Homepage Archive - January 2018 (page 1)

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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See Page 1 | 2 | 3 of the January 2018 homepage archives

Wednesday 10

Metalens Focuses Visible Light in 1 Point

Metalens Focuses Visible Light in 1 Point - RF Cafe"Metalenses - flat surfaces that use nanostructures to focus light - promise to revolutionize optics by replacing the bulky, curved lenses currently used in optical devices with a simple, flat surface. But, these metalenses have remained limited in the spectrum of light they can focus well. Now a team of researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) has developed the first single lens that can focus the entire visible spectrum of light - including white light - in the same spot and in high resolution. This has only ever ..."

ARRL Handbook for Radio Communications 2018 Available

The ARRL Handbook for Radio Communications 2018 - RF CafeYou would be hard pressed to find a better single source for basic to mid-range level source for electronics information than the ARRL Handbook for Radio Communications. Such has been the case since its first publication in 1926. This fully revised 95th edition has been extensively updated, and includes significant new content, including digital processing and Software Defined Radio techniques. Antennas, power supplies, frequency conversion, filters, amplifiers, grounding, safety, and many other topics are covered. Buy one for yourself and one for a friend. I just checked and my newest personal edition 2012 - tempus fugit ...

Bell Telephone Labs' Sugar-Scoop Antenna

Bell Telephone Labs' Sugar-Scoop Antenna, November 1960 Electronics World - RF CafeBeing the birthday of Dr. Robert W. Wilson, there is no better occasion to post this article about the "sugar-scoop" antenna used by the two Bell Telephone Labs engineers (the other being Dr. Arno A. Penzias) who serendipitously discovered the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) believed to be a signature of "The Big Bang." The pair were investigating an unexplained hiss in the background of the very low noise receiver attached to the antenna. That microwave energy was constant and came from all areas of the sky, regardless of where the antenna was pointed. They eventually deduced that the signature was consistent with ...

Skyworks Launches Breakthrough Sky5™ Platform

Skyworks Launches Breakthrough Sky5™ Platform - RF CafeSkyworks Solutions today introduced Sky5™, its suite of solutions that will support 5G wireless communications and enable a multitude of new and previously unimagined applications across mobile and Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystems. With decades of experience in developing innovative connectivity platforms for each previous generation of wireless standards, Skyworks is leveraging its vast technology portfolio, systems expertise, leadership scale and strong customer relationships to accelerate the deployment of 5G. Skyworks' Sky5™ solutions ...

Engineering Career and Job Hunting Advice for January 2018

Engineering Career and Job Hunting Advice for January 2018 - RF CafeAnother new year is upon us already. If you resolved to find a new job or improve your current job in 2018, then there's time like the present to begin. High-Paying Jobs You Can Get with an Associate Degree is an example of a unique and useful subject since there are a lot of people who either cannot afford the time and money needed to earn a Bachelors degree, or simply do not want the sort of job where a higher degree is required. For a lot of jobs, being labeled a "professional" is just a way to have yourself exempted from labor laws ...

- How to Ask for Your Job Back and Get Rehired, by Alison Doyle

-The Rules for Job Searching are Different in January, by Vicki Salemi

- Ways Your LinkedIn Feed Can Lead to a Job, by Arnie Fertig  <more>

Race for 'Smart' Hits Fever Pitch at CES 2018

Race for 'Smart' Hits Fever Pitch at CES 2018 - RF Cafe"Giving gadgets brains will be a hot theme at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show set to open in Las Vegas, with device makers big and small touting hardware with 'smarts.' Whether it's a doorbell or refrigerator, a TV set or a toothbrush, chances are it will be connected to digital assistants powered by artificial intelligence aiming to anticipate needs or desires. 'I think you're going to see the year of smart,' said Jack Gold, a technology analyst with J. Gold Associates. One of the largest ..."

