Mobile phone systems continue to evolve from the 2nd generation, which began in the early 1990s, to the 5th generation, which is now in service. Along with this evolution, the power amplifier (PA) is also evolved. The characteristics required for PA are changing with each generation. In this paper, we will give an overview of the evolution of PAs from the 2nd generation mobile phones such as GSM (global system for mobile communications) to the 5th generation mobile phones that is often called NR (new radio), in particular, the circuit system. Specifically, the following five items will be described. (1) Ramp-up and ramp-down power control circuit corresponding to GSM, (2) Self-bias circuit technology for improving linearity that becomes important after W-CDMA (wideband code division multiple access), (3) Power mode switching methods for improving efficiency at low output power, (4) Power combining methods that have become important since LTE (long term evolution), and (5) Backoff efficiency improvement methods represented by ET (envelop tracking) and Doherty PA.

With the spread of the 5th generation mobile phone, the increase of the output power of PA (power amplifier) has become important, and in recent years, differential amplifiers that can increase the output voltage amplitude for the power supply voltage have been examined from the viewpoint of power synthesis. In the case of a differential PA, in addition to the advantage of voltage amplitude, the load impedance can be set 4 times as much as that of a single-ended PA, which makes it possible to reduce the impact of parasitic resistance. With the study of the differential PA, many transformer matching circuits have been studied in addition to the LC matching circuits that have been widely used in the past. The transformer matching circuit can easily realize the differential-single conversion, and the transformer matching circuit is an indispensable technology in the differential PA. As with the LC matching circuit, widening the bandwidth of the transformer matching circuit is at issue. In this paper, characteristics of basic transformer matching circuits are analyzed by adding input/output shunt capacitance to transformers and the conditions of bandwidth improvement are clarified. In addition, by comparing the FBW (fractional bandwidth) with the LC 2-stage matching circuit, it is shown that the FBW can be competitive.

As a mobile phone progresses with the third, fourth, and fifth generations, the frequency bands used in mobile phones are increasing dramatically. RF components for mobile phone terminals correspond to this increasing frequency band. In the case of power amplifier (PA), which is one of the RF components, it is necessary to correspond many frequency bands in one PA. In this case, the wideband of the matching circuit is a typical one of the technical problems of PA. In this study, we focus on two-stage and three-stage connections of LC ladder matching circuits widely applied in PA, and compare them from the viewpoint of broadband. In order to efficiently analyze multi-stage LC-matching circuits, the following two new methods were devised. First, we derived the analysis formula of LC and CL-matching circuits when the termination impedance was extended to a complex number. Second, we derived a condition in which the frequency derivative of the input impedance is zero.

Smartphones for wireless communication typically consist of a large area frontal liquid crystal display (LCD), which incorporates a metal back plate, and a back cover chassis made from metal. Leveraging this structure a new approach to construct antennas for smartphones is proposed where the complete metal back cover chassis and LCD back plate are used as the radiating element and ground plane. In the design a feedline is connected between the metal back cover chassis and LCD back plate, along with shorts at various locations between the two metal plates, to control the resonance frequency of the resulting antenna. Multiple-band operation is possible without the need for any slots in the plates for radiation. Results show that antenna frequency reconfigurability can be achieved when switching function is added to the shorts so that several wireless communication bands can be covered. This approach is different from existing metallic frame antenna designs currently available in the market. A design example is provided which uses one PIN diode for the switching shorts and the target frequency bands are 740-780MHz and 900-1000MHz & 1700-1900MHz. The optimization of LC matchings and concerns of hand effects and metallic components between the chassis and LCD metal back plate are also addressed.

