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3 of the February 2018 homepage archives.
Friday 9
 "Research groups from University of Jyväskylä and
Aalto University (Finland) together with researchers from Caltech and Aarhus University
(iNANO Center, Denmark) have reported a new highly parallel technique to fabricate precise
metallic nanostructures with designed plasmonic properties by means of different self-assembled
DNA origami
shapes. The so-called DALI (DNA-assisted lithography) method has been published
in the latest issue of Science Advances. 'We can build virtually any nanoscale
shape using a DNA origami..."
 The Long Island RF / Microwave Symposium & Exhibits
takes place on Thursday, April 5, 2018. It is the area's premier annual event
that brings together the microwave, millimeter-wave & RF community. This event
is free for attendees but you must register in advance. All Long Island
engineers, managers, students and technical professionals involved in these
fields are invited. Registered attendees will receive admission to the exhibit
floor, technical lectures, lunch, the networking event and dinner. The first 200
registered attendees...
 Prior to the advent of earth-orbiting satellites,
very long range communications like between continents was dependent on the state of
the various ionosphere levels. There is never a completely predictable "open" channel
from point A to point B. A satellite repeater, however, while not always in a position
to be within view of both points, at least is predictable based on a published ephemeris
of times and positions. The first
OSCAR (Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio), now governed by AMSAT,
was launched in December of 1961. This 1973 article in Popular Electronics
mentions OSCAR 6, which was launched in October 1972...
 The TTRM1116 is a high power, lightweight L-band
bi-directional amplifier for use with UAV Video, Control, and Telemetry data
links. Its small form factor coupled with its high power density make this
amplifier a versatile solution for UAVs of any size. This amplifier has been
field proven to provide a UAV with over 120 km of data link distance. This class
AB GaN 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...
 "As thousands of spectators looked on, the rocket,
developed by Musk's firm
SpaceX,
lifted clear of Cape Canaveral's launch pad 39a on [February 6], marking what
will surely be seen as a defining moment in the history of the private space
sector. With the launch, the vehicle has become the most powerful operational
rocket in the world by a factor of two. Composed of three Falcon 9 nine-engine
cores whose 27 Merlin engines together generate more than five million pounds of
thrust at liftoff, the spacecraft is able to lift into orbit..."
 "U.S. Air Force researchers are ready to kick
off a $33.6M five-year sensor-fusion program to enhance the effectiveness of surveillance
radar by blending-in
electro-optical
technologies like visible-light, infrared, multispectral, and hyperspectral
sensors. Officials of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air
Force Base, Ohio, revealed plans this week for the Precision Real-time
Engagement Combat Identification Sensor Exploitation (PRECISE) project. PRECISE
seeks not only to fuse several different RF and electro..."
Thursday 8
 "The FCC is set to consider an agenda item at
its next open commission meeting on Feb. 22 that proposes to open up gobs of new
spectrum above 95 GHz.
If approved, the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking would seek comment on adopting
rules for fixed point-to-point use of up to 102.2 GHz of spectrum in various
bands, as well as making up to 15.2 GHz of spectrum available for unlicensed use
in several band segments and creating a new category of..."
 Cellphones have not mitigated the need for or
use of
Citizen Band (CB) radios. Many truckers like them because they are
still an anonymous means of communications that is hard to track back to a particular
user. Cellphone apps do a pretty good job of providing road and traffic condition reporting,
but you can still key up your CB mike and ask for a status and likely get it. My first
CB radio was a 23-channel Realistic job bought at Radio Shack. That was in 1986 - my
senior year in high school. At the time, the FCC required you to submit a
Form 505 - Application for Class C or D Station License in the Citizens
Radio Service to transmit. Even though I now have my Ham license (KB3UON),
some people still consider me a "10-4 Good Buddy" operator because I did not have to
take the Morse Code test ;-)...
 If you think science-challenged politicians grandstanding
in the media to gain - ostensibly, but unfortunately likely - favor with their constituents
is a new phenomenon, take a look at this. On almost a daily basis these days we have
elected doofuses pretending to be experts in physics, climatology,
chemistry, medicine, economics, and other realms of learned science, when all
they are really are mouthpieces for special interest lobbyists whose clients
have lots of money for elections. At the risk of being too repetitive, I have to
point out the brilliant congressman from Georgia who thought that the...
 Based
in South Korea, RF &
Connector Technology (RFCT) is a prime worldwide supplier of RF coaxial
connectors and cable assemblies. All popular combinations of connectors and
cables are available. RFCT also produces a line of directional couplers, surge
arrestors, power combiners / splitters, attenuators, terminations, and antennas
for GPS and wireless applications. Please visit RFCT today and thank them for
their support...