Tuesday 9

III-Nitride Resonant Tunneling Diodes at RT and Below

III-Nitride Resonant Tunneling Diodes at RT and Below - RF Cafe"Researchers in the USA have been studying III-nitride resonant tunneling diodes (RTDs) at room temperature and below. The team from Cornell University, University of Notre Dame, and University of Utah, reports: 'Resonant tunneling transport via the ground state and first excited state over a wide temperature window is demonstrated for the first time in III-nitride RTDs. These findings represent a significant step forward in resonant tunneling, intersubband-based physics ..."

NI/AWR Software Used by Gyeongsang U. to Analyzes Passive UHF RFID

Gyeongsang National University Analyzes Signal Interference in Passive UHF RFID Systems with NI AWR Software - RF CafeUHF RFID technology is being adopted by a variety of applications such as inventory control tracking, race timing, attendee tracking, access control, and more. A significant challenge for RF / microwave designers is performance degradation of UHF RFIDs due to RF interference. Professor Wang-Sang Lee and his team at Gyeongsang National University in Korea used NI AWR Design Environment, specifically Visual System Simulator™ design software, to consider theEMI effects of an RFID signal and to analyze the impact of RF interference ...

Mac's Service Shop: A Versatile Pocket Calculator

Mac's Service Shop: A Versatile Pocket Calculator, May 1972 Popular Electronics - RF CafeHewlett Packard introduced their electronic HP-35 Scientific Calculator in 1972. It was not the world's first pocket-size electronic calculator - that distinction went to the Busicom LE-120A. However it was the first to be designed for the science, engineering, and financial communities with its many built-in math functions. Its use of Reverse Polish Notation might have scared off many would-be users who were easily confused by anything other than the traditional notation (algebraic) that mimics written form; i.e., 2 + 3 = 5 (ALG), as opposed to 2  3  + [=] 5 (RPN). Wisely, HP ...

Press Releases Posted for Free

Press Releases Posted for Free - RF CafeDoes your company make products that RF Cafe visitors use, like RF and microwave filters, amplifiers, couplers, mixers, etc., simulation software, test equipment, or provide design services, educational material, etc? If so and you are in the habit of publishing Press Releases, Product Updates, Product Announcements, etc., you are welcome to send them to me for consideration for posting on RF Cafe. With typically 6,000 to 10,000 website visitors each weekday, the exposure can be pretty good. A quick scan of the current RF Cafe homepage will ...

Please Welcome ERZIA as RF Cafe's Newest Supporter!

ERZIA Microwave & RF Components - RF CafeERZIA produces microwave and millimeter wave modular amplifiers and integrated assemblies operating from Low frequencies up to 100 GHz. Our catalogue of standard amplifier modules comprises more than 100 different models, having also a high capacity of customization for amplifiers and integrated assemblies. Some of our products have space heritage and are used in aerospace, commercial, military and scientific systems, having a wide range of final applications and focusing in excellent performance and reliability. Please contact ERZIA today to learn more ...

1st Step Toward Cell-Sized Robots

1st Step Toward Cell-Sized Robots - RF Cafe"An electricity-conducting, environment-sensing, shape-changing machine the size of a human cell? Is that even possible? Cornell physicists Paul McEuen and Itai Cohen not only say yes, but they've actually built the 'muscle' for one. With postdoctoral researcher Marc Miskin at the helm, the team has made a robot exoskeleton that can rapidly change its shape upon sensing chemical or thermal changes in its environment. And, they claim, these microscale machines ' equipped with electronic, photonic and chemical payloads ' could become a powerful platform ..."

Monday 8

RF Test Technician, Production, Wanted by Aethercomm

RF Test Technician, Production Test Wanted by Aethercomm - RF CafeAethercomm designs and manufactures RF and Microwave amplifier modules, subsystems and systems. The majority of our work is custom. The reliability and effectiveness of thousands of Aethercomm products has been tested and proven in combat, helping to protect and save the lives of our warfighters. Aethercomm is looking to fill a RF Test Technician, Production position. Essential Duties and Responsibilities include the following: A thorough understanding and be able to demonstrate all of the RF and DC testing that is completed in support of production hardware ...