In mobile phone systems, the 4th generation is widely prevailing in 2017, and in 2020, it is expected that the 5th generation (5G) will start to prevail. In both generations, a linear power amplifier (PA) is used. In case of 4G, in addition, such as the envelope tracking (ET) and the digital predistortion (DPD) systems are applied to improve efficiency and linearity. In case of 5G, because of wider modulation band width and parallel operation under the multiple-input and multiple output (MIMO) mode, it might be difficult to apply all systems as those of 4G. Therefore linear PA for 5G will require higher performance with standalone operation. The linear amplifier, in spite of its name, operates non-linearly. In this paper, the non-linear operations of the linear amplifier and their effects on the linearity characteristics are reviewed. After that, impacts of non-linear elements of a hetero junction bipolar transistor (HBT), by analyzing single stage amplifier, are stated. In addition, major PA architectures including ET and DPD systems are reviewed.

The Satellite/Terrestrial Integrated mobile Communication System (STICS), which allows terrestrial mobile phones to communicate directly through a satellite, has been studied [1]. Satellites are unaffected by the seismic activity that causes terrestrial damage, and therefore, the STICS can be expected to be a measure that ensures emergency call connection. This paper first describes the basic characteristics of call blocking rates of terrestrial mobile phone systems in areas where non-functional base stations are geographically clustered, as investigated through computer simulations that showed an increased call blocking rate as the number of non-functional base stations increased. Further simulations showed that restricting the use of the satellite system for emergency calls only ensures the STICS's capacity to transmit emergency communications; however, these simulations also revealed a weakness in the low channel utilization rate of the satellite system [2]. Therefore, in this paper, we propose increasing the channel utilization rate with a priority channel framework that divides the satellite channels between priority channels for emergency calls and non-priority channels that can be available for emergency or general use. Simulations of this priority channel framework showed that it increased the satellite system's channel utilization rate, while continuing to ensure emergency call connection [3]. These simulations showed that the STICS with a priority channel framework can provide efficient channel utilization and still be expected to provide a valuable secondary measure to ensure emergency communications in areas with clustered non-functional base stations during large-scale disasters.

Pedestrian dead reckoning (PDR) is an effective positioning means that can be used in urban-canyon environments where the accuracy of GPS is significantly degraded. Magnetic disturbances caused by artificial objects affect the accuracy of positioning if the PDR system uses a magnetometer to estimate the heading direction. Conventional PDR systems consider magnetic disturbances as unpredictable error sources, but the error becomes predictable and removable if the amount of the deviation in the magnetic field can be calculated at any position. In this study, we propose a method to correct the heading direction by referring to a map of magnetic deviation. The experimental results show that our method reduced the error in the heading direction caused by magnetic disturbances. Our approach removed the error components that differ depending on the position, and consequently, the resultant trajectory represented better the shape of the true trajectory.

The exposure of children to mobile phones has been a concern for years, but so far the conclusions with respect to compliance with safety standards are based only on simulations. Regulators have requested that these conclusions be supported by experimental evidence. The objectives of this study are 1) to test if the hypothesis that the specific anthropomorphic mannequin (SAM) used in standardized compliance testing is also conservative for homogeneous child head models and 2) to validate the numerical prediction of the peak spatial SAR (psSAR) in child head phantoms. To achieve these objectives, head phantoms of 3- and 8-year-old children were developed and manufactured. The results confirm that SAM is also conservative for child head phantoms, and that the agreement between numerical and experimental values are within the combined uncertainty of 0.9 dB, provided that the actual peak spatial SAR (psSAR) is determined. The results also demonstrate that the currently suggested numerical SAR averaging procedures may underestimate the actual psSAR by more than 1.3 dB and that the currently defined limits in terms of the average of a cubic mass are impractical for non-ambiguous evaluations, i.e., for achieving inter-laboratory repeatability.

