Homepage Archive - August 2017 (page 3)

These archive pages are provided in order to make it easier for you to find items that you remember seeing on the RF Cafe homepage. Of course probably the easiest way to find anything on the website is to use the "Search RF Cafe" box at the top of every page. About RF Cafe.

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Thursday 31

Triad RF Systems Intros a 400 to 450 MHz, 32 W BDA

Triad RF Systems Intros a 400 to 450 MHz, 32 W, BDA - RF CafeTriad RF Systems announces the TTRM1076, a 400 to 450 MHz, 32 W bidirectional amplifier (BDA) designed for high data rate military and commercial radios. It is capable of 12-watt 64QAM OFDM output and 32-watt peak power for lower data rate FM/BPSK applications. High speed switching of 1 μS makes it compatible with time division duplex (TDD) mesh radio systems. This class A LDMOS module is designed for both military and commercial applications. It is capable of supporting any signal type ...

High-Speed Switching for Ultrafast EM Switches and Sensors

High-Speed Switching for Ultrafast Electromechanical Switches and Sensors - RF Cafe"Many next-generation electronic and electro-mechanical device technologies hinge on the development of ferroelectric materials. The unusual crystal structures of these materials have regions in their lattices, called domains, that behave like molecular switches. The alignment of a domain can be toggled by an electric field, which changes the position of atoms in the crystal and switches the polarization direction. These crystals are typically grown on supporting substrates that help to define and organize the behavior of domains. Control over the switching of ..."

Radio & Television News, October 1969 Electronics World

Radio & Television News, October 1969 Electronics World - RF CafeElectronics World magazine for a while had a monthly feature titled "Radio & Television News." It was a roundup of top news bits. This particular month's collection had a lot of notable topics. On the heels of the Apollo 11 moon landing, NASA informs people of the many benefits research and development on necessary technologies that will redound to the commercial and consumer sectors. "Success with on-board computers in spacecraft contributes directly to the day when home computers take over hundreds of chores - from feeding the cat to reminding you of appointments...- and maybe keep your checkbook balanced ..."

Top-Level Domain Name ".radio" Now Available

Top-Level Domain Name ".radio" Now Available - RF Cafe"The top-level domain (TLD) name ".radio" is now available to the radio industry and Amateur Radio enthusiasts, and is reserved for individuals and companies with active interest in the radio sector. Individuals or entities in these categories will be accepted for the use of a .radio domain: •Radio broadcasting stations •Unions of Broadcasters •Internet radios •Radio Amateurs •Radio-related companies selling radio goods and services •Radio products and ..."

Cool Product: QuickSmith, by Nathan Iyer

QuickSmith, by Nathan Iyer - RF Cafe Cool ProductQuickSmith, a creation of Nathan Iyer, has been around for a long time. It is without a doubt one of the most feature-filled examples of RF design software around. Nathan recently released a Web-based version of QuickSmith on a GitHub server, which means it works on any platform with a browser - desktop or mobile. Access is free, and you can save and reload your design files rather than losing your work once you leave the website. Being online also means that the latest version is always available. The screenshot to the right illustrates where to place series and parallel components, and where to access the sweep ...

StingRay Cellphone Interception Technology Cloaked in Secrecy

StingRay Cellphone Interception Technology Cloaked in Secrecy - RF Cafe"Several years ago, little was known about the StingRay, a powerful surveillance device that imitates the function of a cell tower and captures the signals of nearby phones, allowing law enforcement officers to sweep through hundreds of messages, conversations and call logs. The secrecy around the technology, which can ensnare the personal data of criminals and bystanders alike, spurred lawsuits and demands for public records to uncover who was using it and the extent of its capabilities ..."

Wednesday 30

Nanotube-Based Yarns Harvest Energy from Twisting and Stretching

Nanotube-Based Yarns Harvest Energy from Twisting and Stretching - RF Cafe"Illustration of a torsionally tethered coiled harvester electrode and counter and reference electrodes in an electrochemical bath, showing the coiled yarn before and after stretch. An international team of researchers led by researchers at the University of Texas (UT) at Dallas - where they have been working on making carbon nanotube-based yarns for well over a decade - has devised a way to make these carbon nanotube yarns into devices that can harvest energy from stretching ..."