 Mr. Paul Herzig,
of Raytheon, just sent the final batch of
Watkins-Johnson
Tech-Notes. There are now 82 of them, from vol. 1 through vol. 18, posted in
downloadable PDF format. You might not have a immediate need for Parallel
Testing of Magnetic Bubble Memories (v13-1), but many of the topics contain
information that is still very relevant to modern system design and testing;
e.g., Gain of Directional Antennas (v3-4) and Image-Reject and Single-Sideband
Mixers (v12-3)...
 "Like many humans,
lithium-ion batteries typically don't like the cold, which means
they don't perform well at freezing temperatures. Now researchers in China may have solved
this problem by developing a new lithium-ion battery system that can endure unprecedented
temperatures even as low as -40 °F giving it potential for use as an EV battery
that doesn't succumb to cold weather. A team from Fudan University in Shanghai
has developed a cold-enduring hard-carbon anode and a lithium-rich..."
Wednesday 7
 Those of us who have been making measurements
on electrical and electronics equipment for a long time are well aware of the need to
be certain that the ground (common) lead of a piece of test equipment - oscilloscope,
multimeter, or other instrument - is never connected to a point in the circuit
that is above ground potential. Doing so can be dangerous and/or destructive. If
the test point is above ground potential, connecting the ground lead to it
creates a direct short to ground, which can destroy the device under test (DUT)
or at least cause the measured signal to be altered...
 Rohde & Schwarz has published a white paper
titled, "Antenna Basics."
This white paper describes the basic functionality of antennas. Starting with
Hertz's antenna model followed by a short introduction to the fundamentals of
wave propagation, the important general characteristics of an antenna and its
associated parameters are explained. A more detailed explanation of the
functionality of some selected antenna types concludes this white paper.
Download for free...
 "Current computer systems represent bits of information,
the 1's and 0's of binary code, with electricity. Circuit elements, such as transistors,
operate on these electric signals, producing outputs that are dependent on their inputs.
The field of
photonic computing aims to achieve that goal by using light as the
medium. Ritesh Agarwal's research on photonic computing has been focused on
finding the right combination and physical..."
 This
RF Electronics Basics
quiz targets those of you who are newcomers to the world of radio frequency
(RF) electronics, but seasoned vets are welcome to give it a go as well. People
have reported using material from these quizzes as fodder for interviewing
potential candidates. All quizzes are multiple choice and answers are
provided...
 A new application example illustrates key models
and simulation capabilities within
NI AWR Design Environment,
specifically Visual System Simulator™ (VSS) system simulation software, that
enable radar system architects and RF component manufacturers to design,
validate and prototype a radar system. This integrated platform provides a path
for digital, RF and system engineers to collaborate on complex radar system
design. Modern radar systems are complex and depend heavily on advanced signal
processing algorithms to improve their...
 "Fog computing is expected to play a major role
in meeting the needs of future 5G networks. The technology has been boasted as an effective
way to provide the low latency promised by the 5G New Radio standard. With plans to roll
out nationwide 5G by 2020, the convergence of 5G and
fog computing
is anticipated to be an inevitable consequence of bringing processing tasks
closer to the edge of an enterprise's network. What is fog computing? Fog
computing involves extending cloud capabilities, such compute, storage and..."
Tuesday 6
 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. Whitepaper topics include careers,
manufacturing, and engineering, while magazine titles include Microwave
Engineering Europe, Electronic Design, and Microwave Product Digest...
 "There is increasing interest in making broader
use of the millimeter wave frequency band for communications on small mobile platforms
where narrow antenna beams from small radiating apertures provide enhanced communication
security. Today's millimeter wave systems, however, are not user friendly and are designed
to be platform specific, lacking interoperability and are thus reserved for only the
most complex platforms. To expand the use of millimeter wave
phased-arrays
and make them broadly applicable..."
 My first exposure to
hot-carrier diodes was in the detector sections of the s-band airport surveillance
and x-band precision approach radar systems I work on in the USAF. I had no idea what
a hot-carrier diode - or for that matter what a Schottky diode, its alternate name -
was at the time. Come to think of it, I do not recall them ever being referred to specifically
as hot-carrier or Schottky diodes - just "diodes." This Electronics World
article from Hewlett Packard engineer Stephen Adam provides some background into
hot-carrier diodes, including how their low barrier potential, small junction
capacitance, low noise, and short...
 EMV 2018 will take place February 20 -
22, 2018, in Dusseldorf, Germany. EMV compromises the whole spectrum of
electromagnetic compatibility (EMC). At the exhibition you will meet the
industry's leading companies for EMC-equipment, components and EMC-services. At
EMV you find individual solutions and profit from diverse potentials...
