Wireless innovators to advance system design at RFaxis

IRVINE, USA: Innovation and timing are the name of the game when it comes to the explosive growth being experienced in the world of wireless communications. The ubiquitous use of mobile devices including cell phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and laptops are just a few of the areas where adoption of wireless connectivity continues to burgeon.

At the heart of wireless innovation is RF technology which functions as both an enabler and gating factor in this dynamic market.

For example, many of today's Bluetooth and wireless local area network (WLAN) devices are found in PCs, PC peripherals, wireless routers, bridges, mobile phones, and other handheld devices. Additionally, Zigbee devices, also a key area where RF technology is used include, low-power mesh networks, building automation, industrial, medical, home automation, and other monitoring applications.

At a time when wireless capabilities are being incorporated into everything from PCs to HVAC solutions, the hurdle faced by manufacturers is the complexity of the RF design process as well as the scarcity of RF design engineers. This growing demand for a steady stream of RF enabled circuit boards to fuel all things wireless, requires a plug and play RF solution that can simply be dropped onto a circuit board.

Traditionally, front-end solutions have been developed using either discrete components and/or a front-end module (FEM) format. While this has worked well in many cases, the issues of performance, efficiency, integration, size, cost, and reliability still remain.

Up to now, much of the communications industry has focused on the development of FEMs to help reduce cost, create a smaller footprint and streamline development time.

There is, however, another alternative. One can use BiCMOS technology to develop an RF front-end integrated chip. And today, there is a company at the forefront of this RF design revolution doing just this.

RFaxis Inc. an Irvine, California-based company is pioneering innovative, highly integrated, cost efficient, high efficiency, low power RF solutions for the connectivity and wireless markets. Founded by semiconductor veterans, RFaxis is on the cusp of delivering a new breed of wireless semiconductor solutions, that up to now has been considered elusive -- and by many -- impossible.

"Innovations in wireless communication design have been taking place for the past decade," said Mike Neshat, president and CEO of RFaxis. "We set out to build highly integrated, cost effective, high performance, low power, plug-and-play solutions for the connectivity and wireless markets. And we have. We truly believe that we have created a completely new design architecture that will revolutionize -- you could even say, disrupt the entire industry."

Neshat understands the complexity of this market well. An accomplished semiconductor industry veteran with over 25 years of executive management, marketing, sales, and engineering experience, Neshat has served in executive positions for several successful start-ups including Fresco Microchip, WyLinx Technologies, Synad Technologies, and NxtWave Communications. He has also held senior marketing and engineering management positions with Rockwell Semiconductor, GEC Plessey Semiconductor, Silicon Systems, and Toppan Electronics.

The company's technology efforts are headed by Chief Technology Officer Oleksandr Gorbachov, who brings 27 years of experience in the design and development of high-speed and wideband analog circuits (MMICs, RFICs, GaAs & Silicon Based RF, and analog chips), microwave/millimeter-wave circuits, systems, sub-systems, RF systems/sub-systems/architecture/circuits/modules, and RF devices.

A highly respected innovator, Dr. Gorbachov has served in a variety of senior scientist capacities for companies including STMicroelectronics, Synad Technologies, Gatax Technology, Hexawave, and ORION Research Institute. Dr. Gorbachov received a Ph. D. in Electrical Engineering from Kiev Polytechnic Institute and holds numerous patents.

The RFaxis executive team is rounded out by Floyd Ashbaugh, who as vice president of product development and application engineering will lead the company's efforts to build platforms utilizing the company's groundbreaking technology designs in wireless arenas. With over 28 years of hardware and system engineering expertise, Ashbaugh has held management positions with STMicroelectronics, Synad Technologies, Valence Semiconductor, NxtWave Communications, Magnavox, and Datum/Efratom.

RFaxis is readying several patent-pending solutions utilizing its groundbreaking technology and has partnered with industry leader STMicroelectronics as its BiCMOS foundry. STMicroelectronics is a global leader in developing and delivering semiconductor solutions across the spectrum of microelectronics applications.

Revolutionary approach to RF design
Leveraging BiCMOS technologies, along with its own innovative approach and technology designs, RFaxis has developed the world's first patent-pending RF Front-end Integrated Circuit (RFeIC).

"Using our RF semiconductor solutions, design engineers will soon have access to highly integrated, single-chip, single-die RFeICs that will significantly simplify their design task, substantially improve their performance, drastically reduce the system noise, and lower end product cost," stated Neshat.

The RFaxis approach to system design in BiCMOS technology enables a natural foothold in technology platforms including WLAN, MIMO, Bluetooth, Zigbee, WiMAX, WHDI, mobile phones (CDMA2K, WCDMA, EDGE, Evolved EDGE, LTE-3G Long Term Evolution, GSM), and other digital communications systems.

"We represent a departure from conventional approaches to RF front-end design solutions," said Neshat. "The beauty of what we are doing is that we truly are delivering a disruptive technology by changing the way engineers and system designers approach their designs. We are simplifying a complex task and are freeing the designer to tackle other challenges. RFaxis is delivering highly integrated solutions that not only increase performance and reduce overall system cost, but help accelerate the overall design process -- which means better enhanced product design in the world of wireless communications."

The company will be introducing seven new RFeICs over the next twelve months, at least four of which are slated for production in Q1 2010. These RFeICs will address the growing Bluetooth, WLAN, MIMO, Zigbee, mobile phone, WiMAX, and WHDI markets. By the end of summer 2009, the company expects to have filed over 35 patents.
On a final note, Neshat commented, "Not only are we contributing to the wireless movement with RF semiconductors that offer high integration, significant performance improvement, reduced overall system cost, and accelerated design process, we are also giving rise to a new acronym, RFeIC (RF Front-end Integrated Circuit) that we feel is certain to enter the everyday lexicon of wireless design innovators around the world."