Many Thanks to MECA Electronics for Their Long-Time Support!

MECA ElectronicsSince 1961, MECA Electronics manufactures an extensive line of RF & microwave components for in-building, satellite, radar, radio, telemetry, mobile radio, aviation & ATC. Attenuators, directional & hybrid couplers, isolators & circulators, power MECA Electronics V-Line componentsdividers & combiners, loads, DC blocks, bias-Ts and adapters & cables. MECA has long been the 'backbone' of high performance wired and air-interfaced networks. Please visit MECA today to learn how they can help with your projects ...

QuinStar Technology Added to Vendor Pages

QuinStar Technology Added to Vendor Pages - RF CafeQuinStar Technology, founded in 1993, designs and manufactures millimeter-wave products for communication, scientific, and test applications including millimeter-wave products, microelectronic assembly, rapid prototyping, and mass customization. AS9100:2009 Rev C / ISO 9001:2008 certified. QuinStar has been added to RF Cafe's Vendor pages: Amplifiers, oscillators, switches, attenuators, circulators & isolators, filters, waveguide, antennas, phase shifters, and receiver & radar subsystems.

Faraday and Electrostatic Lines of Force

Faraday and Electrostatic Lines of Force, August 1973 Popular Electronics - RF CafeBiographies focusing individually on Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Isaac Newton, Alexander Graham Bell, and Henry Ford abound. Someone, somewhere, is right now researching and writing yet another dissertation on each them and other well-known historical figures of science and engineering. Guys like Michael Faraday rarely have books dedicated solely to their lives and accomplishments, even though it is not unreasonable to expect that they would. Usually Faraday, Alessandro Volta, Georg Ohm, André-Marie Ampère, Anders Celsius, Max Planck, et al, are usually included in books featuring a collection of people who have achieved notoriety in similar fields ...

Fast Defense Electronics Design Using IP Blocks

Fast Defense Electronics Design Using IP Blocks - RF Cafe"U.S. military researchers are asking Northrop Grumman Corp. to find ways of speeding how long it takes to develop new defense electronics through the reuse and integration of blocks of intellectual property (IP). Officials of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington, Va., announced a $7.1 million contract Tuesday to the Northrop Grumman Mission Systems ..."

In 2 Weeks: EDI CON USA Returns to Boston w/Education and Keynotes

EDI CON USA Returns to Boston in 2 Weeks with Powerful Education and Keynotes - RF Cafe

To add to its high-quality line-up of education, the Electronic Design Innovation Conference and Exhibition (EDI CON) USA, the first industry event to bring together RF/microwave and high-speed digital design engineers and system integrators, announced today its plenary keynote speakers at EDI CON USA, September 11-13 at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, MA. EDI CON USA will host more than 100 exhibitors and feature 88 education sessions that fall into five focused areas: RF & Microwave Design, High-Speed Digital Design, Measurement & Modeling, Systems Engineering and 5G Advanced ...

Breakthrough Could Make Quantum Data Transmission a Reality

Breakthrough Could Make Quantum Data Transmission a Reality - RF Cafe"Imagine sending data over the air in the form of light rather than radio waves - a method that eliminates the restriction of spectrum availability in wireless networks. Researchers at the University of Ottawa in Canada have taken a step forward toward that goal by sending a quantum-secured message containing more than one bit of information per photon through the air above a city. It may sound esoteric, but sending multiple bits per photon ..."

Tuesday 29

FCC's 600 MHz Spectrum Repacking May Far Exceed 39 Months

FCC's 600 MHz Spectrum Repacking Effort - RF Cafe"It may take much longer for wireless carriers to deploy services on their new 600 MHz spectrum than previously thought. Bidders committed more than $19.63 billion for TV broadcasters' airwaves during the FCC's incentive auction, which ended last spring, with T-Mobile leading the way by spending $8B on 600 MHz licenses. Operators have repeatedly urged the agency to stick to the 39-month repacking plan it has allotted to reshuffle TV broadcasters' airwaves ..."

