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3 of the December 2017 homepage archives.
Sunday 10
 At least 10 clues in this puzzle with an asterisk
(*) are pulled from this past week's (12/4 - 12/8) "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 ...
Friday 8
 You'll appreciate the
comic that appeared on page 59 of the February 1969 issue of Electronics World
magazine. It is consistent with the prevailing theme of the era where wives and girlfriends
were fairly oblivious to the meaning of technical endeavors of their husbands and boyfriends,
respectively (or not necessarily). The other comic from that edition is reflective of
the times as well, when a television was considered to be one of the essentials of modern
life. I was a pretty rotten kid, but I don't remember ever running away ...
 When I saw this story, I was reminded of a tongue-in-cheek
article titled, "The Zero Displacement Engine" in one of my model airplane magazines.
The ZPRR is no joke, though. "Sandia has developed a miniature, zero-power radio receiver
that can be easily integrated in a wide range of devices to provide continuous wireless
connectivity. The underlying principle behind the
Zero-Power Receiver is that the powered radio frequency electronics
that are used in most wireless receivers can be replaced with electronics that require
no power supply or battery. Using this technology, a short range radio receiver (<100 m)
can be ..."
 Much has been learned and published about the
various layers of the
ionosphere since its first being measured with sounding rockets in the 1950s. Both
professional and amateur communications operators are very interested in its properties.
Long term (seasonal) and short term (daily) patterns have been discerned that help make
some of the ionosphere's effect on the propagation of electromagnetic (radio) signals
somewhat predictable, but there are still many unpredictable events that hamper - and
often enhance - communications. Sun spots and coronal mass ejections, volcanic eruptions,
hurricanes, and other natural events cause sporadic ...
 I love this quote by UK engineer James Newman:
"I just got suckered into it bit by bit." This story about Mr. Newman's effort to build
a 16-bit computer using discrete components appeared in Popular Science magazine.
Newman wanted to create a functional, programmable computer that would provide a visual
indication of how data flow and computation occurs within a microprocessor; the result
is his "Megaprocessor." To do that, he constructed this 10-meter-long by
2-meter-tall rack of circuits consisting of more than 40,000 discrete transistors. An
Intel 8086 microprocessor has ~29,000 ...
 "The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory - Sensors
Directorate (AFRL RY) has developed a high isolation
RF circulator which provides enhanced detection ranges (radar) and
improved reception (communications) by reduction of signal leakage and undesirable internal
reflections between ports, at a tuned frequency (or frequency range) of interest. Isolation
values exceeding 70 dB have been demonstrated which far exceeds the 20 dB typical
to conventional 3-port circulators. The AFRL circulator ..."
Thursday 7
 The agenda has been finalized and registration
opened for the combined 2017
AWR Design Forum (ADF) Germany and German User Group meeting, taking place in Munich
on December 12. ADF brings the latest NI AWR software solutions to customers, partners
and engineering professionals throughout the world, enabling them to learn, network and
collaborate on today's microwave/RF design challenges. Select presentation highlights
include: Complete X-Band 2x2 Phased-Array Antenna Design and Simulation, Including Low-Temperature ...
 "Scientists at the Department of Energy's SLAC
National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University have shown that
copper-based superconductors, or cuprates - the first class of materials
found to carry electricity with no loss at relatively high temperatures - contain fluctuating
stripes of electron charge and spin that meander like rivulets over rough ground. The
stripes are zones where electrons either pile up, creating bands of negative charge,
or align their spins to create bands of magnetism. They were previously known to exist
in cuprate superconductors at temperatures ..."
 I have always been obsessed with
Christmas - from being a little kid and loving the decorations (and, of course, presents)
to being a father and providing the season's festive rites for my kids, to now as an
old guy. Our house still has a fresh cut Christmas tree with shiny balls (including ones
with family member names written with glue and glitter) and hand-crafted figures and
of course metalized icicles, lights outside along the roof line (old-fashioned incandescent,
of course), decorations hanging around inside, Christmas cards from years past when people
actually mailed them (we still mail a few), and other holiday memorabilia. You will ...
