Microwave Engineering Europe - April 2008 - (Page 25)

INTERVIEW — Mitsubishi Electric Europe 25 Dr Abdin: MEU covers all of Europe in addition to the Middle East and Russia. The Semiconductor HQ based in Ratingen, Germany covers marketing, sales, engineering, and logistics. It has a Customer Service Team and a central warehouse based in Düsseldorf. Around 50 percent of the business is through local distribution. Further, the sales force for HF is focused only on this segment without any competing distractions. The strong sales and distribution network has ensured that MEU is either in discussions with or designed into nearly all main customers in the European Union (EU). Cellular/WCDMA is a traditional strength in MELCO’s home market (Japan), and this experience is being used to serve both the European and US markets. Production is biased towards China as it is the case in most industries. For example, design work can be done in the UK with production in China and the end product sold in the EU or USA. MWEE: The satellite industry is offering more and more broadband access to specialized markets, for example the intention behind the launching of the next generation Alphasat I-XL satellite by InMarSat. Key issues here are more channels, smaller size and higher efﬁciency. How is MELCO positioned to take advantage of such markets? Dr Abdin: We expect the satellite business will be driven by substitute demand for the next few years as many satellites were launched with a life-span of seven to eight years and are coming due for replacement. A key issue is replacing the traditional TWT (Traveling Wave Tube) as reliability is a concern. For example, a TWT can be replaced with a 10 W linear part based on MESFET technology. However, more customers are requesting TWT replacement in the L-, S- and C-bands for better reliability (MTBF) of 5 times and more, lighter weight, and linear characteristics. Replacing TWT ampliﬁers with an SSPA (Solid State Power Ampliﬁer) requires high efﬁciencies in the ball park of 50 percent, which MELCO is able to deliver today. High efﬁciency technology is a key issue to taking the TWT replacement market. Consequently, MELCO are moving from MESFET to HFET and GaN devices to increase efﬁciency even further. HFET will commence this year and GaN is expected to be available starting 2010. MWEE: One key issue that has arisen fairly recently is the importance of PA efﬁciency. Carriers are getting more concerned at the amount of energy required to run the base-stations in the network either because electricity supply is restricted in some areas or costs are going up. With 4th generation power hungry networks (LTE, WiMAX) due to come on line this issue is gaining importance. How is MELCO approaching this issue? Dr Abdin: We welcome this trend as MELCO offers high-efﬁciency PA technology. Currently, we are a leader in the preWiMAX market in the USA (2.5 GHz). LDMOS in the base station market offers attractive pricing. As an alternative, Mitsubishi offers a low-distortion HFET for base station use that takes advantage of harmonics processing technology which offers higher linearity and higher efﬁciency characteristics. Other key advantages offered by our cellular and UMTS PAs include low UMTS Power Amplifier WCDMA PA Mitsubishi Electric is offering a complete set of high efficiency power amplifiers for UMTS mobile applications. Mitsubishi's PA's are well recognized in the cellular market for highest efficiency and excellent performance. They are available for several interfaces and many UMTS bands. www.mitsubishichips.com · semis.info@meg.mee.com MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC EUROPE B.V. (Semiconductor European Business Group) Gothaer Straße 8 · D-40880 Ratingen · Phone: +49 (0) 2102/486 0 · Fax: +49 (0) 2102/486 4140 Microwave Engineering ● April 2008 ● www.mwee.com 024-025-026-027_MWEE.indd 25 28/03/08 14:06:51 http://www.mitsubishichips.com http://www.mitsubishichips.com http://www.mwee.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Microwave Engineering Europe - April 2008

Microwave Engineering Europe - April 2008 News Contents Comment Test and Measurement: Comprehensive WiMAX and Wi-Fi Product Design Demands Effective Channel Emulation Military/Aerospace Focus: Hardware Needs Limit Software Radio Interview — Mitsubishi Electric Europe: GaAs Technologies Spanning High-End Space and Radar Through to Cost-Sensitive Handset and LNB Applications How Do You Test ZigBee Transmitters? Advanced Receiver Design Boosts Performance CMOS PAs Pave the Way for One-Chip Phones Products Calendar

Microwave Engineering Europe - April 2008

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