Amp startup to slash base station power usage in half

Eta Devices, a spinout company from MIT, says it’s developed a new amplifier design that’s far more efficient than current designs. That’s potentially big news because power amps – the things that turn electricity into a radio signal in things like base stations and mobile devices – are major energy wasters.

 

According to Technology Review, almost two-thirds of the energy consumed by a power amp goes to waste because they use transistors that consume power in two basic modes: standby mode and output signal mode. The lower the standby power, the more efficient an amp is, but switching from low-power standby to high-power output mode tends to distort the signal, so the only solution is to keep standby power high, which wastes electricity. That’s why power amps tend to account for 67% of base station power consumption, for example.

 

Eta’s solution is “asymmetric multilevel outphasing” – or, as TR describes it, “essentially a blazingly fast electronic gearbox”:

 

 

Eta reportedly hopes to formally launch the technology at next year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and go commercial with it the same year. The initial target market will be base stations for developing markets that need more power-efficient base stations in rural areas, but Eta is also aiming for the smartphone market, TR reports: