SAN DIEGO-Qualcomm Inc. and Superconducting Core Technologies Inc. have completed the first field test of a cryoelectronic base station receiver for personal communications services.
The station is designed to enable higher system performance, which could allow carriers to deploy fewer cell sites in their PCS systems and thus, save money, the companies said.
The test was performed on the receiver’s front end using Code Division Multiple Access technology at 2 GHz in San Diego.
Superconductor technology used by Golden, Colo.-based SCT operates at temperatures of about minus 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Qualcomm said cryoelectronic technology allows receivers to pick up weak signals that might otherwise be undetected. That means fewer cell sites would be needed in a network.
“We’re excited to be the first to field test a cryoelectronic product for wireless communications, and to be the first to make actual phone calls through a superconducting filter,” said Robert Yandrofski, SCT president and chief executive officer.
“This test is a landmark for the field of superconductivity and cryoelectronics,” Yandrofski said.
The cryoelectronic system used narrowband, multipole filters and cryogenically cooled low noise amplifiers to improve selectivity and lower the noise figure of both RF channels in the Qualcomm CDMA base station receiver.
Cold electronic components were packaged in a single housing and mounted on the antenna mast. The refrigeration compressor was remotely located from the mast-mounted electronics. Test results indicated that SCT’s equipment yielded a 6 decibel improvement in noise, which could reduce the number of base stations required in a PCS system by up to 50 percent, Qualcomm said.
Andrew Viterbi, Qualcomm chief technical officer, said cryoelectronic technology could offer PCS operators great opportunity.
“As it matures, cryoelectronics could play a significant role in improving network efficiency in the future by increasing range and thus, lowering infrastructure costs,” Viterbi said.
Qualcomm said it intends to continue to work with SCT to investigate potential applications for cryoelectronic technology in all of the company’s CDMA systems. San Diego-based Qualcomm develops, manufactures, markets and licenses communications systems and products based on its proprietary digital wireless technologies.
