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With high measurement speed and stability, the R&S ZNB3000 vector network analyzer (VNA) supports large-scale RF component production. Its PCB-based frontend minimizes thermal drift, enabling reliable measurements for days without recalibration. The analyzer is also useful in RF labs.

The ZNB3000 is available with two or four ports and covers frequency ranges of 9 kHz to 4.5 GHz, 9 GHz, 20 GHz, and 26.5 GHz. R&S states that it offers the highest dynamic range and output power in its class, achieving up to 150 dB RMS with trace noise below 0.0015 dB RMS and providing +11 dBm output power at 26.5 GHz. Further, the VNA completes a 1-MHz to 26.5-GHz frequency sweep with 1601 points, 500-kHz IF bandwidth, and two-port error correction in 21.2 ms.

Understanding measurement uncertainty under test conditions is essential. Previously, calculating uncertainty for DUT S-parameters was only possible in a metrology lab. With the R&S ZNB3-K50(P) option, developed with METAS, the R&S ZNB3000 now calculates and displays uncertainty bands alongside measured S-parameters.

The ZNB3000 VNA is available now. To request pricing information, use the link to the product page below.

ZNB3000 product page 

Rohde & Schwarz 

Find more datasheets on products like this one at Datasheets.com, searchable by category, part #, description, manufacturer, and more.

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Silicon Labs’ MG26 family of wireless SoCs enables mesh IoT connectivity through Matter, OpenThread, and Zigbee protocols. By supporting concurrent multiprotocol capabilities, the MG26 chips simplify the integration of smart home and building devices—such as LED lighting, switches, sensors, and locks—into both Matter and Zigbee networks simultaneously.

The MG26 SoCs offer up to 3 MB of flash and 512 KB of RAM, doubling the memory of other Silicon Labs multiprotocol devices. Powered by an Arm Cortex-M33 CPU with dedicated cores for radio and security subsystems, these devices offload tasks from the main core, optimizing performance for customer applications. Embedded AI/ML hardware acceleration enables up to 8x faster processing of machine learning algorithms, consuming just 1/6th the power compared to running them on the CPU.

Silicon Labs’ Secure Vault and Arm TrustZone meet all Matter security requirements. Secure OTA firmware updates and secure boot protect against malicious software installation and enable vulnerability patching. Through Silicon Labs’ Custom Part Manufacturing Service, MG26 devices can be programmed with customer-specific Matter device attestation certificates, security keys, and other features during fabrication.

The MG26 family of wireless SoCs is now generally available through Silicon Labs and its distribution partners.

MG26 series product page

Silicon Labs 

Find more datasheets on products like this one at Datasheets.com, searchable by category, part #, description, manufacturer, and more.

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Microchip’s SAMA7D65 MPUs, based on an Arm Cortex-A7 core running up to 1 GHz, integrate a 2D GPU, LVDS, and MIPI DSI. These features enhance data transmission and processing for improved graphics performance, optimizing HMI applications in industrial, medical, and transportation markets.

The SAMA7D65 microprocessors feature dual Gigabit Ethernet MACs with Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) support, ensuring precise synchronization and low-latency communication for industrial and building automation HMI systems. This enables seamless data exchange and deterministic networking, essential for responsive user interfaces.

Microchip also offers a system-in-package (SiP) variant of the SAMA7D65 MPU, the SAMA7D65D2G, which integrates a 2-Gb DDR3L DRAM for high-speed synchronization. Its low-voltage design reduces power consumption and optimizes energy efficiency. SiPs streamline development by addressing high-speed memory interface challenges and simplifying memory supply, accelerating time to market. Additionally, a system-on-module (SOM) variant is available for early access.

SAMA7D65 MPUs are available now in production quantities.

SAMA7D65 product page

Microchip Technology

Find more datasheets on products like this one at Datasheets.com, searchable by category, part #, description, manufacturer, and more.

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TeseoVI GNSS receivers from Microchip integrate multi-constellation and quad-band signal processing on a single die. This series of ICs and modules provides centimeter-level accuracy for high-volume automotive and industrial applications, such as ADAS, autonomous driving, asset trackers, and mobile robots for home deliveries.

