New-Tech Europe | March 2017 | Digital Edition

March 2017

New-Tech Europe March 2017 16 Real-time radar target generation 20

Selecting High Linearity MMIC Amplifiers for use with Complex Digital Waveforms 24 CAN WE TRUST THE INTERNET OF THINGS? 28 Residual Current Devices in a Digital World

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Range of Boards and Solutions - Dragonboard410C - Dragonboard820 - I.MX8 Vision Demo - Qualcomm Snapdragon Boards and Solution

Boards and Solutions at Embedded World 2017

- I.MX7, 96Boards Form Factor - Cyclone V 96Board Form Factor - ARIS Board and the new ARIS EDGE - Smart Everything Boards - Special Display Solutions - LS1012 96Boards Form Factor And many more

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Read To Lead

www. new- techeurope . com

Read To Lead

March 2017

‘New-Tech Magazines’ A world leader in publishing high-tech and electronics, producing top quality publications read by tens of thousands professionals from all over the world especially from Europe, innovative electronics, IoT, microwave, homeland security, aerospace, automotive and technological industries. Our specialized target audiences prefer New-Tech Europe because they know that our publications are a reliable source of the latest information in their respective fields. Our multidimensional editorials, news items, interviews and feature articles provide them with a full, well-rounded picture of the markets in which they operate - an essential asset for every technological leader striving to stay ahead, make the right decisions, and generate the next global innovation. Moreover, as an attractive platform for advertisers from around the world, New-Tech Europe has become a hub for bustling international commercial activity. Here, through ads and other promotional materials, Israeli readers obtain crucial information about developers and manufacturers worldwide, finding the tools, instruments, systems and components they need to facilitate their innovative endeavors. Targeting the needs of both the global and european industries and global advertisers , New-Tech Magazines Group constantly expands and upgrades its services. Over the years, the company has been able to formulate a remarkably effective, multi-medium mix of offerings, combining magazine publications with useful online activities, newsletters and special events and exhibitions.

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Contents

16

10 16 18 22 26

LATEST NEWS

EMBEDDED WORLD 2017

Using a Complementary Waveform Generator

Power Efficient Design for Wearable Electronics

Improper Power Sequencing in Op Amps: Analyzing the Risks

20

34 38

R&S Scope Rider A multitalent for debugging in the field

Solving Power Capacity Challenges with Software Defined Power SPECIAL SENSOR EDITION

44 48

Discrete vs. Integrated Solutions for Sensor Conditioning

24

Interplay Between Chip and Digital Technologies Crucial for the Internet of Things

52 60

Contactless Connectivity Unshackles Robotic Systems

Augmenting Touchless Gesture Recognition with Haptic Feedback

64 66 82

OUT OF THE BOX

28

New Products

Advertisers index

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New-Tech Magazine Europe l 9

LatestNews SMI Eye Tracking Enables Foveated Rendering on Mobile Virtual Reality Platform at GDC

SensoMotoric Instruments (SMI), a world leader in eye tracking technology, will premiere its mobile eye tracking technology on an ARM®-based mobile virtual reality (VR) platform at GDC 2017. SMI eye tracking is a proven technology found in smart devices, including computer and tablet screens, eye tracking glasses and AR/VR.

HMDs, standalone and mobile VR headsets.

“Given ARM’s global position as a mobile technology provider we are very pleased with the success of this collaboration,” said SMI Director OEM Business Christian Villwock. “We have long believed that eye tracking is central to the future of all VR – including mobile – and having a company such as ARM align with this view is to us, a vindication of that long-held belief.” Key benefits of eye tracking for VR include: Foveated rendering- providing a richer visual experience with a lower processing load Social presence- the SMI Social Eye, launched earlier this year, creates a realistic eye-to-eye experience when avatars meet in virtual worlds Gaze interaction- select content by simply looking at a menu option Personal display calibration- providing a VR experience more comfortable for the eye Analytical insights- which are of great value to games developers, corporate users and researchers

The VR demo, which uses a Samsung Gear VR headset with the Samsung Galaxy S7, features an Exynos 8890 SoC with an ARM Mali™ GPU and will showcase the benefits of eye tracking for mobile VR, including foveated rendering. As well as delivering a superior visual experience to the user, foveated rendering alleviates the power demand issues common to mobile VR. Addressing the demand VR places on chips in smartphones is crucial for the continued growth of this market and enabling next generation mobile VR. “Eye tracking technology will bring yet another level of sharpness and detail to untethered VR worlds,” said Pablo Fraile, director of ecosystems, mobile compute, ARM. “Our demonstration of SMI mobile eye tracking technology on ARM-based devices highlights how foveated rendering will increase the efficiency of mobile VR experiences without compromising frame rates or visual quality.” SMI has delivered more than 10 eye tracking integrations for AR and VR in the past 12 months – covering tethered VR