Sahara Desert Covered in 15 Inches of Snow

Sahara Desert Covered in 15 Inches of Snow - RF CafeUh-oh -- "More than 15 inches (40 cm) has blanketed sand dunes across the small town of Ain Sefra, Algeria. It is the second time snow has hit in nearly 40 years, with a dusting also recorded in December 2016. But this snowfall which hit yesterday, is much deeper than the fleeting shower little more than a year ago. Locals, who endure temperatures of 37C in summer, were stunned as dense snow settled on the town, known as 'the gateway to the desert.' Children made snowmen and even ..."

Low-Noise Receiver Performance Measurements

Low-Noise Receiver Performance Measurements, March 1969 Electronics World - RF CafeI was first introduced to the concept of receiver noise figure at the start of my engineering career in 1989 at General Electric AESD in Utica, NY. During my four years in the U.S. Air Force working on airport surveillance and precision approach radars, I do not recall having ever heard the term noise figure or noise temperature. We did signal to noise and signal sensitivity measurements as part of the normal maintenance, but the terms never arose. Ditto for my courses at the UVM. We never did cascade parameter calculations for noise figure, intercept points, compression points, etc. That is primarily the realm of practicing ...

Thanks Once Again to everythingRF for Long-Time Support!

Please take a few moments to visit the everythingRF website to see how they can assist you with your everythingRF products - RF Cafeproject. everythingRF is a product discovery platform for RF and Microwave Products and Services. They currently have 169,552 Products from more than 1040 Companies across 258 Categories in our database and enable engineers to search for them using their customized parametric search tool ...

Countries Working the Most Hours Every Year

Countries Working the Most Hours Every Year - RF Cafe"After all the relaxation and overindulgence of the holiday season, most people have returned to the office and are back into the working groove. Looking ahead to 2018, workers in some countries are facing a far longer shift than others. According to the OECD, Mexicans work the most hours out of any country every year, 2,246 on average. That's 467 more hours than the average American every year and for less than a fifth of the pay. Even though the South Korean government has scrambled to reduce working hours in recent years ..."

4-Dimensional Physics in 2 Dimensions

4-Dimensional Physics in 2 Dimensions - RF Cafe"For the first time, physicists have built a two-dimensional experimental system that allows them to study the physical properties of materials that were theorized to exist only in 4-dimensional space. An international team of researchers from Penn State, ETH Zurich in Switzerland, the University of Pittsburgh, and the Holon Institute of Technology in Israel have demonstrated that the behavior of particles of light can be made to match predictions about the four-dimensional version of the 'quantum Hall effect' ..."

Sunday 7

RF Cafe Engineering Crossword w/Weekly Headlines - January 7

RF Cafe Engineering Crossword Puzzle w/Weekly Headlines January 7, 2018At least 10 clues with an asterisk (*) in this crossword puzzle are pulled from this past week's (1/1 - 1/7) "Tech Industry Headlines" column on the RF Cafe homepage (see the Headline Archives page for help). For the sake of all the avid cruciverbalists amongst us, each week I create a new technology-themed crossword puzzle using only words related to engineering, science, mathematics, chemistry, physics, astronomy, etc. Enjoy ...

Friday 5

News Highlights, July 1972 Popular Electronics

News Highlights, July 1972 Popular Electronics - RF CafeEngineering and science magazines, websites, and discussion panels frequently report on and lament the lack of women and minorities in both realms. You might think this is a relatively new concern since, but as evidenced by this 1972 Popular Electronics tidbit the effort to attract women and minorities into the fields has been going on for half a century. At the time, women and minorities made up about 2% of undergraduates in engineering curricula. The proportion was 20% as of 2015 according to a recent report by the ASEE. During that same time period (1970), according to the National Center for Education ...