 Fairview Microwave has unveiled a new series of
low insertion loss repeatability
electromechanical switches. These electromechanical switches exhibit low
insertion loss repeatability which is guaranteed over millions of switching
cycles. This performance is extremely useful to help maintain overall system
measurement accuracy. Typical applications for these switches include test
instrumentation, research and development, electronic countermeasures,
electronic warfare, microwave radio, space systems and radar...
 "Supercapacitors are electronic components which
can act like batteries, storing and releasing charge quickly.
Flexible
supercapacitors have been made before, but can only be shaped and stretched in predetermined
ways, limiting their suitability for clothing applications. The Singapore team, from
the School of Materials Science and Engineering of Nanyang Technical University,
has been working on this topic for some years, and now claims to have developed
a far more versatile material..."
Monday 5
 VidaRF offers a line of
isolators
and circulators covering frequencies from 150 MHz to40 GHz, with reflected
power levels up to 250 W. Coaxial (SMA, BNC, N, TNC, etc.), drop-in, surface mount,
and waveguide configurations are available. Low intermodulation products (-80 dBc),
low insertion loss, and high isolation are standard. Panted and sealed to IP65 standards. Please
visit vidaRF today for your needs...
 The final architecture of 5G cellular networks
has yet to be carved in stone. However, it looks as though millimeter waves, with their
ability to obtain wider bandwidths, will play an important role in 5G - the next generation
of mobile phones. The combination of these bands along with directional
phased-array antennas,
in which radio waves can be steered electronically in a desired direction, will
constitute one of the key technologies in future 5G cellular systems. While
there have been...
 Prior to the emergence of
silicon-based semiconductors, selenium and copper(cuprous)-oxide rectifiers were
the alternatives to vacuum tubes. Copper-oxide (Cu2O) was popular as a small
signal detector since its forward voltage drop was similar to a Schottky type
diode - typically around 0.2 V. Copper-oxide diodes were used in radios and test
equipment meters. Selenium (Se) has a forward voltage drop of around 1 V, but
its high reverse voltage withstanding of 20 V or more made it popular for
voltage rectification, with as many layers as necessary being stacked serially
as required. Selenium rectifier stacks...
 Precision Ruggedized VNA Cables from ConductRF
offer RF Engineers great alternatives to costly OEM cables that are now past their best
days. We have many standards for applications at 18 GHz, 27 GHz and 40 GHz.
Our torque resistant connector heads and phase stable constructions ensure great performance
for many tests to come. ConductRF
VNA series provides customers with reliable ruggedized solutions for lab and
production VNA testing...
 This looks like a major step forward. Keysight
Technologies today unveiled PathWave,
the industry's first software platform that integrates design, test, measurement and
analysis. As a result, PathWave enables customers to accelerate innovation and product
development from concept through manufacturing and deployment. PathWave is based on Keysight's
industry-leading, proven expertise to ensure consistency, accuracy and
measurement integrity...
 "Two years ago, we covered research out of the
University of Manchester that demonstrated that graphene-based membranes could serve
as a filter for cleaning up nuclear waste at nuclear power plants. While it's not clear
that this particular application for the
graphene membranes
ever made much headway in nuclear waste cleanup, they did discover an
interesting phenomenon about these graphene membranes in the ensuing two years:
protons can transport through graphene..."
Sunday 4
 At least 10 clues with an asterisk (*)
in this
technology-themed crossword puzzle are pulled from this past week's (1/29 -
2/2) "Tech Industry Headlines" column on the RF Cafe homepage (see the Headline
Archives page for help). A couple even include Super Bowl-related news. For the
sake of all the avid cruciverbalists amongst us, each week I create a new
technology-themed crossword puzzle using only words from my custom-created
related to engineering, science, mathematics, chemistry, physics, astronomy,
etc. Enjoy!...
Friday 2
 TGIF, as the saying goes. Here are a couple new
vintage
electronics-themed comics for your enjoyment as you wind down the work week.
My favorite is the one with the lady in the vacuum cleaner repair shop. The
other comic is pretty good, too. Having lived toward the end of the vacuum tube
era, my memory of the equipment is good enough to appreciate it. You might want
to e-mail this page link to your friends. A big list of all the posted
tech-themed comics is at...
 "The latest camera research is shifting from increasing
the number of megapixels towards fusing data with
computational processing. You may be pleased with the camera technology
in your latest smartphone, which can recognize your face and take slow-mo
video in ultra-high definition, but these technological feats are just the start
of a larger revolution. The latest camera research is shifting away from
increasing the number of megapixels towards fusing camera data with
computational processing. By that, we don't mean the Photoshop style of
processing..."