Experience ARM’s eye tracking demo at GDC 2017, booth 1924. The demo will teleport the user into the heart of a smartphone, exploring the inside – from chip to camera to speakers – from an entirely new perspective, guided by a friendly robot companion. Ayla Networks and Develco Products Join Forces to Create IoT Gateways for Smart Home, Smart Lighting and Smart Energy Management Markets

manufacturers worldwide. The Ayla IoT platform is supported by Develco Products’ Squik.Link Gateway, a modular all-in-one solution for connecting various smart home devices across disparate wireless protocols. “By taking advantage of the Ayla IoT platform, Develco Products customers creating connected products

Ayla Networks, a global Internet of Things (IoT) platform for manufacturers, has established a partnership with Develco Products, a white-label product development company based in Denmark. Develco Products will integrate Ayla IoT platform technologies into its IoT gateway solutions, with the goal of reducing time to market and costs for smart home, smart lighting and smart energy management

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Wi-Fi or other wireless network protocols directly into each end-point IoT product. Gateways enable multiple small, low-cost or battery-powered IoT devices or sensors to use the gateway hardware technology to establish and control their wireless connection. Both the Ayla and Develco Products IoT technologies are highly flexible and scalable. The Ayla IoT

can eliminate u n n e c e s s a r y

development costs, reduce time to market and achieve even faster returns on their investments,” said Karsten Ries, CEO of Develco Products. “As a result, manufacturers can focus on optimizing the features and functionality of their IoT products rather than spending time and money trying to master the complexities of IoT technologies.”

Michael Cima, the David H. Koch Professor of Engineering in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, a member of MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, and the senior author of the study. Furthermore, because the array is so tiny, it has the potential to eventually be adapted for use in humans, to monitor whether therapies aimed at boosting dopamine levels are succeeding. Many human brain disorders, most notably Parkinson’s disease, are linked to dysregulation of dopamine. “Right now deep brain stimulation is being used to treat Parkinson’s disease, and we assume that that stimulation is somehow resupplying the brain with dopamine, but no one’s really measured that,” says Helen Schwerdt, a Koch cloud fully integrates cloud-to-cloud services, including leading voice control services, and serves manufacturers globally through its cloud services in Europe, North America and China. Able to scale efficiently from tens to millions of devices, the Ayla-powered Develco Products gateway architecture can also adapt to future IoT technology requirements, as they arise. Because the Ayla IoT cloud uses the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud infrastructure, connected products leveraging Ayla-powered Develco Products IoT gateways will run on AWS and automatically benefit from the cloud infrastructure’s high availability, strong security and global reach.

MIT researchers have devised a way to measure dopamine in the brain much more precisely than previously possible, which should allow scientists to gain insight into dopamine’s roles in learning, memory, and emotion. Dopamine is one of the many neurotransmitters that neurons in the brain use to communicate with each other. Previous systems for measuring these neurotransmitters have been limited in how long they provide accurate readings and how much of the brain they can cover. The new MIT device, an array of tiny carbon electrodes, overcomes both of those obstacles. “Nobody has really measured neurotransmitter behavior at this spatial scale and timescale. Having a tool like this will allow us to explore potentially any neurotransmitter-related disease,” says “Develco Products is one of the leading gateway providers in Europe, with unparalleled experience and number of deployed gateways across significant vertical markets,” said David Friedman, CEO and co-founder of Ayla Networks. “Using Ayla-supported Develco Products gateways, manufacturers can leverage the combined Ayla IoT software and Develco Products IoT hardware expertise to launch reliable, secure and scalable connected products much more easily and cost-effectively.” IoT Gateways Boost Device Efficiency, Flexibility and Scalability IoT gateways provide an important alternative to installing

