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Wednesday 20
 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. Flexible, conformable &
semi-rigid, phase & amplitude stable, low loss & high power, phase differential as
low as ±0.2 °/GHz, many connector types, indoor & outdoor solutions. A broad base
of standard connectors and cables in stock, we turn solutions around fast ...
 "As demand grows for more versatile, advanced robotics
and other technologies, the need for components that can enable these applications also increases.
Producing such components en masse has been a major challenge. But now, in ACS Applied Materials &
Interfaces, researchers report that they have developed a way to help meet this need by printing
electronics that can fold themselves into a desired shape. Creating small
electronic pieces with specific architectural designs can now ..."
 Each month (unless I forget) I post a list of articles
with advice on
career enhancement including tips on preparing resumes, conducting yourself properly at
interviews, getting along well with co-workers, handling a difficult boss, etc. I also
post links to polls and studies done on career satisfaction, pay rates, education and experience
levels, years in the field, etc. Those types of articles have been around since Johannes Gutenberg
invented the movable type printing press. In the 1970s, Popular Electronics rand
a series of articles titled "Opportunity Awareness" that offered such advice, much of which
in principle is still valid today. One of the biggest advantages you can give yourself ...
 "There, his new specimens
joined his collection and waited patiently as only rocks can
until he could find time to analyze them." -
Kat McGowan, "Where Did It Begin?"
September / October 2017 Popular Science (p41).
 Glenn Robb, owner / engineer from Antenna Test Lab
Company sent me this very excellent whitepaper he just wrote titled "Circularly Polarized Antennas Explained, Without the Math." As promised,
his tutorial introduces the concept of circular polarization in electromagnetic waves and
then describes how he measures and reports results in a spreadsheet using automated antenna
positioning and frequency sweeping. Antenna Test Lab Co's evaluation service includes fully
circular polarization antenna evaluations at no extra charge. Practical antenna evaluations
with 2D or 3D patterns in hundreds of test directions (and frequencies) are available for
$450 ...
 "Chang Gung University and Episil-Precision in Taiwan
claim the first demonstration of in-situ silicon nitride (SiNx) gate dielectric aluminium
gallium nitride (AlGaN) barrier metal–insulator–semiconductor high-electron-mobility transistors
(MISHEMTs) on 6-inch silicon on insulator (SOI) substrates. The devices showed improved DC,
dynamic and radio frequency (RF) performance over the same structures grown on HR Si ..."
Tuesday 19
 "Under development
by an MBDA-led consortium which includes Qinetiq, Leonardo-Finmeccanica, Arke, BAE Systems,
Marshall and GKN the so-called
Dragonfire
system will be a 50 kW class directed energy weapon designed for use on both land and
sea. Laser weapons have key advantages over traditional systems: the munition is potentially
unlimited, and it operates at the speed of light so the time from when you say "fire" to the
weapon hitting its target is more or less instantaneous. According ..."
 Maybe I'm
just easily impressed by effective simplicity, but I really like the Bluetooth homepage animation
demonstrating the ubiquitous connectivity theme of "mesh is here." Interconnecting lines in the mesh moving in relation to
all the nodal points is a great way to illustrate the flexibility of the system. The one scenario
the Bluetooth SIG doesn't show is how "mesh" enables tracking of your movement, which can
easily be correlated with cellphone activity, credit card usage, etc. Surely the collective
data would never be abused. If you're not doing anything wrong, then there's nothing to worry
about -- right? ...
 Popular Electronics ran a monthly news roundup
feature titled, simply, "Communications."
Included were tidbits on CB, SWL, HAM, RTTY, FAX, TV, SSB, AM, FM, CW, and ISB. I know that
because those are the acronyms in the string along the perimeter of the page's title. This
particular column was chosen because of the weird-looking Elser-Mathes Cup that will commemorate
the 1st amateur radio 2-way communications between Earth and Mars." I thought it as an artifact
of some primitive tribe's religious rite, but in fact those are Martians in the carving, not
Earthly savages ...
