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3 of the April 2017
homepage archives.
Sunday 30
 This week's
wireless engineering-themed crossword puzzle, as is the case every
week, contains only words pertaining to science, engineering, amateur radio, physics,
mechanics, mathematics, etc. Making a special appearance is the name of the most
recent company to support RF Cafe through advertising. You will see their banner
graphical ad appearing in the right page border sometime this week ...
Friday 28
 ConductRF introduces custom Multi-Port RF
Solutions using the
Mil D38999 Standards for applications across both military and commercial
markets from DC to 60 GHz. The D38999 standards provide a huge commonly
available Multi-Port configuration range which ConductRF uses to enhance with
both Mil Standard and precision RF solutions. With significant high frequency
capabilities and its state of the art phase matching techniques, ConductRF
provides support that includes state of the art phase ...
 "Leveraging the so-called wetting transparency
of graphene, a team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) has taken a novel approach to semiconductor epitaxial growth, one that would
leave the original
substrate wafer intact and re-usable for the repetitive growth of new
devices, indefinitely. To achieve defect-free crystalline semiconductor
materials on a substrate, epitaxial growth requires a good lattice matching
between the substrate material and the new semiconductor layers being grown (for
the elaboration of electronic devices ... "
 Albert Michelson is a name known to anyone
who has taken (and paid attention during) a course
in physics for his being the first person to accurately measure the speed of light
in air. Born in 1852 to Jewish parents in Poland, his family emigrated to America
in 1855 initially settling in Virginia City, Nevada. That happens to be where the
fictional TV family of the Cartwrights owned their sprawling Ponderosa ranch in
the series Bonanza. Screenwriters for the show took a bit of historical
liberty in depicting young Michelson as having attending primary school in ...
 "Imagine this, your doctor waves a hand-held
scanner over your body and gets detailed, high-resolution images of your internal
organs and tissues. Using the same device, the physician then sends gigabytes of
data instantly to a remote server and just as rapidly receives information to make
a diagnosis. Integrated circuit researchers at the U. of California, Irvine have
created a silicon microchip-based component that could make this a reality. Known
as a 'radiator,' the tiny gadget emits
millimeter-wave signals in the G band (110 to 300 GHz). Waves of this
frequency easily penetrate solid ... "
 "In a recent discovery, researchers have found
that
black phosphorus could possibly replace silicon as the primary material for
electronics. The research team from Yale University, led by Fengnian Xia, Yale's
Barton L. Weller Associate Professor in Engineering and Science, states how the
long forgotten element could play a crucial role in the future of electronic and
optoelectronic devices. With silicon as a semiconductor, the quest for
ever-smaller electronic devices could soon reach its limit. However ... "
Thursday 27
 Res-Net Microwave has a complete line of
precision RF &
microwave components including attenuators, terminations, resistors, and
diode detectors for commercial, military, and space applications. Products range
from the small flange type to large 2,000 watt connectorized power attenuators
and/or terminations at frequencies up to 26.5 GHz. In-house photo etch and laser
trim capability. Please check out Res-Net Microwave's website to see how they
can help with your current project ...
 "5G technologies are early in their development,
and the business cases for them are a bit fuzzy, but wireless researchers and executives
still had plenty to celebrate this week at the annual
Brooklyn 5G Summit. They've made steady progress on defining future 5G
networks, and have sped up the schedule for the first phase of standards-based
5G deployments. Now, the world is just three years away (or two, depending on
who you ask) from its first 5G commercial service. Amid the jubilance, reality
is also starting to set in. While attendees can agree that 5G networks will
incorporate many new technologies—including millimeter waves, massive MIMO,
small cells, and beamforming—no one knows ... "
 When I first started working as an electrician
apprentice in the summer of 1974 as part of my high school vocational program, ground
fault interrupter (GFI) receptacles and circuit breakers were not mandated by the
National Electric Code (NEC). It was only a little more than a decade earlier that
UC Berkeley professor Charles Dalziel invented the GFI circuit while researching
the effects of electrical current on humans (electrocution). By the late 1970s,
shortly before I enlisted in the USAF to begin ...