Three standalone chips—the STA8600A, STA8610A, and STA9200MA—include dual independent Arm Cortex-M7 processing cores for local control of IC functions, along with ST’s phase-change memory to remove external memory needs. The STA9200MA runs dual cores in lockstep, providing hardware redundancy that meets ISO26262 ASIL-B functional safety requirements.

The TeseoVI family also includes two GNSS automotive modules, the VIC6A (16×12 mm) and ELE6A (17×22 mm), which integrate the chipset along with key external components—TCXO, RTC, SAW filter, and RF frontend—into a larger package with fewer pins and an EMI shield. These modules simplify development by eliminating the need for RF path design.

Samples of the TeseoVI GNSS receivers are available on request. Read the blogpost here.

TeseoVI product page 

STMicroelectronics

Find more datasheets on products like this one at Datasheets.com, searchable by category, part #, description, manufacturer, and more.

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MaxLinear and RFHIC have collaborated on a power amp solution for high-power macro cell radio units (RUs) that lowers power consumption, weight, and volume. The setup combines RFHIC’s GaN power amplifiers with MaxLinear’s digital predistortion (DPD) technology running on the Sierra radio SoC. The companies will showcase the solution at next week’s Mobile World Congress 2025.

MaxLinear’s DPD technology (MaxLIN) and Sierra radio chip, combined with RFHIC’s ID19801D GaN power amplifier and SDM19007-30H drive amplifier, achieve 55.2% line-up power efficiency with ACLR < -61 dBc and EVM < 3% at 49.6 dBm (91 W). The setup operates in the PCS band (1930–1995 MHz) with 2×NR10MHz carriers.

The Sierra radio SoC supports all major RU applications, including conventional macro, massive MIMO, pico, and all-in-one small cells. It integrates an RF transceiver supporting up to 8 transmitters, digital frontend with MaxLIN, low-PHY baseband processor, O-RAN split 7.2x fronthaul interface, and Arm Cortex-A53 quad-core CPU subsystem.

RFHIC’s ID series GaN power transistors operate from 1.8 GHz to 4.2 GHz, delivering saturated power levels of 410 W, 460 W, 700 W, and 800 W. The SDM series two-stage GaN hybrid drive amplifiers, internally matched to 50 Ω, cover 1.8 GHz to 4.1 GHz with output power options of 40 W, 60 W, and 80 W.

MaxLinear

RFHIC

Find more datasheets on products like this one at Datasheets.com, searchable by category, part #, description, manufacturer, and more.

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This design idea reprises another “1A, 20V, PWM controlled current source.” Like the earlier circuit, this design integrates an LM3x7 adjustable regulator with a PWM DAC to make a programmable 20 V, 1 A current source. It profits from the accurate internal voltage reference and overload and thermal protection features of this time proven Bob Pease masterpiece! 

However, unlike the earlier design idea that requires a floating, fixed output 24-VDC power adapter, this sequel incorporates a ground-referred boost preregulator that can run from a 5-V regulated or unregulated supply rail. The previous linear design has limited power efficiency that actually drops below single-digit percentages when driving low voltage loads. The preregulator in this version fixes that by tracking the input-output voltage differential across the LM3x7, maintaining it at a constant 3 V. This provides adequate dropout-suppressing headroom for the LM3x7 while minimizing wasted power and unnecessary heat.

Wow the engineering world with your unique design: Design Ideas Submission Guide

Here’s how it works. LM317 fans will recognize Figure 1 as the traditional LM317 constant current source topology that maintains Iout = Vadj/Rs by forcing the ADJ pin to be 1.25 V more negative (a.k.a. less positive) than the OUT pin. It has worked great for 50 years, but of course the only way you can vary Iout is by changing R. 

Figure 1 A classic LM317 constant current source where: Iout = Vadj/R = 1.25v/Rs.

Figure 2 shows another (easier) way to make Iout programmable. The circuit enables control of ampere-scale Iout with only milliamps of Ic control current. 

Figure 2 A modification that makes the current source variable where: Iout = (Vadj – IcRc)/Rs – Ic.

Figure 3 shows this idea fleshed out and put to practical use. Note that Rs = R4 and Rc = R5.

Figure 3 U2 current source programmed by U1 PWM DAC and powered by U3 tracking preregulator.

Figure 2’s Ic control current is provided by the Q2 Q3 complementary pair. Since Q3 provides tempco compensation for Q2, it should be closely thermally coupled with its partner. Q4 does some nonlinearity compensation by providing curvature correction to Q2’s Ic control current generation. The daisy chain of three 1N4001 diodes provides bias for Q2 and Q4.

The PWM input frequency is assumed to be 10 kHz or thereabouts. Ripple filtering is the purpose of C1 and C2 and gets some help from an analog subtraction cancellation trick first described in “Cancel PWM DAC ripple with analog subtraction.”

About that tracking preregulator thing: Control of U3 to maintain the 3 V of headroom required to hold U2 safe from dropout relies on Q1 acting as a simple differential amplifier. Q1 drives U3’s Vfb voltage feedback pin to maintain Vfb = 1.245 V. Therefore (if Vbe = Q1’s base-emitter bias, typically ~0.6 V for Ie = ~500 µA)

Vfb/R7 = ((U2in – U2out) – Vbe)/R6
1.245v = (U2in – U2out – 0.6v)/(5100/2700)
U2in – U2out = 1.89 * 1.245v + 0.6v = 3v

 Note, if you want to use this circuit with a different preregulator with a different Vfb, just adjust:

R7 = R6 Vfb/2.4v

Finally, a note about overvoltage. Current sources have the potential (no pun!) for output voltage to soar to damaging levels (destructive of U3’s internal switch and downstream circuitry too) if deprived of a proper load. R11 and R12 protect against this by utilizing U3’s built in OVP feature to limit max open circuit voltage to about 30 V if the load is lost.

Stephen Woodward’s relationship with EDN’s DI column goes back quite a long way. Over 100 submissions have been accepted since his first contribution back in 1974.

 Related Content

• 1-A, 20-V, PWM-controlled current source
• A precision digital rheostat
• Tracking preregulator boosts efficiency of PWM power DAC
• Cancel PWM DAC ripple with analog subtraction

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Truthfully, I originally didn’t plan on covering the new iPhone 16e, Apple’s latest “entry-level” phone preceded by three generations worth of iPhone SE devices.

I knew a fourth-generation offering was coming (and sooner vs later), since European regulations had compelled Apple to phase out the SEs’ proprietary Lightning connector in favor of industry-standard USB-C. The iPhone SE 3, announced in 2022, had already been discontinued at the end of last year in Europe, in fact, along with the similarly Lightning-equipped iPhone 14, both subsequently also pulled from Apple’s product line across the rest of the world coincident with the iPhone 16e’s unveiling on February 19, 2025. Considering the heavy company-wide Apple Intelligence push, the iPhone SE 3 was also encumbered by its sub-par processor (A15 Bionic) and system memory allocation (4 GBytes), both factors suggesting the sooner-vs-later appearance of a replacement.

But how exciting could a new “entry-level” (translation: cost-optimized trailing-edge feature set) smartphone be, after all? Instead, I was planning on covering Amazon’s unveiling of its new AI-enhanced (and Anthropic-leveraging, among others) Alexa+ service, which happened earlier today as I write these words on the evening of February 26. That said, as Amazon’s launch event date drew near, I began hearing that no new hardware would be unveiled, just the upgraded service (in spite of the fact that Amazon referred to it as a “Devices & Services event”), and that what we now know of as Alexa+ would only beta-demoed, not actually released until weeks or months later. Those rumors unfortunately all panned out; initial user upgrades won’t start until sometime in March, more broadly rolling out over an unspecified-duration period of “time”.

What those in attendance in New York (no virtual livestream was offered) saw were only tightly scripted, albeit reportedly impressive (when they worked, that is, which wasn’t always the case), demos. As we engineers know well, translating from curated demos to real-world diverse usage experiences rarely goes without a hitch or few. Then there were the indications of longstanding (and ongoing) struggles with AI “hallucinations”, another big-time technology hit. Add in the fact that Alexa+ won’t run on any of the numerous, albeit all geriatric, Amazon devices in my abode, and I suspect at last for a while, I’ll be putting my coverage plans on hold.

Back to the iPhone 16e then, which I’m happy to report ended up being far more interesting than I’d anticipated, both for Apple’s entry-level and broader smartphone product line and more generally for the company’s fuller hardware portfolio. Let’s begin with the name. “SE” most typically in the industry refers to “Special Edition”, I’ve found, but Apple has generally avoided clarifying the meaning here, aside from a brief explanation that Phil Schiller, Apple’s then-head of Worldwide Product Marketing (and now Apple Fellow), gave a reporter back in 2016 at the first-generation iPhone SE unveiling.

And in contrast to the typical Special Edition reputation, which comes with an associated price tag uptick, Apple’s various iPhone SE generations were historically priced lower than the mainstream and high-end iPhone offerings that accompanied them in the product line at any point in time. To accomplish this, they were derivations of prior-generation mainstream iPhones, for which development costs had already been amortized. The iPhone SE 3, for example, was form factor-reminiscent of the 2017-era, LCD-based iPhone 8, albeit with upgraded internals akin to those in the 2021-era iPhone 13.

The iPhone 16e marks the end of the SE generational cadence, at least for now. So, what does “e” stand for? Once again, Apple isn’t saying. I’m going with “economy” for now, although reality doesn’t exactly line up with that definitional expectation. The starting price for the iPhone SE 3 at introduction was $429. In contrast, the iPhone 16e begins at $599 and goes up from there, depending on how much internal storage you need. Not only did Apple ratchet up the price tag, as it’s more broadly done in recent years, it also broke through the perception-significant $499 barrier, which frankly shocked me. In contrast, if you’ll indulge a bit of snark, I chuckled when I noticed Google’s response to Apple’s news: a Pixel 8a price cut to $399.

That said, RAM jumps from 4 GBytes on the iPhone SE 3 to (reportedly: as usual, Apple didn’t reveal the amount) 8 GBytes. The iPhone SE 3’s storage started at 64 GBytes; now it’s 128 GBytes minimum. The 4.7” diagonal LCD has been superseded by a 6.1” OLED; more generally, Apple no longer sells a single sub-6” smartphone. And the front and rear cameras are both notably resolution-upgraded from those in the iPhone SE. The front sensor array also now supports TrueDepth for (among other things) FaceID unlock, replacing the legacy Touch ID fingerprint sensor built into the no-longer-present Home button, and the rear one, although still only one, includes 2x optical zoom support.

Turning now to the internals, there are three particularly notable (IMHO) evolutions that I’ll focus on. Unsurprisingly, the application processor was upgraded for the Apple Intelligence era, from the aforementioned A15 Bionic to the A18. But this version of the newer SoC is different than that in the iPhone 16, only enabling 4 GPU cores versus 5 on the mainstream iPhone 16 (and 6 on the iPhone 16 Pro). Again, as I mentioned before, I suspect that all three A18 variants are sourced from the same sliver of silicon, with the iPhone 16e’s version detuned to maximize usable wafer yield. Similarly, there may also be clock speed variations, another spec that Apple unfortunately doesn’t make public, between the three A18 versions.

More significant to me is that this smartphone marks the initial unveil of Apple’s first internally developed LTE-plus-5G cellular subsystem. A quick history lesson; as regular readers already know, the company generally prefers to be vertically integrated versus external supplier-dependent, when doing so makes sense. One notable example was the transition from Intel x86 to Apple Silicon Arm-based computer chipsets that began in 2020. Notable exceptions (at least to date) to this rule, conversely, include volatile (DRAM) and nonvolatile (flash) memory, and image sensors. As with Intel in CPUs, Apple has long had a “complicated” (among other words) relationship with Qualcomm for cellular chipsets. Specifically, back in April 2019, the two companies agreed to drop all pending litigation between them, shortly after Qualcomm had won a patent infringement lawsuit, and which had begun two years earlier. Three months later, Apple dropped $1B to buy the bulk of Intel’s (small world, eh?) cellular modem business.

Six years later, the premier C1 cellular modem marks the fruits (Apple? Fruit? Get it?) of the company’s longstanding labors. Initial testing results on pre-release devices are encouraging from performance and network-compatibility standpoints, and Apple’s expertise in power consumption coupled with the tight coupling potential with other internally developed silicon subsystems, operating systems and applications are also promising. That said, this initial offering is absent support for ultra-high-speed—albeit range-restrictive, interference-prone and coverage-limited—mmWave, i.e., ultrawideband (UWB) 5G. For that matter, speaking of wireless technologies, there’s no short-range UWB support for AirTags and the like in the iPhone 16e, either.

Whose modem—Apple’s own, Qualcomm’s, or a combination—will the company be using in its next-generation mainstream and high-end iPhone 17 offerings due out later this year? Longer term, will Apple integrate the cellular modem—at minimum, the digital-centric portions of it—into its application processors, minimally at the common-package or perhaps even the common-die level? And what else does the company have planned for its newfound internally developed technology; cellular service-augmented laptops, perhaps? Only time will tell. Apple is rumored to also be developing its own Wi-Fi transceiver silicon, with the aspiration of supplanting today’s Broadcom-supplied devices in the future.

Speaking of wireless—and cellular modems—let’s close out with a mention of wireless charging support. The iPhone 16e still has it. But in a first since the company initially rolled out its MagSafe-branded wireless charging capabilities with the iPhone 12 series in October 2020, there are no embedded magnets this time around (or in future devices as well?).

Initial speculation suggested that perhaps they got dropped because they might functionally conflict with the C1 cellular modem, a rumor that Apple promptly squashed. My guess, instead, is that this was a straightforward bill-of-materials cost reduction move on the company’s part, perhaps coupled with aspirations toward system weight and thickness reductions, and maybe even a desire to otherwise devote the available internal cavity volume for expanded battery capacity and the like. After all, as I’ve mentioned before, anyone using a case on their phone needs to pick a magnet-inclusive case option anyway, regardless of whether magnets are already embedded in the device. That all said, I’m still struck by the atypical-for-Apple backstep the omission of magnets represents, not to mention the Android-reminiscent aspect of it.

The iPhone 16e isn’t the only announcement that Apple has made so far in 2025. Preceding it were, for example:

• Apple TV+ service support for Android (Messages next? I jest), and
• The second-generation Beats Powerbeats Pro (again, unlike Apple-branded earbuds, with Android support)

And what might be coming down the pike? Well, with today’s heavy discounts on current offerings as one possible indication of the looming next-generation queue’s contents, there’s likely to be:

• An M4 upgrade to the 13” and 15” MacBook Air, and
• An Apple Intelligence-supportive hardware update to the baseline iPad

Further down the road, I’m guessing we’ll also see:

• Next-generation AirTags
• The third generation of the AirPods Pro
• The aforementioned iPhone 17 family, reportedly including an “Air” variant, accompanied by next-generation Apple Watches
• M5 SoC-based devices (leading with the iPad Pro again, or back to the traditional computer-first cadence? The latter would be my guess), and
• Maybe even that HomePod Hub, aka HomePad we keep hearing rumors about

You’ll note that I mindfully omitted a Vision Pro upgrade from the 2025 wishlist Stay tuned for more press release-based unveilings to come later this spring, the yearly announcement-rich WWDC this summer, and the company’s traditional yearly smartphone and computer family generational-upgrade events this fall. I’ll of course cover the particularly notable stuff here in the blog. And for now, I welcome your thoughts on today’s coverage in the comments!

—Brian Dipert is the Editor-in-Chief of the Edge AI and Vision Alliance, and a Senior Analyst at BDTI and Editor-in-Chief of InsideDSP, the company’s online newsletter.

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• The 2024 WWDC: AI stands for Apple Intelligence, you see…

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