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Friday 21
Thursday 20
 Parts 1 and 2 of this series covered the
theory of nuclear physics and laboratory investigation devices. This final installation
talks about commercially available test instruments for detecting and measuring
nuclear radiation levels. My introduction to Geiger counters was in the old
The Adventures of Superman television show (the originals
with George Reeves) where they were used by villains to verify that their
stash of Kryptonite would be sufficient to disable our superhero. I could not find
anywhere whether Kryptonite's emission type is alpha particles
(helium nucleus; i.e., 2 protons and 2 neutrons),
beta particles
 Advanced Energy has devoted more than three decades
to perfecting power enabling design breakthroughs and driving growth for leading
semiconductor and industrial customers. Our precision power and control technologies,
along with our applications know-how, inspire close partnerships and perpetual innovation
in thin-film and industrial manufacturing. The RF Engineer performs engineering
work in applied research, design, development, testing, manufacturing, and documentation
of RF products or systems. In this role, you will work with customers to understand
their equipment...
 "Researchers at Harvard University have taken
an important step in the realization of 'spintronic' devices by developing a technique for both measuring
and controlling the spin voltage of electrons, also known as their spin chemical
potential. This spin voltage characterizes the tendency of electron spins to diffuse
through a material. Whereas in a conducting material electrons can physically move
from point A to point B (an electric current), with spin voltage the spin of an
electron can be transferred to a neighboring electron. This communication "
 News was a bit slow to spread prior to the
Internet. Unless you worked in a newsroom with a ticker machine clacking away all
day heralding breaking headlines from around the world, your access was relegated
to the discretion of media editors and producers. Items like the demise of radio
pioneer
Guglielmo Marconi on July 20, 1937, due to a heart attack would
surely have been broadcast on radio shows (not many households had
TVs at the time) and printed in major newspapers, but long lead
times for magazines meant a four month delay for publications like Radio-Craft.
This story appeared along with separate editorial by Hugo Gernsback
 ConductRF's
FPA RF Cable Assemblies
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by Semi-Rigid or high cost flexible precision cables. Our Multi-layer shielded cable
provides both flexibility and form-ability by combining a flexible spiral foil over
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but with added benefits of lower costs, improved performance and enhanced shielding.
FPA Cables are available on short lead-times with custom lengths and configurations.
Precision SMA, 3.5 mm, 2.92 mm & 2.4 mm are our most common
 "If you've been tuned in to Electronic Design's
articles this past year in the test and measurement arena, you're probably aware
of a series by Colin Mattson (Keysight Technologies) on advanced
oscilloscope triggering techniques. In the first article, he elucidates
on pulse and pattern modes, where the characteristics of a pulse and the uniqueness
of a pattern are utilized as the impetus of signal acquisition. In part two, he
delves into edge-mode triggering, where the edge characteristics of a signal are
used to mark the trigger for waveform capture. In part three, he "
Wednesday 19
Saelig Company announces the availability of two new
TekBox TBCGx Comb Generators for EMC testing. The TBCG1 is a radiating
comb generator with an internal dipole antenna and a base frequency of 100 MHz.
