Fanny Mlinarsky

FM: Simply put, both technologies are evolving to run faster over a longer range and to support multiple simultaneous transmissions in the same space and frequency channel.

Faster data rates are achieved through the use of wider channels, higher orders of MIMO (multiple input multiple output) and higher order modulation. Although marketers refer to LTE as 4G, officially only LTE-A has been declared 4G by the ITU (International Telecommunications Union).

NTP: Does the new spatial multiplexing feature mean that we are NOT now running out of spectrum space as previously reported?

FM: Due to the scarcity of licensed spectrum, LTE-A has different challenges from those of 802.11ac that has over 400 MHz of spectrum in the unlicensed 5 GHz band. Licensed spectrum typically comes in slivers of a few MHz.  Thus, to increase throughput, LTE-A has introduced spectrum bonding of non-contiguous bands.  To accommodate a higher density of users, LTE-A supports small, short-range base stations, which calls for better management of cell-edge interference through CoMP (Coordinated multi-point) and ICIC (Advanced inter-cell interference coordination) techniques.

A data rate of 6.9 Gbps is achievable, or at least defined in the IEEE 802.11ac draft specification, “IEEE P802.11ac™/D1.4”.  Achieving 6.9 Gbps requires QAM256 modulation and support for 8 spatial streams in a160 MHz wide channel.  LTE-A is expected to reach up to 1 Gbps DL (downlink) and 500 Mbps UL (uplink) rates in a 100 MHz wide channel.

NTP: What new design considerations do these advanced specifications introduce for Wireless System Designers?

FM: MIMO algorithms use multiple synchronized radios (up to 4 for 802.11n and LTE; up to 8 for 802.11ac) to adapt to continuously changing conditions in the wireless channel.  These techniques include:

• TX and RX diversity to add robustness to the communications when channel conditions are challenging (e.g. low SNR or high multipath)
• Spatial multiplexing to increase throughput by sending multiple simultaneous streams when channel conditions are favorable
• Beamforming to extend range and to enable MU-MIMO (multi-user MIMO)
• MU-MIMO to enable multiple stations to transmit simultaneously in the same frequency channel by focusing the antenna pattern. (See figure 1 above)

MIMO radios sense the conditions in the channel on a packet-by-packet basis and make instantaneous decisions on which of the above techniques to employ.  Testing of these radios requires new generation over-the-air (OTA) technology, such as the octoBox controlled environment OTA test station.

NTP: How do the advanced solutions benefit engineers or humanity at large?

FM: Aside from the obvious fun with video and location-based apps, pervasive connectivity enabled by

MIMO radio technology enables spatial multiplexing and beamforming for sending multiple parallel data streams in the same space and on the same frequency

Wi-Fi and LTE technologies is poised to help with vital public safety and E-911 communications.  Spectrum in the 700 MHz band has recently been licensed by the FCC to carry a nationwide public safety LTE network, which for the first time will interconnect police, fire, ambulance and other emergency services coast-to-coast for effective management of large scale disasters and incidents.

For engineers, the work is clearly cut out: continue developing connected, location-aware platforms and applications.  Can I poll my refrigerator from the supermarket to download a shopping list?  Can my car sense a red light, while I’m distracted by talking on my smartphone, and apply breaks, avoiding a terrible accident?

NTP: What new features / products / services can end users expect as a result of these new specifications?

The initial release of 802.11ac will operate in 80 MHz channels, enabling over 3 Gbps data rates with throughput sufficient for transporting multiple HD video streams around a typical residence.  LTE-A users will enjoy faster throughput and will have access to small base stations – femto- and picocells – to improve high-speed coverage indoors.

NTP: According to The Nielsen Company, 14% of U.S. mobile users (about 31 million people) now watch videos on their smartphones, a 35% increase over last year. Also, 29% of U.S. smartphone users stream music or Internet radio to their phones, up 66% from 2010.  It’s clear the way we use our phones is changing, what are the biggest challenges coming in the near future that designers should be thinking about now?

FM: The biggest challenges will be upgrading the backhaul infrastructure to support the video traffic being generated by modern smartphone applications.  Today’s wireless backhaul is built for narrowband voice signaling and is poorly suited for the sudden dramatic increase in bandwidth usage.  The innovations will come in the form of both higher capacity backhaul networks (e.g., new microwave backhaul links) and also in the intelligence introduced to the network architecture to manage traffic load, for example through charging higher fees during peak usage hours.  Wi-Fi will increasingly be used to offload mobile traffic to landline access networks.