ICs Could Make Quantum Computers Scalable

Integrated Circuits Could Make Quantum Computers Scalable - RF Cafe"Researchers at TU Delft and University of New South Wales have designed a scalable quantum computing architecture based on widely used complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) manufacturing techniques. The approach encodes information in the spins of individual electrons confined in quantum dots, and could allow the development of large-scale computers incorporating millions of qubits. For now, the state of the art in quantum computing is represented by devices with a few ..."

Pasternack Intros PLOs in 6 Frequencies for 50 to 6000 MHz

Pasternack Launches Phase Locked Oscillators in 6 Single Output Frequencies for 50 to 6000 MHz - RF CafePasternack has unveiled a new line of phase locked oscillators (PLO) that deliver accurate and stable output frequencies with low phase noise and spurious performance, making them ideal for use in radar and other exciter or frequency generation applications. Pasternack's 20 new phase locked oscillator models are offered with popular fixed output frequencies of 50, 100, 500, 1000, 2000, 4000 and 6000 MHz. Typical performance for these PLOs includes excellent phase noise of -105 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz offset, a buffered ...

Cleveland Institute of Electronics Advertisement

Cleveland Institute of Electronics Advertisement, January 1969 Electronics World - RF CafeAs mentioned often here on RF Cafe, especially with an ever-increasing amount of devices and appliances with "no user serviceable parts inside," the demand for electronics technicians is as great today as it was decades ago. Associated equipment is significantly different now and a lot more of it consists of swap-out modules and assemblies rather than performing repairs in the field. However, there still exists a significant amount of legacy electronics everywhere, and it all needs to be maintained until upgrades are installed. There ...

everythingRF: Mergers and Acquisitions in 2017

everythingRF: Mergers and Acquisitions in 2017 - RF CafeRaghav Kapur, of the everything RF website, has written a short article about the major acquisitions and mergers of 2017. "The year of 2017 saw a host of mergers and acquisitions taking place round the year in the RF & Microwave industry. Raghav Kapur, everythingRF - RF CafeThe zeal to become global power-houses for some and the need to boost their technological supremacy for others resulted in a number of mergers and acquisitions. While Broadcom's unsuccessful acquisition bid for Qualcomm remained the highlight of all, Keysight's acquisition of Ixia and Qualcomm's acquisition bid for NXP also proved to be be industry ..."

Gold Spheres Feel the Casimir Force

Gold Spheres Feel the Casimir Force - RF Cafe"The ability to work-out the Casimir force between arbitrarily-shaped objects could be one step closer thanks to work done by physicists in the U.S. The team used an atomic force microscope to measure the force between two gold-coated spheres. This is unlike most experiments today, which are limited to measuring the Casimir force between a flat surface and a sphere. The research could lead to a better understanding of the Casimir force in complicated geometries - something that would be very ..."

Thursday 4

Onward to 5G, 6G, and Beyond

Onward to 5G, 6G, and Beyond - RF Cafe"Before we get to already-anticipated 6G, this coming year will see all eyes on 5G, which is only just starting to emerge from R&D labs, and will continue to develop and get implemented over the next half a decade. There's no denying the dramatic ways in which mobile and wireless computing have changed the world; whether in how people work, learn, play or socialize. Many can't get through a productive day without mobile connectivity, and yet, technologically, we're still at the very earliest stages of 'continuous computing' or “ubiquitous ..."

Radio Mirrors for Communications

Radio Mirrors for Communications, May 1969 Electronics World - RF CafePassive repeater antennas have been used for a long time to overcome line-of-sight-limitations of many - if not most - of the radio communications universe. Properly designed and implemented passive repeaters can exhibit very high levels of efficiency, and in some cases can actually provide gain by focusing signals impinging on a large panel of multiple wavelength dimensions onto a smaller transmitter or receiver antenna. That is known as aperture gain. Optical telescopes are a good analogy where for the same level of magnification at a given wavelength, a larger aperture (refractive lens or reflector mirror) results in a brighter image at your retina or CCD ...

