Spectrum Control, an innovative leader in RF miniaturization and digital integration, introduced its expanded RF + Systems-in-Package (SiP) platform at IMS 2025 in San Francisco last week. The new SiP product platform is comprised of integrated, surface-mount system blocks that offer significant reductions in cost, engineering/development time, and size without limiting performance.
The RF+SiP platform has been developed in response to industry demands for miniaturization and cost reduction. The software-definable RF+ system blocks are highly integrated, miniature solutions that reduce the complexity of today’s RF+Digital systems enabling system developers to shrink their system footprints and speed development time while reducing overall project risk.
Smarter Way to Build RF+Digital Systems
Each RF+ SIP saves thousands of engineering hours across multiple disciplines, from RF to digital engineering, as well as from mechanical to process engineering. Spectrum Control leverages its unparalleled RF and subsystem engineering capability to design, qualify, assemble, and test each SiP. The result is a time- and cost-saving plug-and-play approach to critical sections of a block diagram.
Each RF+ SiP has a digital-ready interface that simplifies system integration. An embedded FPGA-based control architecture allows sophisticated configuration profiles to be built for consistent device performance across wide frequency ranges and different signal attenuation requirements. All this functionality is conducted on-board with an extremely low power profile. The RF+ SiPs handle all power management for the integrated components via one or two low-voltage power inputs, depending on the device.
“Our RF+ SiP solutions are a culmination of our interdisciplinary team of RF and digital technologists, material scientists, and process engineers collaborating to develop mass-producible, surface-mount solutions that can be easily integrated into a new era of commercial and military/aerospace systems,” said Ian Dunn, Spectrum Control chief technology officer. “We select the best-performing component parts, pre-characterize them, model system performance, build, test, and tune, freeing design engineering teams to concentrate on overall system development.”
The RF+ SiP platform is designed to offer standard products as well as fully custom implementations, designed specifically to project requirements, with low non-recurring engineering (NRE). The pre-engineered system blocks are volume-ready to simplify manufacturing and qualification.
Expanding SiP Portfolio
Spectrum Control is leveraging the RF+ SiP platform to create a growing portfolio of solutions, some of which will be demonstrated at IMS, including:
Block Converter SiPs – These single-channel (up or down) mmWave block converters can be integrated to deliver receive and/or transmit functions. They can extend the range of existing 2-18 GHz systems, as well as be designed in new systems operating in the 18-40 GHz bands. The company will also offer derivative block converters designed for multi-channel systems.
Service SiPs – The functional blocks provide services such as timing signals and control to other SiPs and other system elements such as analog to digital converters. The new 32 GHz Clock SiP is designed to provide high frequency, low jitter clock signals with simplified clock management for high-speed direct sampling FPGAs such as the Altera Agilex 9. Other service SiPs in development include 4-channel local oscillators, and control SiPs for multi-channel banks of frequency converters or other RF Front Ends (RFFEs).
Integrated Microwave Assemblies (IMAs) – Custom SiPs leverage Spectrum Control’s investments in design and modeling tools, component characterization, software instrumentation, manufacturing, and test. The team can rapidly design and build custom IMAs in surface mount packages to meet specific design requirements with low NRE. Examples include RFFEs (wideband, X-band, etc.) along with switched filter banks, frequency converters, and power amplifiers.
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