NTP: What do you think is the next “big shift” we’ll see in how people use their phones?    What do designers need to be thinking about when designing for this next “big shift”?

FM: Artificial intelligence. The HAL-9000 computer envisioned by Arthur C. Clark in ‘2001’ is a bit late to market now, but its time has definitely come with Apple’s Siri. That is the transition from research to commercial use.  With pervasive broadband connectivity, powerful parallel computing in the palms of our hands, sophisticated software development tools, voice recognition, wireless sensors and location awareness, the sky is the limit for where the imagination of platform and applications developers will take us next.

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Conway admittedly has made a great deal of money as an early investor in some major internet successes (Facebook and Twiiter, e.g.)  but has lost a lot of money, as well (anyone remember the sock-puppet “spokesdog” for Pet.com?)  He is, nonetheless, passionate about the importance of innovation and the internet claiming the industry represents 2 million jobs in the US alone.  The accompanying video is an unedited record of his remarks, followed by his proposal to take internet piracy out of the hands of legislators and put it into the hands of the people it needs to protect, the technologists.

The day was marked by live protests around the nation as well as online protests.  Wikipedia, Reddit and WordPress among many others took their sites off line with only a request for visitors to write their representatives to pull support for the bills.  the protest seems to have had some effect as bill sponsors, like Florida’s Sen. Marco Rubio removed his name from the bill.  The authors of both bills, Rep Lamar Smith of Texas and Senator Patrick Leahy have dug in their heels calling the protestors and the striking companies as “misinformed” about the bills.

Conway, in his remarks calling for a private effort to address the issue did not downplay the problem, but said the legislation proposed was ill-advised.

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The acquisition of Magma Design Automation by Synopsys was arguably the biggest story of the Electronic Design Automation (EDA) industry in 2011.  It will also most likely end up being the biggest EDA story of 2012 as well.

Most observers were stunned at the news, and not because it was an unlikely fit.  It’s actually a great fit and gives Synopsys a virtual stranglehold on the digital IC design market. It was improbable because of the deep-set enmity between the two companies, especially between the two CEOs, Aart DeGeus and Rajeev Madhavan.  Both companies launched multiple lawsuits against each other over the past decade claiming patent infringement on a variety of technologies, all of which have been resolved prior to the acquisition but left scars throughout both companies.  As one source that spent time as an employee in both companies said, “It was personal for some people and just business for others but it was pervasive.”

The acrimony between DeGeus and Madhavan often manifested publicly.  DeGeus would often be absent from CEO panels where Madhavan was present, and Magma employees and supporters made sure the industry noted that Madhavan was often not invited when the leadership of Cadence, Mentor Graphics and Synopsys were represented.

Madhavan also perennially accused Synopsys of deliberately undercutting prices in large package deals, a charge DeGeus vehemently denied, perennially.  To Synopsys’ defense, however, it was an unofficial industry-wide practice, according to Jeff Jussel, senior director of global technology marketing at element14.  Jussel is a former ASIC designer and EDA executive (including marketing director at Magma) and is leading element14′s push into embedded and electronic design services.

There was so much competition between the big four it drove a never ending spiral of ever cheaper prices.  Better results, better productivity, but less and less money for the developers of that technology.  The big guys could deal with it better because they had the big “all you can eat” deals.  1 million for one year, 3 million for two years, 4 million for five years.  The deals looked bigger, but the terms were getting longer and the price per seat was coming down.  It started killing the innovation in start-ups because there was so much pressure on margins that there was nothing left to buy from the start-ups, and the start-ups were getting pushed to the side by the deals,” said Jussel.  “The practice squeezed innovative start-ups out of the market because they couldn’t compete and be profitable.”

Synopsys bought many failed start-ups for the cost of assets alone, eliminating competition and gaining valuable technology with little investment.  As this practice continued industry wide, investors saw little upside in funding new start-ups and, at present, there is virtually no interest in funding new companies that have no chance of an IPO nor of being acquired for a premium over investment.  This is where the acquisition of Magma may have the greatest potential for energizing the moribund industry.

First, it consolidates the industry nicely.  Synopsys holds digital, Cadence leads in analog and mixed signal, and Mentor dominates embedded design.  The lawsuits and undercutting that decimated the start-ups will be a thing of the past.  Customers will have to pay what the vendors ask or be forced to build their own solutions…or look to start-ups. Which brings us to the second reason.

At $507 million, it is the single largest acquisition in the industry’s history, eclipsing Cadence’s acquisition of Cooper & Chyan Technologies for $428 million in 1997.  When combined with the Ansys purchase of Apache Design for more $310 million and a handful of other smaller deal this year it helps release nearly a billion dollars of cash into the pockets of investors and founders.  All of these deals will be concluded before the Design Automation Conference in San Francisco this July.  Conservatively, the industry could see $100 million of that invested in new technology before the end of 2012.

And who will be leading that charge?  None other than Rajeev Madhavan.

Madhavan could be called the single most successful entrepreneur in the EDA industry.    He was a founder of LogicVision, a company that was sucked up by Mentor Graphics for $13 million in Mentor stock. He founded Ambit to attack the Synopsys logic synthesis hegemony, using guerilla marketing techniques to grab market share and, in the end, sold out to Cadence for a quarter billion dollars.  Madhavan reinvested much of his take into founding Magma, which went from start up to IPO in short order.  Combined with the Ambit valuation, Madhavan-founded companies account for over $700 million in corporate value.  No other single entrepreneur has those kind of results in their resume.

The sale agreement precludes Magma or Synopsys representatives’ speculation on who stays and who goes.  There are those who hope Madhavan stays put for some time and he must make that commitment for the sake of the deal.  But no one believes that DeGeus will want his nemesis hanging around the office coffee bar any longer than is necessary, and he will have followers as he goes out the door.

“I expect Rajeev to be gone within days of the deal being done,” Jussel stated.

That is not to say there will be a mass exodus.  According to Jussel, Magma has “some of the most intelligent and best educated people in the industry who love creating technology for IC Design.  They’re working for the customers, not the logo.”  Those are the people that Synopsys want to keep, and they will be very generous to them.

DeGeus has stated that the talent of Magma was what was important to Synopsys, not the technology, so does that mean Magma’s tools are going away?  Jussel laughed at that question. “We’ll see how that works out.  The existing installed base loves the Magma tools so they will continue to support those product lines or lose the business altogether.”

But there will be business minds with wads of cash in their pockets that won’t be as welcome.  The doors of start-ups will be wide open for these people.  That is very good news for an industry that has limped along for much of the past two decades and whose lack of consistent innovation has held back the semiconductor industry as well.

 Was the Synopsys Magma deal good for the industry?  Tell us why at element14.com

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Poland is due to become an official member of the Euro Zone in January 2012 and is obliged, under the terms of the Treaty of Accession 2003, to replace its current currency, the Zloty, with the Euro, however, the country may adopt the Euro no earlier than 2019.  That’s probably good news for Polish start ups that seem to be able to find plenty of government support and venture capital for a raft of innovative technologies.

Footwasher Media’s Lou Covey sat down with three Polish startup companies touring Silicon Valley recently, as they were on the hunt for partners and investors to help them expand into the US.  The three companies were Ekoenergetyka with electric vehicle charging technology, virtual environment maker i3d , and a chemical synthesis innovator called Apeiron.

This interview is the first in a series of reports and interviews on the state of European innovation and efforts of the European Commission’s Digital Agenda.

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The aftermarket device provides the touch interface not available on PC-based instruments turning any iOS device into an ultraportable spectrum analyzer and dynamic power meter.  WiPry-Combo shows RF waveforms like an oscilloscope.  Actual power output can be triggered, captured, and recorded for protocol verification or for troubleshooting wireless devices with data logging in csv format.

In the spectrum analyzer mode, WiPry-Combo can identify interference or open channels in the 2.4GHz ISM band. Operating in the frequency range: 2.400 to 2.495 GHz, it measures signals from -40dBm to +20dBm with an amplitude resolution of 2.0dBm and a bandwidth resolution of 1MHz.  The band sweep time is 200ms.

The dynamic power meter mode graphically displays RF power levels in the 100MHz-2.7GHz waveform amplitude with respect to time.

The device is available from the company for $199.95. Software, including a demo package that does not require the actual WiPry device, is available free at the Apple™ AppStore, and is available in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.

Sponsored by element14

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