 Anatech Electronics, Inc. offers the industry's
largest portfolio of high-performance standard and customized
RF and
microwave filters and filter-related products for military, commercial, aerospace
and defense, and industrial applications up to 40 GHz. Anatech has introduced three
new filters for your convenience: a 4432 MHz WiFi cavity filter with N connectors, a
899-944 MHz LC duplexer filter with N connectors (std), and WiFi cavity bandpass filter
with SMA connectors (std) ...
 Each month I try to make the rounds of job search
/ career advice columns to see if there is anything worth recommending. A lot of what's
out there seems to be written by people whose only job has been telling other people
how to get a job, so I try for filter them out. This first article is short but interesting
and the conclusion is not surprising. It does not, however, addresses all the worthless <fill
in the blank> Studies (insert any social warrior cause) degrees that are being paid
for ...
-
Americans w/o College Degree Way Worse off Today Than 40 Years Ago
-
Should You Job Search During the Holidays? -
Young Professionals Say Career Development Top Priority, <more>
 "An international team of researchers has conducted
an experiment that shows that the
arrow of time is a relative concept, not an absolute one. In a paper
uploaded to the arXiv server, the team describe their experiment and its outcome, and
also explain why their findings do not violate the second law of thermodynamics. The
second law of thermodynamics says that entropy, or disorder, tends to increase over time,
which is why everything in the world around us appears to unfold forward in time. But
it also explains why hot tea ..."
Wednesday 6
 Regular RF Cafe visitors know I have a penchant
for creating and solving
crossword puzzles. Since around 2001, I have personally generated a new crossword
almost every week - hundreds in total. Some studies have suggested lower rates of dementia
in people who regularly exercise their brains, but that is not the primary reason I work
crossword, word scramble, and Sudoku puzzles - I enjoy the challenge. A couple times
each year, Popular Electronics magazine published an electronics-themed crossword
puzzle; however, unlike the crosswords I make, not all of the words and clues have to
do with ...
 If, as the saying goes, "Misery loves company,"
then you will appreciate the following. Whilst perusing the December 2017 issue of NASA's
Motion Design supplement to their Tech Briefs publication, I ran across
the image to the right in an article titled, "Trends in Hydraulic Filtration"
(areas of interest are quite diverse here at RF Cafe).
After reading the caption stating that the holes were "fire holes," the first thing that
came to mind was
ESD damage.
Sure enough, upon going back and reading more of the story (provided by Argo-Hytos),
I found ...
 JFW Industries and IEEE offer this application
note titled
An Introduction to Programmable Attenuator Systems. "An attenuator
is an electrical component that reduces the amplitude of a signal passing through it
without significantly degrading the integrity of that signal. In a programmable or step
attenuator, the attenuation is controlled externally by an external analog or digital
signal, either manually or via a computer. Depending on the model, the maximum attenuation
ranges from 0 dB to 127 dB, in steps as small ...
 Maybe it's my imagination, but it does seem that
this year, for the first time in many years, there has been a noticeable increase in
Christmas decorations and even utterances of "Merry Christmas"
from checkout line clerks in the local stores. Magazines of yore used to be chock full
of Christmas stories, holiday themes on the front cover, and advertisements with both
religious and secular messages as part of the sales pitch. Take a look at the December
editions of any of the vintage magazines hyperlinked in the upper right part of the RF
Cafe header area to see what I mean. The December issue of QST for many years
has published ...
 At
Axiom Test Equipment
we provide high-quality services and affordable solutions such as test equipment rental,
test equipment sales, and test equipment repair. Find out how we help customers select
the equipment they need and see our lab where all of our equipment gets checked &
accessorized before securely shipping to you. The
Keysight / Agilent N5245A PNA-X Network Analyzer 10 MHz to 50 GHz
is our Featured Product for this End-of-Year special offers ...
