14 MANUFACTURER’S FORECAST
Antenna Systems & Technology Magazine asked a variety of today’s leading antenna manufacturers to recap the 2006 business year, and look ahead to 2007, touching on the state of the industry and what consumers can expect in the coming yer a
again, some say like having a sip from the fountain of youth. As the marketplace is driving wireless product and system solutions to become smaller, provide more functionality and exhibit improved quality of service, the importance of a well designed antenna is being prioritized and its importance and role in establishing an optimal RF link is finally being recognized. In turn, antenna design technology and product solutions are being heavily challenged. Available real estate inside of a wireless device is at a premium, akin to beachfront property at Malibu. This requires antennas to be extremely small, perform across multiple frequencies and operate flawlessly next to every imaginable other type of component. There is no question that antennas directly affect the wireless system link budget through their pattern and gain. Creating the future of advanced antenna solutions now requires unique electrical and mechanical design characteristics, advanced materials sciences and an overall understanding of the entire system application. Furthermore, due to the extreme level of sensitivity in relation to the surrounding environment, antennas are rapidly becoming part of a larger subsystem rather than being treated as a single component. The marketplace is driving antenna companies like Laird Technologies to integrate multiple features as part of the overall antenna solution, which includes incorporating such items as amplifiers, speakers and microphones, to name a few. Antenna performance can be degraded by many factors if not given proper importance during the system design phase. Affecting the outcome of an optimal solution can be arbitrary size limits, poor antenna location, improper impedance matching and especially interference from the operating environment. A wireless device designer’s “wish list” typically desires the antenna solution to exhibit minimal size and the ability to be placed in an unobtrusive location, allow for an uncomplicated matching network, be unaffected by the surrounding onboard environment and of course, low cost. In order to accomplish these tasks, designing the antenna solution cannot be an afterthought or treated as one of the last blocks in the circuit diagram, which puts the wireless device designers at odds with the antenna designers. Working together with the antenna supplier at the onset and during the entire development cycle will most definitely lead to better RF performance, easier system design and lower overall cost. So what should consumer and enterprise expect in 2007? Certainly we shall experience more products that will combine our most pleasurable senses of sight, sound and feel. New product entries will continue at an astounding pace and product life cycles will shorten. Considerable performance enhancements and substantial size reductions will be driving factors. As for prognostications, be on the look out for wireless products that give the appearance of having invisible antennas or recognize automatically what frequency or environment they need to operate within. I believe wearable wireless will be the “in” look. Aspiring futurists will find their Bluetooth hands-free headsets that currently cling for dear life around ones ear, become more comfortable, fitted and stylish. In fact, in wouldn’t surprise me to see celebrities in Hollywood promenading down the red carpet, showcasing the latest diamond studded Bluetooth ear piece, making wearable wireless not only the latest fashion statement, but also establishing its category in our clothing accessory future as commonplace as the cufflink or earring. Beam me up, Scottie
Laird Technologies Craig Somach, Director of Global Business Development (Wireless & IBD Products)
2006 was another stellar year for wireless devices and their pervasive presence within both the consumer and enterprise environments. Almost any supplier of components that used wireless products watched 2006 sales forecasts soar to record heights, as new wireless gadgets were introduced continuously throughout the year. Wires-free access has shown up in almost every kind of thingamajig imaginable, offering features and benefits to buyers, being snatched up by almost every man, woman, child and dog on the planet, and in turn, driving up high volumes and driving down competitive price points. Within the enterprise world, wireless has been a contributing factor in productivity numbers reaching all-time highs by increasing access to almost limitless resources to be as effortless as ever while also expanding the range of options to choose from to being as plentiful as the corn fields of Nebraska. For workers in the office, “having wireless” unleashes them from desktops that were once chained to the dreaded “my cable is too short” wired LAN. Employees in all positions are now thriving with the freedom to roam - from chair to chair, meeting to meeting, building to building, city to city, and even country to country, wearing their wireless headset and