Microwave Engineering Europe - July/August 2008 - (Page 8)

8 NEWS By JP Joosting, Microwave Engineering Europe IN BRIEF TI, Qualcomm to hold off Intel in MID market The market for integrated circuits for inclusion in MIDs (Mobile Internet Devices) is set to grow from $29 million in 2008 to $2.6 billion in 2012, with Texas Instruments and Qualcomm as leading suppliers of silicon, according to consultancy Forward Concepts (Tempe, Arizona). Over the same period the number of global MID shipments is set to grow from 305,000 in 2008 to 40 million in 2012, the consultancy predicted. The market supports application processors, digital basebands, RF transceivers and power ampliﬁers, graphics and other coprocessors, imagers, touch-screen controllers, power management ICs and peripheral chips such as Wi-Fi, WiMax, GPS, Bluetooth and Mobile TV. www.mwee.com/208403878 Bidding launched to build Europe’s Galileo sat-nav system The construction phase of Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation system has ﬁnally got the go-ahead, with the European Commission and European Space Agency launching the procurement process. The Commission has set aside more than Euros 2.1 billion to build 26 satellites, buy launch rockets and set up the ground control centres. The total budget of Euros 3.4 billion between 2007 and 2013 has been divided into six segments with contracts for satellites, launchers, computer programmes, ground stations, control stations and the system’s operation. Even though the timescales are tight, the EC and its partner the ESA have cautioned that “the procurement of the Galileo infrastructure is particularly complex.” All contracts should be in place by mid 2009, said a Commission spokesman. The system, which will compete against but and also collaborate with the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS), should be fully operational by 2013, several years behind the original target. The ﬁrst four constellation spacecraft are expected to be launched in 2010. Two test satellites, Giove-A and Giove-B, are already paving way for the full system. The latter was launched earlier this year. Last year, the Commission was forced to revise the whole manufacturing and operational structure of the ambitious project after the collapse of the private consortium asked to build and operate the system. Construction of Galileo will now be paid for entirely from European taxes, with some of the companies from the failed consortium certain to be among the eventual contractors. The potential bidders include companies such as EADS subsidiary Astrium, German satellite builder OHB Technology, Thales Alenia Space, and Logica. Companies outside the EU will not be barred from bidding and Boeing has already shown interest. Some work on Galileo is already under way - four operational satellites and some ground control systems are in the process of being built. The contracts now open to competition will complete the network. Bidders are being offered “six work packages”, with strict rules governing how much work can go to each company and how much of that work must then be sub-contracted to partners. Europe has already spent Euros 1.6 billion on the project and ministers and the European Parliament have warned that the additional Euros 3.4 billion recently approved for sat-nav investments will be the limit on expenditure. www.mwee.com/208802312 LTE: from zero to 32 million in three years, says ABI Research It will be 2010 before a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network is commercial, however ABI Research forecasts that by 2013, there will be more than 32 million subscribers using LTE networks. Where in the world will most subscribers be? Asia-Paciﬁc countries says ABI’s Nadine Manjaro, who anticipates approximately 12 million Asia-Paciﬁc LTE subscribers, with the balance split 60 to 40 percent between Western Europe and North America. Manjaro partially attributes LTE adoption in China to be a result of waiting too long for 3G licenses. Outside of use during the Olympics, the analyst thinks it unlikely that operators will spend billions on 3G and upgrade soon afterwards. So how much will those 32 million subscribers mean in revenue? Lots. LTE adoption means new hardware and software. First vendors to test equipment will beneﬁt as they ensure interoperability and performance. Next network infrastructure equipment will follow, and on their heels, device manufacturers. www.mwee.com/208403880 Operators ready speciﬁcations for NFC enabled handsets The body representing GSM cellular operators, GSMA, is readying a preliminary set of minimum requirements for handsets containing Near Field Communications (NFC) chipsets. Developed by the 45 operators globally supporting the GSMA’s Pay-Buy-Mobile initiative, the requirements will help handset manufacturers to develop NFC-enabled phones that are compatible with operators’ planned NFC services. The requirements build on the standardisation work completed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), which has selected the Single Wire Protocol to provide the interface between the Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) — recommended by the GSMA as the Secure Element for NFC applications — and the NFC chipset embedded in the handset. The requirements will cover the handset’s user-interface, operation in low battery power mode and other aspects of the contactless functionality. The GSMA will seek feedback from the handset manufacturers and anticipates that the requirements can be ﬁnalised by the third quarter of the year. Mobile operator Softbank has just launched a trial of UICC-based NFC payment services in Japan bringing the total number of trials under the GSMA’s Pay-Buy-Mobile initiative to seven. AT&T, FarEasTone, KTF, Orange, SFR and Turkcell are also running trials and a further seven operators plan to begin trials in the near future. Separately, the GSMA has reached an agreement with the European Payments Council to fully-deﬁne the role of the Trusted Services Manager, which will support banks and mobile operators in the distribution, conﬁguration and activation of the bank’s payment application on the UICC in NFC handsets. www.mwee.com/208802313 Microwave Engineering Europe ● July/August 2008 ● www.mwee.com http://www.mwee.com/208403878 http://www.mwee.com/208802312 http://www.mwee.com/208403880 http://www.mwee.com/208802313 http://www.mwee.com

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Microwave Engineering Europe - July/August 2008 Contents News Comment Cover Feature: Effective EM Simulations with Micro−λ Resolution in Macro-λ Objects — General Huygens Box Implementation RF CMOS: Programmable Transceiver IC Minimises OEM Inventory for Femtocells CAD/EDA: Software-Defined Radio Platforms CAD/EDA: Cadence Enhances RF Verification While AWR Delivers an Improved Microwave Office How to Meet the Design Challenges of WiMAX Power Amplifiers Products Calendar

Microwave Engineering Europe - July/August 2008

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