It radiates a comb spectrum that is characterized up to 6 GHz. The comb generator
is intended as a quick reference for testing radiated noise measurements in anechoic
chambers, TEM/GTEM cells, shielded chambers, or to gauge the effectiveness of cable
shielding and other shielding materials. With its built-in dipole antenna the TBCG1
can be used in three orientations to emit vertically- or horizontally
 "Chinese researchers were paid an average
of
$43,000 in 2016 for each paper published in Nature and Science,
according to a study by information specialists in China and Canada. Wei Quan from
Wuhan University, Bikun Chen at Nanjing University of Science and Technology and
Fei Shu at McGill University analysed 168 "cash-per-publication" policies at 100
Chinese universities from 1999 to 2016. The researchers found that Chinese universities
offer cash rewards ranging from $30 to $165,000 for papers that are published in
journals indexed by Web of Science, with the average amount increasing over "
 Unlike Radio Broadcast Data System (RBDS)
which is responsible for your FM radio being able to display song title and station
identification via a digital subchannel (began in 1992),
Subsidiary Communications Authorization (SCA) has been around
as an analog subchannel for more than half a century. SCA (was) used for tasks such
as book reading for the blind, telemetry, paging services, and most familiarly -
Muzak (aka 'elevator music'). This article presents
a simple circuit for stripping the subcarrier off of the FM broadcast signal to
permit a listener to avoid commercials, PSAs, weather reports, and other items that
are played between songs
 The
NY Times has an article about a growing trend to harken back to
website layouts reminiscent of the early days of the Internet. RF Cafe, which
began life in 1996 as
RF Tools on AOL, was there. The RF Cafe logo at the
top of this page is the original from 1999.
"Web designs have come a long way in 20 years, but some are taking a step back
to evoke a sort of hipster nostalgia for the early days of the internet. They're
tipping their hat to the 1990s,' said David Lee, the chief creative officer of Squarespace.'
'I really hate the modern internet,' Mr. Drake said. 'My vision
is to bring back making websites as a creative thing, not just as a business thing."
I couldn't agree more
Radiocrafts
AS, a leading provider of RF modules, today announced that it has entered a
global distribution agreement with Digi-Key Electronics, the industry leader in electronic component
selection, availability, and delivery. Design engineers around the world get access
to RF modules and design tools from Radiocrafts with short lead-times. Radiocrafts
provides surface mount RF modules for wireless networking in the ISM bands world-wide.
The modules support industry standard protocols such as Wireless M-Bus, Sigfox and
KNX-RF
 "Two important breakthroughs in the understanding
of
iron-selenide superconductors have been made by two independent
research groups. One team has shown that the electrons responsible for superconductivity
in the material probably come from a specific atomic orbital. The other team, meanwhile,
has measured the interaction between electrons and atomic vibrations in iron selenide,
which is believed to be involved in its superconductivity. The research could shed
light on the mystery of why some materials based on iron selenide are superconductors
at relatively high temperatures "
Tuesday 18
Controlling Heat and Particle
Currents in Nanodevices
 OK, I admit that the
Escher-like
waterfall drawing caused me to post this. "Researchers from the Theory Department
of the MPSD have realized the control of thermal and electrical currents in nanoscale
devices by means of quantum local observations. Measurement plays a fundamental
role in quantum mechanics. The best-known illustration of the principles of superposition
and entanglement is Schrödinger's cat. Invisible from the outside, the cat resides
in a coherent superposition of two states, alive and dead at the same time. By means
of a measurement "
 A lot of us still use older test equipment
at home and even in the company lab. As discussed in this 1972 article from Popular
Electronics magazine, the displayed rise time on an oscilloscope display is not
necessarily that true
rise time of a signal - particularly when the speed approaches
the rated bandwidth of the equipment. In that case, it is necessary to mathematically
compensate for the rise times of each individual component used for making the measurement.
Hooking the o-scope probe tip to the calibration point on the front of the instrument
and adjusting the probe's trim capacitor for a flat response is not always good
enough. Most modern o-scopes
 "The rapidly developing science and technology
of graphene and
atomically-thin materials has taken another step forward with
new research from The University of Manchester. This research, published in Science,
shows how a variety of different electronic properties - essentially new materials
- can be realised simply by applying a magnetic field. Electrons inside materials
move quite differently from a free electron in vacuum: their properties are strongly
affected by the electric potential of ions comprising the crystal lattice. This
interaction changes the mass of electrons and makes materials "
Pasternack, a leading provider of RF, microwave and millimeter wave products,
has launched a new line of waveguide phase shifters in sizes ranging from WR-42
to WR-10. Typical applications include instrumentation, test benches, product development
and characterization. Pasternack's new series of
waveguide phase shifters is comprised of seven models that operate
in the frequency range of 18 GHz to 110 GHz and in 7 waveguide bands from
K to W band. They provide phase shift range from 0 to 180° and 1 dB
 "Phased array antennas, traditionally used in aeronautics, defense
and satellite communications settings, transmit a signal to a series of coordinated
antennas which work together to increase signal strength in a particular direction.