Nikola Tesla in 19th Century Newspapers, Kirt's Cogitations #292

Nikola Tesla in 19th Century Newspapers, Kirt's Cogitations #292 - RF CafeNikola Tesla was born in 1856 in Smiljan, Austrian Empire, and died in 1943 in New York City. His life is so amply documented far and wide that regurgitating the information in books and blog posts would be a waste. Most of what you find there is second-hand, having gone through the filter of an author's preferences. I like to search for stories on various topics in their original publications; e.g., scanned newspaper and magazine archives. A hunt for early stories on Nikola Tesla turned up many 19th century examples from the Newspapers.com website. It is interesting that back in the day, men like Nikola and Edison were referred regularly to as "electricians." The oldest article I found on Nikola Tesla appeared in the July 1, 1889 edition of The Pittsburgh Dispatch, titled "The Electric Fiend" ...

ARRL: Texas Flood Zone ARES Volunteers Advised to Stay Home

Texas Flood Zone ARES Volunteers Advised to Stay Home - RF Cafe"As Tropical Storm Harvey heads southeastward, Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES®) team members are being advised that the impact to the region's communications infrastructure has been relatively minimal so far, considering the strength of the storm and the magnitude of the flooding. South Texas ARES remains on standby as the response phase continues and sheltering becomes a growing need. ARRL South Texas Section Manager Lee Cooper, W5LHC, told ARRL today (August 28) that the disaster will be in the response phase for several days ..."

Chip-Scale Laser Structure 2x Terahertz Output Power

Chip-Scale Laser Structure 2x Terahertz Output Power - RF Cafe"Adding slots to the chip-scale laser waveguide, which generates terahertz waves, and backing them with reflectors redirects the lost back-end output 180°, boosting the front-end output power. Terahertz (sub-millimeter) waves - wavelengths of 1 mm down to 30 µm, corresponding to frequencies from 300 GHz to 3 THz - pose a dilemma for practical use because they're in the zone between the standard RF spectrum ..."

IEEE International Symposium on Radio-Frequency Integration Technology

2017 IEEE International Symposium on Radio-Frequency Integration Technology (RFIT2017) - RF Cafe2017 IEEE Internat'l Symposium on Radio-Frequency Integration Technology (RFIT2017), August 30- September 1, 2017, Seoul, South Korea. RFIT2017 will be held at The K-Hotel, Seoul, Korea, on August 30- September 1, 2017. This conference is organized and sponsored by the IEEE MTT-S, and will be supported by IEEE MTT-S Seoul Chapter. The Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science (KIEES) is a Technical Co-Sponsor of the RFIT ...

11 Companies Looking to Shake up the Satellite Space

11 Companies Looking to Shake up the Satellite Space - RF Cafe"The FCC granted WorldVu Satellites Ltd., doing business as OneWeb, permission in June to enter the U.S. satellite market. OneWeb wants to build a constellation of 720 satellites to provide internet services across the world and expects to launch its first satellite next year. But it's far from the only company with designs on space. Despite earlier attempts at satellite businesses that came and went, new entrants want to take advantage of advancements in technology and give it a go ..."

Monday 28

Many Thanks to Axiom Test Equipment for Continued Support!

Axiom Test Equipment - RF CafeAxiom Test Equipment allows you to rent or buy test equipment, repair test equipment, or sell or trade Axiom Test Equipmenttest equipment. They are committed to providing superior customer service and high quality electronic test equipment. Axiom offers customers several practical, efficient, and cost effective solutions for their projects' TE needs and is committed to providing superior customer service and high quality electronic test equipment. Please check out Axiom Test Equipment today! ...

Do You Know Your Bipolar Transistors?

