approaching that of substrates fabricated with all gold conductors thus allowing the process to be used widely throughout the military marketplace with considerable cost savings to the U.S. military and armed forces."
Furthermore, the cost savings potential of the new process will allow low temperature co-fired ceramic substrates and modules with their superior performance and enhanced capabilities to be directly cost-competitive with lower performance, cheaper substrate technologies such as high temperature co-fired ceramic and potentially laminate and polymer material sets.
"The cost savings potential provided by this new approach to the fabrication of low temperature co-fired ceramic substrates opens new areas of market potential for our substrate technologies within both the military and the automotive and commercial marketplaces" Smelser said.
Over the last year, researchers for Omega Micro Technologies have been working with officials from various U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), as well as under a contract with the Radio Frequency Alliance and Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center in Southern Indiana in order to evaluate and characterize the performance and reliability of Omega Micro Technologies’ plating process under standard military environmental operating conditions.
"As a result of these efforts, our low temperature co-fired ceramic substrate technology is currently going through final qualifications for acceptance by a major DoD Original Equipment Manufacturer’s U.S. Army Joint Tactical Radio System," Smelser said. "We expect to begin a low-rate initial production in the spring of this year and fully expect to produce and/or plate more than 240,000 substrates annually beginning in 2011."
For further information, or to inquire about Omega Micro Technologies LTCC and thick-film capabilities, please contact Jacob Smelser or Phil Fisher at (765) 775-1011 or via their e-mails at jsmelser@omegamicrotech.com or pfisher@omegamicrotech.com.
Purdue Research Park media contact: Cynthia Sequin, 765-588-3340, casequin@prf.org
Sources:
Jacob Smelser, 765-775-1011 x801, jsmelser@omegamicrotech.com
Phil Fisher, 765-775-1011 x803, pfisher@omegamicrotech.comRelated Web sites:
Omega Micro Technologies Inc.: http://www.omegamicrotech.com/
Purdue Research Park: http://www.purdueresearchpark.com/
Plated Test Coupon Utilized for Reliability and
Environmental Testing of the Plating Process
Plated Cavity using the Proprietary Nickel Gold Plating Process
for a U.S. Navy NAVAIR SBIR Project
200 Watt Switched Coupler Board Developed for a U.S. Navy NAVIR SBIR Project using the Proprietary Plating Process Being Investigated Under the Indiana RF Alliance Project
Wireless is a vibrant technology and is growing at a very rapid rate. Now that we know more about bandwidth use, error correcting codes, novel modulation schemes, and spread spectrum techniques, wireless applications will continue to grow. As of 2009, over 17% of homes have abandoned their hard wired telephones with just a wireless hand set. The cell phone growth has made economic wireless transmission from almost any sensor. In the hallways at Radio Wireless Week 2010, much discussion took place on the processors for the new high end handsets, such as the Qualcomm Snapdragon for the Android. The high end handset is now almost equal to processors in desk top computer used in most homes.
At Radio Wireless Week 2010, more than half of the attendees were from companies and universities based outside the United States, a true indication that the wireless world is truly global. There were no papers from the major wireless carriers, which was a surprise, and little information was presented on the markets and their trends. The conference focused less on wireless itself and more on components and the progress on CMOS and GaN. There were parallel sessions covering amplifiers, sensors, modeling, medical applications and system networks.
The GaN market has been estimated to be as large as $1.3 billion in 2011, covering everything from military sectors such as radar and electronic warfare to transmitters and base stations in the commercial market. Some companies have predicted GaN will be 20% of the cellular base station infrastructure power amplifier market by 2014. It is important the GaN grows rapidly in this commercial market as the military cannot afford the high prices without a commercial application.
There were several talks on 60GHz CMOS devices and circuits and the technical progress was outstanding. They discussed the uses in short range, high data rate communications to connect TV’s, computers, etc for rapid data rates. They argued these devices have adequate bandwidth and when used in short ranges, because they have high attenuation, these devices would not cause interference with other devices. The difficulty with 60 GHz CMOS devices and circuits is that IEEE has not developed any standards so it seems to be a few years away for deployment. There is a possible military application for 60GHz systems since they have very high data rates and could be used to integrate the large amount of data from the battlefield. Because there is little commercial use of these devices, the costs are expected to be high. Several papers were given on novel antennas for use in this frequency range.
In the amplifier sessions, several papers detailed efforts to obtain linearity, at high efficiency and high power. New approaches on feed forward and digital predistortion showed new methods of lowering power dissipation in the network. Various modulation systems, especially CDMA were discussed that allowed the detection of signals in the presence of noise.
In the sensor sessions, they covered sensors for security, biological and medical monitoring, meter reading, and a whole host of uses of wireless sensors. Purdue University presented a sensor system in a package that was hermetic and could be used in a hot oil environment. There were also papers on systems on a chip from several sources. I was impressed with the real time monitoring of critical patients and the number of ailments that could be monitored at very low cost. As the RF Alliance grows, it should continue to explore the implementation of wireless technology into the medical field.
The major market for wireless technology continues to be the cell phone industry, with almost four billion phones in use in 2009 and more than one billion being manufactured per year. The industry is growing rapidly with 270,000cell phone towers in 2008 up from 210,000 in 2007. New cell phones are Internet capable and are able to handle high-speed access. It is this high-end market that has the fastest growth.
The cell phone dominates the wireless world but Wi-Fi hot spots are also growing. Huge investments are being made around the world in WIMAX for long-range mobile communications and its extensive deployment is open to question since 4G (fourth generation) and LTE are touted to be able to provide the same service at less infrastructure cost. In either case, the base stations are finding LDMOS and GaN competing for the transmitter in the base stations. In my opinion there is no end in sight for the continued rapid acceleration of wireless.