 "If analog and
hybrid computers were so valuable half a century ago, why did they
disappear, leaving almost no trace? The reasons had to do with the limitations of 1970s
technology: Essentially, they were too hard to design, build, operate, and maintain.
But analog computers and digital-analog hybrids built with today's technology wouldn't
suffer the same shortcomings, which is why significant work is now going on in analog
computing in the context of machine learning, machine intelligence, and biomimetic circuits ..."
Tuesday 5
 "Nokia is joining together with other technology
leaders, including Virginia Diodes and Keysight Technologies, in becoming founding members
of the mmWave Coalition, which will advocate for the use of radio frequencies above
95 GHz at the FCC, other U.S. government agencies and the ITU. 'The
mmWave Coalition member companies are united in the objective of removing regulatory
barriers to technologies and using frequencies ranging from 95 GHz ..."
 I have to admit that just about everything I read
in this article on
thermoluminescence, not to be confused with incandescence or luminescence, was new
information to me - or at least I had no remembrance of having known it before. The "memory"
characteristic of thermoluminescent materials is especially interesting. Donald Lancaster's
treatise appeared in the March 1969 issue of Electronics World, so it is safe
to assume that there is some relevance to electronics, right? At least as presented here,
electronics plays a role in instrumentation for measuring thermoluminescence, not for
using the phenomenon as part of electronics devices or instruments. You will still be
glad you read through the article ...
 Saelig Company has introduced the
Siglent SDS1104X-E (100 MHz) and Siglent SDS1204X-E (200 MHz)
four-channel oscilloscopes that are built on the same platform as the very popular SDS1202X-E
but with many improvements, including two 1 GSa/s ADCs and two 14 Mpt memory
modules. Waveform capture rates are up to 100,000 wfms/s in normal mode and 400,000 wfms/s
in sequence mode. The SDS1000X-E scopes feature a large 7" 256-level color display with
intensity grading and color temperature features to show signal event occurrence ...
 Empower RF
Systems is a global leader in power amplifier solutions. Products include high power
RF amplifier modules, amplifier systems, and custom designed amplifiers.
 Investments in both hardware and software engineering
are yielding next generation products with significant size, weight, and interface functionality
advantages over legacy products in the market
...
 "Smartphones and computers wouldn't be nearly
as useful without room for lots of apps, music and videos. Devices tend to store that
information in two ways: through electric fields (think of a flash drive) or through
magnetic fields (like a computer's spinning hard disk). Each method
has advantages and disadvantages. However, in the future, our electronics could benefit
from the best of each. 'There's an interesting concept,' says Chang-Beom Eom, the Theodore
H. Geballe Professor and Harvey D. Spangler ..."
Monday 4
 Led by Airbus, JUICE is a European Space Agency
(ESA) deep space mission to study the icy moons of Jupiter. The objectives are to explore
the atmosphere and magnetosphere of the moons and investigate whether there are liquid
oceans suitable for habitation under the thick icy crusts of moon Ganymede. Rohde &
Schwarz provided two
R&S ESR EMI test receivers to measure the antenna's radiation
pattern during these tests. Uwe Körber of the Test and Measurement Division's sales ...
 "The piezoelectric effect, which causes a material
to expand along the direction of an applied electric field, is common in many materials
and used in a variety of technologies, from medical ultrasound to vibration-powered electronics.
But the
negative piezoelectric effect, in which a material contracts rather
than expands in the direction of the applied electric field, has been considered a rare
and counterintuitive anomaly, and has received little attention ..."
 By the early 1970s, many types of vacuum tubes
had already been replaced by solid state devices. A lot of the resistance by hardline
lovers of glowing tubes was beginning to accept the reality of superior electrical characteristics
of many types of germanium and silicon diodes and transistors over tube equivalents.
During my enlistment in the USAF from 1978-1982, the vacuum tube diode used to trigger
the pulse forming network for the airport surveillance radar (ASR) circuit was replaced
with a plug-in solid state replacement. It seemed to work just as well. The "fetrode"
introduced here by Solitron was designed to be a plug-in replacement for the 6AK5 vacuum ...