Do You Know Your Bipolar Transistors?, August 1973 Popular Electronics - RF CafeMr. Lothar Stern, of Motorola Semi, published a 3-part series on transistor theory in Popular Electronics magazine in 1973. This is part 1. At the time, transistors had pretty much replaced vacuum tubes in all new electronic products - if you don't count cathode ray tubes (CRTs) in televisions and some high power applications. Technical schools were still teaching about vacuum tubes since there was a still a lot of legacy equipment that needed to be maintained, the the main concentration had switched over to transistor theory. 1973, the year I turned 15, is right around the time I began seriously delving into the electrical and electronic realms as an eventual vocation ...

Laser Lighting Trial Starting in China

Laser Lighting Trial Starting in China - RF Cafe"For perhaps the first time in the world, trials taking place in China next month will use lasers for street lighting, an innovation aimed at saving energy and eliminating the cost of expensive cabling infrastructure. David Ho and the Jinjing Co. have developed the new lighting technology in the city of Fuzhou in China's southeastern Fujian Province. Trials will start next month in the nearby city of Fuqing. The technology uses laser beams of blue light to transmit energy across large distances without power ..."

NuWaves Engineering Intros Pair of 10 Watt, C-Band RF BDA Modules

NuWaves Engineering Intros Pair of 10 Watt, C-Band RF BDA Modules - RF CafeNuWaves Engineering, an international Radio Frequency (RF) and Microwave solutions provider, announces the completion of the IRaD phase for their newest miniaturized 10 watt C-band bidirectional amplifier (BDA), to be added to their line of NuPower Xtender™ bidirectional amplifier products. This module will be priced at $2,900/ea. in quantities of one hundred, and will be available Q4 2017. The NuPower Xtender™ C10RX01 and C10RX02 BDA ...

42 International Conference on Infrared, Millimeter and Terahertz Waves

42 International Conference on Infrared, Millimeter and Terahertz Waves - RF Cafe42 International Conference on Infrared, Millimeter and Terahertz Waves (IRMMW-THz 2017), August 27 - September 1, in Cancún, Mexico. Founded in 1974 under the title, International Conference on Submillimeter Waves and their Applications, today's International Conference on Infrared, Millimeter, and Terahertz Waves (IRMMW-THz) continues to grow in scope and stature. The conference and its long standing accompanying monthly publication, now known as the Journal of Infrared, Millimeter and Terahertz Waves (JIMT), were among ...

Sunday 27

RF Cafe Engineering Crossword w/Weekly Headlines August 27

RF Cafe Engineering Crossword Puzzle w/Weekly Headlines August 27, 2017For the sake of avid cruciverbalists amongst us, each week I create a new crossword puzzle that has a theme related to engineering, mathematics, chemistry, physics, and other technical words. At least 12 clues in this puzzle with an asterisk (*) are pulled from this past week's (8/21 - 8/25) "Tech Industry Headlines" column on the RF Cafe homepage (see the Headline Archives page for help). Enjoy! ...

Friday 25

Apple ‘Spaceship' Neighbors: Some Say Life Has Been Hell

Apple ‘Spaceship’ Neighbors: Some Say Life Has Been Hell - RF CafeIf only the people whose backyard became the location for Apple's 'Spaceship' headquarters had been northern spotted owls, Yosemite toads, or SF garter snakes, maybe their peaceful existence would not have been interrupted by 4 years of constant noise and dirt. But, because they are only humans, a 175 acre, 2.8 million sq.ft. monster complex now sits in their backyards, forever destroying the ambiance. Just as with using Chinese labor to build their devices while paying wages not even Illegals would work for in the U.S., human rights are defined by Apple's needs to satisfy investors and top management's pay expectations. ...