 The free whitepapers, pamphlets, books, magazines,
and chapter examples listed here are a small sample of a lot of new items that are
offered for FREE through
TradePub.
The publishers make them available to qualifying people as a promotional campaign
for their full line of offerings. Note: I earn a few pennies
(literally) when you download one of these or the
many other pubs available, so please help yourself ...
 Planar Monolithic Industries (PMI) recently
introduced three new products in their extensive line of RF and microwave components.
One is the
LNA-35-500M2D5G-0D6-25-12-SFF 35 dB low noise amplifier (LNA)
covering 0.5 to 2.5 GHz. Another is a
DTA-14G40G-32-CD-2, 32 dB 10-bit programmable attenuator (DTA) for
frequency range of 14.0 to 40.0 GHz, and another is a 2-18 GHz 8-Bit, vector
phase shifter (VPS) ...
 "Despite graphene's amazing properties and
all the engineering that has gone into giving the wonder material a band gap, its
prospects for digital logic remain as much in doubt as they have ever been. But
the list of uses for
graphene in electronics outside of digital logic continues to grow. The
latest comes from research out of MIT in which graphene could make the use of
exotic semiconductors more accessible to industries by preparing semiconductor
thin films without the high cost of using bulk wafers ... "
Wednesday 26
 "In February 2014, the FBI charged a Florida
man, Marc Heera, with selling a
cloned version of the Hondata s300, a plug-in module for the engine computer
that reads data from sensors in Honda cars and automatically adjusts the air-fuel
mixture, idle speed, and other factors to improve performance. The plug-in also
allows users to monitor the engine via Bluetooth and make their own adjustments.
The clones certainly looked like the genuine product, but in fact they contained
circuit boards that had likely been built in China, according to designs Heera
had obtained through reverse ... "
 Hugo Gernsback, born in Luxembourg, made his
fame and fortune in America as a serial electronics magazine publisher, science
fiction author, inventor, and visionary. Radio Craft magazine, in which this editorial
was printed, began in 1929 on the heels of Radio News, which began in
1919 and ran through 1959. Hugo Gernsback had a huge influence on the direction
of communications electronics, and his opinions were widely sought. As has been
the case since governments first regulated services and manufacturing, there was
in the middle of the last century a debate over whether electronics servicemen
should be required ...
 Anokiwave is a fast growing fabless semiconductor
company looking for an ambitious, conscientious, and thorough Test Engineer to join
the Anokiwave team. The ideal
candidate should possess a strong working knowledge of mmW measurements, calibration
methodologies, semiconductor probing, and python script language. You will play
an instrumental role in the growth and excellence of Anokiwave and our commitment
to satisfying our customers. The successful candidate should demonstrate proven
capabilities in the following ...
TestPlace is a start-up company
determined to create a superior "MarketPlace
for Test Equipment." Inventory is built by a
 community of engineers, technicians,
students, and hobbyists looking to Buy, Sell, and Trade all types of test and
laboratory equipment and accessories. Your participation is key to our success.
This is a great opportunity to acquire test equipment at bargain prices ...
 The
TTRM1008D GaAs
amplifier operates at a frequency range of 4400 MHz to 5000 MHz and has a power
output of 25 Watts, while still maintaining a compact form factor of 5.63 x 6.13
x 0.69 inches. This unit also features internal protection against over/under
voltage and excessive temperature conditions, which coupled with its rugged
construction, ensure fault-free operation in even the most extreme environments.
RF Systems Ships Dual Channel C-Band ...