carrying their wireless laptop, always on and connected, enabling a near constant ability to manage business activities instantaneously. Yellow signs are now seen being posted in hallways saying, “Slow down, caution, worker carrying laptop ” Cell phones, Blackberrys and PDAs for most members of the staff are now as customary as a number two pencil for high school ACT tests. These hand held devices have become miniature yet powerful work centers from which business transactions are handled literally “on the spot,” enabling service and support to take place almost anywhere. “Say, are you ignoring me? I sent you an e-mail two minutes and I haven’t seen your response yet ” Does that sound familiar? It also seemed during the past year that for both the enterprise and consumer, not only did we see the number of wireless devices increase dramatically, but these items became smaller, faster and multi-functional, exhibiting numerous features into one unit, where as before, we would have required several separate units to, for instance, hear music, see video, access the Internet, start the car and unlock the door. Around the office, wireless certainly equates to higher efficiency. At the consumer level, “having wireless” is associated with the freedom to access, anytime, anywhere, anyplace. But “being wireless” seems to have meaning, even now becoming a genre of its own, perhaps which can be coined generation W. “Being wireless” can have the feeling of being instantly transported into the future. And to a certain degree and cult like following, “being wireless” can actually have the sensation of being born
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ANTENNA SYSTEMS & TECHNOLOGY • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2007 • 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY
MANUFACTURER’S FORECAST 15
SkyCross, Inc. Chris Morton, Cheif Executive Officer
The global market for antenna systems continues on an upward trajectory. During 2006 we saw the introduction of several new wireless services on a number of pioneering device designs. There are more exciting technology developments to come in 2007 for both high- and low-end devices. In the past year, the wireless industry worldwide benefited as data rates and coverage improved. NTT DoCoMo, the leader in wireless data revenue for several years, is expected to generate $10 billion from data services in 2006, a new peak for any operator worldwide. Operators continued their push to improve indoor coverage and roll out 3G networks. WiMAX and mobile video emerged as two areas of intense global interest in 2006. Sprint-Nextel was among the first operators to announce WiMAX deployments. SkyCross introduced the first internal and external antennas for WiBro, the Korean version of WiMAX, for PC cards and other mobile devices. Mobile video expanded from its origins in Korea as a satellite service to terrestrial-based video services (TDMB and DVB-H). These new enabling architectures helped spread service availability to many areas. The new terrestrial mobile video handsets debuted with SkyCross antennas for markets in Korea, China and Europe. I believe we’ll see two major trends in 2007. First, manufacturers will introduce a wider range of wireless-enabled consumer electronics devices with increased functionality—good news for buyers everywhere. Second, market pressure for fast design cycles and low-cost manufacturing will intensify. This will cause device designers to select suppliers with flexible technologies enabling many product designs and regional facilities providing highly responsive support. Here are my specific predictions: • Data capabilities for notebook computers and ultra-mobile PCs (UMPCs) will expand from WiFi to include embedded 3G data, WiMAX, and video. • PC cards will cover more services including 3G data, WiMAX, video, and location while shrinking in size. • Handset purchases will surge due to increasing subscriber growth rates in emerging markets, particularly Asia. The replacement market will remain strong as many current customers in established markets will upgrade to devices that support advanced services. Performance and battery life remain key issues since devices must support multiple functions, including voice, data, video, audio, location, and more. • Personal media players for audio, video, and potentially voice are likely to appear. • USBs, which make it easier to hook up a wide variety of accessories to a computer, will support audio, video, and data including WiMAX. SkyCross will continue to exceed customers’ expectations as the worldwide wireless demand grows with its antenna-centric, system-optimized RF designs coupled with regional centers for crucial responsiveness. SkyCross also has versatile nextgeneration technologies enabling device manufacturers to introduce a full range of high- and low-end devices very quickly. The coming year is shaping up as a turning point in antenna systems technology. I think consumers will see the results as a new breed of communications, information, and entertainment devices are introduced. At SkyCross we look forward to leveraging our technology, products, and RF expertise to help enable advanced wireless services in markets worldwide.