Skyworks' Voltage-Controlled Variable Attenuator for Broad Market

Skyworks Announces Voltage-Controlled Variable Attenuator for Broad Market Applications - RF CafeSkyworks has introduced SKY12239-11, a voltage-controlled variable attenuator (VVA) from our series of broadband, flat attenuation, high third order input intercept point (IIP3) products. The device has been designed to operate over the 10 MHz to 1.5 GHz frequency band, and is specifically optimized for use as a wide dynamic range, ultra-low distortion attenuator. This VVA is well-suited for use in automatic power leveling or gain control circuits in military radio, wireless infrastructure, CATV and broad market applications. Features include low insertion ...

Crosley Model A-157 (Fiver Roamio) Auto Radio Data Sheet

Crosley Model A-157 (Fiver Roamio) Auto Radio Radio Service Data Sheet, October 1937 Radio-Craft - RF CafeInstalling radios in cars and trucks was big business in the 1930s. Most cars of the day did not include a radio as standard equipment. In fact, the most challenging aspect of installing a radio in an automobile was the antenna and tuning mechanism. Electronics magazines of the era - Radio-Craft, Short Wave Craft, et al - had photos of technicians with equipment spread all over the public sidewalks next to where the car having the radio installed is parked. Yep, the car radio installers came to your location like the guys who replace windshields. This photo of the Crosley Model A-157 Fiver Roamio ...

Saelig Introduces Industrial Raspberry Pi Controller ComfilePi

Saelig Introduces Industrial Raspberry Pi Controller ComfilePi - RF CafeSaelig Company has introduced the ComfilePi - an industrial Raspberry Pi-based touch-panel PC. Leveraging the compact, ubiquitous Raspberry Pi 3 board, the ComfilePi inherits the Raspberry Pi 3's 1.2 GHz 64 bit quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 processor, a Broadcom VideoCore IV GPU, and 1 GB of RAM. It comes in two screen sizes - 7" (CPi-A070WR) and 10.2" (CPi-A102WR) both providing identical capabilities. The displays are 24-bit color LCDs with a resistive touchscreen and the units provide 22 x ESD-protected GPIO lines, 3 x USB 2.0 host ...

Tiny Membrane-Based Antennas

Tiny Membrane-Based Antennas - RF Cafe"New membrane-based antennas could be nearly 100 times smaller than the most compact current antennas, a new study finds. These antennas could find use in portable wireless communications systems, including wearable electronics, smartphones, bio-implantable antennas, bio-injectable antennas, bio-ingestible antennas, and the Internet of Things, researchers say. State-of-the-art compact antennas are designed to resonate at specific wavelengths. But their miniaturization is limited to roughly one-tenth of their resonant ..."

Thursday 24

Navy Seeks Lightweight, Jam Resistant Antennae

Navy Seeks Lightweight, Jam Resistant Antennae - RF Cafe"With weapons and communications systems increasingly relying on connectivity and signal communications, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory is looking to develop phased array antennas that are light-weight and jam resistant for the next generation of systems. The NRL is working with the Tactical Reachback Extended Communications to develop an ultra-wideband phased array antenna with extended line-of-sight communications capabilities. LOS technology is able to support ..."

Electronic Coupling Quiz

Electronic Coupling Quiz, August 1973 Popular Electronics - RF CafeA score of 80% is nothing to brag about, but at least I got all the easy ones right. A couple ones I guessed at based on how the circuit looks - like the 'gimmick' coupling. This quiz by Popular Electronics' quizmaster Robert P. Balin tests your knowledge of coupling circuits. If it had not been for studying for my Ham radio tests, I would not have recognized the gamma match circuit. Fewer and fewer people nowadays - at least as a percentage of those engaged in electronics - are familiar with the detailed level of design. Entire products can be designed nowadays using just integrated circuits and, usually, a little software code ...

FADA 9 Tube Model 190 "Metal" All-Wave Receiver Data Sheet

FADA 9 Tube Model 190 "Metal" All-Wave Receiver, October 1935 Radio-Craft - RF CafeThese schematics, tuning instructions, and other data are reproduced from my collection of vintage radio and electronics magazines. As back in the era, similar schematic and service info was available for purchase from sources such as SAMS FADA 9 Tube Model 190 - RF CafePhotofacts, but these printings were a no-cost bonus for readers. A Google search for a photo of the Fada Model 190 only turned up a magazine advertisement that appeared on the RadioMuseum.org website ...

