|
Sunday 20
 At least 10 clues with an asterisk (*)
in this technology-themed crossword puzzle are pulled from this past week's "Tech Industry
Headlines" column on the RF Cafe homepage. For the sake of all the avid cruciverbalists
amongst us, each week I create a new technology-themed crossword puzzle using only words
from my custom-created related to engineering, science, mathematics, chemistry, physics,
astronomy, etc. You will never find among the words names of politicians, mountain ranges,
exotic foods or plants, movie stars, or anything of the sort. You might, however, see
someone or something in the exclusion list who or that is directly related ...
Friday 18
Bandwidth Efficiency Techniques Learned
from Cave-Dwelling Fish
 "A new light-based device, demonstrated recently
by researchers, could mimic a fish's incredible
Jamming Avoidance Response (JAR) ability. JAR is a behavior performed
by some species of fish when their discharge frequencies are very similar, each fish
will shift its discharge frequency to increase the difference between the two fish's
discharge frequencies. By doing this, both fish prevent jamming of their sense of electroreception.
Moving the frequency of an emitted signal away from other signals that could potentially
cause interference can eventually help overcome the spectral bandwidth crunch caused
by the ever increasing numbers ..."
 Robert Balin created this
Electronic Factor Quiz for the November 1966 edition of Popular Electronics
magazine. Your challenge is to match the drawing of a particular electronics circuit
or implement with the corresponding "factor." Examples are "current amplification factor,"
"damping factor," "modulation factor," "duty factor," "form factor," "quality factor,"
etc. There are ten in all. Of course on a quiz like this you cannot get just one answer
wrong - or any odd number for that matter. I managed to reverse #5 and #10 (I and B,
respectively). For some reason I couldn't remember what "form factor" was, but was sure
that #10 was a scale factor of sorts... wrong - a clear case of cranial rectumitis ...
 Nigel Chapman and Fiona Wilson, of the UK's
AceAxis, have authored a short paper
titled, "PIM in Mobile Broadband Networks - Measurement and Management." "Passive
Intermodulation (PIM) is an unpleasant side effect of the successful deployments of mobile
networks, and is a problem that is growing in impact as complexity increases with the
deployment of 4G and - in the very near future - 5G networks. PIM has the potential to
degrade the efficiency of a cell site, and this network degradation directly impacts
the edge of cell performance and/or the throughput of the cell site. What is PIM? PIM
is a form of intermodulation distortion that occurs in components that are normally thought
of as linear ..."
 "Some useful frequencies are elusive or simply
unknown to many engineers, so it wouldn't hurt to take some time and dig through the
FCC 'bible' of federal regulations. If your application is relatively simple, you have
even more choices than you know. Studying the FCC rules and regulations 'bible,' the
Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 47 Parts 15, 18, 95 and others you can discover some
interesting possibilities. Of late, I learned of one alternative that fits basic industrial
needs and eliminates the complexity of complying with some of the more well-known standards.
This may be of interest if you're designing wireless applications ..."
Thursday 17
 "Researchers from AMOLF and the University of
Texas have demonstrated a micrometer-sized optical circulator consisting of a silica
microtoroid to which tapered optical fibers feed incoming light beams.
In a paper titled 'Optical circulation in a multimode optomechanical resonator' published
in Nature Communications, the researchers highlight that for the first time, an optical
circulator was designed 'magnet-free,' relying on tiny mechanical vibrations imparted
to a glass ring to directionally route light on an optical chip. 'Light propagation is
symmetric in nature, which means if light can propagate from A to B, the reverse path
is equally possible ..."
 This handful of
Ham-related comics appeared in the November 1965 issue of Popular Electronics. One
of them has an operator using "oboe" as the phonetic alphabet version of the letter "O."
Having never seen that before, I did a search and learned that the British Forces in
World War II uniquely used "oboe" for the letter "O." Maybe the artist, Walt Miller,
was either a member of the British Forces or hung around (or served in the military)
with someone that was. For that matter, using "able" for the letter "A" is also a British
thing. This Silent English phonetic alphabet is interesting. I guarantee you'll appreciate
the others as well, or double your money back ...
 Centric RF is a company offering from stock various
RF and Microwave coaxial
components, including attenuators, adapters, cable assemblies, terminations, power
 dividers,
and more. We believe in offering high performance parts from stock at a reasonable cost.
