At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, Sequoia Communications displayed HEDGE transceiver’s capability to support HSUPA, TD-SCDMA, S-Band and GMR satellite specifications via extensive testing. Thus, making its HEDGE transceiver SEQ7400 the first true flexible radio, claims Sequoia. Originally introduced last May, the SEQ7400 is based on the company’s patented FullSpectra architecture, which includes the only transmitter in the industry to use polar modulation in all modes, according to the manufacturer. .

“Our continued leadership and innovation in polar modulation provides the best combination of flexibility and cost in the industry, finally delivering a flexible radio that can meet the strict cost and power constraints of wireless handsets,” said Dave Shepard, CEO of Sequoia Communications.

The single-path polar architecture for the analog portion of the radio gives it the most efficient size and power consumption possible. The company then added a very flexible, all-digital programming interface that is easily modified in software to accommodate additional modes and frequency bands. This combination of analog and digital approaches provides the most optimal tradeoff between flexibility and the key handset metrics, stated Shepard.

Further testing has proven that the SEQ7400 can be extended to a variety of other applications without any modifications to the chip itself. It needs only to be re-programmed and then tested to the new specifications, asserted Sequoia.

Meanwhile, using 65 nm CMOS process, efforts are underway to develop the next version (SEQ7500), which is expected to be released later this year.

• www.sequoiacommunications.com

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