Precise technique tracks dopamine in the brain

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Institute postdoc and the lead author of the paper, which

timescales. Using these arrays, the researchers demonstrated that they could monitor dopamine levels in many parts of the striatum at once. The researchers found that dopamine levels vary greatly across the striatum. This was not surprising, because they did not expect the entire region to be continuously bathed in dopamine, but this variation has been difficult to demonstrate because previous methods

appears in the journal Lab on a Chip. For this project, Cima’s lab teamed up with David H. Koch Institute Professor Robert Langer, who has a long history of drug delivery research, and Institute Professor Ann Graybiel, who has been studying dopamine’s role in the brain for decades with a particular focus on a brain region called the striatum. Dopamine-producing cells within the striatum are critical for habit formation and reward- reinforced learning. Until now, neuroscientists have used carbon electrodes with a shaft diameter of about 100 microns to measure dopamine in the brain. However, these can only be used reliably for about a day because they produce scar tissue that interferes with the electrodes’ ability to interact with dopamine, and other types of interfering films can also form on the electrode surface over time. Furthermore, there is only about a 50 percent chance that a single electrode will end up in a spot where there is any measurable dopamine, Schwerdt says. The MIT team designed electrodes that are only 10 microns in diameter and combined them into arrays of eight electrodes. These delicate electrodes are then wrapped in a rigid polymer called PEG, which protects them and keeps them from deflecting as they enter the brain tissue. However, the PEG is dissolved during the insertion so it does not enter the brain. These tiny electrodes measure dopamine in the same way that the larger versions do. The researchers apply an oscillating voltage through the electrodes, and when the voltage is at a certain point, any dopamine in the vicinity undergoes an electrochemical reaction that produces a measurable electric current. Using this technique, dopamine’s presence can be monitored at millisecond

measured only one area at a time. The researchers are now conducting tests to see how long these electrodes can continue giving a measurable signal, and so far the device has kept working for up to two months. With this kind of long-term sensing, scientists should be able to track dopamine changes over long periods of time, as habits are formed or new skills are learned. This study is part of a larger collaboration between Cima’s and Graybiel’s labs that also includes efforts to develop injectable drug-delivery devices to treat brain disorders. “What links all these studies together is we’re trying to find a way to chemically interface with the brain,” Schwerdt says. “If we can communicate chemically with the brain, it makes our treatment or our measurement a lot more focused and selective, and we can better understand what’s going on.” Other authors of the paper are McGovern Institute research scientists Minjung Kim, Satoko Amemori, and Hideki Shimazu; McGovern Institute postdoc Daigo Homma; McGovern Institute technical associate Tomoko Yoshida; and undergraduates Harshita Yerramreddy and Ekin Karasan. The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Singtel and Ericsson pave the way for consumer connected device solutions at Mobile World Congress 2017 Showcasing co-developed Assured+ solution, an integrated universal consumer IoT solution

Mobile World Congress 2017, in Barcelona, Spain, demonstrating how they are leading the way with tomorrow’s IoT technology and use cases. The demonstration, at Ericsson Hall 2, is a showcase of Singtel and Ericsson’s partnership to co-create an IoT ecosystem for operators, networks and devices.

Trials for Singtel mobile subscribers set to begin in Q3 2017 Singtel and Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) are presenting their Assured+ Consumer Connected Device Solution (Assured+) at

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Unit Media, Ericsson says: “Singtel’s network expertise positions them as leaders of IoT connectivity initiatives. These advantages combined with their existing relationships with device manufacturers, large subscriber bases and established retail channels open the door to true IoT industry transformation opportunities.” In the Ericsson Mobility Report, it is projected that there will be 18 billion IoT related devices by 2022. Assured+ will connect devices across existing 3G/4G networks, NB-IoT and LTE Cat-M. It will help accelerate adoption of these networks while

Jointly developed by Singtel and Ericsson, Assured+ is

an integrated IoT solution that will support eldercare, connected cars and other emerging IoT applications to provide universal connected life management for consumers. The solution addresses industry challenges where the IoT market is fragmented and lacks collaboration. Today, most devices, such as wearables, connected cars and smart home sensors are managed through specific applications that are typically place-centric and closed. Yuen Kuan Moon, Chief Executive Officer, Consumer Singapore, Singtel

Singtel’s Consumer Singapore CEO, Mr Yuen Kuan Moon, and other Singtel and Ericsson executives experiencing the Assured+ solution first-hand with Eric Qian, Head of IOT Innovation, and Per Borglinkt, Chief Innovation Officer, Ericsson

says: “In order to realize the full potential of IoT and offer our customers the best user experience, we need to ensure collaboration between people, devices and networks. Singtel believes an open ecosystem and the Assured+ solution will enable us to achieve these aims. By integrating standalone applications into one solution, Assured+ will bring convenience to our customers and pave the way for more IoT solutions, such as smart home, to be launched in a seamless manner.” Per Borgklint, Chief Innovation Officer and head of Business

providing fast time-to-market for new services. The solution will also provide an open and simplified experience for developers to add support to new devices and applications. With a user-friendly interface, Assured+ will give consumers a complete overview of all connected personal, automotive and home devices, with full control available in the outdoors and at home. Trials for Singtel mobile customers will begin later this year.