Triad RF Systems Intros a 2.2 to 2.5 GHz, 15 W, BDA

Triad RF Systems Intros a 2.2 to 2.5 GHz, 15 W, BDA - RF CafeTriad RF Systems has announces the TTRM1104, a 2.2 to 2.5 GHz, 15 W bidirectional amplifier (BDA) with a bypass feature. The TTRM1104 is designed for UAV video, data link, and C2 applications. It has a selectable gain control to vary the amp output based on link distance, and can also be placed in bypass mode when the BDA is not required. An analog RSSI output is also included ...

The U.S. Government Wants Your Feedback on Overtime Pay

The U.S. Government Wants Your Feedback on Overtime Pay - RF Cafe"The U.S. Department of Labor (DoL)appears to be moving forward on an overtime rule that caught up millions of workers and employers in some muddy waters last year. Under the Obama Administration, a new requirement had been expected to take effect would have required an additional 4 million American workers to be paid overtime if they worked more than 40 hours in a week. Recently, the DoL published a Request for Information from the public to gather information ..."

Wednesday 23

Copper Mountain Technologies Needs an RF Engineer

Copper Mountain Technologies Needs an RF Engineer - RF CafeThe RF Engineer will help drive new Copper Mountain Technologies (CMT) VNA solutions and support current ones used by customers all over the world. Our USB VNAs are next generation analyzers designed to meet the needs of 21st Century engineers. Our VNAs include an RF measurement module and a processing module, a software application which runs on a Windows PC, laptop or tablet, connecting to the measurement hardware via USB interface. CMT was awarded innovation and product leadership awards by Frost & Sullivan in 2015 and 2017. The RF Engineer will be responsible for identifying new comprehensive test ...

What Are All Those Extra Components For?

What Are All Those Extra Components For?, August 1973 Popular Electronics - RF CafeMaybe what piqued my interest in electronic enough during my teenage years to eventually enter into the field as a lifelong vocation was wondering what the heck all those components were doing that were sprinkled around circuit boards and inside product housings. The circuits I was building at the time were typical beginning hobbyist types with just enough capacitors, resistors, inductors, diodes, etc., to make the lamps blink properly or to pick up a strong local AM radio station. Even in undergraduate college circuit design classes we rarely went beyond noise bypass capacitors on ICs or counter-EMF-snubbing diodes across solenoid coils. Having already ...

Mr. Shickelgruber WWII Cartoon

Mr. Shickelgruber War Production Board - RF CafeWhile searching for newspaper stories on some old radios, I ran across this "Don't Listen to Mr. Shickelgruber" comic that was part of the War Production Board's appeal for recycling. It appeared in a March 1943 issue of The Harrisburg Telegraph. The Department of War needed discarded cooking fat for extracting glycerine for use in making gunpowder. Schicklgruber was the original surname of Adolph Hitler's father. References to the little National Socialist (aka Nazi) dictator as 'Mr. Shickelgruber' (and it's various spellings) were frequent in the era.

Fullerene Device Acts as Both Solar Cell and a Current Inverter

Fullerene Device Acts as Both Solar Cell and a Current Inverter - RF Cafe"An international team of researchers has developed a photovoltaic cell based on a combination of magnetic electrodes and C60 fullerenes - sometimes referred to as Buckyballs -that increases the photovoltaic efficiency of their device by 14 percent over photovoltaics using ordinary materials and architecture. In research described in the journal Science, scientists from China, Germany, and Spain have taken spin valves—devices based on giant magnetoresistance ..."

The Last Sunset for Muscle Cars?

