"Mark Zuckerberg has given a rare glimpse inside one of Facebook's
secretive server farms. The Facebook boss said he is going to reveal more pictures from Facebook's facilities
around the world. To kick off the project, he revealed a stunning series of pictures of the firm's gigantic
Luleå data center in Sweden. 'Over the next few months, I'm going to start posting
some rare photos of the most advanced technology Facebook is building around the world,' Zuckerberg
posted
..."
EDI CON USA 2016, a conference that brings together
engineers working on high-frequency analog and high-speed digital designs, had a successful inaugural
event in the US on September 20-22 in Boston, MA. "We are very pleased with our first EDI CON USA, which
exceeded our expectations in number of exhibitors and submitted abstracts for the conference program.
We appreciate the support of the EDI CON USA exhibitors, received very positive feedback from conference
attendees, and look forward to building on these strengths for next year
..."
Sal ammoniac is a new term for me; it appeared in this 1395 issue
of Radio-News magazine. It is a rare mineral composed of ammonium chloride. I suppose I should
have been familiar with it because of its use for cleaning soldering iron tips. This compound is another
example of how two otherwise lethal elements can form a molecule that is safe for human consumption,
like sodium chloride (table salt). Per Wikipedia, sal ammoniac is used the Netherlands, it is still
widely used in the production of salty licorice candy known as Salmiak. Sal ammoniac was also used in
solution with sulphuric acid as a battery electrolyte. Anyway, the main theme of this article positive
...
"A petition
to the UK government asking for UK access to European collaborative R&D to be maintained after Brexit
has received 38,369 signatures as of this posting. However, the petition needs to exceed 100,000 signatures
by January 12, 2017 to ensure that it will be considered for debate in the House of Commons. The petition
states that UK access to
EU R&D programs stimulates billions of pounds of investment
..."
These fast-mo
videos of whiteboard hand sketching are some of the most clever and effective presentation schemes of
the last decade. A nifty one produced by Raytheon showed up in a news story titled "Raytheon Wins MDA Gallium Nitride Radar Deal," on the Breaking Defense website.
"Five
years ago, Intel introduced today's high-performance transistor to the world. Dubbed the
FinFET, the device takes its name from its appearance: The transistor's current-carrying
channel sticks up vertically in the shape of a fin, and the gate that controls it drapes over the sides.
The result is a much tighter control over the flow of current, which in modern microprocessors can fairly
easily sneak across the transistor when it's supposed to be shut off. But well before the FinFET exploded
onto
..."
Windfreak Technologies is excited to announce the launch of the
new SynthHD PRO. The revolutionary SynthHD PRO has all the features of the original
SynthHD, but has a milled aluminum case designed to be used in more rugged environments and to enhance
electrical and thermal performance. The new SynthHD PRO Dual Channel RF Signal Generator is also designed
for higher amplitude accuracy due to extra hours on the calibration bench getting a fully unique 5000
point calibration lookup table. For the SynthHD PRO datasheet, software user's manual, and software
download ...
"Empirical evidence is continuing to pile up confirming that
so-called
topological insulators - materials that behave as conductors near their surfaces,
but act as insulators throughout the bulk of their interiors - do exist. Now, researchers at the Department
of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, in cooperation with the Max Planck Institute for
Chemical Physics of Solids in Germany, have produced a new type of topological matter. It can carry
an electrical current on its surface at room temperature and then get that
..."
"Developed by researchers at North Carolina State University,
the integrated circuits can reportedly be manufactured with off the shelf fabrication processes and
could lead to novel computer architectures that do more with less circuitry and fewer transistors.
Moore's law states that the number of transistors on an integrated circuit will
double every two years in order to keep up with processing demands. This goal has so far been addressed
by shrinking the size of individual transistors
..."
There is no arguing that digital multimeters are vastly superior
to analog meters in many - maybe even most - ways. However,
analog
meters still have applications that make them indispensible in situations like monitoring slow variations
in parameters and for quick visual approximations of values. One example is looking for variation of
voltage or current levels under varying loads. Yes, digital instruments are available that emulate an
analog display in certain modes, but that just proves the point of he usefulness of an analog movement.
Another is the familiar control panel filled with meters
...