 "Next-generation train-to-train wireless
communications service
LTE-R is being given the chance to prove itself in South Korea
thanks to a collaboration between SK Telecom and Samsung. The new LTE-R service
was launched along the 41km-long Busan Metro line 1 that covers 40 stations. It
replaced an existing analogue wireless system for the Busan Transportation
Corporation (BTS), indicating how overdue the new technology is. LTE-R needs to
combine capacity, security, reliability and low-latency – many of the
characteristics that will be ... "
Tuesday 25
 "Use it up... Wear it out... Make it
do... Or do without" - what a great slogan! It was coined by the War Advertising
Council during World War II to promote the dual need to conserve scarce
resources and to help keep prices down by not generating excess demand. Most of
us have seen videos or read articles about neighborhood materials collection
efforts to round up old tires, scrap metal, glass, tools, electronics equipment,
cloth and clothing, and many other items that could be ...
 Nova Microwave is a leader in technically
differentiated electronic and radio frequency Ferrite
Circulators and Isolators
that connect, protect and control critical commercial and military wireless
telecommunications systems. Our staff is dedicated to research and development
of standard and custom design quality Ferrite Circulators and Isolators from
380 MHz to 26.5 GHz. Please visit Nova Microwave today ...
 Declaring any kind of straight LC tank circuit
to be high stability is a bit of a stretch when compared the Q available simply
by adding a crystal, even in 1958. Tone modulation was an early method for achieving
remote control of model airplanes, boats, and cars. The number of channels with
these
tone modulation systems is two times the number of modern proportional
systems in that moving the rudder left took one channel and moving it right took
another. Up and down elevator likewise took two channels. Therefore, this four
channel system is only two channels by today's terminology. Technology evolved
into fully proportional ...
 Copper Mountain Technologies has published
a whitepaper titled, "What
Makes a Good VNA?" CMT manufactures Vector Network Analyzers with a USB
interface. "Everyone knows that a good VNA should have both excellent hardware
performance and an easy to use software interface with useful post-processing
capabilities. But there are numerous VNAs in the market with different
performance levels; some of them are economy grade, and others are truly
laboratory test grade. So what ... "
 Saelig Company has introduced the
Siglent SDS1202X-E 200MHz Digital Oscilloscope with improved Super Phosphor
Technology at a remarkably affordable price. With a real-time sampling rate of 1 GSa/s,
this new 200 MHz scope features waveform capture rates of up to 100,000 wfms/s
in normal mode and 400,000 wfms/s in sequence mode. The SDS1202X-E has a waveform
record memory of up to 14 Mpoints, and a 256-level color and intensity
grading and color temperature display. Together, these technologies have been
collectively dubbed by the manufacturer ...
 Tektronix has published a whitepaper titled
"Radar
Signal Generation with a High-Performance AWG" that is available as a free
download. "Generating radar signals is one of the most challenging tasks for a
signal generator. The signals' combination of carrier frequency, modulation
bandwidth, and, in most cases, their pulsed nature creates a series of
requirements difficult to match with existing instrumentation. The increasing
complexity of radar systems, the growing use of complex modulation techniques
such as OFDM or UWB, and the signal quality ... "
Monday 24
 Stories of interviewees being asked to solve
engineering problems - basically working for free - have been around for a long
time. Dilbert comic strips have been drawn about it.
Job search
forums have posts by people telling of ridiculous and/or insulting treatment.
Fortunately, at least in the engineering world, those instances are relatively
few and far between. This first article this month address the issue. The others
cover both employers and employees - and prospective employees. I try to weed
out the ones written by people who do nothing but give regurgitated advice to
others without actually ...
 "Laser weapons have been one of the most
important topics of discussion in the Pentagon at least for the past five years,
and several weapons programs involving
high-energy lasers are in advanced development. There's the U.S.
Navy's shipboard Laser Weapon System (LaWS) which was deployed for operational
tests aboard the amphibious transport dock USS Ponce. Then there's the Boeing
truck-mounted High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator (HEL MD) for use against air
and ground targets. One of the most important potential future ... "
 This 1956-vintage article by techno-kidder
Carl Kohler taught me a new word - 'darb,' as in "Isn't that a darb, now." According
to Merriam-Webster, a darb is a slang term for something superlative. Mr. Kohler
penned many tongue-in-cheek stories for Popular Electronics in the 1950s and
1960s, all of them based on his antics involving the latest electronics gadget
and Mrs. Kohler's reaction to them. Maybe they are real (in this case, 'reel')
and maybe not, but regardless, they are funny and even if made up, could easily
be actual experiences. A list of other Kohler ...
