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of the May 2018 homepage archives.
Sunday 20
 At least 10 clues with an asterisk (*)
in this technology-themed crossword puzzle are pulled from this past week's
"Tech Industry Headlines" column on the RF Cafe homepage. 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. You will never find
among the words names of politicians, mountain ranges, exotic foods or plants,
movie stars, or anything of the sort. You might, however, see someone or
something in the exclusion list who or that is directly related...
Friday 18
Bandwidth Efficiency Techniques Learned
from Cave-Dwelling Fish
 "A new light-based device, demonstrated recently
by researchers, could mimic a fish's incredible
Jamming Avoidance Response (JAR)
ability. JAR is a behavior performed by some species of fish when their
discharge frequencies are very similar, each fish will shift its discharge
frequency to increase the difference between the two fish's discharge
frequencies. By doing this, both fish prevent jamming of their sense of
electroreception. Moving the frequency of an emitted signal away from other
signals that could potentially cause interference can eventually help overcome
the spectral bandwidth crunch caused by the ever increasing numbers..."
 Robert Balin created this
Electronic Factor Quiz for the November 1966 edition of Popular Electronics
magazine. Your challenge is to match the drawing of a particular electronics circuit
or implement with the corresponding "factor." Examples are "current amplification factor,"
"damping factor," "modulation factor," "duty factor," "form factor," "quality factor,"
etc. There are ten in all. Of course on a quiz like this you cannot get just one answer
wrong - or any odd number for that matter. I managed to reverse #5 and #10 (I and B,
respectively). For some reason I couldn't remember what "form factor" was, but was sure
that #10 was a scale factor of sorts... wrong - a clear case of cranial rectumitis...
 Nigel Chapman and Fiona Wilson, of the UK's
AceAxis, have authored a short paper
titled, "PIM in Mobile Broadband Networks - Measurement and Management."
"Passive Intermodulation (PIM) is an unpleasant side effect of the successful
deployments of mobile networks, and is a problem that is growing in impact as
complexity increases with the deployment of 4G and - in the very near future -
5G networks. PIM has the potential to degrade the efficiency of a cell site, and
this network degradation directly impacts the edge of cell performance and/or
the throughput of the cell site. What is PIM? PIM is a form of intermodulation
distortion that occurs in components that are normally thought of as linear..."
 "Some useful frequencies are elusive or
simply unknown to many engineers, so it wouldn't hurt to take some time and dig
through the FCC 'bible' of federal regulations. If your application is
relatively simple, you have even more choices than you know. Studying the FCC
rules and regulations 'bible,' the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 47 Parts
15, 18, 95 and others you can discover some interesting possibilities. Of late,
I learned of one alternative that fits basic industrial needs and eliminates the
complexity of complying with some of the more well-known standards. This may be
of interest if you're designing wireless applications..."
Thursday 17
 "Researchers from AMOLF and the University of
Texas have demonstrated a micrometer-sized optical circulator consisting of a silica
microtoroid to which tapered optical fibers feed incoming light beams.
In a paper titled 'Optical circulation in a multimode optomechanical resonator'
published in Nature Communications, the researchers highlight that for the first
time, an optical circulator was designed 'magnet-free,' relying on tiny
mechanical vibrations imparted to a glass ring to directionally route light on
an optical chip. 'Light propagation is symmetric in nature, which means if light
can propagate from A to B, the reverse path is equally possible..."
 This handful of
Ham-related comics appeared in the November 1965 issue of Popular
Electronics. One of them has an operator using "oboe" as the phonetic alphabet
version of the letter "O." Having never seen that before, I did a search and
learned that the British Forces in World War II uniquely used "oboe" for the
letter "O." Maybe the artist, Walt Miller, was either a member of the British
Forces or hung around (or served in the military) with someone that was. For
that matter, using "able" for the letter "A" is also a British thing. This
Silent English phonetic alphabet is interesting. I guarantee you'll appreciate
the others as well, or double your money back...
Centric RF is a company offering from stock various
RF and Microwave coaxial
components, including attenuators, adapters, cable assemblies, terminations, power
 dividers,
and more. We believe in offering high performance parts from stock at a
reasonable cost. Frequency ranges of 0-110 GHz at power levels from 0.5-500
watts. Order today, ship today! Centric RF is currently looking for vendors to
partner with them. Please visit Centric RF today...
  Michael Hopkins, founder of CurrentRF, published
an article in High Frequency Electronics magazine titled, "Sensitivity and PSRR Enhancement of RF Amplifiers." Michael developed
the RFDAC methodology and Current Reuse Mixer, and more recently, the PowerOptimizer
and Silicon Supercapacitor methodologies and technologies. "Utilizing the
Silicon Super Capacitor IP demonstrates a substantial improvement in analog and
RF circuit sensitivity and signal cleanliness due to the additional effective
capacitance the device and IP cell provide. With the increased effective
capacitance per unit area with respect to standard DCAPs and the higher levels
of noise immunity, increased amplifier sensitivity and spectral cleanliness can
be achieved, and dynamic current flow from the supply minimized. The Silicon
Super Capacitor IP..."
