Nujira Development System enables energy efficient smartphones for global markets

Commenting on the release of the new FDS, Nujira’s VP of Sales & Marketing Jeremy Hendy said, “With more than 20 frequency bands now allocated for 3G and 4G worldwide, major operators such as Vodafone and China Mobile are specifying that next generation handsets support up to ten frequency bands. Envelope Tracking PAs are set to transform the landscape of PA design in handsets and base stations alike, by addressing multiple frequency bands with a single high efficiency PA that uses less energy than today’s multiple single-band PAs. Our new Coolteq FDS enables customers to measure the benefits of Envelope Tracking PA performance across all worldwide 3G and 4G frequency bands, using a convenient, highly integrated unit which is dedicated to the task.”



The Nujira NCT-T9101 Coolteq™ Flexible Development System (FDS) enables operation and characterisation of ET Power Amplifiers (PAs) at any RF frequency from 200 MHz to 2700 MHz, covering all major cellular bands worldwide, as well as most digital broadcast and military communications frequencies. The system can be readily configured to support the development of a wide range of transmitters, including 3G/4G smartphones, USB dongles, base stations, digital TV transmitters and military radios.



Designed as a lab instrument for the development and characterisation of Envelope Tracking PAs, the FDS generates simultaneous RF and Envelope waveforms which can either be user-generated from arbitrary I/Q waveforms, or selected from a predefined library of 3G and 4G standards. Envelope signals are output from a Flexible Envelope Port (FEP) interface module, supporting both analogue (handset) and digital (infrastructure) envelope formats standardised by the OpenET Alliance. Comprehensive PC-based software supports real-time measurement and analysis of PA efficiency, linearity, and AM:AM/AM:PM distortion, and the system can optionally be configured to include Nujira’s Digital Pre-Distortion (DPD) algorithms running in hardware or software.



Using the new FDS, Nujira has demonstrated that a single standard handset PA can deliver 50% efficiency across the 1500 to 2100 MHz frequency band, covering 12 LTE bands with a single PA and halving the energy consumption of the transmitter when compared to traditional DC:DC converters. By enabling broadband, converged PA devices which replace the 5 or 6 single-band PA modules used in today’s smartphones, Envelope Tracking can significantly reduce handset size, cost and power consumption.