Frequency ranges of 0-110 GHz at power levels from 0.5-500 watts. Order today, ship
today! Centric RF is currently looking for vendors to partner with them. Please visit
Centric RF today ...
  Michael Hopkins, founder of CurrentRF, published
an article in High Frequency Electronics magazine titled, "Sensitivity and PSRR Enhancement of RF Amplifiers." Michael developed
the RFDAC methodology and Current Reuse Mixer, and more recently, the PowerOptimizer
and Silicon Supercapacitor methodologies and technologies. "Utilizing the Silicon Super
Capacitor IP demonstrates a substantial improvement in analog and RF circuit sensitivity
and signal cleanliness due to the additional effective capacitance the device and IP
cell provide. With the increased effective capacitance per unit area with respect to
standard DCAPs and the higher levels of noise immunity, increased amplifier sensitivity
and spectral cleanliness can be achieved, and dynamic current flow from the supply minimized.
The Silicon Super Capacitor IP ..."
 Maybe it's just because black and white photos
don't offer the visual stimulus of vivid color that we're used to seeing nowadays, but
these images used to evoke a sense of awe and wonder at displays featured at the
1964 New York World's Fair don't quite hit the mark. Disney played a large role in
the building of the displays. Audiovisual and robotic technology were the main themes
of the event, and no doubt they were impressive at the time, although the recently posted
video of Boston Dynamics' "Atlas" robot / humanoid running through a field puts General
Electric's Progressland's "Grandpa" to shame. Each will give you a different kind of
nightmare. Note Elon Musk's comment on "Atlas." Melanie and I went to Disney World /
Epcot Center on our honeymoon in May of 1983 (it first opened in Fall of 1982), and saw
what was billed as first walking, talking humanoids where Mark Twain ...
 "Nanotechnologists at Oregon State University's
College of engineering have developed a way of fabricating
transparent
transistors onto sharply curved surfaces, building on research to develop glucose
sensors that can be wrapped around a tube. Although the research was originally directed
towards diabetes treatments, and these may be an important application for the technique,
it has potential for many other medical applications. The original research was intended
to manufacture a catheter that could be inserted into the bloodstream of a diabetic patient
to continuously measure glucose ..."
Wednesday 16
 Jiri Polivka has an article in Microwaves &
RF magazine that has a different type of topic - using
noise to measure various properties of materials. Any time you can
exploit an entity what would otherwise be considered wasteful and/or a nuisance it is
a good thing. Says Jiri, "Noise can hide details, but it can also reveal them. If properly
used, noise will tell a great deal about a device under test (DUT), including when a
DUT is raw material. For example, the Microwave Noise Field (MNF) test method has the
capability to test different objects that can move ..."
 "Since first being awarded in 1901, most
Nobel
Prizes for science have gone to the U.S., the UK, Germany and France. An empirical
study by Professor Claudius Gros from the Institute for Theoretical Physics at the Goethe
University in Frankfurt has now shown that the Nobel Prize productivity in these countries
is primarily determined by two factors: a long-term success rate, and periods during
which each country has been able to win an especially large number of Nobel Prizes. For
the study, Nobel Prizes for physics, chemistry and medicine were assigned proportionately,
since up to three scientists can share ..."
 If you like word puzzles, then maybe you'll want
to give this
word search with names of common electronics components hidden within a matrix of
random letter a go. It appeared in a 1965 issue of Popular Electronics magazine.
Keep that in mind while searching for the Mystery Word. Enjoy ...
 Assun Motor has been added to my
Motors & Fans vendor listing
page. Assun Motor manufactures miniature motors and precision motion control technologies
for performance-critical applications. Custom engineering services are also available.
Planetary gearboxes, DC brushed coreless motors, DC brushless motors, and encoders comprise
their main product line. Factories in Singapore and China ...
 Electro-Photonics LLC is a global supplier of
RF & Microwave components.
Our products include SMT hybrid and directional couplers, wire bondable passive components,
filters, and very useful test boards for evaluating components (spiral
 inductors,
single-layer capacitors). The Electro-Photonics team can support your small R&D design
requirements with RF & Microwave test fixtures and save you valuable design and characterization
time. Please take a moment to visit their website and see how your project might benefit
...
 "Cloaking devices play a pivotal role in many sci-fi television programs.