Now, the technology is being adapted to meet the needs of service providers looking
to leverage high-capacity millimeter wave frequencies for 5G systems. Ian Gresham
is a distinguished fellow of technology at integrated circuit firm Anokiwave, which
produces highly integrated silicon core IC solutions and silicon front end for millimeter
wave applications "
Monday 17
Date: July
25, 2017 Time: 8am PT / 11am ET. Sponsored by:
Rohde & Schwarz and Wolfspeed Presented by: Asif Anwar.
Abstract:
Military satellite communications will continue to play an integral
part of the C4ISR jigsaw with an emphasis on data / video based communications requiring
wider bandwidth and higher linearity pushing the move towards Ka-band while also
helping to alleviate the bandwidth constraints at traditional C-band, X-band and
Ku-band frequencies. However, next generation 5G terrestrial networks will bring
forth new challenges requiring mitigation strategies
 "In
the U.S., the DC volt is legally defined by the Josephson array - a super conducting
quantum device with a highly repeatable output voltage. (The
DC Volt, Nuts & Volts, Jan. '97.) Banks of standard cells and temperature-stabilized
Zener diode references are used by the National Institute of Science and Technology
(NIST) to calibrate DC meters for scientific and industrial customers. So how is
the AC volt defined? As it turns out, there is no 'standard' AC volt in the same
way there is a standard DC volt. Instead, the AC volt is defined by conversion to
DC and comparison with a DC voltage standard "
 Axiom Test Equipment, a provider of efficient
and cost effective solutions customers' test equipment needs, offer the following
special deals on their inventory.
Free ground shipping is offered on all rentals! Axiom offers our
customers several practical, efficient and cost effective solutions for their business
or projects' test equipment needs. Whether you need to
rent &
buy test equipment, repair test equipment,, sell or trade equipment, we are
committed to providing superior customer service and high quality electronic test
equipment
 The August 1972 issue of Popular Electronics
included a short quiz by William Shippee titled "Test Your Knowledge of Semiconductors." I guessed wrong on question
#2 and guessed right by process of elimination on question #8 (although afterward
I discovered that in 2012 I had posted an article about it from Electronics
World magazine). Go ahead and try your hand at it. I'll bet Q2 has most people
guessing, too
 Innovative Power Products (IPP) is pleased
to introduce many new resistor values to their line of Low Capacitance Resistive products. Due to their lower parasitic
capacitance, these resistors are perfectly suited as isolation resistors in high
power RF combiners / dividers and transistor feedback networks. Our resistors come
in standard and custom values to support many applications and typical delivery
for standard values is 1 – 2 weeks
 "Over two decades ago, researchers at Drexel
University identified a new kind of material they dubbed Max phase (the M is for
transition metal, the A for "A group" metal, and the X for carbon and/or nitrogen).