Qualcomm Technologies and Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport begin testing faster Wi-Fi telemetry

champions feast on it. Another team that knows a bit about transmitting data wirelessly is Qualcomm Technologies. Together this week at Mobile World Congress 2017 in Barcelona, these two frontrunners showed off their latest high-speed telemetry news (born from an agreement inked just two years ago) to a group of press and technology analysts: the planned integration of 802.11ad using 60 GHz spectrum into the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport Wi-Fi telemetry system due for the 2017 U.S. Grand Prix. Outside of racing, you may be wondering if these technologies have any real-world applications. Consider the “trickle-down effect.” Just about every piece of automotive tech you use in your car got its start in auto racing. While Wi-Fi connectivity has found its way into commercially available cars, 802.11ad via the 60-GHz band has not…

Most people know that to take the checkered flag, a team needs a talented driver, a skilled and practiced pit crew, and a well- engineered car. Fewer people, however, understand the role that data plays in motorsports and how using it can fuel success. And nowhere is data more valuable than in Formula 1 (F1), where cars employ around 200 physical sensors, which log up to 1,000 channels of data, generating 2 Gigabytes per hour. The challenge: Download the car’s data fast enough so that team engineers have time to analyze it and turn it into actionable tweaks to the cars or instruction for the drivers. FAST FACT: 15GB of raw car data generated by the Mercedes- AMG Petronas Motorsport’s telemetry system per weekend, with post-processing adding a further 7 GB data. One F1 team that definitely understands and values data is Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport. The three-time defending

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F1 telemetry purposes. While the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 cars were on track during Friday practice sessions, the system gathered and processed thermal imaging of the tires. As soon as the cars entered pit lane, the system would begin wirelessly transmitting the data to the team’s Garage. The process is orders of magnitude faster than the traditional method of waiting for the car to stop in the pit box, pushing it

yet. The technology and its hardware first needs to be

tested in extreme and unforgiving environments before it can be expected to endure years of use (and abuse) in consumers’ cars. And what better place than the F1 arena, where there’s more data being downloaded in a few hours than most of us will need in a week. And the hardware is subjected to the elements: the extreme heat of Abu-Dhabi, the humidity of Malaysia, the rain at Silverstone, the physical structure density at Monaco, the heavy radio-traffic of fans in the U.S., and more. Because of its ultra-fast speeds, which allow for simultaneous 4K video streaming to multiple devices and lag-free screen mirroring between smartphones and in-car displays, 802.11ad is expected to emerge as the “go-to” for automotive infotainment. The 60- GHz band is high-frequency millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum band. Such bands are the stepping stone to 5G and provide huge bandwidth for delivering multi-Gbps data rates. The learnings from the Qualcomm/Mercedes development phase will certainly accelerate the arrival of 60-GHz 802.11ad Wi-Fi for everyday users and contribute to the evolution of 5G connectivity. FAST FACT: During the 2016 Formula 1 season, the Mercedes- AMG Petronas Motorsport cars could transmit on average the data equivalent of 12 music albums while moving from the beginning to the end of pit lane via the 802.11ac Wi-Fi solution from Qualcomm Technologies. Last season, Qualcomm Technologies and Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport pioneered the use of 802.11ac Wi-Fi for

into the garage, and plugging in a download cable. The new system being tested will operate similarly. Upon entering pit lane, the cars will begin transmitting data via 802.11ac in the 5-GHz band. However, once the cars get within 4 meters of an overhead unit in the garage, a special handoff feature will enable the cars to switch to 802.11ad in the 60-GHz band seamlessly and continue the download. The updated system also features a considerable step up in hardware and connectivity, including the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor with up to 128GB of Universal Flash Storage memory to collect data while the car is on circuit, and a Qualcomm QCA9500 chip to support the 802.11ad Wi-Fi. Ultimately, the system should translate to less time in the garage and more time on track, giving the Silver Arrows a tremendous edge over their rivals. Beyond that, expect the lessons learned working with 11ad to trickle down to your future auto technologies, and the lessons learned in mmWave to trickle down to future 5G experiences.