Scientists are now working to take this technology from the dramatic realm of science
fiction and make it real. Amanda D. Hanford, at Pennsylvania State University, is taking
the introductory steps to make acoustic ground cloaks. These materials redirect approaching
waves around an object without scattering the wave energy, concealing the object from
the sound waves. Hanford will describe the physics behind an underwater acoustic shield
designed in her lab. Hanford and her team set out to engineer ..."
Tuesday 15
 The
Old Farmer's Almanac (OFA) has been on my annual need-to-buy list for as long as
I can remember. It is chock full of useful data for sunrise and sunset times*, high and
low tide times, crop planting days, first and last frost days, and significant astronomical
events. There are stories of interest on topics ranging from canning your garden's harvest
to how to view a solar eclipse. - often from noted authors, but also from lay people.
I also enjoy the monthly "on this day" type tidbits and the homey short story relating
to the time of year. After 225 years of continuous publication, it still features the
hole in the upper left corner to facilitate handily hanging it on the wall of your shed
-- or outhouse. I gave a 1961 edition of the Old Farmer's Almanac found on eBay to Melanie
as a birthday present this year ...
 "DARPA, industry fund research into high-gigahertz
and terahertz spectrum for '6G' smart road. The industry is just getting started with 5G, but
New York University's Tandon School of Engineering - home of NYU Wireless and the Brooklyn
5G Summit - is joining in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's research on
potential technologies for technology beyond 5G. The school now supports the DARPA-sponsored
Joint University Microelectronics Program (JUMP) ..." p.s. Here is the first known news article on
6G.
 Many people end on RF cafe as a result of a Google
(or other) search about electronics, so even though regular visitors might find this
primer on
Ohm's law to be redundant review, it will be valuable to the aforementioned people.
Electronics technology has moved forward at lightning speed in the last century, but
the fundamentals of Ohm's law remain unchanged. Indeed, we would be in trouble if voltage
no longer equaled the product of current and voltage (E = I x R).
National Radio-TV News magazine was published monthly by National Radio Institute,
a correspondence school that did business from 1914 through 2002. A bonus electronics-themed
comic is included ...
 Axiom Test Equipment recently posted a new blog
entry titled, "Making Measurements That Keep EVs and HEVs on the Road." Electric
vehicles (EVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) are gaining in popularity; seemingly
as they gain in the range of each battery charge. Both EVs and HEVs rely on high-voltage
batteries and an electric motor; in addition, an HEV is aided by a gasoline engine with
its own fuel supply. Both types of vehicles still employ lower-voltage batteries and
electrical systems for lights, radios, electric windows, and other voltage-driven functions.
Of course, among the key functions in an EV or HEV is charging the high-voltage ...
 Since 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
 dividers & 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 ...
 "A trade group representing hundreds of U.S. utility
companies is urging federal agencies to make sure that power and electricity providers
retain control of
interference-free spectrum so they can continue to operate their
own private wireless networks. And, importantly, the Utilities Technology Council noted
that part of the reason utilities need their own licensed spectrum is because “utilities
have built out and maintained their own ICT networks, rather than outsourcing service
from commercial telecommunications carriers. Utilities require high levels of reliability
that traditional ..."
Monday 14
 "Continuing with the theme of 5G and 'firsts,'
NTT DoCoMo says it has achieved what is believed to be the world's
first successful 28 GHz wireless data transmission between a 5G base station and a 5G
mobile station in 5G field trials using a car moving at 305 km/h, or about 189 mph. The
speeds in the field trials are designed to be similar to speeds of high-speed railways,
so it's understandable the operator wants to make sure it works, including handoffs,
at these kinds of speeds. Working with NEC and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation
(NTT) ..."
 This exercise would make a good laboratory experiment
for high school or junior college electronics courses. The required components are still
readily available - Borax is in the cleaners aisle of the grocery store. In the days
before vacuum tubes, when scientists had a need to
rectify alternating current power supplies they used chemical devices similar to
the one described here. Ironically, this chemical rectifier is a form of semiconductor
diode; albeit in a liquid state rather than in the eventual solid state. Note that the
rectifier symbol in the schematic is actually the chemical device created in the first
step - not a vacuum tube as it might appear to be ...