Technique Developed for Printing Flexible Metal Circuits

Technique Developed for Printing Flexible Metal Circuits - RF Cafe"The technique can use multiple metals and substrates and is compatible with existing electro-hydrodynamic printing technology, which is already used in many manufacturing processes that use functional inks. However, instead of ink, the process uses molten metal alloys with melting points as low as 60°C. The team has demonstrated the technique using three different alloys, printing on four different substrates: one glass, one paper and two stretchable polymers. 'Flexible electronics hold promise ..."

Precision Antenna Measurement Guide eBook - Free Download

Precision Antenna Measurements eBook - RF CafeThe good folks at Copper Mountain Technologies collaborated with Microwave Journal to offer you this eBook titled, "Precision Antenna Measurement Guide." According to Microwave Journal editor Patrick Hindle, "Antenna measurements are difficult to make due to their multi-directional nature, their cables/connections to equipment and interfering signals in the environment. The measurement setup, surrounding environment and physical connections all need to be carefully specified and setup, paying close attention to the instruments and materials used." Follow this link to download the eBook ...

A Particle Like Slow Light

A Particle Like Slow Light - RF Cafe"Weyl particles are not particles which can move on their own (like electrons or protons), they only exist as 'quasiparticles' within a solid material. Now, for the first time, such Weyl particles has been found in a special kind of material, which is particularly interesting for novel technological applications: scientists have measured Weyl fermions in a material with highly correlated electrons. Surprisingly, these fermions move very slowly, despite having no mass. There was great excitement back in 2015, when it was first possible to measure these 'Weyl fermions' - outlandish ..."

Wednesday 3

P2P WiFi Plan Challenges ISP Dominance

P2P WiFi Plan Challenges ISP Dominance - RF Cafe"Open Garden on Monday announced the launch of a new peer-to-peer service that allows users to share Internet connections and unused plan data for free, with compensation in a new Ethereum cryptocurrency as an extra incentive. The company is offering the service through an app that can be downloaded from Google Play. The system requires no hardware other than an Android phone to participate in the Internet access sharing. The typical customer will used the service for sharing a home or small business Internet service, or to connect ..."

Notable Quote by Dilbert

Dilbert Notable Quote - RF Cafe"Forecasts are mostly just guessing plus math" - Dilbert, 12/1/2017. It was part of a dialog with the Pointy-Haired Boss who compelled Dilbert to prepare a financial report for him ...

Gigabit LTE: From 1 to 43 Global Deployments in 2017

Gigabit LTE: From 1 to 43 Global Deployments in 2017 - RF Cafe"Back in January, Telstra launched the world's first gigabit LTE network in partnership with Ericsson, Qualcomm and Netgear. Based off the LTE Advanced specification, gigabit LTE networks have three fundamental building blocks: 4×4 multiple-input, multiple-output, multi-channel carrier aggregation and 256 QAM. Since Telstra's launch, there are now 43 global operators in 25 countries in various phases of deploying the bridge technology that lays the groundwork for 5G. Off the top, it's important to note that gigabit ..."

R. F. Interference Filters

R. F. Interference Filters, April 1969 Electronics World - RF CafeSprague Electric engineer Benedict Rosen, discusses how the characteristics of a circuit in need of protection against RF interference needs to be considered when selecting filter components. He points out that attempting to hang a shunt feedthrough capacitor on the input and/or output of a low impedance (e.g., 50 Ω) RF circuit could make the situation worse, depending on whether the circuit is strongly capacitive or inductive in its out-of-band region. Sprague was a major manufacturer of all sorts of capacitors qualified for use in military and aerospace systems, so they put a lot of effort into characterizing device parameters over a wide range of voltage, current, power, temperature, mechanical, and frequency environments ...