 Anatech Electronics,
a manufacturer of RF and microwave filters, has published its April newsletter.
As always, it includes both company news and some tidbits about relevant industry
happenings. In it, Sam Benzacar discusses, among other topics, the court battle
battle between AT&T and Rivada Mercury Networks regarding the National Public
Safety Broadband Network administered by FirstNet, build-out of IoT services,
and Google fiber. Anatech's business is to make certain that system and circuit
designers have capable filters available to assure successful ...
 "Quantum interference involving three photons
has been measured by two independent teams of physicists. Seeing the effect requires
the ability to deliver three indistinguishable photons to the same place at the
same time and also to ensure that much more common single-photon and two-photon
interference effects are eliminated from the measurements. As well as providing
deep insights into the fundamentals of quantum mechanics,
3-photon interference could also be used in quantum cryptography ... "
 "For decades, military aircraft have relied
on
electronic warfare (EW) solutions to protect assets and dominate airspace.
The ability of the United States to detect and track aircraft, or avoid
detection has played a major role in its ability to project power globally and
maintain freedom of operation in the air. Today, that dominance is being
challenged given the rapid advancements in, and widespread availability of,
technology for adversaries. In order to make the best use of finite resources,
EW ... "
Sunday 23
 This week's
tech-themed crossword puzzle, as is the case every week, contains only
words pertaining to science, engineering, amateur radio, physics, mechanics,
mathematics, etc. Making a special appearance is the name of the most recent
company to support RF Cafe through advertising. You will see their banner
graphical ad appearing in the right page border sometime this week. Enjoy ...
Friday 21
 Federal Custom Cable is your direct source
for  RF & microwave and contract manufacturing
(CM), cable prepping, kitting, labeling, rack & panel, modular assemblies, delay
lines,  inductors and toroids, semi rigid, stripping and
bending, custom molding, Ø-matched, power and multi-conductor and shielded
cables. Please contact Federal Custom Cable today for your project needs ...
 Here for radio hobbyists are a dozen
handy-dandy 'kinks,' otherwise known as tricks, shortcuts, or clever ideas, that
could prove useful while working in the lab at work or in your shop at home. One
kink that might be worth trying calls for immersing an aluminum panel in a
water-lye solution to achieve "a professional-looking finish." A satin look
results. A Google search on etching aluminum turns up many other methods.
Admittedly, most of these ideas would not ...
 Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio
is a quite interesting documentary about the struggle that Edwin H. Armstrong
- inventor of the superregenerative and superheterodyne circuits, and of wideband
frequency modulation (FM) - had with Lee DeForest - inventor of the Audio amplifying
tube - and David Sarnoff - CEO of Radio Corporation of America (RCA). Extensive
legal battles ensued between Armstrong and DeForest over vacuum tube patents, and
Sarnoff's transition from biggest cheerleader to biggest thwarter of Armstrong's
efforts are epic. A huge amount of historical information and vintage film clips ...
 "A novel technology that embeds highly conductive
nanostructure into
semiconductor nanofiber has now been developed by researchers. The novel
composite so produced has superb charge conductivity, and can therefore be
widely applied, especially in environmental arena. A research team led by Prof.
Wallace Leung develops novel semiconductor nanotubes with superb charge
conductivity which can be widely used in different applications, especially in
environmental arena ... "
 "Scientists sounded the alarm Tuesday over
the problems posed to space missions from
orbital junk - the accumulating debris from mankind's six-decade
exploration of the cosmos. In less than a quarter of a century, the number of
orbiting fragments large enough to destroy a spacecraft has more than doubled, a
conference in Germany heard. And the estimated tally of tiny objects - which can
harm or degrade spacecraft in the event of a collision, and are hard to track -
is now around 150 million. - We are very ... "
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