New 5G RF switch provides an added 50 times more energy efficiency to extend electronic device battery life
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – As 5G hits the market, new U.S. Army-funded research has developed a radio-frequency (RF) switch that is more than 50 times more energy efficient than what is used today. The U.S. Army reports. Continue reading original article
The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:
23 June 2020 -- With funding from the Army Research Office, an element of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Army Research Laboratory, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin and the University of Lille in France, have built a new component that will provide the energy efficiency to access the highest 5G frequencies, in a way that increases device battery life and speeds up how quickly users can do things like stream HD media.
Smartphones are loaded with switches that perform several duties. One major task is jumping back and forth between different networks and spectrum frequencies: 4G, WiFi, LTE, Bluetooth, etc. The current RF switches that perform this task are always running, consuming precious processing power and battery life.
The new RF switch stays off, saving battery life for other processes, unless it is helping a device jump between networks. These switches also have shown the ability to transmit data well above the baseline for 5G-level speeds.
Related: 10-Gigabit Ethernet switch module for vetronics and other military uses introduced by X-ES
John Keller, chief editor
Military & Aerospace Electronics