Rohde & Schwarz forges new paths in the monitoring of the battery life of wireless devices

Long battery life is a key criterion for mobile devices as well as for embedded systems and chips for Internet-of-Things and machine-to-machine applications. Rohde & Schwarz now provides a complete solution for testing battery life in all operating modes. It consists of an R&S CMW radio communication tester, the new R&S RT-ZVC power probe and the R&S CMWrun sequencer software. The radio communication tester manages the communications with the DUT and also places the DUT in the various operating modes. The power probe acquires current and voltage readings

at defined test points on the DUT. The sequencer software controls the entire process and delivers detailed measurement reports to the user. The user can precisely correlate the events occurring at the mobile interface with the DUT’s power consumption. Thanks to the R&S RT-ZVC probe’s high dynamic range, this is possible over the entire measurement range – from low currents in standby or sleep mode to large currents when the DUT transmits at maximum power. The multichannel design of the probe makes it possible to simultaneously acquire and correlate the power at up

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to four different test points. Users can therefore compare the power consumption of individual subcomponents, such as an application processor, the RF transmit unit and other components, against the total power consumption within a realistic signaling scenario controlled by the R&S CMW500. The power probe was designed

them in realtime. The power probe also automatically calculates the minimum, maximum, average and RMS values for the voltage, current and power. The probe is available with two or four power measurement channels. The individual current and voltage signals are sampled at five megasample per second (Msample/s), for a time resolution of

specifically for the R&S CMW family of radio communication testers. When used in combination with the R&S CMWrun automation software, long-term monitoring of automated signaling test scenarios is possible, as needed for performance tests, regression tests and acceptance tests. Even the test scenarios for the new 3GPP features for reducing power consumption in machine-to-machine applications, such as power save mode (PSM) and enhanced discontinuous reception (DRX), can now easily be measured and correlated. The solution supports all prevalent mobile communications technologies with connections in test, voice and data transfer mode. The R&S RT-ZVC has a multichannel design. It measures power by taking a voltage and a current reading and then multiplying

200 ns for each reading. As a result, even the smallest, most transient of signal changes can be acquired, as needed for example, to specify the start-up behavior of chip components. The R&S RT-ZVC is designed for input voltages of ±15 V, and the measurement range for input currents can be varied from 4.5 µA to 10 A. A vertical resolution of 18 bits for sampled signals makes it possible to cover the required dynamic range e.g. from nA to A. The power values calculated by multiplying the current and voltage pairs are averaged (method selectable by the user) and then output over the integrated USB interface. This keeps the data volume under control even for long-term acquisitions. As the sole vendor for Jio’s LTE radio access network, Samsung worked with Jio at each step of the process from network planning, network expansion, interference analytics to optimization. The LTE solutions provided by Samsung were fully compliant with the 3GPP LTE standards, with their performances already verified and proven in other global markets. “We are pleased to have won this prestigious award in joint effort with Samsung Electronics, who have been a reliable partner in our pursuit to creating a truly Digital India,” said Jyotindra Thacker, President of Jio. To fulfill the key intention of the project, of bringing India together and improving elements that impact the quality of human lives, the project plans to launch many more applications around the fields of education, health, rural, livelihood and agriculture and reach digital empowerment to the remotest corners of India.

Jio and Samsung Win “Best Mobile Innovation for Emerging Markets” at Global Mobile Awards 2017 base to a record 100 million within 170 days of launch.

eliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. (“Jio”) and Samsung Electronics, announced that they have won the “Best Mobile Innovation for Emerging Markets” from Global Mobile Awards 2017 at Mobile World Congress 2017 for the digital movement that Jio, with support from Samsung, is bringing to India. JioandSamsung’songoingeffortintransforming

India into a digitally empowered society by overcoming the country’s digital divide has been recognized on the global stage with this prestigious award. The two organizations have focused on reaching the power of communication and information with free voice and world’s lowest data rates across towns and rural areas through the deployment of the world’s largest greenfield LTE network in India. In addition, Jio has focused on enabling an easy access to digital life with customer-oriented applications and tariffs. Through its invitational offers, millions of Indians were able to embrace a digital lifestyle and helped Jio to rapidly expand its subscriber

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Real-time radar target generation

Dr. Steffen Heuel, Darren McCarthy, Rohde & Schwarz

most recent additions to the PMA family are distinguished through their low noise performance over multi-octave bandwidths and high IP3 performance with low DC power consumption. Table 1 shows key performance parameters for selected models in these amplifier families. Characterizing Amplifiers for Complex Waveforms Radar systems are used in an increasing variety of applications, as demand from autonomous land vehicles and airborne drones adds to existing usage in shipping, weather forecasting, air traffic control (ATC) radar and defence. The use of commercial off-the- shelf (COTS) test and measurement systems has become commonplace in characterising the radar system itself but it also offers advantages in the area that most interests radar

operators - target detection and tracking. Field testing is the traditional approach, but this can prove extremely time-consuming, complex and expensive, and may involve repeatable conditions that are difficult to configure. The alternative is to set up real-life radar test simulations that include many different types of targets and scenarios. In particular target generators need to simulate the range, radial velocity and size of the target, along with environmental factors such as for example precipitation. Radar calculates the range of a reflection from the time delay between transmission and reception. Doppler radars can also estimate the target radial velocity from the frequency shift of transmitted and received signal carrier frequency. Amplitude of the echo signal indicates the object’s size

