Microwave Engineering Europe - January/February 2009 - (Page 8)

8 COMMENT SALES OFFICES LTE will be the key subject at Mobile World Congress 2009 Since important base LTE network standards were set in December 2008, the major test companies are now getting ready to show all their latest developments as are the basestation developers. This is seen as a key step and a welcome surprise to the LTE community as it prepares to compete with technologies such as WiMAX. As most of the network intelligence, approaching 80 percent, for both LTE and WiMAX, is to be integrated into the basestation — a process known as migrating intelligence to the edge of the network — designers have a lot to do. This also, poses challenges for test, as the only interface now effectively left for service providers and manufacturers to monitor and test the performance of such a network is the air interface. In effect basestations will be carrying out many functions normally associated with other layers of a traditional network such as making decisions with respect to backhaul and routing of packets. Note that both WiMAX and LTE are IP packet based systems and will be relying on Ethernet protocols for the backhaul side. Of course there are still many issues to resolve such as what form of MIMO will eventually come to dominate and how power efﬁciency is addressed in the handset (see article on page 20). On the basestation side, power consumption issues have progressed well with Doherty ampliﬁers ﬁnding common use. High Accuracy Tracking or HAT is also making an appearance here and this technology though theoretically has been around for a long time it is only recently that it has become practical. In effect, it implements a feedback loop (low noise) where the out)-going RF signal is used to vary the input power to the PA according to the output power. The result is less dissipation versus a constant input power, which is the traditional way of using power ampliﬁers. Such technology also may hold the key to efﬁcient handsets for LTE and WiMAX networks. All of this and more will be discussed at length at the upcoming Mobile World Congress Event in Barcelona, February 16 to 19. Jean-Pierre Joosting Editor mwee@eetimes.be Mobile:- +32-473-606005 EUROPE Austria - Victoria & Norbert Hufmann Tel +49 911 93 97 64 42 - sales@hufmann.info Belgium - Nadia Liefsoens Tel: +32-11-224 397 - nadia@ﬁvemedia.be France, Spain & Portugal - Geert de Vuyst Tel:+32 2 740 0050 - sales@eetimes.be Germany PLZ 0-3, 60-65, 8-9 - Victoria & Norbert Hufmann Tel: +49 911 93 97 64 42 - sales@hufmann.info Germany PLZ 4-5 - Armin Wezel Tel: +49 9568 897 097 - armin@eurokom-media.de Germany PLZ 66-69, 7 - Helle Pedersen Tel: +49 7131 2040396 - helle.pedersen@t-online.de Israel - Leslie Rose Tel: +972-54-5746990 info@elarco-intl.com Italy - Ferruccio Silvera Tel: +39-02-284 6716 - info@silvera.it The Netherlands - Mary Zaaijer Tel: +31-30-2291 799 - mzb@mzb-mr.demon.nl Scandinavia - Jeff Draycott Mobile: +46-(0)702 067636 - jeff.draycott@comhem.se Switzerland - Monika Ailinger Tel: +41-41-850 4424 - m.ailinger@marcomedia.ch UK & Ireland - Steve Regnier & Tim Anstee Tel: +44-1732-366555 - sales@starmediaservices.co.uk USA US East Coast - Karen Smith-Kernc Tel: +1 717 397 7100 - KarenKCS@aol.con US Central & West Coast - Alan Kernc Tel: +1 717 397 7100 - AlanKCS@aol.com ASIA Mainland China Bejing - Boyu International Advertising Co., Ltd. Tel: (86-10) 6505 9911 - mdong@globalsources.com Guangzhou - Weimei International Advertising Co., Ltd. Tel: (86-20) 3879 1454 (Extension: 105) sfung@globalsources.com Shanghai - Lianchuang International Advertising Co., Ltd. Tel: (86-21) 5306 8968 (Extensiont: 2131) mandypan@globalsources.com Shenzhen - Shenzhen ASM Advertising Co., Ltd. Tel: (86-755) 8828 2518 (Extension: 2518) xiongyh@globalsources.com Hong Kong - Asian Sources Publications Ltd. Tel: (852) 2831 2779 tfan@globalsources.com Malaysia - Promoexport Advertising Consultants Sdn Bhd. Tel: (60 - 3) 5634 8500 dong@globalsources.com Singapore - Export Advertising Consultants (Pte) Ltd. Tel: (65) 6547 2608 perrytan@globalsources.com South Korea - Export Media Ltd. Tel: (82 - 2) 3473 9200 (Extension: 201) rﬂanders@globalsources.com Taiwan - Asia Paciﬁc Media Co. Ltd. Tel: (886 - 2) 2712 6877 (Extension: 370) ktsai@globalsources.com Japan - E2 Publishing Co Tel: +81-3-3556-3841 - sales@eetimes.jp TECHINSIGHTS A UBM COMPANY Paul Miller Group President Microwave Engineering Europe ● January/February 2009 ● www.mwee.com http://www.mwee.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Microwave Engineering Europe - January/February 2009

Microwave Engineering Europe - January 2009 News Contents Comment Using KPIs to Ensure Quality in a Converging Network Amplifier Error Vector Magnitude Characterisation Using High-Speed Modular PXI Instruments GPS: Making a Play for Femtocells Accelerating Global WiMAX Adoption: The Move to Picocell and Femtocell Base Stations Addressing PA Efficiency for Multi-Mode Wideband Handset Applications Wi-Fi: Mobile Feature or Fundamental RAN? Products Calendar

Microwave Engineering Europe - January/February 2009

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