 Maybe it's just because black and white photos
don't offer the visual stimulus of vivid color that we're used to seeing nowadays, but
these images used to evoke a sense of awe and wonder at displays featured at the
1964 New York World's Fair don't quite hit the mark. Disney played a large role in
the building of the displays. Audiovisual and robotic technology were the main themes
of the event, and no doubt they were impressive at the time, although the recently posted
video of Boston Dynamics' "Atlas" robot / humanoid running through a field puts General
Electric's Progressland's "Grandpa" to shame. Each will give you a different kind of
nightmare. Note Elon Musk's comment on "Atlas." Melanie and I went to Disney
World / Epcot Center on our honeymoon in May of 1983 (it first opened in Fall of
1982), and saw what was billed as first walking, talking humanoids where Mark
Twain...
 "Nanotechnologists at Oregon State University's
College of engineering have developed a way of fabricating
transparent
transistors onto sharply curved surfaces, building on research to develop
glucose sensors that can be wrapped around a tube. Although the research was
originally directed towards diabetes treatments, and these may be an important
application for the technique, it has potential for many other medical
applications. The original research was intended to manufacture a catheter that
could be inserted into the bloodstream of a diabetic patient to continuously
measure glucose..."
Wednesday 16
 Jiri Polivka has an article in Microwaves &
RF magazine that has a different type of topic - using
noise
to measure various properties of materials. Any time you can exploit an entity
what would otherwise be considered wasteful and/or a nuisance it is a good
thing. Says Jiri, "Noise can hide details, but it can also reveal them. If
properly used, noise will tell a great deal about a device under test (DUT),
including when a DUT is raw material. For example, the Microwave Noise Field
(MNF) test method has the capability to test different objects that can move..."
 "Since first being awarded in 1901, most
Nobel
Prizes for science have gone to the U.S., the UK, Germany and France. An empirical
study by Professor Claudius Gros from the Institute for Theoretical Physics at
the Goethe University in Frankfurt has now shown that the Nobel Prize
productivity in these countries is primarily determined by two factors: a
long-term success rate, and periods during which each country has been able to
win an especially large number of Nobel Prizes. For the study, Nobel Prizes for
physics, chemistry and medicine were assigned proportionately, since up to three
scientists can share..."
 If you like word puzzles, then maybe you'll want
to give this
word search with names of common electronics components hidden within a matrix of
random letter a go. It appeared in a 1965 issue of Popular Electronics
magazine. Keep that in mind while searching for the Mystery Word. Enjoy...
 Assun Motor has been added to my
Motors & Fans vendor listing
page. Assun Motor manufactures miniature motors and precision motion control
technologies for performance-critical applications. Custom engineering services
are also available. Planetary gearboxes, DC brushed coreless motors, DC
brushless motors, and encoders comprise their main product line. Factories in
Singapore and China...
Electro-Photonics LLC is a global supplier of
RF & Microwave components.
Our products include SMT hybrid and directional couplers, wire bondable passive components,
filters, and very useful test boards for evaluating components (spiral
 inductors,
single-layer capacitors). The Electro-Photonics team can support your small R&D design
requirements with RF & Microwave test fixtures and save you valuable design and characterization
time. Please take a moment to visit their website and see how your project might benefit...
 "Cloaking devices
play a pivotal role in many sci-fi television programs. Scientists are now
working to take this technology from the dramatic realm of science fiction and
make it real. Amanda D. Hanford, at Pennsylvania State University, is taking the
introductory steps to make acoustic ground cloaks. These materials redirect
approaching waves around an object without scattering the wave energy,
concealing the object from the sound waves. Hanford will describe the physics
behind an underwater acoustic shield designed in her lab. Hanford and her team
set out to engineer..."
Tuesday 15
 The
Old Farmer's Almanac (OFA) has been on my annual need-to-buy list for as
long as I can remember. It is chock full of useful data for sunrise and sunset
times*, high and low tide times, crop planting days, first and last frost days,
and significant astronomical events. There are stories of interest on topics
ranging from canning your garden's harvest to how to view a solar eclipse. -
often from noted authors, but also from lay people. I also enjoy the monthly "on
this day" type tidbits and the homey short story relating to the time of year.
After 225 years of continuous publication, it still features the hole in the
upper left corner to facilitate handily hanging it on the wall of your shed --
or outhouse. I gave a 1961 edition of the Old Farmer's Almanac found on eBay to
Melanie as a birthday present this year...
 "DARPA, industry fund research into high-gigahertz
and terahertz spectrum for '6G' smart road. The industry is just getting started with 5G, but
New York University's Tandon School of Engineering - home of NYU Wireless and
the Brooklyn 5G Summit - is joining in the Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency's research on potential technologies for technology beyond 5G. The school
now supports the DARPA-sponsored Joint University Microelectronics Program
(JUMP)..." p.s. Here is the first known news article on
6G.