Enhanced Mode GaAs PHEMT (E-PHEMT) based MMIC amplifiers provide users advantages in both broadband noise figure and intermodulation performance, setting them apart from previous generations of GaAs amplifier designs. Historically known for their extremely low noise figure, PHEMTs have also been used extensively for power applications in the mobile PA market. Recent designs possess a combination of low noise and excellent suppression of intermodulation distortion, which improves both ends of the dynamic range over broad frequency range. Mini-Circuits lineup of low-noise, high-dynamic-range, MMIC amplifiers includes over 30 unique models in the PSA, PMA and PHA families. These are broadband, single stage, Class A, 50Ω MMIC amplifiers. All offer outstanding noise figure and intermodulation performance. The

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FODLs offer constant delay versus frequency, are immune to vibration, are largely resistant to electromagnetic interference, and fibre delays do not radiate energy. Repeatability of simulation, low system cost and time-savings are key advantages. Tests where excellent close-in carrier phase noise performance is necessary, such as the fixed target suppression (FTS) test, can be performed very well. However, FODLs cannot generate time-variant range-Doppler targets, nor do they offer continuous range settings or arbitrary signal attenuation and gain. Unlike optical delay lines, DRFMs manipulate the radar signal digitally – down-converting, filtering and digitising the received RF signal before storing and modifying it. Signals are then reconverted to analogue, and mixed to RF frequency using the same local oscillator (LO) used for down-conversion. A final amplification and retransmission finalises the processing chain. Developed for electronic countermeasures in military applications, DRFMs that create false targets to mislead the enemys radar and can also be used to simulate real targets for test purposes. Naturally, there is scant commercial and public information available about this classified technology. It is nevertheless known that these systems can cover frequencies up to 40 GHz, offer up to 12-bit digitisation with up to 1.4 GHz of instantaneous bandwidth, up to –65 dBc spurious- free dynamic range with a minimum delay of several dozen ns. Technical constraints limit the ability to combine all these specifications in a single DRFM. Typically, wide bandwidth means a trade-off in signal fidelity or

Fig. 1: Simplified block diagram of a fibre optical delay line (FODL)

Fig. 2: Simplified block diagram of a DRFM system

and material. To ensure an acceptable accuracy and resolution, detection and false alarm rate of the radar system for these functional tests, targets have to be generated over the entire unambiguous range, unambiguous radial velocity interval and azimuth/ elevation coverage with different radar cross sections. Traditional solutions, such as fibre optical delay lines (FODL) or digital radio frequency memory (DRFM), all have their advantages, but also drawbacks such as being specifically designed for only this purpose.

COTS measuring equipment can overcome such disadvantages with the ability to perform multiple test and measurement tasks. Traditional radar target generators FODLs are relatively flexible, phase coherent and small systems that convert the RF signal of the radar to optical and delay it by means of a fibre optical line of a certain length. The signal is then reconverted to RF and retransmitted to the radar. Some systems are also able to introduce Doppler frequency shift.

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equipment can generate radar targets using similar methods to those of DRFMs: RF down- conversion, digital manipulation in baseband and RF up-conversion. It does so by combining an RF signal analyser as the receiver with a signal generator for the transmitter. Typical systems operate from 100 kHz to 40 GHz and receive any kind of RF radar signal in the specified frequency band with up to 160 MHz bandwidth, then converting the signal to in- phase and quadrature-phase data (I/Q data). I/Q data are applied to the baseband input of the signal generator where time delay, Doppler frequency shift and attenuation are applied to the specified user values. The radar echo signal is then retransmitted to the radar by the signal generator. One advantage of this measuring equipment is its exceptional RF performance, which is suitable for additional parametric radar tests during research and development or production. The flexible and modular approach allows the vector signal generator or the signal and spectrum analyser to be used in other setups as well – and in their dedicated field installation. The Fig. 4 above shows the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) spectrum, range-Doppler plot and target list of a radar under test (RUT). The COTS target generator was setup to generate a single target with a range of 2000 m and radial velocity of -25 m/s. As depicted in the figure above, the radar, which operates with a signal bandwidth (fsw) of 20 MHz and a coherent processing interval (Tcpi) of 500 µs measures the range and radial velocity accordingly. The COTS radar target generator is able to generate up to 20 different