At the time, the scientists believed the material could serve as a kind of primordial
goo from which all things came—it contained all the elements but needed to be organized
by scientists. Since 2011, Drexel researchers have been working with an iteration
of this Max phase goo called 'MXene.' It was essentially a two-dimensional (2D) material that
derived its name from the process of etching and "
Sunday 16
 For the sake of avid cruciverbalists amongst
us, each week I create a new
crossword puzzle that has a theme related to engineering, mathematics,
chemistry, physics, and other technical words. Clues in this puzzle with an asterisk
(*) are pulled from this past week's (7/7 - 7/14) "Tech Industry
Headlines" column on the RF Cafe homepage (see Headline Archives
page)
Friday 14
 Signaling with light goes back to ancient
times when militaries and towns communicated with simple encryption methods. Paul
Revere relied on lamp light signals (i.e., one if by land,
two if by sea). Sailors use(d) signal lamps
relay simple messages. Even the Warning Beacons of Gondor were a form of light beam
communications (albeit 1 bit -- lit or not lit). To
date, the farthest distance over which reliable (at useful
data rates)
terrestrial communications has been accomplished on a light beam
is about 2 miles (3 km). Atmospheric contamination
and Earth curvature (line-of-sight with a tiny bit of refraction
assistance) are the primary limiting factors. By contrast
Microwave Filter Company (MFC) continues to provide C-band users worldwide with
the largest variety of
interference
elimination filters within the industry. In addition to our line of filters
that reject "close-in" radar and WiMAX signals, we also offer an array of filters
that reject undesired transmissions operating up in the higher frequency bands (i.e.
– maritime & aeronautical radio navigation bands, X-band and Ku-band). So, whether
you need clean C-band reception at your head-end or out on the open water, we have
the right interference elimination filter for your application
 A lot of engineers and technicians who visit
RF Cafe design and/or service
battery-operated
equipment like radios, wearable devices, games and toys, tools, etc. With
battery technology advancing quickly, it is important to keep abreast of cell chemistry,
packaging, and charge / discharge characteristics. An article by Bob Zollo introduces
some of the concepts. Another article introduces yet another filter design approach.
After nearly four decades in electronics, I am constantly amazed that there are
areas of filter design that have not yet been covered. Items move onto and off of
all homepages quickly, so even if
Skyworks has introduced a new product category of high-power Bluetooth® power
amplifier solutions for mobile applications targeting Wi-Fi enabled smartphones,
tablets and other portable devices. The
SKY85018-11 is a highly integrated device that is particularly
suited for improving Bluetooth® connectivity ranges, which are required for music
streaming. Multiple output power ranges and a bypass mode ensure that the SKY85018-11
is extremely reliable for high performance devices, providing a premium audio experience
 "The government plans to create a mobile comms
networks for testing 5G technology to take a lead in the introduction of next generation
mobile services. 5G research teams at King's College London and the Universities
of Surrey and Bristol will be awarded £16m to develop the
5G test network capable of processing huge amounts of data and
supporting applications such as sending virtual reality 3D TV clips to mobile devices.
It is hoped the end-to-end 5G trial network will be deployed early next year. It
will also be used as part of government plans to introduce autonomous vehicles,
robotics, augmented "
Thursday 13
 "While U.S. regulators continue to hear arguments
for and against the mandate of Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC), the
FCC will be taking up a decidedly less heated but somewhat related matter when it
conducts its next open meeting on July 13. On the agenda is a Report and Order that
would address use of the 76-81 GHz band to support a broad range of vehicular radar
uses, such as collision avoidance and adaptive cruise control systems, as well as
to expand the types of fixed and mobile radar operations permitted within airport "
 Here is one of the most complete component
color code charts that I have seen. It covers resistors, capacitors, and inductors
for EIA, JAN, and commercial standards. If you are reading this, you have almost
certainly memorized the color / number correlation (BBROYGBVGW = 0123456789, respectively)
and know how to read a regular carbon resistor's code for resistance and maybe even
tolerance. However, if you encounter a capacitor with an array of colored dots or
a component with 5 colored bands, are you sure how to read it? This handy-dandy
chart will help. Or, you probably have an app on your phone that
 "According to a report by Transparency Market
Research, the global
EMI shielding market is expected to rise to US$9.84 billion by
2025, increasing from US$5.96 billion in 2016 (CAGR of 6.1%). A noticeable trend
in the global EMI shielding market is the focus of research and development by savvy
companies to grow their shares. They are also resorting to strategic partnerships
and mergers and acquisitions to expand their outreach. The global EMI shielding
market is choc-a-bloc with players who are seen upping the ante against one another
through price, performance, support services "
 ConductRF's skill in the manufacturing of
Phase Matched RF Cable
Solutions is second to none. We have phase matched a diverse array of solutions
from Low Frequency RG and LMR Cables to more premium exotic cables up to 70 GHz.
