Nov 17 2010
WiSpry, Inc., the leader in tunable radio frequency (RF) semiconductor products for the wireless industry, today announced its technology is poised to tackle what in recent news has become the scourge of the wireless handset industry: antenna performance.
Having optimized RF micro-electro-mechanical systems (RF MEMS) into a system-on-a-chip (SoC) solution, WiSpry-enabled handsets facilitate active, aggressive use of existing network signals to deliver outstanding performance in a small and cost-effective package.
With the goal of assisting handset manufacturers and network operators to deliver on 3G and 4G performance promises, WiSpry uses patented tunable RF elements to enhance operation in dead zones and create reliable network connections. The convergence of digital, analog and RF functionality--via standard RF-CMOS process flows--also provides the cost benefits associated with fabless CMOS manufacturing.
According to iSuppli, the RF MEMS market will reach $8.1 million this year. By 2011 this figure will triple, and by 2014 iSuppli expects the valuation to reach $223 million. By that time, the firm expects more than 50 percent of shipped handsets to have some form of embedded RF MEMS technology.
“The recent spate of news coverage focusing on poor antenna performance has put the spotlight on a market opportunity that WiSpry has addressed for some time now,” said Jeff Hilbert, president and founder of WiSpry. “High-performance, tunable antennas and other tunable RF components will usher in a new generation of mobile phones and media devices offering improved performance and battery life at lower cost and size while providing the added benefits of increased network capacity and fewer dropped calls.”
Key benefits of tunable RF technology for handset manufacturers and network operators include:
- Improved RF performance across cellular frequency bands and modes of operation providing fewer dropped calls and more talk time
- Reduced demand on network infrastructure via improved receiver sensitivity
- Reduction in the number of required antennas in multi-band handset platforms
- Multiple-week reduction in RF design cycle time
- Software programmable / dynamically reconfigurable RF devices enabling global coverage with fewer product models
- Sensitivity gains and increased power efficiency, reducing the amount of necessary infrastructure in a given area.
Source: http://www.wispry.com/