Fig. 3: Representation of a COTS real-time radar target generator (R&S®SMW200A vector signal generator and R&S®FSW signal and spectrum analyser)

signal fidelity. In addition, spurious- free dynamic range (SFDR) may limit the radar’s ability to distinguish real targets from electronic countermeasure signals. With high signal fidelity, DRFMs having coherent target echo returns are well suited to specific radar tests, but are unsuited to handling a broad variety of signal conditions and scene effects. Cost as well as limited flexibility means they are ill-suited to test the functional parameters of the radar. Commercial off-the-shelf test and measurement equipment Today, COTS test and measurement

digitisation capability. Furthermore, these specialised target generators come at a high cost. According to the US Department of Defense (DoD), the price of a single DRFM module ranges from USD 150,000 to USD 700,000 [1]. The minimum delay introduced by a DRFM is mainly limited by its ADC and DAC. In addition, signal processing adds a number of processing cycles to the radar echo signal. Typical minimum range delays range from below 100 ns to below 1 µs. A further consideration is how the analogue RF signal is represented in the digital domain (amplitude, phase, I/Q) and the number of bits, because this is what mainly determines the DRFM’s

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result from an ECM system due to resampling at a different rate, a small number of effective bits in the ADC, phase noise or amplifier distortions in the target simulator. When using a DRFM, the generated echo signal fidelity will likely be different than one from a real target. The radar processes focused on electronic protection can detect the differences from the returned echo with different fidelity. This measurement can also be assessed by the presented radar target generator. Such demonstrations show clearly that COTS test and measurement systems address the test and measurement of radars. In addition, COTS test and measurement equipment is able to generate also radar echo signals with variable range, radial velocity and radar cross section. This combination makes state of the art test equipment very valuable and efficient instruments for radar test. References [1] Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR), Navy, Topic N131-006, Acquisition Program, "Direct Digital Radio Frequency (RF) Conversion Digital Radio Frequency Memory (DRFM)", 2013 [2] Heuel, S.; Roessler, A., "Co- existence Tests for S-Band Radar and LTE Networks", Microwave Journal - Military Microwaves, August 2014. [3] Reuters, "Jets vanishing from Europe radar linked to war games", retrieved from http://www. reuters.com/article/2014/06/13/ u s - e u r o p e - a i r p l a n e s - s a f e t y - i d U S K B N 0 E O 1 CW2 0 1 4 0 6 1 3 , November 2014

Fig. 4: Single target generated by the COTS radar target generator

targets at user definable ranges and radial velocities. The signal generator also has multiple RF sources, making it possible to test radar against interference, as for example co-existence with Long Term Evolution (LTE) or other radio-based services [2]. One can also generate arbitrary waveform files and transmit these additional disturbing signals towards the radar in order to test adaptive algorithms like “constant false alarm rate” (CFAR) or other land / sea clutter mitigation techniques. In addition to testing the functional

performance of the radar, the COTS target generator can help assess modern electronic protection measures in the radar, helping to prevent incidents such as the disappearance of aircraft from air traffic control radar caused by military electronic warfare exercises [3]. To test the performance of the radar signal processing a radar waveform is transmitted, delayed and disturbed in the radar target simulator. The radar receiver can tell whether or not the echo return was virtual or real using correlation filters. An uncorrelated signal might

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Selecting High Linearity MMIC Amplifiers for use with Complex Digital Waveforms

Ted Heil, Mini-Circuits & Steve Crain, Keysight Technologies

noise figure and intermodulation performance. The most recent additions to the PMA family are distinguished through their low noise performance over multi- octave bandwidths and high IP3 performance with low DC power consumption. Table 1 shows key performance parameters for selected models in these amplifier families. Characterizing Amplifiers for Complex Waveforms Historically, amplifiers were characterized using CW signals to take relatively simple measurements, such as intercept point and compression (AM to AM and AM to PM). While these measurements remain quite useful, the wireless industry discovered that amplifiers behave differently when stimulated with complex

signals that have higher peak to average ratios than an unmodulated CW signal. As a result, it is desirable for the characterization of wireless amplifiers to include measurements made with “real-world” complex waveforms. The most common measurements are Adjacent Channel Power Ratio (ACPR) and Modulation Accuracy. Accurate ACPR measurements can be challenging when using older spectrum analyzers. Features have been added to modern spectrum analyzers to make measurements easier and more accurate. RMS averaging is used to eliminate errors that occur when averaging on a log scale. An average detector is also used because it accurately measures complex waveforms with noise- like characteristics. In addition to having these core features, modern analyzers also offer one-button

