News Article
Cree & Eta to unveil 70% efficient GaN PA for mobile base stations
With the gallium nitride power amplifier, the two firms have established a new Industry standard with significant energy and carbon footprint reductions
Cree and Eta Devices will demonstrate what they claim is the world’s most efficient reported power amplifier for mobile base stations at the 2013 Mobile World Congress.
The conferece is taking place between February 24th and 28th in Barcelona, Spain.
Current generation mobile base station amplifiers employing silicon LDMOS transistors can provide amplifier efficiencies up to 45 percent. By contrast, Eta Devices’ next-generation power amplifiers are able to deliver efficiencies higher than 70 percent under a 4G LTE modulation format, and are thus poised to revolutionise current industry efficiency standards.
“Eta Devices’ next-generation power amplifiers leverage the performance and reliability advantages of Cree’s GaN HEMT RF transistors to realise game-changing efficiency benefits for the mobile base station industry,” says Jim Milligan, business director, Cree RF. “Our transistors have been instrumental in demonstrating Eta Devices’ amplifiers, which perform 50 percent more efficiently than the best incumbent silicon power amplifiers currently available in the 4G LTE market.”
The world’s mobile networks consume approximately 120TWh of electricity per year, and 50-80 percent of these networks’ power is consumed by their power amplifiers and associated components. Implementing Eta Devices’ new power amplifier solution on a global level could save mobile operators 60TWh of energy per year, which is equivalent to the amount of power produced by more than seven average-sized American nuclear power plants. It could also save up to 50 percent of the $36.5 billion spent to power mobile base stations each year.
“Mobile operators gain dramatic advantages by adopting our new technology,”comments Mattias Astrom, CEO of Eta Devices. “In addition to cost savings, our power amplifiers provide operators with a significantly reduced carbon footprint, which contributes to a more sustainable planet. In fact, if implemented on a global basis, our solution would reduce carbon emissions by approximately 36 million tons per year, which is equivalent to eliminating the annual greenhouse gas emissions produced by 7 million cars.”
Cree and Eta Devices’ demonstration of the new power amplifier will take place at the Barcelona Mandarin Oriental on February 26 from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Fabless semiconductor company, Eta Devices Inc. is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts with an R&D office in Stockholm, Sweden.
Its disruptive technology solves the key power challenges in the mobile communications industry. In base stations, this leads to significantly reduced power consumption and smaller cabinets. For handsets, battery life is considerably increased and multiband communications can be enabled at a fraction of the cost and footprint; this makes it possible to use the same handset model all over the world.
The conferece is taking place between February 24th and 28th in Barcelona, Spain.
Current generation mobile base station amplifiers employing silicon LDMOS transistors can provide amplifier efficiencies up to 45 percent. By contrast, Eta Devices’ next-generation power amplifiers are able to deliver efficiencies higher than 70 percent under a 4G LTE modulation format, and are thus poised to revolutionise current industry efficiency standards.
“Eta Devices’ next-generation power amplifiers leverage the performance and reliability advantages of Cree’s GaN HEMT RF transistors to realise game-changing efficiency benefits for the mobile base station industry,” says Jim Milligan, business director, Cree RF. “Our transistors have been instrumental in demonstrating Eta Devices’ amplifiers, which perform 50 percent more efficiently than the best incumbent silicon power amplifiers currently available in the 4G LTE market.”
The world’s mobile networks consume approximately 120TWh of electricity per year, and 50-80 percent of these networks’ power is consumed by their power amplifiers and associated components. Implementing Eta Devices’ new power amplifier solution on a global level could save mobile operators 60TWh of energy per year, which is equivalent to the amount of power produced by more than seven average-sized American nuclear power plants. It could also save up to 50 percent of the $36.5 billion spent to power mobile base stations each year.
“Mobile operators gain dramatic advantages by adopting our new technology,”comments Mattias Astrom, CEO of Eta Devices. “In addition to cost savings, our power amplifiers provide operators with a significantly reduced carbon footprint, which contributes to a more sustainable planet. In fact, if implemented on a global basis, our solution would reduce carbon emissions by approximately 36 million tons per year, which is equivalent to eliminating the annual greenhouse gas emissions produced by 7 million cars.”
Cree and Eta Devices’ demonstration of the new power amplifier will take place at the Barcelona Mandarin Oriental on February 26 from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Fabless semiconductor company, Eta Devices Inc. is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts with an R&D office in Stockholm, Sweden.
Its disruptive technology solves the key power challenges in the mobile communications industry. In base stations, this leads to significantly reduced power consumption and smaller cabinets. For handsets, battery life is considerably increased and multiband communications can be enabled at a fraction of the cost and footprint; this makes it possible to use the same handset model all over the world.
