Low PIM
Low PIM products are of primary importance for both, Marco Cells installations and DAS venues. Chief among these venues are small cell multi-carrier installations.Carriers are establishing challenging PIM specifications to mitigate unwanted signal interference caused by the PIM phenomena. . PIM at this stage can significantly diminish overall system performance. Passive intermodulation can seriously affect data bandwidth of wireless cells, and in serious cases, it can completely compromise channel functionality. Low PIM products are an essential measure to avoid this.
High power signals, greater than 20 watts, are of concern in PIM inducing networks. Standards have been established over a 20 year period to qualify acceptable PIM products in devices. This has been established as the power level below the carrier level when 2 signals are introduced in a PIM inducing combination. The familiar (2x +43 dBm)PIM test signals on Microlab product represent this standard of two tones at the 20 watt level.
Now that small cells are becoming prevalent there is a need for cost effective components that do not require such high power levels. However they cannot be tested to the (2x _43dBm) standard. Microlab continues to pioneer the development of these products and the test procedures. As we have developed our low PIM products over the past two decades Microlab has been considered the gold standard of Low PIM products throughout the industry. We have built the Microlab name to be synonymous with Low PIM product and we continue to build and improve upon this legacy.
Our products come with a low PIM guarantee which means we test to a maximum PIM acceptance level. This level of testing should not be compared to a typical value specification which has not been clearly defined in our industry. How can you test an individual part to a typical value or a value that has no qualifier at all such as the term maximum? You cannot! Typical values can only pertain to a population of products and not individual products. So, why a LOW PIM labelon Microlab products?The label constitutes a certificate of qualification to our customers. Only those products that offer particularly low PIM values that are tested to a maximum PIM value are eligible for our LOW PIM label. The label ensures system designers, integrators and wireless operators that they will receive reliable, high quality products with outstanding PIM characteristics.