Triad RF Systems Intros a 4.4 to 5.0 GHz, 50 W GaN Power Amplifier

Triad RF Systems Intros a 4.4 to 5.0 GHz, 50 W GaN Power Amplifier - RF CafeTriad RF introduces a GaN amplifier, the TA1203. The unit operates from 4.4 GHz to 5.0 GHz, has 44 dB of gain, and produces over 50 W PSat! DC input voltage can vary from +10 to +14 V and only draws 8 A at peak power. Do the math! That is 47% efficient! The module measures 6.1 x 3.3x 0.8 inches and is in stock. This class AB GaN module is designed for both military and commercial applications. It is capable of supporting any signal type and modulation format ... 

Water Cloak Uses Electromagnetic Waves to Eliminate Turbulence

Water Cloak Uses Electromagnetic Waves to Eliminate Turbulence - RF Cafe"Fuel-efficient ships that produce no wakes could soon be a reality thanks to computer simulations of 'water cloaks' done by two researchers in the U.S. Yaroslav Urzhumov and Dean Culver of Duke University have shown that ions present in ocean water can be accelerated by electromagnetic waves in such a way that any turbulence created by sea-going vessels is cancelled out. Their work offers new opportunities for creating ships with greater propulsion efficiency - and could also be ..."

Tuesday 2

Thanks to Copper Mountain Technologies for Continued Support

Copper Mountain TechnologiesPlease welcome Copper Mountain Technologies as RF Cafe's newer advertiser. Copper Mountain Technologies develops innovative and robust RF test and measurement solutions for engineers all over the world. Copper Mountain Technologies Vector Network Analyzers - RF CafeCopper Mountain's extensive line of unique form factor Vector Network Anaalyzers include an RF measurement module and a software application which runs on any Windows PC, laptop or tablet, connecting to the measurement hardware via USB interface. The result is a lower cost, faster ...

Communications Receivers: Principles and Design

Communications Receivers: Principles and Design - RF CafeThis thoroughly updated 4th edition guide by Ulrich Rohde,‎ Jerry Whitaker,‎ and Hans Zahnd offers comprehensive explanations of the science behind today's radio receivers along with practical guidance on designing, constructing, and maintaining real-world communications systems. It explores system planning, antennas and antenna coupling, amplifiers and gain control, filters, mixers, demodulation, digital communication, and the latest SDR technology. This is a perfect companion to RF Cafe's Wireless System Designer software.

UJT Monocycle Multivibrator

UJT Monocycle Multivibrator, April 1969 Electronics World - RF CafeMonostable multivibrator, one-shot multivibrator, monocycle multivibrator - it's a matter of semantics, although the circuit designer doesn't necessarily think so. The distinction, evidently, is that this monocycle multivibrator uses a positive-going pulse as a trigger and the output in its rest (stable) state is a digital "0" (low). A mere 2 mA of current flows since all the unijunction transistors (UJTs) are turned off. A UJT, to refresh your memory, is not used as a linear amplifier because of its regenerative, negative resistance operating region that causes it to effectively lock into a fully on or fully off conduction state until an external stimulus causes ...

Senior RF Engineer Wanted by Aethercomm

Senior RF Engineer Wanted by Aethercomm - RF CafeAethercomm designs and manufactures RF and Microwave amplifier modules, subsystems and systems. The majority of our work is custom. The reliability and effectiveness of thousands of Aethercomm products has been tested and proven in combat, helping to protect and save the lives of our warfighters. Aethercomm is looking to fill a Senior RF Engineer position. Essential Duties and Responsibilities include the following: Design, simulation, and verification of DC and RF electronic designs to meet the commitments of the Engineering and R&D ...

Anatech Electronics Special Edition Newsletter

Anatech Electronics Special Newsletter, 12/2017 - RF CafeAnatech Electronics, a manufacturer of RF and microwave filters, has published a special newsletter for the end of the year. In it, Sam Benzacar talks about all the good stuff in the queue for WiFi in 2018. There can be no doubt that the number of WiFi-connected devices in the average home (10, per Sam's letter) is growing at a rapid rate. Nest thermostats, Echos (Alexa AI), webcams, cell phones, notebook computers, smart AC receptacles, WiFi-controlled light bulbs, among many others. IEEE 802.11ax is providing 1024QAM modulation ...