Is this cool or what? Saelig isn't kidding with their "unique
electronics" logo tag line. Saelig Company has introduced the
Aaronia Drone Detection System
(ADDS) for discovering the incursion of unwanted drones or other remote-controlled flying objects, thus
protecting privacy and insuring physical security. Detecting the real-time directional measurement of
the radio emissions used for controlling drones, the ADDS system warns the user when drones are in the
area and can send automatic alerts
...
(they need a look-down/shoot-down system to compliment it)
"A
decade after
Martin Cooper made the world's first public call from a portable phone in 1973,
telephones were becoming truly mobile. 'It's still pretty rare to see someone using a telephone in a
car. But it's about to become a lot more common.' That's how NPR host Jim Angle introduced a piece on
November 5, 1983, titled 'Cellular Phones Are Completely Mobile' - the earliest mention of the term
found in NPR's archives. From the vantage point of 2016 - where mobile
..."
"In
a cross-industry alliance, Audi, BMW and Daimler along with telecommunications equipment providers Ericsson,
Huawei and Nokia as well as semiconductor vendors Intel and Qualcomm will bundle their R&D resources
to evolve, test and promote communications solutions for
connected mobility. The efforts will focus on the development of 5G mobile technologies.
The “5G Automotive Association” announced to develop, test and promote
..."
"Miffed
that you don't have a
headphone jack on your new iPhone 7? Don't want to use the adapter that comes in
the box? Don't want to spend $159 for Apple's new wireless earbuds? Well, good news! There's a 'secret
hack' that's gone viral on YouTube. First, you get a drill with a 3.5mm bit. Then, you clamp your phone
into a vice. Please promise not to drill a hole into your $649 palm warmer, as the jokester 'TechRax'
advises you to do - and at least apparently does - to some hapless, screen freaking-out
..." -- Yep, they're really out there.
This quiz tests your
knowledge on the history of familiar
electronics products
companies' name changes (aka etymology). Many of you have lived through
the plethora of acquisitions, mergers, and name changes represented here. There might be more than one
correct answer. You might need a motion sickness pill when navigating all
...
I was surprised to
discover that the #1 cause of damage to extant (currently used)
undersea cable in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans is fishing trawlers that snag
them while dragging nets and pots. An infographic in the June 2016 issue of Scientific American
lists the hazards as follows
...:
40% - Fish trawling
28% - Ship anchorages
8% - Subsea earthquakes
8% - Shunt
(electrical) faults
4% - Amplifier or branching unit
failures
3% - Abrasion (wave seabed, etc.)
9% - Other
factors (e.g., sabotage)
"In the search for alien life, China has built the world's biggest
radio telescope, which it says could 'lead to discoveries beyond our wildest imagination.' The
Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST),
nestled between hills in the mountainous region of Guizhou, began working this week. Built at a cost
of ¥1.2B (£140M, $182M), the telescope dwarfs the Arecibo Observatory
in Puerto Rico as the world's largest single-dish radio telescope, with twice the sensitivity and a
reflector as large as 30 football fields
..."
The TA1063 class AB GaN
SSPA module is designed
for both military and commercial applications in the 6.4-8.5 GHz band. It is capable of supporting
any signal type and modulation format, including but not limited to 3-4G telecom, WLAN, OFDM, DVB, and
CW/AM/FM. The latest device technologies and design methods are employed to offer high power density,
efficiency, and linearity in a small, lightweight package
...
"Mary Cousins, ex-W1GSC, who was the first woman in Maine to obtain an Amateur Radio
license, celebrated her 108th birthday on September 20. Now a resident of a care facility in the coastal
fishing village of Deer Isle, Cousins was treated to a party complete with a cake decorated with images
of local newspaper articles from 1908, the year she was born. The confection also bore an image of her
1933 "Amateur First" radio
..."
"Engineers in the U.S. have developed a chip that can
convert visible light into infrared and back again, while preserving the quantum
state of the original photons. This capability would allow quantum devices to transmit information to
each other via the existing fiber-optic infrastructure. Researchers say this is a significant step in
realizing a quantum network of devices and computers that can exchange
..."
The standardized
wiring diagram symbols chart has been updated recently to reflect recent additions of semiconductor
components, including the solid state diode and transistors. Notice the similarity between these symbols
and many of the ones in the ARRL Handbook chart. Also presented are a resistor color code chart and
capacitor charts for color codes and
capacitor dot markings ...
