Date: 08/05/2012

Integrated femtocell transceivers from Maxim for compact radio designs

Maxim Integrated Products has introduced the MAX2550-MAX2553 femtocell transceivers for WCDMA (Bands 1 to 6 and 8 to 10) and cdma2000 (Band Class 0, 1, and 10).

The amount of data consumed by smartphones is rising and the increase in data transmission requires more base-station cell sites to receive and transmit the signals. With existing base-station cell sites maxed out on capacity, femtocells are becoming a fast-growing market. Carriers are also moving to femtocell transceivers that reside in a home or office and essentially provide an indoor base station to handle the cellular voice and data needs of an entire dwelling.

The MAX2550-MAX2553 transceivers reduce the number of external components, lower operation and maintenance costs, and facilitates compact radio designs for modules and stand-alone femtocell applications. They provide high level of compatibility with market leading baseband providers and are offered in a 7 x 7mm TQFN package.
A MAX-PHY digital interface eliminates the additional cost and space typically incurred with external data converters. These transceivers are rated over the -40°C to +85°C temperature range.

More information is at http://www.maxim-ic.com/MAX2551 and http://www.maxim-ic.com/MAX2553