Technologies for RF system integration

Today, wireless communication systems are moving away from the traditional Analog transmission standards to the more spectrally efficient digital transmission protocols. During this transition phase some systems will require the co-existence of both analog and digital transmission, a good example of this is North American Digital Cellular (NADC), which requires portables to be able to receive both analog and digital signals. The main topic of this paper will be to consider several RF systems suitable for high levels of integration and low power consumption, and compare these requirements to the latest semiconductor technology available. Several RF platforms have emerged based on a range of carrier frequencies, and broadly speaking are 1 GHz, 1.8 GHz and 2.4 GHz. Three main areas covered will be Paging, Digital Cordless and Digital Cellular, and the main emphasis placed on Receivers with brief mention of typical Transmitter line ups.