 Well shazam, I found a radio service datasheet
that had been missed. This one for the
Sparton Selectronne Model 1068 brings the grand total to 220 that have been scanned
and posted here on RF Cafe. They appeared in various formats in Radio-Craft,
Radio News, and Radio & Television News magazines. It was in the
1930s that pushbutton tuning appeared in most radio sets, both tabletop and floor-sitting
console models. Those mechanical pushbutton tuner mechanisms were pretty impressive.
The Selectronne also sported a popular visual tuning indicator called the Viso-Glo
tube. It was not...
 BeRex announces the availability of the BSW6321
and BSW6421 high isolation, high linearity, low insertion loss,
SPDT switches optimized for Wi-Fi, CATV and 5G applications. Using a single
2.7 V-5.5 V supply voltage, the BSW6321 and BSW6421 switches provide a wide 1 to
6,000 MHz frequency range when used in either 50 Ohm of 75 Ohm systems. They
utilize a patent-pending technology that provides the industry's highest
isolation of 50 dB at 2.45 GHz...
 Thanks
to Mr. Paul Herzig, of Raytheon, for writing to tell me that the hyperlink I originally
had to the
Watkins-Johnson
Tech-Note collection on the TriQuint website is no longer valid. Qorvo (formerly
RF Micro Devices, RFMD) took them down after acquiring TriQuint a few years ago. They
were all still available as of September 2015, but alas no more. Paul provided many of
the Tech-Notes in the following list for posting directly on RF Cafe. Also, I discovered
that some of the original TriQuint web pages can still be accessed via the Wayback Machine™
on the Archive.Org website...
 "A bug in the software used by
Google Cast devices such as Chromecast and Home can slow down or
crash WiFi networks. The problem - initially believed to be isolated to a particular
router model made by TP-Link - appears to affect models made by other manufacturers,
including Asus, Linksys, Netgear and Synology. Complaints on a Google user forum brought
the problem to light earlier this week. Forum user Alastair Hadden's network
problems started after installing Google..."
Thursday 1
 Thanks to Choong S.Y. for writing to let me know
that the Directional Coupler calculator worksheet was not displaying negative dBm power
values, which has been fixed.
RF Cafe Calculator Workbook is now at v7.4, and is still available as a free
download...
 "Electric fields drive
nano-motors a 100,000x faster than previous methods. Scientists have
developed a novel electric propulsion technology for nanorobots. It allows molecular
machines to move a hundred thousand times faster than with the biochemical processes
used to date. This makes nanobots fast enough to do assembly line work in molecular factories.
Scientists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed a novel electric
propulsion technology for nanorobots. It allows molecular machines to move..."
 Would you work a 44-hour week for $127? That's
$6,600/yr, or $2.89/hr for a highly skilled
electronics technician in 1969. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics'
Inflation Calculator, the equivalent pay in 2017 would be $45,703.89/yr, or $19.98/hr. A
quick look at the current pay rate for an E4 pay grade in the USAF is $2,139/mo ($25,668/yr).
That does not factor in free housing, meals, and medical care (including for all dependents)
- which has significant value. GlassDoor reports the average salary for an
electronics technician in 2017 was $42,390. That amount is actually a bit lower
than the 1969 average. Assuming the present...
 Windfreak Technologies designs, manufactures,
 tests and sells high value USB powered and controlled
radio frequency products such as RF signal generators, RF synthesizers, RF power detectors,
mixers, up/downconverters. Worldwide customers include Europe, Australia,
 and Asia. Please contact Windfreak today to learn
how they might help you with your current project...
 The TA1109 is a small form factor circuit card
amplifier designed to be integrated into
CubeSat and NanoSat satellite systems. Weighing in at less than a half an
ounce, the TA1109 is perfect for applications where small size and weight
reduction is critical. Operating at 2000-2500 MHz, the TA1109 offers up to 4 W
of output power, with a voltage input range of +9 to +14 VDC. This class AB GaN
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...
 Here is a screwdriver bit set that you most likely
do not have, but needed at some point while trying to open a small electronic device.
This
electronic device toolkit includes miniature security bit types
 pentalobe, tripoint, Y-Torx, triangle, and spanner
hex, plus, tweezers, a pry puck, and other stuff. For bigger jobs there is this heavy
duty
Neiko 100-piece security bit
set that even includes a wing nut bit (not for use on officemates)...
 "The
Global Certification Forum is laying out its roadmap for 5G device
certification, with a newly approved work item that will cover certification for early
phases of both non-standalone and standalone 5G. With 5G chipset work well underway and
network equipment already in the field-testing stage, commercial devices that can utilize
5G technology are a big step in ensuring that users can actually take advantage of 5G
networks as they emerge. Most 5G devices for testing are currently prototypes - or in
the case...
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