ArrayComm Steven Glapa, Vice President of Marketing
At the industry level, 2006 has seen the emergence of a new and much more complex dynamic in the discussion about technology paths forward. We’re all familiar with wireless operators’ efforts to grow revenues in new services beyond mobile voice, and with their need for advances in wireless equipment performance and economics in order to make those efforts pay off. While the early part of the decade saw the rise of consensus on W-CDMA and CDMA 2000 as the dominant platforms for this wide-area wireless service innovation, and while 2005 marked the appearance of what was perceived by many as a noisy and suspect potential alternative in the form of WiMAX, 2006 brought a number of new variables squarely into the equation and alter the industry’s consensus. The carrier-led Next-Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) initiative and continued work on 3G’s Long-Term Evolution (LTE) both began in earnest to chart separate new courses for the future of systems used by 3G operators, in part in response to WiMAX. WiMAX moved squarely into the real world with certified 802.16d equipment, deployed or in deployment now in over 65 countries. A number of major telecom equipment manufacturers (including Samsung, Motorola, Huawei, and others) launched the development of 802.16e WiMAX equipment on aggressive timelines for trials in 2007. A number of major operators (including Sprint, KT, BellSouth, and others) became vocally supportive. And to mix things up further, many operators in the developing world started talking about skipping W-CDMA or CDMA-2000 altogether and migrating their cellular networks to a combination of GSM and WiMAX (an interest to which the supply side is already responding). For the industry, this means a broader range of technology choices for operators, and healthy competition that will spur more rapid performance advancement. These events in the past year have spelled nothing but good news for ArrayComm. A common thread throughout all of these air interface evolution discussions is recognition of the imperative to adopt multi-antenna signal processing (MAS), also known as MIMO or smart antennas, in these systems to enable reaching key performance and economics goals. This is more than just talk — as a direct result of explicit operator demand, over the last year we have formed and announced new relationships with Samsung, TI, KT, and a number of other equipment manufacturers and operators that have not yet been announced. Interest in our MAS software solutions has risen dramatically in the past 12 months. The coming year will be all about execution for us — working side-by-side with our manufacturer customers to move MAS-enabled systems and client devices into the trial phase with operators in mobile WiMAX, HSDPA, and mobile TV networks. We expect these trials to show operators of next-generation wireless systems the same kind of multiple-fold gains in range, client data rates, and capacity we have proven through extensive prior implementations in PHS, GSM, and HC-SDMA. We look forward to continued acceleration in 2007 of the breakneck pace 2006 has set
For More Information visit www.skycross.com
For More Information visit www.arraycomm.com
ANTENNA SYSTEMS & TECHNOLOGY • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2007 • 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY
16 MANUFACTURER’S FORECAST
Terrestrial Digital Richard Schneider, President
While there been many advancements in antenna design over the last 30 years, much of this innovation seems to have skipped television antennas. Conventional wisdom said there was no longer a market for over the air antennas. However with several billion dollars being spent on new digital television transmitters since 2000, there is a renewed interest from the American public in television antennas. The underlying geometry of currently available TV antennas has changed little in the last 30 years. With the narrower range of the new DTV frequency allocations meant that existing legacy antennas were designed with a bandwidth no longer needed for TV reception. Using recently introduced antenna design tools we could optimize the antenna geometries in on new narrower DTV bandwidths, resulting in a smaller, more powerful antenna than previously thought possible. In 2006, Terrestrial Digital introduced the Lacrosse antenna. Intended for customers interested in Digital television reception, The Lacrosse reached out to a more mainstream customer as the first TV antenna on the market that effectively combined high performance with aesthetics. It features 10.8 dBi of gain (non-amplified) and is offered with an optional 17dBi amplifier. It is capable of pulling in the HD signals from 40 miles away, but it looks more like phased array radar than a traditional television antenna. The product has been a great success for our company and has led us in the direction of the research behind our new line of antennas for ’07. In 2007, we will take our success with the Lacrosse to the next level with the introduction of our Lacrosse Micron line of antennas. Throughout the past year, using new development tools to run thousands of “what if” scenarios to optimize performance and reduce size, we have produced the most powerful small form television antennas on the market- the Lacrosse Micron line. The Micron line will include three distinctive products, all of which will feature 10dBi (non-amplified) max gain and will also feature low noise amplifiers: (1) The Lacrosse Micron All Weather – an outdoor HD antenna that, at 10 inches by 12 inches by 4 inches, is 40percent smaller than the original Lacrosse, yet retains its excellent performance. (2) The Lacrosse Micron Indoor – an 8-inch by 8-inch by 4-inch antenna that packs the power of an outdoor antenna into a compact, aesthetically designed indoor model. (3) The Clearstream – The first practical DTV antenna/ATSC set-top box combo on the market. For the first time in 30 years antennas are becoming fashionable again, as HDTV/DTV crosses over into the mainstream. But unlike 30 years ago the best image quality actually comes from an antenna Contrasted with cable and satellite where limited bandwidth requires more image degradation signal compression. Regardless of performance, in today’s age of heightened aesthetic sensibility, customers are also less willing to put a giant antenna on the roof. So the mission was clear- high performance from powerful, smaller and streamlined antenna designs. The Micron line now provides a compelling case to look at antennas again for the mainstream HDTV viewer.
