Menlo Micro Announces Performance Milestone for MM5130 Ideal Switch Product
April 01, 2021
News
Menlo Micro announced a performance milestone for the MM5130 Ideal Switch product, which accelerates breakthrough improvements in RF signal performance.
The MM5130 achieved a third-order intercept (IP3) linearity greater than 95 dBm, allowing for reductions in distortion for RF systems
Intermodulation distortion is an industry metric that determins the linearity of an electronic switch. IP3 is the extrapolated point where the ideal linear performance converges with actual third-order distortion products generated by the nonlinearities inherent in the switch.
According to the company, the MM5130 switch’s 95 dBm IP3 level delivers up to 10,000x improvement (about 20 dB to 40 dB) over existing RF electromechanical relays and solid-state switches. This ultra-high IP3 metric is traditionally reserved for only the highest performing RF mechanical switches and relays. Further, IP3’s performance results in size, weight, power and cost (SWaP-C) improvements.
The improvements are ideal for RF systems including low-loss switched filter banks, tunable filters, step attenuators, RF and microwave switching in radio front-ends, and phase shifters for beam steering and phased array antennas used in 5G networks.
Furthermore, the MM5130 can handle power levels up to 25W (CW) and operates across frequency ranges from DC up to 26 GHz with an insertion loss of 1.3 dB at 18 GHz and switching speeds less than 10 µs.
For more information, visit menlomicro.com.
Perry Cohen, associate editor for Embedded Computing Design, is responsible for web content editing and creation, podcast production, and social media efforts. Perry has been published on both local and national news platforms including KTAR.com (Phoenix), ArizonaSports.com (Phoenix), AZFamily.com, Cronkite News, and MLB/MiLB among others. Perry received a BA in Journalism from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Arizona State university.