 "Building on a half
century of unprecedented chip scaling and technology innovation, DOD is going back to basics
in an attempt to reseed a U.S. electronics sector that has contributed mightily to the nation's
economic and national security. The
Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency put more skin in the game with a batch of program announcements
worth $75 million over the next year as part of its Electronics Resurgence Initiative (ERI)
launched in June ..."
 I
made the rounds of employment
advice websites and pulled out these useful ones for September. A rather strange result
is two articles written for Monster, one suggesting jobs for introverts and the other for
extroverts. The strangeness lies in how both list contain the same job types - not sure of
that was intentional or not.
•
Can Your Alma Mater Influence Lifetime Earnings? •
How to Bargain for the Best Possible Salary •
Resume Tips & Career Advice for Entry-Level Engineers •
Gender
Quotas in the Workplace •
How Americans
Perceive the Workplace <more>
 "The Amateur Radio Club at Yale University (W1YU) was
the host for the 2nd annual
Collegiate Amateur Radio Initiative (CARI) forum at the ARRL New England
Division Convention, September 8–10, in Boxboro, Massachusetts. ARRL CEO Tom Gallagher, NY2RF,
who — in light of the increasing number of reactivated and newly formed radio clubs at colleges
and universities — has been a prime mover behind the League initiative, opened the session.
Four presentations by participating institutions followed. Sean Barnes, N3JQ, of Harrisburg ..."
Monday 18
 KR Electronics part number
3012-160 is a
160 MHz bandpass filter designed for Positive Train Control (PTC) applications. Encapsulated
for enhanced shock and vibration resistance, 50 Ω source and load, N(F) to N(M) connectors.
The filters are encapsulated/ruggedized for enhanced shock and vibration resistance. Thousands
are currently installed and operating successfully in the field with major rail companies.
Other frequencies and bandwidths are available ...
 Sainty-Tech Communications
(STC） is an ISO 9001 certified company. We provide our customers with excellent
RF & microwave products
including coax connectors & cable assemblies, couplers, filters, combiners & dividers,
attenuators & terminations, circulators and isolators, and precision machined parts. All
the products are 100% tested before shipping. Customization is also possible. Please visit
STC today ...
 Reading this kind of article takes me back to my days
of
building prototype circuits as an electronics technician at Westinghouse Electric's Oceanic
Division in Annapolis, MD. It was without a doubt the best technician job I ever had. In fact,
working with über engineer Jim Wilson and a few others is what really drove my determination
to get an electrical engineering degree of my own. Laying out perf boards for resistors, capacitors,
inductors, LEDs, switches, etc., and soldering all the point-to-point connections, then testing
(and sometimes fixing miswirings) was a great gig. Drilling and labeling the project box with
the dry transfer rub-ons in an attempt to make everything look as "real" ...
 Axiom Test Equipment, a provider of efficient and cost
effective solutions customers' test equipment needs, offer the following special deals on
their inventory. 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 ...
 "Nut & Volts" is one of my favorite magazines because
of all the good project and theory articles presented in layman's terms. I have to read it
online nowadays because my print subscription ran out last year. This article by Matthew Bates
shows how to build a simple - but very functional -
induction
charger for wirelessly charging appropriately fitted devices. It uses a PICAXE 08M2 microcontroller
to generate the 12 kHz signal, but you could substitute something else like a 555 timer
if you do not have the equipment to program the 08M2 ...
 Since 2001,
Antenna Test Lab Co has evaluated countless antennas and RF transmitter
products. With a fully anechoic  chamber, antennas can be quickly developed and RF products
refined and deployed. Mounting surfaces like drywall, glass, wood, and even curved metal
 simulated
automobile available. The price for a standard resolution
2D or 3D field pattern plot is only $450 - for
a passive or radiating antenna. That is an incredible deal!
 "The fourth-tallest building in San Francisco continues
to sink after
sinking over 17 inches already. Engineers are working to quickly find
a solution to save the multimillion-dollar condos inside the building. One of the largest
luxury towers in the San Francisco area is rapidly sinking, and engineers don't know how yet
to fix the problem. Since being finished, the building has sunk 17 inches (43 cm) and tilted
14 inches (36 cm) toward the street. Millennium Tower is a high-rise luxury residential complex ..."