The Last Sunset for Muscle Cars? - RF CafeLou Frenzel, of Electronic Design, evidently has a love affair with classic American-made muscle cars. He wonders whether a future of autonomous vehicles (AVs) and the weeniefied (my term) cars on the drawing board will hasten the extinction of vintage Mustangs, Camaros, Challengers, Corvettes, and the like. Who wants to live in a world where cars with big cams, headers, and traction bars are no longer found idling erratically at stop lights? Instead you find silent e-cars with Hal doing the driving while Dave reads the latest online edition of Mother Earth News to the kids in the back seat. An e-Harley sits silently next to it, devoid of the trademark syncopated "potato-potato-potato." Aye, 'tis a sad thought. ...

Waveforms That Don't Matter

Waveforms that Don’t Matter - RF CafeWho among us has not had to track down a mysterious signal displayed on an o-scope, only to discover that the waveform was not 'real,' but was the manifestation of an improper test setup? This piece by Electronic Design's Paul Rako is a good tale of such circumstances and how you can avoid being duped into spending needless effort trying to eliminate signals that don't really exist - or don't matter, as the title suggests ...

Tuesday 22

Teledyne e2v Intros World's First K-Band DAC

Teledyne e2v Intros World's First K-Band DAC - RF CafeTeledyne e2v introduces the EV12DS460A, the world's first K-band capable Digital-to-Analog Converter. This ground breaking DAC provides an analog bandwidth extending beyond 7 GHz facilitating multi-band, direct digital synthesis up to K-band (26.5 GHz). A flexible 4:1 or 2:1 input multiplexer enables guaranteed sampling rates up to 6 GSps with the capability to operate at 7 GSps. Teledyne e2v's EV12AS350 is set to be the only 12-bit resolution ADC on the market that combines signal digitization at 5.4 GSps, input bandwidth in excess ...

Propelling Nanosatellites with Water

Propelling Nanosatellites with Water - RF Cafe"Although maneuvering nanosatellites in space is a complex procedure, a new micro-propulsion method features the simplest of ingredients: water. The system from Purdue University uses tiny nozzles to release precise bursts of water vapor. The development supports future efforts to steer the miniature 'CubeSats' in space. Nanosatellites, which NASA specifies as having a mass of 1 to 10 kilograms, have been increasingly employed to perform a variety of tasks, including high-resolution imaging, Internet services, military surveillance ..."

Mac's Service Shop: Single Sideband for the CB'er

Mac's Service Shop: Single Sideband for the CB'er, June 1970 Popular Electronics - RF CafeIf you need a little brushing up on your basic single sideband (SSB) operational theory versus straight amplitude modulation (AM), then let this dissertation by Mac to Barney be it. There are no circuit details, just talk about how power from the carrier and dual sidebands is reallocated to a single sideband, thereby improving efficiency. I like the 'dried milk' analogy Mac uses in reference to SSB being transmitted sans carrier (i.e., water), with the receiver being responsible for reintroducing the carrier in order to demodulate the signal. Although I cannot personally comment as to its validity, many people familiar with comparing DSB AM to SSB AM say there is a certain je ne sais quoi that is missing in the tonal quality of SSB ...

NI AWR ADF India Agendas Set and Registration Is Open

NI AWR ADF India Agendas Set and Registration Is Open - RF CafeThe agenda has been set and registration is open for the India leg of the seventh annual AWR Design Forum (ADF 2017), featuring NI AWR Design Environment suite of high-frequency design tools. ADF 2017 will visit four cities in India: Bangalore on September 4, Hyderabad on September 6, Ahmedabad on September 6 and New Delhi on September 8. ADF, an open forum that brings together NI AWR software customers, partners and microwave/RF engineering ...

Engineering Career and Job Hunting Advice for August 2017

Engineering Career and Job Hunting Advice for August 2017 - RF CafeAs a service to RF Cafe visitors, I will post your company's tech-related job openings at no cost. Only direct hiring companies' jobs are posted for free. Recruiters may submit jobs for posting at a cost of $100 per job. If you are responsible for hiring in your company, send me an e-mail with the job listing information and I'll be glad to post it for you ...

Elevate Your Social Media Game for Recruiters

Age Discrimination: The Hows and the Whys!

• JobSite Quiz: What Is Your Workplace Personality?

What on Earth Is an Internship Good For? <more...>

Ultrathin Semiconductor Materials Boost for Moore's Law

Ultrathin Semiconductor Mterials Boost for Moore's Law - RF Cafe"Researchers at Stanford University in the U.S. have found two new materials that can extend the life of silicon below 5 nm. Hafnium diselenide and zirconium diselenide both form stable, high K oxides in layers just a few atoms thick with a similar band gap to silicon. The new materials can also be shrunk to functional circuits just three atoms thick and they require less energy than silicon circuits. Although still experimental, the materials could be a step toward the kinds ..."

Monday 21

Communications Satellites - Success in Space

Communications Satellites - Success in Space, August 1969 Electronics World - RF CafeFrancis A. Gicca, manager of Raytheon's Space Communications Systems, published a very extensive two-part article in Electronics World magazine in 1969. Part 1 covered Score through Intelsat II satellites which launched between from December 1958 and December 1968, respectively, in the July 1969 issue. Part 2 begins with Intelsat III, which commenced operation in September 1968. Rather than reiterating the article's contents, I will offer an anecdote about the altitude used by geostationary satellites, which is 22,300 miles. In the early 1990s, I worked for a few years at COMSAT Laboratories (famous for involvement in both Intelsat and Inmarsat), in Clarksburg, Maryland ...

Infographic - What Employers See in Your LinkedIn Application

Infographic - What Employers See in Your LinkedIn Application - RF CafeThis is an interesting behind-the-curtain infographic showing "What the Employer Sees When You Click 'Apply' on LinkedIn." It appears on the YouTern website. "When you complete a LinkedIn profile and use the job search features, your profile becomes your resume and application. When a posting interests you, simply click apply and let the automated process go to work. But what does the employer actually see? What parts of your profile are included in the ..."

20 Struggles Only Left Handed People Will Understand

20 Struggles Only Left Handed People Will Understand - RF CafeI can definitely relate to this story. The right-hander's school desk was always an awkward situation in the classroom - no wonder I nearly failed 9th grade! For that matter, I nearly failed kindergarten because of struggling to use right-hander's scissors. With all the emphasis the world puts on accommodating everybody's quirky needs these days, it is amazing that we south paws are still routinely discriminated against on a daily basis by a self-serving, thoughtless, sometimes maniacal right-handed majority (you know who you are). No concern is exhibited for the inconvenience their comfortable world causes my comrades and me who make up 10% of the population. The 0.0000001% of men that think they are girls can now use the lady's room at Target, while I still have to tolerate a right-hander's preferences ...

Single Photons Set for Telecom Wavelengths

Single Photons Set for Telecom Wavelengths - RF Cafe"By shining laser light at carbon nanotubes containing special defects, scientists in the US and Japan have taken a step forward in the quest to deliver single photons at room temperature and at wavelengths suited to the telecommunications industry. The technique, which would be a boon for developers of quantum technology, allows the researchers to tune the light emitted by the nanotubes across a range of infrared wavelengths, at some of which they showed room-temperature ..."

The Great North American Solar Eclipse of 2017 - It's Here!

The Great North American Solar Eclipse of 2017, Kirt's Cogitation #291 - RF CafeIt's finally here - the Great North American Solar Eclipse of 2017! The amateur astronomy community has been anticipating and preparing for the event for a couple years. Astronomy magazine dedicated the entire August issue to providing detailed information on viewing suggestions along the entire path. Traffic from the Pacific Coast of Oregon to the Atlantic Coast of South Carolina will probably be a challenge as people vie for positions as close to the centerline as possible. Those who manage optimal locations will see about 2 minutes and 40 seconds of total darkness. Others within the 68-mile-wide path of totality will see from a fraction of a second up to the full extent. According to a calculator on the Vox website, we in Erie will only see a 76.2% eclipse, which will barely darken our skies ...