Gain ICs PLLs boost data transmission rates
The company's technology is being produced as a silicon product and the devices are also offered as an IP block for incorporation into integrated circuits
Gain ICs, a startup in RF integrated circuits, has developed a PLL (phase locked loop) circuit that will dramatically increase wireless data transmission speeds.
The company's technology can transmit signals at a rate of 1 Gb/sec, beyond the 5 Mb/sec of today's Quadrature Architecture (QAM) technology.
Gain IC says its technology allows RF designs to return to single signal FM modulation techniques so as to avoid noise issues and frequency spectrum crowding associated with QAM technologies.
Jed Griffin, CTO of Gain ICs technologies explains, "This technology has eliminated the noise due to jitter peaking issues in standard PLLs. As a result, clean, clear signals can be transmitted at a much higher rate."
In order for the wireless industry to improve along with the demand for faster transmission and larger file sizes (faster data streaming), data transfer rates will have to move into the Gb/sec realm, far beyond the Bluetooth 3.0 "theoretical" 24 Mb/sec limit that is so often touted yet never achieved in practice.
Gain ICs says it has provided the solution and offers rates 50 times faster than the Bluetooth 3.0 theoretical 24 Mb/s.
"Entire teams are trying to solve this problem for DARPA," Griffin explains. "They are proposing methods that have limited transmission range, use large amounts of bandwidth, and are susceptible to noise. This method has one signal compared to the two signals in a QAM architecture. Any variance in those QAM signals causes crosstalk and lost information. By using a single, fast signal, signal strength and reliability are much improved."
Other advantages of the technology are claimed to include less power consumption for longer talk times, fewer dropped calls, and the ability to free up the number of transmission channels in the crowded communication spectrum.
The Gain ICs technology is being produced as a silicon product as well as being offered as a Intellectual Property (IP) block for incorporation into integrated circuits. The technology will benefit any wireless or single wire transmission product by dramatically increasing data transmission rates.