 Messrs. David Randall and Christopher Welser of the
National Association of Scholars recently created a paper titled, "The Irreproducibility Crisis of Modern Science: Causes, Consequences,
and the Road to Reform." It addresses what has become an epidemic in publishing scholarly
papers making claims that cannot be reproduced by other qualified researchers (Fake Dissertations).
Men can now legally occupy bathroom stalls next to little girls simply by identifying
as female, so it comes as no surprise. Truth is now subjective rather than objective.
"A reproducibility crisis afflicts a wide range of scientific and social-scientific disciplines,
from epidemiology to social psychology. Improper use of statistics, arbitrary research
techniques, lack of accountability... and a scientific culture biased toward producing
positive result ..."
 "PRB Logics Corporation, an independent distributor
of obsolete components and excess inventory, is a minnow in the electronics supply chain.
But the owner of the company, which is based in Costa Mesa, California, has been arrested
for perpetuating a big problem. Rogelio Vasquez, also known as his alias James Harrison,
was recently arrested and charged with bootlegging
counterfeit chips, some of the which could have been used in military
applications, federal customs officials said. His company allegedly sold the components
as new ..."
Sunday 13
 Each week, for the sake of all avid cruciverbalists
amongst us, I create a new
technology-themed crossword puzzle using only words from my custom-created lexicon
related to engineering, science, mathematics, chemistry, physics, astronomy, etc. You
will never find among the words names of politicians, mountain ranges, exotic foods or
plants, movie stars, or anything of the sort. You might, however, see someone or something
in the exclusion list who or that is directly related to this puzzle's theme, such as
Hedy Lamar or the Bikini Atoll, respectively. Enjoy! ...
Friday 11
 Here is installment #3 of the four sets of reader
submissions of inane remarks (ostensibly) uttered by
electronics-challenged nincompoops. One of the funniest - and even believable - is
about 300-ohm twin lead antenna wire flattening out the picture with color television.
If you have funny anecdotes you would like to have published, send them to me and I'll
be glad to add a few seconds to your lifetime allotment of 15 minutes of fame ...
 Triad RF Systems has released the
TTRM1105, a compact and lightweight bi-directional amplifier that operates in the
lower C-band from 5300 to 5900 MHz and offers up to 5 W of output power. The
TTRM1105 also features new proprietary high speed Tx/Rx switching circuitry, as well
as improved Rx Noise Figure, leading to higher data rates at longer link distances. This
unit also has a wide voltage input range of 10 to 28 VDC making system integration less
of a hassle. This class A GaAs module is designed for both military ...
 Here for your enjoyment at the end of another
week are three more vintage
electronics-themed comics - this time from a 1966 issue of Popular Electronics
magazine. The "quarter-inch Mylar" referenced in the title is recorder tape used in the
very popular machines of the day. Not only were serious" music aficionados huge proponents
of the medium, but so were the many recreational users. There was a sort of mystique
involved with being able to record and instantly play back even normal conversations
- sort of like with videos these days, except there is no mystique anymore because most
users couldn't care less about the technology which enables their proclivities ...
 This pre-recorded "mmWave and Prototyping" webinar is currently available for downloading.
Featured papers include "Users with Incumbent Fixed Stations over 70 and 80 GHz," "5G
mmWave Positioning for Vehicular Networks," and " Field Experimental Evaluation of Beamtracking
and Latency Performance for 5G mmWave Radio Access in Outdoor Mobile Environment." Sponsored
by National Instruments ...
 Please welcome Rohde & Schwarz as an RF Cafe
sponsor. Rohde & Schwarz is one of the world's leading manufacturers of information
and communications technology products for professional users. R&S began business
with a focus on RF engineering and RF applications in test and measurement, radio communications
and broadcasting. They are now introducing the
RTM3000 and RTA4000 oscilloscopes. Please visit Rohde & Schwarz
today to see how they can assist you ...
 "The impact of the U.S. denial order preventing
ZTE from doing business with any U.S. companies has been made brutally clear in a ZTE
investor filing. 'As disclosed in the announcement of the Company dated 20 April 2018,
BIS has issued an order for the activation of a denial order,' said the filing. As a
result of the
Denial Order, the major operating activities of the Company have
ceased. As of now, the Company maintains sufficient cash and strictly adheres to its
commercial obligations subject to compliance with laws and regulations. The Company and ..."
|
|
|