Sunday 17
 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. At least 10 clues in this puzzle with an asterisk (*)
are pulled from this past week's (9/11 - 9/15) "Tech Industry Headlines" column on the RF
Cafe homepage (see the Headline Archives page for help). Enjoy ...
Friday 15
 Keysight Technologies today announced the latest release
of its SystemVue electronic system level (ESL) software. Offering unique phased-array antenna
and other 5G functionality, Keysight EEsof EDA's
SystemVue 2017
provides designers with the industry's first 5G design and verification process. SystemVue
is the industry's premier simulation platform for system design and verification. The software
enables users to combine existing baseband, RF and channel models for evaluation of the entire
system ...
 "Engineers at the University of California, Davis have
designed a new high-frequency electronic computer chip with amazing capabilities. The chip
has the potential to transmit tens of gigabits of data in mere seconds, and dramatically change
the course of information technology by making it faster, more streamlined, and far more effective
than current models. The chip is designed using a
phased array antenna system. The system takes energy from various sources
and funnels them into a single beam. The final product is a chip that operates at 370 GHz
with 52 GHz of bandwidth ..."
 Uh-oh, I'd better issue a sensitivity warning before
going on, because this article reports on electrocution data gathered via empirical testing
that demonstrates a difference between men and women, especially since men fared better. Charles
Dalziel, inventor of the ground fault interrupter (GFI) circuit, subjected men and women to
increasing electrical current levels to determine how much each could take and still be able
to release the small wire carrying the shocking current to their hands. The average "let-go
current" was found to be 16 mA for men and 10.5 mA for women. Clearly sexism
is present somewhere in the test ...
 Skyworks today announced that its
SkyOne® Ultra
2.5 and diversity receive (DRx™) modules for mobile applications have been adopted by
some of the world's leading machine-to-machine (M2M) module manufacturers to provide high
performance, high speed 4G LTE capability. These fully integrated and tested systems, packaged
in extremely small form factors, enable M2M suppliers including Fibocom, Sierra Wireless,
and Telit to extend plug and play, high-speed cellular connectivity across an endless array
of IoT ...
 "The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity
(IARPA) agency is looking for ground-based imaging technology powerful enough to clearly capture
satellites in faraway geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO), according to the Office of the Director
of National Intelligence. Advanced
interferometry
technology will be the key to rapid and accurate imaging of GEO satellites that travel some
36,000 km above the earth, according to the IARPA broad agency announcement. One solution ..."
Thursday 14
 Pasternack, a leading provider of RF, microwave and
millimeter wave products, has released a new series of
relay controlled programmable attenuators. Typical applications include
signal conditioning and level control, matching impedances of sources and loads and measuring
the gain or loss of two-port devices. Relay Controlled Programmable Attenuators offer accurate
and stable performance with very low harmonic distortion (IMD) and cover multiple RF frequency
bands down to DC ...
 This is another of a series of articles (PCBs) that
appeared in the October 1969 issue of Electronics World, reporting on the latest
and greatest advances in printed circuit board technology. Already in production were rigid
multi-layer laminates, flexible plastic laminates, and special-purpose laminates for hazardous
duty applications. Author Norman Skow does not mention how many layers were routinely accomplished
at the time. Plated-through holes were a relatively recent thing for high volume manufacturing.
Of course population of PCB components was still a completely manual procedure since pick-and-place
machines were still a couple decades away ...
 Anatech Electronics, a manufacturer of RF and microwave
filters, has published its August newsletter. In it, Sam Benzacar discusses the Federal Communication
Commission's relatively new (2015) three-tiered "spectrum sharing" scheme titled
Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS). It provides for 150 MHz
of spectrum between 3550 and 3700 MHz. Don't be fooled by the name, though. The "Citizens
[broad]Band" nomenclature harkens back to Citizen Band (CB) radio (27 MHz), but CBRS
spectrum will be sold to the highest bidder in 10 MHz chunks that are subordinated to
primary user claims. So, don't be looking ...