In this paper, the author proposes an electromagnetic coupling fed inverted-FL antenna design. The inverted-FL antenna with a self-complementary structure has been reported as a way to achieve a constant impedance of 188 ohms without the need for a matching load, since the axially symmetric self-complementary antenna has constant impedance, even though it has a finite structure. This design has been realized by integrating an inverted-F antenna with a self-complementary structure for achieving a broadband characteristic and an inverted-L element for operation on a frequency lower than the minimum frequency of the antenna. The proposed antenna realizes a broadband characteristic without attaching the matching load and the impedance transformer to match 50 ohms. The impedance transformer necessary for the inverted-FL antenna with a self-complementary structure is removed by using an electromagnetic coupling feed structure. This antenna, which has a volume of 101045 mm3, obtained broadband and multi-band characteristics covering the GSM850/GSM900/DCS/PCS/UMTS2100/UMTS2600 bands and the 2.5 G/3.5 G bands for Mobile-WiMAX in simulation and measurement.

The cellular phone ownership rate continues to increase, meaning one person may now own two or more. Meanwhile, a lot of terminals that receive cellular phone services through a mass broadband communication network are being commercialized. When service is received through the cellular phone, the mobile network operator authenticates the subscriber. However, service providers other than the mobile network operators provide communication services and other services through fixed networks. In this situation, if we can use the subscriber authentication that the mobile network operator provide for the fixed network service, fixed mobile convergence (FMC) will be achieved and mobile network operators will be able to better prevent unauthorized users from using their services. In addition, services will become more convenient because users will be authenticated by swiping one cellular phone when switching from using a fixed terminal to another fixed terminal. A mechanism has been developed that allows mobile network operator to authenticate their subscribers' account when using a terminal connected to a fixed network. In addition, services can be easily switched between fixed terminals by using the proposed mechanism. Moreover, a system is constructed on the basis of the proposed mechanism, and its performance is evaluated.

Pedestrian dead reckoning (PDR) based on human gait locomotion is a promising solution for indoor location services, which independently determine the relative position of the user using multiple sensors. Most existing PDR methods assume that all sensors are mounted in a fixed position on the user's body while walking. However, it is inconvenient for a user to mount his/her mobile phone or additional sensor modules in a specific position on his/her body such as the torso. In this paper, we propose a new PDR method and a prototype system suitable for indoor navigation systems on a mobile phone. Our method determines the user's relative position even if the sensors' orientation relative to the user is not given and changes from moment to moment. Therefore, the user does not have to mount the mobile phone containing sensors on the body and can carry it in a natural way while walking, e.g., while swinging the arms. Detailed algorithms, implementation and experimental evaluation results are presented.

One of the most important duties of government is to maintain safety. In 2007, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan tested 16 different models of a safety support system for children on school routes. One of the models was constructed and tested at a school in an area of the city of Hiroshima from September to December of 2007. A consortium was established by the city of Hiroshima; Hiroshima City University; Chugoku Electric Power Co., Inc.; and KDDI Corporation to conduct this project. For the model project, we developed a new safety support system for children on school routes by using a mobile ad hoc network constructed from mobile phones with the Bluetooth function. About 500 students and 50 volunteers used this system for four months. The support system provided good performance and accuracy in maintaining the safety of students on the way to school [7]. The basic idea of the safety support system is the grouping of children and volunteers using a mobile ad hoc network. In this paper, we present an outline of this system and evaluate the performance of grouping and the effectiveness of our approach.

This letter presents a low-profile printed monopole wideband antenna for mobile terminals. The proposed antenna is simply structured with an inverted-L strip, which occupies the small area of 3180.8 mm3 (0.023λL0.138λL0.006λL at lower frequency edge of 2.3 GHz) on a substrate which is perpendicular to the circuit board of the terminal. The height of the upright substrate is only 3 mm (3.8 mm including the circuit board). The proposed antenna achieves a 10-dB impedance bandwidth of 59.7% ranging from 2.16 GHz to 4 GHz, which can cover which can cover the 2.4 GHz WLAN (2.4-2.4835 GHz) and WiMAX (2.3-2.4/2.495-2.69/3.4-3.6 GHz) operational bands. It is suitable for application to a multiband mobile phone due to its relatively low profile.