Integrated Circuits Could Make Quantum Computers Scalable

Integrated Circuits Could Make Quantum Computers Scalable - RF Cafe"Researchers at TU Delft and University of New South Wales have designed a scalable quantum computing architecture based on widely used complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) manufacturing techniques. The approach encodes information in the spins of individual electrons confined in quantum dots, and could allow the development of large-scale computers incorporating millions of qubits. Computing milestone For now, the state of the art in quantum computing is represented by devices with a few dozen qubits: as of ..."

Monday 1

Wireless System Designer - Your Support Helps Keep Me off Welfare ;-)

Wireless System Designer v1 Is Available Now! - RF CafeA full-featured RF system cascade parameter and frequency planner that includes filters and mixers for a mere $45. Wireless System Designer™ is the next phase in the evolution of RF Cafe's long-running series, RF Cascade Workbook. Built in MS Excel, using Wireless System Designer is a cinch and the format is entirely customizable. It is significantly easier and faster than using a multi-thousand dollar simulator when a high level system analysis is all that is needed. An intro video takes you through the main features ...

World's Coldest Chip Has Temperature <3 Millikelvin

World's Coldest Chip Has Temperature <3 Millikelvin - RF Cafe"Physicists at the University of Basel have succeeded in cooling a nanoelectronic chip to the unfathomable temperature of less than 3 millikelvin. Researchers from the Department of Physics and the Swiss Nanoscience Institute in collaboration with scientists from Germany and Finland used magnetic fields to eliminate heat from the electrical connections as well as the chip itself. Scientists all over the world have been working on techniques to reach as close to zero as possible. Absolute zero ..."

Mapping the Swamp - FY2016

Mapping the Swamp FY2016 - RF CafeThis report, "Mapping the Swamp," provides an objective insight into how tax dollars compensate the 1.97 million civil service Federal employees across the nation (not inc'l military), who on average receive 10 paid holidays, 13 sick and 20 vacations days/year. Data is culled from publically available information (some not disclosed). This Map gives names and salaries of individuals (enter zip code, click pin to see what your Fed neighbor makes). Average pay -- Engineer $108,768; Librarian $95,915; Lawyer $136,006; Photographer $80,125. Notable quote: "You cannot advance the people's agenda unless you drain the swamp in Washington, D.C." - Rep. Nancy Pelosi (2006)

Capacitance Probes in Industrial Instrumentation

Capacitance Probes in Industrial Instrumentation, May 1969 Electronics World - RF CafeSimmonds Precision Products, a company in Vergennes, Vermont, which I worked for for a couple years prior to quitting to attend the University of Vermont full-time to finish my electrical engineering degree, had as one of their main products capacitance-based fuel measurement systems for military and commercial aircraft. As was common in the era, they made not only the capacitance probes and associated electronics, but also the cockpit displays and power supplies. Being a test technician at the time, I got a pretty good exposure to the complexities of such a fundamentally simple principle as using the ...

Satellite Industry 2.0 Tees up Bevy of Broadband Satellites for 2018

Satellite Industry 2.0 Tees up Bevy of Broadband Satellites for 2018 - RF Cafe"One good indication the satellite industry is undergoing a major transformation: In a nail-biting race, Greg Wyler, the entrepreneur behind the satellite internet company OneWeb, earned the title of 'Most Powerful Person in Telecom' in FierceWireless' battle of the CEOs, edging past T-Mobile CEO John Legere and beating other industry heavyweights like Apple's Tim Cook and Verizon's Lowell McAdam. It was a title that came after Wyler was deemed the industry's top rising star for 2017. One could argue it's a simple popularity contest, but a strong theme in Wyler's rise ..."