Low power radio architecture improves military communications

The ModStar platform is said to enable smaller and more flexible radios for troops on the ground and integrates Nujira's Coolteq envelope tracking technology for extracting double the power output from a given power transistor. Cambridge Consultants says equipment and battery size are minimised by reducing filtering and power consumption requirements, allowing new smaller form factors or wider bandwidths to be achieved. The ModStar architecture uses an open loop polar modulator with non-continuous time feedback and software pre-distortion. The advantage of this architecture is said to be that the radio design is simplified, with the most significant design challenges being moved into the digital domain where they can be resolved with an integrated and scalable solution. Cambridge Consultants' Tim Phipps said: "As well as being more useable for troops, ModStar delivers higher rf performance compared to alternative solutions - enabling military organisations to maximise their use of existing communications. "The polar loop modulator we have incorporated into the ModStar architecture is an extremely robust technique that has been used in millions of mobile phones. It can deliver exceptional performance with extremely high reliability for military applications."