The aim of this study is to develop a new whole-body averaged specific absorption rate (SAR) estimation method based on the external-cylindrical field scanning technique. This technique is adopted with the goal of simplifying the dosimetry estimation of human phantoms that have different postures or sizes. An experimental scaled model system is constructed. In order to examine the validity of the proposed method for realistic human models, we discuss the pros and cons of measurements and numerical analyses based on the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. We consider the anatomical European human phantoms and plane-wave in the 2 GHz mobile phone frequency band. The measured whole-body averaged SAR results obtained by the proposed method are compared with the results of the FDTD analyses.

A prototype of a novel mobile viewer system consisting of a mobile phone and a 13.1-inch 4096-color electronic paper display has been developed. The basic concept of the system, the technological study for realizing the concept, and the specifications of the prototype are described. Possible applications of the system are also proposed.

Gamma correction is an essential function and is time consuming task in every display device such as CRT and LCD. And gray scale CCT reproduction in most LCD are quite different from those of standard CRT. An automated fast and accurate display adjusment method and system for gamma correction and for constant gray scale CCT calibration of mobile phone LCD is presented in this paper. We develop the test pattern disply and register control program in mobile phone and devleop automatic measure program in computer using spectroradimeter. The proposed system is maintain given gamma values and CCT values accuratly. In addition, This system is possible to fast mobile phone LCD adjusment within one hour.

Audio applications for mobile phone and portable devices are increasingly popular. To attract consumer interest, a multi-standard design on a single device is the trend of current audio decoder development. This paper presents a configurable common filterbank processor (CCFP) for AC-3, MP3 and AAC audio decoder. It is used as an accelerator for general purpose processors to improve performance. All the filterbank transforms are derived to even- or odd-point IFFT flows. In the architecture, a fully pipelined approach is developed which can be configured for different operation modes. This design is synthesized using UMC 0.18 µm library and takes about 26.7 K gates. By the fast algorithm and fully pipelined architecture, the operation cycles are greatly reduced. Therefore, it can be executed at a very low operation frequency with the range of 1.3 to 3.6 MHz. Besides, the power consumption is only 0.9 mW, 3.2 mW and 1 mW for AC-3, MP3 and AAC respectively. We further port our design on an ARM Integrator platform to make a real play system. On average, over 50% ARM performance loading can be saved and used for handling other applications.

Today, pedestrian navigation systems for mobile phones use 2-dimensional maps as a navigation media in general. But 3-dimensional maps or scenery images are easier to understand for users than 2-dimensional maps. To use 3-dimensional maps or scenery guidance, the measuring accuracy of user position is essential to understand guidance images. In this paper, we will present a pedestrian navigation system using real scenery photographs as a navigation media, and based on experiments we will report the evaluation result of influence of positioning accuracy on the understandability of navigation. It is shown that 3 meters or less error of positioning is tolerable for pedestrian navigation systems using scenery images.

The power system and the battery management of mobile phones used by NTT DoCoMo subscribers will be described. The energy requirements of the phones' AC-adaptors (chargers), their power-management systems, and trends in energy consumption will be focused on. The results of the new Li-ion batteries' safety tests, quick tests assessing battery capacity deterioration, and battery lifetime predictions will be also discussed.

SMIL is a markup language which enables us to describe multimedia contents. This paper proposes a design model of SMIL browser functionality for mobile phones whose resources are limited. We introduce SMIL Component, which is based on attachable software architecture to a pre-installed generic web browser and an event-based SMIL scheduler, which is a part of SMIL Component, to provide the multimedia presentation scheduling functionality. These lead to reducing the memory amount that SMIL Component consumes and brings high portabilty of SMIL Component for various web browsers. We implement SMIL Component and evaluate RAM sizes and presentation delays. As a result, we conclude that SMIL Component is practical for MMS presentations on a mobile phone.