 Axiom Test Equipment allows
you to rent
or buy test
equipment, repair test
equipment, or sell or trade
 test 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! ...
 "ANSYS provides free student products perfect for
work done outside the classroom, such as homework, capstone projects, student competitions
and more. Our renewable products can be downloaded by students across the globe.
ANSYS Student products can be installed on any supported MS Windows
64-bit machine. Learn more about ANSYS AIM Student and ANSYS Student so you can download ..."
 "Today's planar digital image sensors simply inherit
their form factor from the substrates and semiconductor processes used in their volume
manufacture. But more and more research groups are pursuing the benefits of curved hemispherical
sensors, mimicking the optimized optics of biological eye systems. While vertebrates
evolved with globe-shaped eyes, with a concave retina behind a spherical lens (and the
iris as a pin-hole), insects mostly sport convex multi-faceted ..."
Sunday 3
 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. At least 10 clues in this puzzle with
an asterisk (*) are pulled from this past week's (11/27 - 12/1) "Tech
Industry Headlines" column on the RF Cafe homepage (see the Headline Archives page for
help). Enjoy!
...
Friday 1
 Planar Monolithic Industries (PMI) recently introduced four new products
in their extensive line of RF and microwave components. Included are a 1-18 GHz
low noise amplifier; a 1 to 18 GHz, a 1 to 18 GHz high speed threshold detector; a 11.825
GHz bandpass filter with a 1,850 MHz pass band; and a single pole, seven throw absorptive
switch with phase and amplitude matching of ±6° and ±0.5 dB. Contact PMI today for more
information ...
 For others out
there who like to recondition vintage gear... I was not particularly looking for a bicycle
when scrolling through a list of "vintage" items on the Erie area craigslist.org website,
but when I saw both a men's and a woman's early 1980s era 3-speed bicycles pop up, I
had to call. The guy who had them listed said he bought them both at the local K-Mart
sometime around 1980 for his wife and him. As with many new endeavors that begin enthusiastically
and then die out quickly, neither of them thought the experience was enough to make ...
 Hyperlinks all around the Internet pointing to
Hittite's infamous Mixer Spurious Product Calculator broke suddenly when Analog Devices
swallowed up Hittite in 2014. The good news is that if you still want to use it, you
can find it as the ADI Mixer-Spur Graphical Representation tool on the ADI website. However,
Marki Microwave now has a much nicer
Spur Calculator that you will want to consider. It provides both a Spur Web format
and a Spectrum Analyzer format for presenting mixer spurious products. The interface
is very user friendly both for the input and the output specification. The Spur Web screen
uses a format pioneered ...
 "BAE has been awarded a $12.8 million DARPA contract
to design a testbed for development of
space warfare command and control systems. The goal is to develop
a sandbox that will allow the U.S. military, in particular the Joint Space Operations
Center and the Joint Inter-Agency Combined Space Operations Center, to experiment with
new technologies that will enable real-time space command and control. 'The software
testbed approach allows for tools to be developed and deployed to an ..."
 Alliance Test sells
used / refurbished test equipment,
we offer short- and long-term rentals. We also offer repair, maintenance and calibration.
Prices discounted up to 80% off list price. Agilent/HP,
 Tektronix,
Anritsu, Fluke, R&S and other major brands. A global organization with ability to
source hard to find equipment through our network of suppliers. Please visit Allied Test
Equipment today to see how they can help your project
...
 "The oft-honored
Ulrich Rohde, N1UL, is the recipient of the Wireless Innovation Forum
Leadership Award. The award recognizes 'especially significant contributions in furthering
the global mission of the Wireless Innovation Forum.' A prolific technical author, academic,
and engineer, Rohde is a partner of Rohde & Schwarz in Munich, Germany, and chairman
of Synergy Microwave Corp, in Paterson, New Jersey. While working under an RCA US Department
of Defense contract in 1982, Rohde's department developed the first software defined
radio (SDR) ..."
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