Guerrilla RF Power Amplifier Chosen for Impinj RAIN RFID Reader Module Reference Design

Guerrilla RF announced that its high-efficiency GRF5509 4-watt power amplifier was selected by Impinj for use in their enterprise-grade RAIN RFID reader module reference design. This integration allows customers to quickly go to market and efficiently develop new readers built on Impinj’s industry-leading E family reader ICs.

The RAIN Market Research Report from VDC Research predicts tag integrated circuit (IC) shipments are expected to grow at a CAGR of 25.1% up to 2028. Supply chain upgrades and the use of more sustainable solutions is helping to drive the increases in adoption of RAIN solutions.

Application areas of growth include enhancing accuracy and visibility of retail inventories, asset management, logistics, medical, air baggage and cargo, vehicle identification, warehousing operations, and monitoring product lifecycles.

The GRF5509 is an InGaP HBT PA that can be tuned to operate over select bands within the 700 to 1000 MHz frequency range. When tuned for the RFID UHF bands of 866 MHz to 928 MHz, the PA delivers 38 dB of gain, 36 dBm of OP1dB compression, and 46 dBm of OIP3 linearity. Like other GRF amplifier cores, the GRF5509 features a flexible biasing architecture allowing customizable trade-offs between linearity and power consumption. Supply voltages can vary between 3.0 and 5.5 V, although most customers will elect to use a standard 5V supply with 248 mA of biasing current.

Packaged in a compact 3 x 3 mm QFN-16 package, the GRF5509 shares a pinout and matching layout with many of the company’s linear drivers and power amplifier cores. Additional details are available here. To learn more about Guerrilla RF’s complete RFID portfolio, please visit guerrilla-rf.com/RFID.