Tunable chip promises extended LTE battery life

A chipset from semiconductor manufacturer STMicroelectronics is promising longer battery life for smartphones when running on LTE networks.

The company said that its ParaScan Tunable Integrated Capacitors (STPTIC) can electrically adjust the amount of energy transferred from the handset’s amplifier to the antenna to help maximise call performance when using multiple frequency bands, as is required by LTE handsets that have to switch between LTE and 3G radio networks.

The STPTIC can also adjust power on the fly when the handset is held close to the user’s ear or when it is moved away from the head, while minimizing amplifier power consumption for longer battery life. The company says that the STPTIC removes the need for multiple switched capacitors to adjust capacitance levels, can do so more smoothly than the alternatives and is also smaller. The chips, which are sampling now, have a Q factor up to 2.7GHz and offer stable performance over the claimed temperature range, according to the company.

Handset battery performance on LTE networks has been a bugbear of early networks and any technology that can help improve that will be gratefully welcomed by the industry.

“Our latest and most advanced STPTIC family now delivers an even more compelling option for future 4G LTE handsets, which will demand high wireless performance for reliable voice and high-speed data communications with longer battery life” said Ricardo De-Sa-Earp, Group VP and general manager, Application-Specific Discretes & IPAD Division, in a statement. “Two of the world’s top five handset manufacturers have already chosen this technology for antenna matching in their current handsets.”

The director for technology of Sony Mobile will be speaking as part of the Device Ecosystem track at the LTE North America conference, taking place NEXT WEEK on the 14-15th November 2012 at the Fairmont Dallas Hotel, Texas. Click here to download a brochure.