Fixed Mobile Convergence

Molex, a provider of interconnect solutions, announced it joined the Danish Smart Antenna Front End (SAFE) project to advance the goals. The $8.7 million project for collaborative research and new product innovation is scheduled to span four years. The project is being conducted by a consortium involving Aalborg University, Intel Mobile Communications, WiSpry and Molex (News - Alert).

SAFE consortium members will address communication bandwidth, standards, and antenna issues related to the global proliferation of mobile phone devices, company officials said.

Since the mid-1990s, the industry struggled to get more bandwidth out of cheap antennas that cover many mobile communication bands and standards.

“Until now, the development of RF and antenna has been separated, yielding less than optimal solutions,” said Per Hartmann Christensen, managing director of Intel (News - Alert) Mobile Communications.

“In this project, we have for the first time convened leading experts in a targeted effort to develop a specific control and integration technology for antenna and RF that can potentially be incorporated into all mobile phones in the future,” Christensen added.

The size of the antennas and RF components has grown. In current scenario, when the market demands smaller products, this could become problematic. Adding more design building blocks reduces overall system performance. With the SAFE program the consortium wants to rethink and reinvent how industry solves these challenges.

“We are embarking on necessary next steps in an evolution that began when mobile phone antennas were visible components that could be pulled out and replaced to improve performance,” said Morten Christensen, RF research manager at Molex.

The consortium members are looking at creating technology capable of handling all bandwidths and radio systems. It should enable antennas to operate unaffected by user influence, whether they are integrated in any kind of portable devices, company officials said.

Recently, Molex announced the launch of a new version of its EXTreme Ten60Power High-Current Connectors. The EXTreme Ten60Power delivers up to 260A per linear inch, representing the highest current density available in a low profile connector on the market today.