Signal chain solutions and more on display at EuMW 2017

DC to 34GHz MEMS switch technology 
ADI is replacing large limited bandwidth with limited lifetime RF relays. The ADGM1000 DC to 34GHz MEMS switch enables the highest RF performance in RF test instrumentation in the smallest form factors available on the market. ADI provides the lowest insertion loss across the band in a 20 times smaller form factor compared to relays. But the RF evaluation board proof of performance will only be one part of the demo. ADI is also planning on having a High speed DAC demo board (AD9166) with integrated switch. It will be present on Bob Clarke’s 3GHz Spectrum analyser demo.

X-Microwave Demo
ADI will be showcasing a passive demo of a complete X-Band Radar signal chain built using ADI parts on XMicrowave blocks. ADI and XMicrowave are working together in a partnership, to provide the industry with a much easier way to evaluate RF components and design their signal chain. Instead of having to connect multiple evaluation boards, designers can now build an entire X-Band signal chain using ADI parts on 'lego' form factor blocks from XMicrowave.

X-Band Radar Core Chip for hybrid and analogue beamforming
RF to Bits: X band Phased Array Solutions – ADI will be showing a complete X-band phased array signal chain including TR module, core IC, synthesisers, frequency converters, and high-speed digitisation. The demonstration includes the core ICs for hybrid and analogue beamforming solutions for military and industrial radar & communication applications. The demo shows the actual functioning of the beamformer core chip controlling the direction of a radar beam sent through an array of antenna elements. Each core chip performs the function previously carried out by four Transmit and four Receive channels of discrete components occupying many times the circuit board area.

CMOS & SiGe
ADI is demonstrating a complete bits-to-antenna solution for a 26-44GHz radio that could be used for building microwave point to point, 5G and VSAT radios. Currently companies spend vast amounts of time, resources and money to select several narrowband parts from multiple vendors to build their radio solutions in 26-44GHz band. They also have different set of parts for each narrowband within 26-44GHz range, thereby increasing the complexity of their design and supply chain.

RadioVerse AD9375 with Integrated DPD
With the AD9375 ADI presents the first wideband transceiver with digital predistorion (DPD) integrated on to the chip. DPD is used to linearise the power amplifier (PA), which is the most power hungry block in the radio system. As a result, it allows the use of high-efficiency PA, improving the system power efficiency. The AD9375 DPD solution targets the small cell and massive MIMO applications by addressing their pain points in form factor, power consumption, cost and ease of use and deployment.

To be more specific, the AD9375 DPD solution consumes less than 1/10th the power of the existing DPD solutions, saves half the JESD lanes, reduces the FPGA complexity and cost. In addition, ADI RadioVerse provides a versatile design ecosystem including the AD9375 evaluation platform and the AD9375 small cell reference design to improve time to market. The demo will have two DPD setups: the Benetel small cell module and the AD9375 EVB platform. The output will be shown on PXA.