 Radiocrafts AS,
a leading provider of RF modules and wireless connectivity solutions, provides a new ultra-low
power radio module platform for Smart Metering, Internet of Things (IoT) and Wireless Sensor
Networks applications. The new compact RF module is also suitable for 6LoWPAN based IP networks.
The RC18x0 Radio Module platform is a series of compact surface-mounted ultra-low power RF
modules based on the CC1310 system-on-chip from Texas Instruments. The modules ...
 "Despite earning lower salaries on average than their
colleagues in other sectors, UK
engineering
academics are considerably happier in their jobs, according to The Engineer's 2017 Salary
Survey. Based on responses from 2743 engineers working across 11 different sectors, this year's
survey – which was published earlier this summer – found that despite receiving the lowest
average annual salary amongst UK engineers (£43,809), 61% of academics are content in their
current roles ..."
Wednesday 13
 "Engineers at Australia's University of New South Wales
have invented a radical new architecture for quantum computing, based on novel 'flip-flop
qubits', that promises to make the large-scale manufacture of quantum chips dramatically
cheaper - and easier - than thought possible. The new chip design, detailed in the journal
Nature Communications, allows for a silicon quantum processor that can be scaled up without
the precise ..."
 "Circuit prototyping traditionally requires tedious
layouts using CAD tools, transfer of those plans to a
printed-circuit
board maker, precise placement of components on the pc board using pick-and-place robots,
and then a wave soldering step to establish electrical contact between the components and
the board. Prototyping engineers wait weeks before they can test the circuit board, find its
flaws, and repeat the process until they get it right. The Charles Stark Draper ..."
 The October issue of Electronics World magazine
included many articles written by
printed circuit board (PCB) industry leaders regarding the state of the art. Multi-layer
PCB technology was still in its infancy at the time, with most prototype and production boards
being 1- or 2-sided. As with the switch from vacuum tubes to transistors, there were hold-outs
who resisted the change to PCBs - for good reason in some cases. A list of advantages and
disadvantages is presented both for and against, respectively, use of printed circuit boards.
One of the biggest advantages to point-to-point wiring was that circuit modifications ...
 VidaRF
offers DC to18 GHz hand formed semi-flex
cable assemblies. The outer shield is copper braid, silver plated to minimize signal leakage
and maintain flexibility for ease of bending to your requirement. Option to include insulated
clear or blue jacket reducing risk of shorting. Available in a wide variety of connector combinations.
Excellent return loss and insertion loss ...
 Saelig Company announces the availability of the compact
RTSA7550 Real-Time Spectrum
Analyzer - a powerful, full-featured spectrum analyzer designed to analyze wireless signals
in real-time (not progressively scanned). This is essential for seeing intermittent and frequency-varying
signals. The Model RTSA7550 has all the standard features of a conventional spectrum analyzer
such as frequency controls, marker functions, and multi-trace functionality. Instead of scanning
through a frequency range, the RTSA sees all frequencies at once, thus catching intermittent
signals ...
 "The Pentagon's recently completed
Electronic Warfare strategy calls for increased investment in advanced
electronic warfare technology designed for defense, as well as a proactive use of emerging
electromagnetic spectrum systems to attack enemies. While the new strategy is described by
DOD as being 'For Official Use Only' - to be shared with relevant U.S. military developers
and defense industry sources ..."
Tuesday 12
 A
press release came in yesterday from the folks at Peregrine Semiconductor boasting (deservedly)
about their ranking at 4th place in the Semiconductor category of the
IEEE's 2016 Patent Power Pipeline report.
An interactive bar chart and world map allows you to select from 17 categories (singularly
or mixed). Semiconductor Energy Laboratory (SEL) came in at #1, RF Micro Devices (RFMD, now
Qorvo) ranked #9 (BTW, there are some very talented former RFMD people I know who now work
for Peregrine). Qorvo is in 11th place. Rankings are based on records from the USPTO ...
 This is great! "This Brazilian pilot is in big trouble
for taking selfies thousands of feet up, even though the photos are fake. Pilotganso is a
well-known Instagrammer with 72K followers; he's gained a rabid following thanks to the incredible
selfies on his page showing the aviator hanging out the cockpit of a
Boeing 737 thousands of feet above the earth. His shots have many scratching
their heads as to whether they are in fact real. No, they're not. The Instagrammer, real name
Daniel Centeno achieves these aerial shots using ..."