With a broad base of standard connectors and cables in stock, we turn solutions
around fast. We have solutions across all standard industry interfaces all the way
to 70 GHz with 1.85 mm Solutions. We support all variants of SMP/SMPM
as well as all common standards including SMA, SMB
 "On the eve of the annual Semicon West tradeshow
here, the Imec research institute described work with new materials, process modules
and architectures aimed at alleviating
high-density interconnect challenges that loom just down the road
for semiconductor manufacturing. At Imec's annual U.S. technology forum here Monday
(July 10), Zsolt Tokei, a distinguished member of Imec's technical staff focused
on interconnects, explained how chip interconnects are being squeezed ever tighter
with continued scaling. As chip dimensions shrink, so too "
Wednesday 12
 "Government moves to promote the UK space
industry took shape this week with the introduction of the
Space Industry Bill in the House of Lords. The government wants
the UK to take advantage of the growing global space industry with multiple micro-satellite
launches. The Bill, which was outlined in the Queen's Speech, represents the UK's
commitment to enabling commercial spaceflight from UK spaceports. Lord Callanan,
Parliamentary under Secretary of State for Transport introduced the Space Industry
Bill, which is a joint initiative by the Department for Transport, UK Space Agency
and Civil Aviation Authority supported by "
 "Creation of a single-chip
analog / hybrid computer reveals that special analog versions
of computers could be used to solve complex problems such as nonlinear differential
equations. Just recently, I received a note from Professor Yannis Tsividis of Columbia
University, who happened to read a blog I wrote in 2007 on analog computers. In
that blog, I ended by saying that 'I sometimes wonder if we shouldn't bring back
a modern version of an analog computer.' Professor Tsividis wanted to alert me to
the fact that he and his colleagues had done just that. Indeed, they created a single-chip
analog / hybrid "
 Only John T. Frye can turn an episode
of an electronics technician / tinkerer attempting to devise a method of blowing
up mosquitoes with sonic waves into a lesson in solving television and radio servicing
issues by listening to the audio and interpreting CRT test patterns, as applicable.
Mac's young apprentice is introduced to the recently released troubleshooting volumes
- called 'Pict-O-Guides' - published by RCA which presents a set of uniquely distorted
television test patterns (recall the Indian head test pattern)
with an explanation of which circuit likely cased the problem(s)
 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 3 new products for your convenience: a 1.5 MHz stripline
bandpass filter with SMA connectors; a triplexer filter with N connectors for the
700 MHz, 5400 MHz, 8100 MHz bands; and a 112.5 MHz cavity bandpass filter with
type W connectors
5G: The Solution to Broadband Infrastructure
 "Small towns and rural areas still do not
have adequate internet access, if any at all. But there are multiple efforts in
place to solve that problem. Not everyone has access to high speed broadband services.
While most of us have had an internet service provider (ISP) for years, those living
in small towns and other rural areas still do not have adequate
internet access if any at all. But there are multiple efforts
in place to solve that problem. And financial assistance from the government in
the form of infrastructure grants "
Tuesday 11
Saelig Company has introduced the
Cleverscope CS448, a unique isolated high common-mode rejection
ratio (CMRR) four-channel 200 MHz 14-bit oscilloscope. It has been designed
to measure high voltage, fast slew-rate signals such as those in a full or three-phase
power electronic switching bridge (e.g. gate drives to measure voltage and charge,
power switching to measure loss and parasitic stress, output signals to measure
power and spectrum for EMC compliance, control system signals for gain / phase and
stability, etc.) The CS448 includes a built-in isolated 65 MHz signal generator
to provide stimulus
 "University of Washington researchers have
invented a cellphone that requires
no batteries - a major leap forward in moving beyond chargers,
cords and dying phones. Instead, the phone harvests the few microwatts of power
it requires from either ambient radio signals or light. The team also made Skype
calls using its battery-free phone, demonstrating that the prototype made of commercial,
off-the-shelf components can receive and transmit speech and communicate with a
base station. The new technology is detailed in "
 We do not speak of 'minicomputers' today, but if we did, what would come to mind is
not an EIA 19" equipment rack packed full of equipment. Only network servers with
teraflops of computing power and/or petabytes of data storage are configured thus
these days. 'Minis' in 1972 sported microprocessors that handled 8- or 16-bit words
and a whopping 32 kBytes of operating system and program execution memory. FORTRAN,
ALGOL, and BASIC were the languages of choice - with no object-oriented code in
sight. Don't laugh at the poor slobs of computer yesteryear or congratulate yourself
for living in an enlightened ...
