Power amp cuts energy use in cell phone towers

Eta Devices Inc. has introduced what it touts as the world's most efficient power amplifier for mobile base stations. The company is a spin-off from the electrical engineering department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the new patented technology is known as Asymmetric Multilevel Outphasing (AMO).

The 50 per cent increase in efficiency by the firm's AMO power amplifiers is made possible by a solution to the classic trade-off in mobile communications between efficiency and linearity, indicated the company.

On a global level, mobile networks consume about 120TWh of electricity per year—equal to two days of worldwide power consumption—with 50-80 per cent of the power consumed by the base stations' power amplifiers and associated components. According to Eta Devices, its solution has the potential to reduce power consumption by 50 per cent that could save mobile operators around $18 billion per year in utility costs.