Andrew Corporation Mike Guerin, VP, Product Line Management, Antenna and Cable Products
2006 was an exciting year for Andrew Corporation’s WiMAX, terrestrial microwave (TMW), and base station antenna groups. Our evolving portfolio of 2.5 and 3.5 GHz WiMAX-standard antennas saw shipments in the thousands via OEM channels. These antennas were deployed across five continents in support of multiple WiMAX trials and roll outs. Andrew will continue collaborating with OEM customers to develop antenna designs that are increasingly more efficient for supporting wireless broadband deployments in urban, rural and underserved regions. With nearly 16 million subscribers projected by 2010, Andrew considers WiMAX an important technology to support. Andrew added to its TMW antenna group in 2006 by acquiring Precision Antennas Ltd, the previously third largest TMW manufacturer in the world, based in Stratford, England. This acquisition brought new manufacturing efficiencies in-house, and added to Andrew’s European TMW customer base. Andrew also expanded TMW manufacturing operations to its Goa, India, facility to better serve customers in that region. In terms of product development, the company’s new FCC Part 101, Category A 11 GHz ValuLine® III Next Generation antenna is now the world’s smallest, a full 15 percent smaller than any other Category A compliant antenna. Base station antennas continue to be an important and exciting marketplace for Andrew. We are one of the fastest growing suppliers of BSAs in the world, having added two additional production facilities in Goa, India, and Brno, Czech Republic, in 2006. We also acquired the EMS Wireless division of EMS Technologies in the US, adding compelling strategic and financial benefits to the BSA business unit and extending Andrew’s leadership position in wireless subsystems. We introduced new antenna technology to support the recent Federal Communications Commission auction of AWS spectrum in the US, and have created new low visual impact solutions to increase concealment options. Andrew’s patented Teletilt® remote control variable electrical downtilt technology continues to improve coverage, lower costs and increase revenue and customer satisfaction for wireless operators worldwide. 2007 will see continued evolution of Andrew’s antenna product lines. Manufacturing capabilities that were expanded into new regions will continue to offer system solutions close to where customers need them. Product development efforts will continue to strive for increased antenna efficiency and performance in support of WiMAX, AWS-band, and other emerging operator needs. Andrew also expects to introduce new concealment solutions for BSAs that include tower mounted amplifiers and a new triple band BSA line.
For More Information visit www.andrew.com
For More Information visit www.terrestrial-digital.com
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ANTENNA SYSTEMS & TECHNOLOGY • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2007 • 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY
MANUFACTURER’S FORECAST 17
Airgain Dr. Pertti Visuri, Cheif Executive Officer
In 2006, an estimated 200 million wi-fi devices were manufactured around the world. Next year this will be 300 million—a growth trend that Airgain anticipates will continue for years to come. However, despite mass market adoption, wi-fi connectivity in 2006 continues to be hampered by dead spots, fading signals, interference and security concerns. In 2007, emerging wi-fi enabled applications such as wireless gaming, VoIP or IPTV will require efficient and reliable broadband wireless connectivity throughout the home. If wi-fi connectivity improves to meet the needs of these new applications, Airgain expects that they will be embraced with the same level of consumer enthusiasm that has untethered web-browsing and email access in millions of homes. Because consumers won’t accept spotty connectivity and performance, how can the industry deliver them the experience they demand at the falling prices they expect? The answer is improved antenna performance achieved through beam-forming and smart control principles, in antenna designs that are downsized in both physical properties and cost to fit standard wireless consumer electronics. Just Say No to Rabbit Ears Twiddling the antennas on your wi-fi device like your parents once adjusted the rabbit ears on their old RCA seems incredibly low-tech in this day and age. However, it’s commonplace as end-users try to find a way to improve the reach and quality of their signal. The culprit is the standard dipole antenna, which broadcasts its signal indiscriminately--regardless of obstacles or the actual location and needs of various client devices. While inexpensive, these omnidirectional antennas are also incredibly inefficient and clutter airspace with a great deal of wasted signal. For these reasons, in 2006, innovative wi-fi device designers and manufacturers began adopting a new breed of wi-fi antenna solution that vastly outperforms the standard dipole