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peter.clarke
I should think charger inefficiencies do outweigh handset PA inefficiencies. But ...
Jan.Mikkelsen
It will be interesting to see to what extent the power consumption of handsets ...
Nujira makes multimillion dollar deal for PA power saver
Peter Clarke
8/16/2010 9:31 AM EDT
LONDON – Nujira Ltd. has said that it has licensed its Coolteq.L power saving technology to a leading supplier of handset chips. Nujira (Cambridge, England) did not reveal the name of the licensor or the terms of the deal but said it includes multi-million dollar license fees and per-unit royalties.
Nujira's products are based on tracking signal strength and dynamically controlling the power supply to the power amplifier circuit in line with the transmission performance required. The approach is applicable to 3G and 4G cellular base stations, handsets and TV broadcast transmitters. So far Nujira has focused on communication basestation implementations but the company announced it had received a purchase order for a Coolteq.L development platform from a handset OEM back in April 2009.
Nujira asserts that Coolteq.L can double the efficiency of the handset PA, and halve the peak current requirement which is a major constraint for 4G handsets and USB dongles.
Under the licensing agreement, the unnamed chip vendor has agreed to integrate Coolteq.L technology into production ICs aimed at 3G, 3.5G and 4G implementations such as LTE.
"This agreement with one of the market leaders in the mobile handset arena will see Nujira's technology integrated into hundreds of millions of mobile handsets," said Tim Haynes, CEO of Nujira, in a statement. "As mobile internet data rates increase, power amplifier efficiency is becoming a dominant factor in the power consumption of smartphones and USB modems. Coolteq.L is the only power optimization technology which delivers the high bandwidths needed for 3.5G and 4G."
Nujira demonstrated working Coolteq.L test silicon at the Mobile World Congress in February 2010. The company claims that a handset PA with Coolteq.L is twice as efficient during HSUPA and LTE transmissions and 50 percent more efficient during W-CDMA transmissions, compared with the same PA without Coolteq. The company also announced the formation of the OpenET Alliance to develop and publish open specifications for envelope tracking interfaces for 3G and 4G platforms.
Related links and articles:
Nujira starts to roll out Coolteq.L silicon
Black Sand acquires power amplifier IP from Silicon Labs
CMOS power amplifier startup raises $10 million
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Jan.Mikkelsen
8/17/2010 7:46 AM EDT
It will be interesting to see to what extent the power consumption of handsets can be reduced in practical daily use. With the total number of mobile subscribers forecast to break the 5 billion barrier later this year there is certainly a lot of power saving potential.
But from a greener perspective, does the power consumption of the PA really matter? Surely many a small creek makes for a river, but what about the power that is wasted in the charger? Does this outnumber that consumed by the PA.
Any thoughts ?
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peter.clarke
5/19/2011 8:03 AM EDT
I should think charger inefficiencies do outweigh handset PA inefficiencies. But basestation inefficiencies are also relevant
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