 Experienced RF engineers, technicians, and hobbyists
employ
decibels in their writings and speech with the fluidity and familiarity of chemists discussing
pH levels, geneticists recommending DNA sequencing enzymes, astrophysicists calculating gravitational
lensing constants for massive galaxies, or vintage car motorheads calling out ignition timing
in reference to TDC (top-dead-center). This article by William Miller takes yet another shot
at helping those uninitiated in the realm of decibels to be effectively functional until an
eventual - and necessary - firm grasp of the concept is obtained ...
 "Scientists across Europe have hailed the dawn of a
new era of molecular research, thanks to the official opening of The European
X-ray Free
Electron Laser (XFEL), the largest and most powerful X-ray laser in the world. Based in
the German city of Hamburg, the billion Euro facility consists of a superconducting linear
accelerator and a photon beamlines housed in a 3.4 km long underground tunnel running
from the DESY research centre in Hamburg ..."
 NI AWR Design Environment V13 will be featured in a
variety of activities at EDI CON USA 2017, being held September 11-13 in Boston. Software
demonstrations in Booth #317 and conference presentations within the Low-Power RF & IoT,
Radar / Defense, 5G Advanced Communications and RF and Microwave Design technical tracks as
well as a power amplifier (PA) design workshop will all be showcased ...
 This is a good review for anyone who hasn't written
code in many moons. "Embedded C and C++ programmers are familiar with signed and unsigned
integers and floating-point values of various sizes, but a number of
numerical formats can be used in embedded applications. Here we take a
look at all of these formats and where they might be found. One reason for examining different
formats is to understand how they work and where they can be applied ..."
Monday 11
KR Electronics part number
3012-916 is a
916 MHz bandpass filter designed for Positive Train Control (PTC) applications. Encapsulated
for enhanced shock and vibration resistance, 50 Ω source and load, N(F) to N(M) connectors.
The filters are encapsulated/ruggedized for enhanced shock and vibration resistance. Thousands
are currently installed and operating successfully in the field with major rail companies.
Other frequencies and bandwidths are available ...
 "When it comes to design, there is likely no better
teacher than nature. While humans have produced an impressive number of gadgets, devices,
and systems, most of them are far less efficient and require far more in the way of inputs
than nature's designs do. The advent of
3D printing has changed all that, allowing for the possibility of producing
objects, with continuously variable properties from a single ..."
 "Mariner"
was the project name given to NASA's first fleet of interplanetary spacecraft, headed for
both Venus and Mars. When Mariner 4 launched for Mars in 1964, it marked the first time
mankind had successfully sent a probe to "the red planet." It radioed back Mars surface images
at a resolution of 2 miles across. Mariner 4's radio subsystem transmitted data back
to Earth at 2300 MHz. Depending on where Earth and Mars are in their orbits, it can take
anywhere between 4 and 21 minutes for signals to span the ether between them. That means if
a command signal is sent from Earth to a Mars craft and a response is immediately signal sent
back to ...
 "Chasing
the perfect battery is a fool's journey: a catchpenny, a sensation, a mechanism for swindling
the public by stock companies," wrote
Thomas
Edison in 1883. "Working on the latest, greatest battery brings out a man's 'latent capacity
for lying." July / August 2017 Discover magazine ...
 ConductRF invites
you to visit their design and sales team in booth #528 at Electronic Design Innovation Conference &
Exhibition (EDI CON) in Boston. The event runs September 11-13 at the Hynes Convention Center.
ConductRF offers off-the-shelf and custom RF coaxial connector and cable solutions for applications
up to 110 GHz ...
 "Unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV) may not require
on board crew to operate them, but they do require power. Re-charging used to mean surfacing
at the nearest ship or land base. Now, scientists at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center
Pacific (SSC Pacific) are developing technology that can
re-charge UUVs underwater. 'This type of technology is going to widen
the array of missions the Navy can use UUVs ..."
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