antenna. Smart Antennas Equal Smarter Connectivity. Makers of residential wireless routers, access points and gateways began to see the light this past year, incorporating Airgain’s SmartGain technology into their next-generation designs. Companies like Westell Technologies Inc. and Siemens in the U.S. and customers in the Far East like AL Tech of Korea selected Airgain’s SmartGain switched beam smart antenna solution for the antenna system in their next-generation wireless ADSL2+ gateways and routers. We expect that in 2007, these smart antenna systems will begin making their way into consumers’ homes and making an impact on how wi-fi services and applications are enjoyed around the home. For the residential broadband carriers that install these next-generation gateways in their subscribers’ homes, the result will be triple the signal strength for vastly improved connectivity leading to greater satisfaction, reduced service calls and a more profitable customer relationship. Wi-fi Antenna Innovation Breaks Through in 2007 Smart antenna systems should become the norm as wi-fi systems can be upgraded with them without increasing the cost to manufacture the device or necessitating a change in the physical specifications of the device. 802.11n will continue to produce ‘draft N’ compliant devices as the standard effort moves forward. Airgain’s SmartGain technology will be integrated into an N-based antenna design to enhance performance in these new devices as well. Client side connectivity will also be improved by incorporating smart antenna technology into such devices as wi-fi enabled laptops, handsets, gaming consoles and set-top boxes. The last piece in this puzzle as we look forward to 2007 is consumer awareness. As consumers realize that weak or intermittent wi-fi connectivity is not something that they need to accept or live with, the standard dipole antenna will join the telephone rotary dial, flash cube, and other proverbial buggy whips in technology history.
Fractus Ruben Bonet, Cheif Executive Officer
2006 has seen a rash of new cellular technology deployments which will move into rapid growth in 2007. The first HSDPA networks have been deployed and while initially this has been focused on data cards, the first handsets have started to appear and we expect this to become an important part of our business next year. 2006 has also seen the first mobile TV deployments and this has been a big part of Fractus’ year. Mobile TV presents challenges that have never before affected the handset industry as it operates on such low and wide frequencies. Fractus is the only supplier that has announced an internal antenna for all the available DVB-H frequencies so we expect this to be good business for us in 2007. We will see a steady rise in mobile TV deployments and as more handset models appear there will be fierce competition to produce slimmer, sexier designs which will undoubtedly push the antenna manufacturing community to the limits. In short-range wireless we should begin to see the belated appearance of UWB in 2007 and this market will become increasingly important in the future. The home is one place where wireless communications has not had the impact they should have and UWB will begin to change that. Wi-Fi will have a major impact in the cellular space in 2007 as the much promised fixed-mobile convergence services increase in popularity. With 300 million dual-mode (wifi/cellular) handsets expected on the market by 2011, Fractus has made some inroads in the smartphone market and will be addressing this area more keenly next year as the market develops. One of Fractus’ greatest successes this year was the launch of Antenna in Package technology which we believe will revolutionise the wireless market by driving faster, cheaper and simpler wireless development across all wirelessenabled devices. AiP allows the antenna, traditionally a separate component, to be integrated with other RF components such as the radio and RF processor. Using fractal geometry with its extremely economical use of space, Fractus has created a solution that is small enough to be incorporated onto the IC (Integrated Circuit) and accommodate multiple bands (frequencies) to support numerous short-range wireless standards. 2006 saw an ever increasing number of wireless standards begin to live side by side and the approval of our patent for multilevel antenna technology was an important achievement for us. The design allows mobile systems and devices to provide increased frequency bands in a smaller physical space, allowing wireless devices to incorporate more wireless standards and more frequency bands therefore helping device designers to achieve small and stylish form factors. We will continue to license this and our other patented fractal antenna technologies throughout 2007.
For More Information visit www.fractus.com
For More Information visit www.airgain.com
ANTENNA SYSTEMS & TECHNOLOGY • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2007 • 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY