Nujira claims that high efficiency RF power amplifier technology can cut power consumption in digital TV and mobile TV handsets.
According to Tim Haynes, CEO of Cambridge-based Nujira, the planned switchover to digital TV broadcasts in Europe has the potential to improve the power efficiency of television transmitters.
“It gives the broadcasting industry a tremendous opportunity to reduce its energy usage, operating cost and carbon footprint by adopting transmitters equipped with high efficiency power amplifiers,” said Haynes.
The company has worked with Cambridge-based design firm TTP to demonstrate that its technology, which was originally developed for WCDMA and WiMAX basestations, can be used for OFDM-based mobile and digital TV standards at UHF, such as DVB-T, DVB-H, ISDB-T and MediaFLO.
According to Antony Rix, a senior consultant at TTP, the PA technology has the potential to cut the electricity consumption of broadcast transmitters by up to 50 per cent.
The demonstration combined Nujira’s High Accuracy Tracking (HAT) Development System with an RF platform jointly developed with TTP that allows a direct comparison between PAs operating at 2.1GHz and UHF.
Electronics Weekly puts its questions to an industry figure: Tim Haynes, CEO of Nujira, which develops wireless basestation technology.
The project was also supported by the Carbon Trust, which has been tasked by the Government to work with industry to develop low carbon technology and support its commercialisation.
“We have already received interest from network operators and equipment suppliers who have been impressed by the power reductions achieved,” said Rachael Nutter, business incubator manager at the Carbon Trust.
The Cambridge-based power amplifier developer has also started a collaboration with Sumitomo Electric Industries from Japan to design high efficiency amplifiers for WiMAX and LTE (Long Term Evolution) cellular infrastructure.