The new MCP73837 and MCP73838 dual-input, high-current Li-Ion / Li-Polymer charge-management controllers come with automatic USB or ac adapter power-source selection. Auto power-source selection from either a USB port or an ac adapter provides the user with increased flexibility for rechargeable battery applications.
The USB charge currents (100mA or 500mA) are regulated to comply with USB power specifications, while the higher charge current (up to 1A) from an ac power source enables Microchip’s MCP73837/8 devices to provide faster charging cycles.
VME SBC Targets Power-Constrained Rugged MIL Apps
The SVME-1900, developed by Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing, is a single 6U VME single-board computer (SBC) that features two independent Intel Core Duo processor-based compute platforms, each running at speeds of 1.67GHz.
When combined with a SATA or USB hard drive, the SVME-1900’s two dual-core processors provide a full-featured quad CPU embedded computing platform. The SVME-1900 speeds and simplifies the integration of high-performance x86 processing while reducing system slot count for multiple processors.
The SVME-1900’s two Intel Core Duo processors feature ultra-low voltage operation that improve embedded system performance-per-watt. It’s suited for aerospace and defence platforms that require x86 processing and optimal performance per watt. The SVME-1900 comes in air-cooled ruggedised configurations and can be configured with either two dual-core Intel Core Duo processors or two single-core Intel Core Solo processors.
Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing is a designer and manufacturer of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) VME, VPX and CompactPCI products for the aerospace and defence market.
Test System Integrates Wideband AMR
Aeroflex announced that wideband AMR (wideband adaptive multi-rate) support is now included in its 6113 AIME basestation protocol test system. The new test capability relates to the 3GPP TS45.003 test specification.
The new wideband AMR codecs (TCH/WFS12.65, TCH/WFS8.85, TCH/WFS6.60) build on existing narrowband AMR technology. Their introduction will significantly improve the quality of voice services due to the wider speech bandwidth used, claims the company.
“Wideband AMR features need to be correctly configured, optimised, and maintained if subscribers are to get the full quality-of-service benefits that the new speech codecs can deliver,” says Ross Broadhurst, product marketing manager, Aeroflex Test Solutions Wireless Division.
Couplers Save PCB Space In Cell Phones
Printed-circuit-board (PCB) space is always at a premium. To help combat that problem, Murata Electronics Europe introduced the LDC15 series of 0402 SMD chip multilayer hybrid couplers. These low-profile directional couplers measure a mere 1.0 by 0.5 by 0.4 mm, saving PCB space in cellular-phone and other handheld wireless applications. Based on the company’s own ceramic multilayer technology, members of the series are available in the 800 to 3000MHz frequency range.
Couplers like these are typically used in the transmit path of a cellular phone to adjust and optimise the power amplifier’s (PA) output power, helping to improve battery life in today’s handheld wireless products. The LDC15 series boasts a very low insertion loss of less than 0.2dB (typical at 25\[DEGREE\]C), minimising the impact on the transmit signal power. High isolation between 34 and 32dB is achievable.
The LDC15 series of directional couplers is rated for use between -40 and 85\[DEGREE\]C, with a power rating of 3W.