Fujitsu's Multimode, Multiband Transceiver IC Supports All Global Bands

Fujitsu (News - Alert) Semiconductor’s latest single-chip multimode, multiband transceiver is 2G/3G/4G transceiver that supports all modes, including LTE (News - Alert) (FDD and TDD), HSPA+, WCDMA, GSM, EDGE, EDGE-EVO, CDMA, and TD-SCDMA. Fujitsu said that the sampling of the multimode, multiband transceiver IC MB86L11A will begin in the second quarter.

In a statement, said Vivek Bhan, vice president of Fujitsu Semiconductor Wireless Products, “Fujitsu's transceivers solve major challenges for wireless device manufacturers planning to introduce both regional and global devices with roaming capabilities in almost any combination of bands and modes.”

He added, “The new device augments Fujitsu's growing family of state-of-the-art multimode, multiband single-chip transceivers, which are available in production quantities. Our family of devices offers world-class performance, with millions of transceivers shipped to date.”

According to Fujitsu, the new 2G/3G/4G multimode, multiband transceiver chip offers leading-edge performance for current drain and RF parameters. Plus, it includes many innovative features in a smaller package with enhanced power control, envelope tracking (ET) and antenna tuning, said the maker. While ET tracking significantly lowers the power consumption with improved transmitter efficiency, antenna tuning optimizes the total radiated power output from the antenna. Both features optimize the battery life of mobile devices, said the maker.

The transceiver IC also includes an advanced programming interface (API) feature that minimizes factory calibration time, provides flexible port mapping and adds customized key performance indicator (KPI) capability. The MB86L11A is built using the SAW-less architecture pioneered by Fujitsu, which also eliminates the need for external low noise amplifiers (LNAs), said Fujitsu.

Other features of the MB86L11A include eight RF outputs on the transmitter section, nine primary RF inputs and six diversity RF inputs, giving greater flexibility to map ports and bands for different market requirements. The transceiver also incorporates an open standard MIPI DigRF interface to the baseband, and has both DigRF 4G and DigRF 3G interfaces to work with existing 2G/3G baseband platforms as well as with newer multimode 4G basebands, according to the supplier.

Fujitsu said that the new device supports all global FDD and TDD bands, including 1-21, 23-25, and 33-41. Additionally, like earlier Fujitsu LTE multimode, multiband transceivers, it supports 2G/3G/4G networks up to 20MHz bandwidth.

Future transceivers on the roadmap include a 4G LTE optimized device and a 3GPP Release 10, carrier-aggregation-compliant, single RFIC solution, said the manufacturer.