Enhanced Mode GaAs PHEMT (E-PHEMT) based MMIC amplifiers provide users advantages in both broadband noise figure and intermodulation performance, setting them apart from previous generations of GaAs amplifier designs. Historically known for their extremely low noise figure, PHEMTs have also been used extensively for power applications in the mobile PA market. Recent designs possess a combination of low noise and excellent suppression of intermodulation distortion, which improves both ends of the dynamic range over broad frequency range. Mini-Circuits lineup of low-noise, high-dynamic-range, MMIC amplifiers includes over 30 unique models in the PSA, PMA and PHA families. These are broadband, single stage, Class A, 50Ω MMIC amplifiers. All offer outstanding

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©2016 National Instruments. All rights reserved. Analog Office, AXIEM, AWR, Microwave Office, National Instruments, NI, and ni.com are trademarks of National Instruments. Other product and company names listed are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies.

Model

Frequency Range (MHz)

NF (dB)

P1dB (dBm) OIP3 (dBm)

DC Supply

PSA-545+

50 – 4000 50 – 6000 500 – 8000

1.06 2.21 1.25 0.95

+20.06 +22.66 +21.19 +22.84

+35.62 3V, 80mA +41.72 5V, 180mA

PHA-1+

PMA3-83LN+

+37.28 5V/6V, 60/77mA

PMA4-33GLN+ 700 – 3000

+41.12 5V, 152mA

All data at 2 GHz

Table 1: MMIC amplifier performance summary

signal and recovering the intended symbols. It then mathematically re-modulates the signal to create an ideal reference. EVM is the resulting vector between the two, representing both the amplitude and phase errors. Typically it is expressed as a percentage of the peak ideal signal. For signals such as CDMA, OFDM or QAM, the measured signal is represented in an I/Q polar graph or constellation diagram, as in figure 1, and the EVM is a calculated value. Complex digital waveform characterization is often performed in accordance with an industry standard test model, which defines the center frequency, channel bandwidth, number of carriers, number of active channels and a number of other parameters that detail the digital signal structure. From the perspective of the amplifier, these parameters manifest themselves in a power distribution. The Complementary Cumulative Distribution Function (CCDF) defines the statistics of a test signal and specifies the signal’s probability of exceeding a specific power threshold. Digital waveforms are configured using Keysight’s Signal Studio™ software suite and generated

Figure 1: IQ polar plot

measurement capability for easy and repeatable standard-compliant measurements. Modulation Accuracy measurements have also become valuable during amplifier characterization because they represent a summation of all impairments on the signal. The most common Modulation Accuracy measurement is referred to as Error Vector Magnitude (EVM), a quantitative figure of merit that represents the quality of digitally

modulated signals. Different applications may use different terms, such as Relative Constellation Error (RCE) in WiMAX or Modulation Error Ratio (MER) in Cable TV applications, but the fundamental measurement is essentially the same – the difference between the measured signal and an ideal reference signal. In making these measurements, the analyzer creates a reference signal by demodulating the measured

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Figure 2: LTE – FDD, 700 MHz, 1 Carrier, 10 MHz

Figure 3: DOCSIS – 64 QAM_1C, 500 MHz

using the Keysight N5182A MXG Vector Signal Generator. Both spectrum and modulation accuracy measurements are made using the N9020A MXA Vector Signal Analyzer, which provides a variety of different measurements; however, as previously described, the most commonly used test parameters are ACPR and EVM. A summary of performance over a range of output powers is the ideal means of comparison and model selection. These measurements were automated using the same equipment to sweep input power. However, since each amplifier has different gain, the measurements are all referenced to the power at the output of the device. Performance

tone intermodulation performance to spectral regrowth or modulation accuracy. Therefore, when making useofhigh-dynamic-rangeamplifiers within digital communication systems using complex, high peak-to-average ratio signals, the proper means to determine the contribution to system error and spectral degradation, and to select the proper amplifier, is direct measurement using waveforms and measurement systems similar to the one described in this article. This article first appeared in the February, 2010 issue of High Frequency Electronics. Minor revisions have been made to update content for this publication.

relative to commonly used LTE and DOCSIS signals are shown in Figure 2 and Figure 3. All E-PHEMT MMIC Amplifiers are readily characterized using waveforms generated by off-the- shelf equipment. This capability is easily extended to many digital modulation schemes such as WCDMA, CDMA-2000, WiMAX, EDGE, DVB-T and more. In both the case of spectral regrowth and modulation accuracy, there is an observable difference between the PSA, PMA and PHA series. This is to be expected based upon the 1 dB compression and intercept point data for the various models. However, it is impossible to directly correlate either compression or two-

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