Envelope tracking API released for 4G phones

LONDON – The OpenET Alliance, the industry body that promotes envelope tracking in wireless transmission has announced it has released an application programming interface (API) for 4G handsets.

Envelope tracking is a means of power optimization for the RF front ends of 3G and 4G base stations and handsets.

"Without it, using traditional power supply architectures, 4G RF PAs [power amplifiers] will use up to 65 percent more energy than today's 3G PAs. Using envelope tracking technology based on the new OpenET API, manufacturers can rapidly develop 4G handsets that require 30 to 50 percent less energy and support a larger number of LTE frequency bands," said Steven Baker, technical director of the OpenET Alliance, in a statement.

The API document builds on the OpenET hardware interface specifications for terminals. It defines an implementation-independent software interface between the high level calibration, configuration and control functionality required for envelope tracking and the low level transceiver and modulator hardware blocks. The API specification is owned by the OpenET Alliance Systems Working Group who will maintain and further develop the APIs.

"In addition, the API document serves as a useful tutorial for engineers wishing to understand the impact of envelope tracking on the chipset firmware, as it is a self-contained document which describes all the hooks required to implement ET-enabled solutions for TX power control and calibration in a handset," added Baker.

The new API is freely available to all members of the OpenET Alliance.


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www.open-et.org

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