Kymeta, the company delivering on the promise of global, mobile
connectivity and TECOM, a Smiths Microwave brand
and a leader in innovative design and manufacturing of high-performance antenna systems, today announced
a Partner Development Program Agreement for the aviation market. Under the terms of the agreement, TECOM
will incorporate Kymeta® mTenna® technology into an
aviation
grade terminal to demonstrate connectivity to a Ku-band satellite. Kymeta's flat panel satellite
antenna technology offers a lightweight, low profile
...
I posted Scott Adams' previous blog supporting
Hillary, so in the spirit of bipartisanship, here is the balance. "As most of you
know, I had been endorsing Hillary Clinton for president, for my personal safety, because I live in
California. It isn't safe to be a Trump supporter where I live. And it's bad for business too. But recently
I switched my endorsement to Trump, and I owe you an explanation. So here it goes
..." Adams is a brave man.
"The
Air Force is moving ahead with its delayed
GPS III constellation, awarding Lockheed Martin a $395M contract modification for
the ninth and tenth of what will be a 32-satellite constellation. Deployment of the third generation
of the Global Positioning System, which is expected to have a 25% longer lifespan, three times the accuracy
and eight times the anti-jamming capability of GPS II, has been delayed by funding cuts and some technical
problems
..."
"The
Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has released several updates to their developer
Bluetooth toolkit line-up. The latest toolkits empower developers to build faster
and smarter when creating things like mobile apps and low-cost beacons, as well as gateways that control
IoT sensors. What developers can do today with Bluetooth far surpasses what they could do just a few
years ago. Whether it's connecting a Bluetooth device to the web, using beacons to develop unique
..."
Dang, I meant
to post this article on July 20th. It is an editorial commemoration written by Radio-Craft
publisher Hugo Gernsback to radio pioneer
Guglielmo Marconi,
who died on that day in 1937. He was only 63 years old. Gernsback states, "The debt which the world
owes to Marconi is staggering - if you figure only one single result of his accomplishments - the saving
of tens of thousands of lives which would have perished in the sea and otherwise, if had not been for
Marconi." The January 1939 issue of Radio-Craft featured an article titled, "Marconi - Father
of Radio?," wherein author Edward H. Loftin challenges the veracity of Marconi receiving
...
Hams take note!
Here we go again with power line carrier schemes. "AT&T has unveiled its
Project AirGig experimental program that aims to use power lines as a way to extend
internet access to hard-to-reach users in urban, rural and underserved parts of the world. The first
field tests involving Project AirGig technologies are set to begin in 2017 through AT&T Labs, the
company said in a September 21 announcement, with the goal of eventually delivering low-cost, multigigabit
wireless internet
..."
"To address the need for radio systems that can adapt to changing
environments on the fly and that can be easily reconfigured once they're in the field, our engineers
have developed the innovative
MATRICs (Microwave Array Technology for Reconfigurable Integrated Circuits) chip.
MATRICs helps address the future requirements of communications, electronic warfare, and signal intelligence
systems. The new, general-purpose chip enables engineers to develop customized radio systems without
the need
..."
This is a great resource
provided by Charan Langton, retired from Loral Space Systems. "Communications is not an easy science.
The math is heavy, and intuition is slow to develop. To complicate things
further, the field does not
stay put. New concepts are always coming to the fore. This website offers tutorials I have written on
various topics in analog and digital communications that will help you cut through this complexity.
I keep adding to this collection ..."
Skyworks is pleased to introduce a family of
GPIO-controlled,
high performance RF cellular switches for LTE and GSM applications. The
SKY13581-676LF
(SP2T),
SKY13582-676LF
(SP3T) and
SKY13626-685LF
(SP4T) are for LTE, while the
SKY13597-684LF
(SP4T) is for GSM. This new family of switches is ideal for smartphones,
data cards and MiFi® hotspot applications. These devices are designed to operate over the complete cellular
frequency range including support for
...
Avid cruciverbalists amongst us appreciate that each week I create
a new crossword puzzle
that has a theme related to engineering, mathematics, chemistry, physics, and other technical words.
You will never be asked the name of a movie star unless he/she was involved in a technical endeavor (e.g., Hedy Lamar). Enjoy!
...
