Royal Philips Electronics announced a new concept for EDGE GSM basestation design that allows manufacturers to produce a single RF power amplifier chassis that they can customize to operate in the 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz or 1900 MHz bands simply by plugging in appropriate RF driver modules and power transistors. By eliminating the need to design a separate amplifier assembly for each band, it simplifies component inventory and logistics and reduces manufacturing costs.
The development of this unified modular approach to power amplifier design demonstrates Philips' commitment to staying at the forefront of EDGE GSM basestation technology, and consolidates its position as the number-one supplier of LDMOS-based power amplifier solutions for this market. Philips is already the leading supplier to the world's top three basestation manufacturers and the one of the largest volume suppliers of RF power amplifier components.
Each of the four RF driver modules (one for each band) is a fully integrated 50-ohm module delivering either 2.5W EDGE output power in the 800 MHz and 900 MHz cellular bands or 3.5 W power in the 1800 MHz and 1900 MHz PCS/DCS bands. A corresponding internally matched 1-GHz or 2-GHz LDMOS power transistor boosts these EDGE power levels to 40W in the 800/900 MHz or 1800/1900 MHz bands. Philips' unique FlexBaseTM technology ensures that the modules have excellent thermal characteristics, allowing operation at CW powers in excess of 10W at heatsink temperatures of over 90 degrees.
The modules have Error Vector Magnitude (EVM ) linearity figures as low as 1% and an Adjacent Channel Power Ratio at 400 kHz (ACPR400) better than -63 dBc, with corresponding figures for the RF power transistors of 2 per cent and -60 dBc. These figures provide sufficient margin to realize fully EDGE compliant power amplifier performance.