 "The most precise measurement ever of the
mass of the proton suggests that the particle is a tiny bit lighter
than the current accepted value. Although the difference is less than one part in
10 billion, it has a statistical significance of 3σ. The measurement was made
by Sven Sturm of the Max Planck Institute for Particle Physics and colleagues, who
compared the cyclotron frequency of the proton to that of an ionized carbon-12 atom.
The particles were held in a Penning trap using magnetic and electric fields. The
fields cause a charged particle to follow a looping orbit that is defined by the
cyclotron "
 "This webinar will provide a brief overview
of
spectrum analysis and traditional spectrum analyzers used by engineers
and technicians involved in modern RF and microwave communications and demonstrate
how Anritsu utilizes its patented non-linear transmission line technology to shatter
the cost, size, and performance barriers associated with these traditional spectrum
analyzers. Recent technology improvements in semiconductors, components, cable connectors
and test equipment are now making it possible for millimeter wave frequencies to
be used "
 "A new approach to sending
acoustic waves through water could potentially open up the world
of high-speed communications to activities underwater, including scuba diving, remote
ocean monitoring, and deep-sea exploration. Binary data representing the word 'Berkeley'
is converted by a digital circuit to information encoded in independent channels
with different orbital angular momentum. The transducer array sends the information
via a single acoustic beam with different patterns. The colors in the helical wavefront
show different acoustic phases. By taking advantage "
Monday 10
Triad RF Systems announces the availability of their
TTRM1078D bi-directional solid state power amplifier for UAS radio
links utilizing MIMO technology. It is capable of high 20 W output per channel
for QPSK operation and 4 W/channel for higher data rate applications such as
64QAM OFDM This class AB LDMOS module is designed for both military and commercial
applications. It is capable of supporting any signal type and modulation format,
including but not limited to 3-4G telecom, WLAN, OFDM, DVB
 It is well known that American
automobile manufacturers really dropped the quality ball in the
mid-1970s through about 1990. Foreign car makers were gaining increased access to
domestic markets with designs that had more efficient engines and transmissions
with superior materials and techniques, and corrosion control was much better than
most American cars that often began to exhibit rust bubbles underneath the paint
within a year or two - particularly in regions where roadways were salted for controlling
ice and snow. People (like me) who bought used cars
were leery about a vehicle with more than 70k-80k miles on them because it was almost
3G Shielding Specialties
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Application specific and standard product lines. Design services available. Their
three primary areas of focus are waveseal enclosure shielding,
3Gmetalworx
board level shielding, and wavexorb
microwave absorbers. Please visit the 3G Shielding Specialties website now to see
whether they can help
 Note the image is labeled with "S" and "D"
(source and drain) along with the symbol for a BJT.
"By combining graphene with another two-dimensional material, researchers at Chalmers
University of Technology in Gothenburg have created a prototype of a transistor-like
device which uses electron spin as the information carrier.
Spintronics, as it is called, can result in electronics that are
significantly faster and more energy efficient. What the research group at Chalmers
University of Technology has demonstrated is that graphene, which is an excellent
electrical conductor, also has unsurpassed spintronic "
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