 Many people end on RF cafe as a result of a Google
(or other) search about electronics, so even though regular visitors might find this
primer on
Ohm's law to be redundant review, it will be valuable to the aforementioned people.
Electronics technology has moved forward at lightning speed in the last century, but
the fundamentals of Ohm's law remain unchanged. Indeed, we would be in trouble if voltage
no longer equaled the product of current and voltage (E = I x R).
National Radio-TV News magazine was published monthly by National Radio
Institute, a correspondence school that did business from 1914 through 2002. A
bonus electronics-themed comic is included...
 Axiom Test Equipment recently posted a new blog
entry titled, "Making Measurements That Keep EVs and HEVs on the Road."
Electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) are gaining in
popularity; seemingly as they gain in the range of each battery charge. Both EVs
and HEVs rely on high-voltage batteries and an electric motor; in addition, an
HEV is aided by a gasoline engine with its own fuel supply. Both types of
vehicles still employ lower-voltage batteries and electrical systems for lights,
radios, electric windows, and other voltage-driven functions. Of course, among
the key functions in an EV or HEV is charging the high-voltage...
 Since 1961, MECA Electronics
manufactures an extensive line of RF & microwave components for in-building, satellite, radar,
radio, telemetry, mobile radio, aviation & ATC. Attenuators, directional & hybrid
couplers, isolators & circulators, power
 dividers & combiners, loads, DC blocks, bias-Ts
and adapters & cables. MECA has long been the 'backbone' of high performance
wired and air-interfaced networks. Please visit MECA today to learn how they can
help with your projects...
 "A trade group representing hundreds of U.S. utility
companies is urging federal agencies to make sure that power and electricity providers
retain control of
interference-free spectrum
so they can continue to operate their own private wireless networks. And,
importantly, the Utilities Technology Council noted that part of the reason
utilities need their own licensed spectrum is because “utilities have built out
and maintained their own ICT networks, rather than outsourcing service from
commercial telecommunications carriers. Utilities require high levels of
reliability that traditional..."
Monday 14
 "Continuing with the theme of 5G and 'firsts,'
NTT DoCoMo
says it has achieved what is believed to be the world's first successful 28 GHz
wireless data transmission between a 5G base station and a 5G mobile station in
5G field trials using a car moving at 305 km/h, or about 189 mph. The speeds in
the field trials are designed to be similar to speeds of high-speed railways, so
it's understandable the operator wants to make sure it works, including
handoffs, at these kinds of speeds. Working with NEC and Nippon Telegraph and
Telephone Corporation (NTT)..."
 This exercise would make a good laboratory experiment
for high school or junior college electronics courses. The required components are still
readily available - Borax is in the cleaners aisle of the grocery store. In the days
before vacuum tubes, when scientists had a need to
rectify alternating current power supplies they used chemical devices
similar to the one described here. Ironically, this chemical rectifier is a form
of semiconductor diode; albeit in a liquid state rather than in the eventual
solid state. Note that the rectifier symbol in the schematic is actually the
chemical device created in the first step - not a vacuum tube as it might appear
to be...
 Messrs. David Randall and Christopher Welser of the
National Association of Scholars recently created a paper titled, "The Irreproducibility Crisis of Modern Science: Causes, Consequences,
and the Road to Reform." It addresses what has become an epidemic in
publishing scholarly papers making claims that cannot be reproduced by other
qualified researchers (Fake Dissertations). Men can now legally occupy bathroom
stalls next to little girls simply by identifying as female, so it comes as no
surprise. Truth is now subjective rather than objective. "A reproducibility
crisis afflicts a wide range of scientific and social-scientific disciplines,
from epidemiology to social psychology. Improper use of statistics, arbitrary
research techniques, lack of accountability... and a scientific culture biased
toward producing positive result..."
 "PRB Logics Corporation, an independent distributor
of obsolete components and excess inventory, is a minnow in the electronics supply chain.
But the owner of the company, which is based in Costa Mesa, California, has been arrested
for perpetuating a big problem. Rogelio Vasquez, also known as his alias James Harrison,
was recently arrested and charged with bootlegging
counterfeit chips,
some of the which could have been used in military applications, federal customs
officials said. His company allegedly sold the components as new..."
Sunday 13
 Each week, for the sake of all avid cruciverbalists
amongst us, I create a new
technology-themed crossword puzzle using only words from my custom-created
lexicon related to engineering, science, mathematics, chemistry, physics,
astronomy, etc. You will never find among the words names of politicians,
mountain ranges, exotic foods or plants, movie stars, or anything of the sort.
You might, however, see someone or something in the exclusion list who or that
is directly related to this puzzle's theme, such as Hedy Lamar or the Bikini
Atoll, respectively. Enjoy!...
Friday 11
 Here is installment #3 of the four sets of reader
submissions of inane remarks (ostensibly) uttered by
electronics-challenged nincompoops. One of the funniest - and even
believable - is about 300-ohm twin lead antenna wire flattening out the picture
with color television. If you have funny anecdotes you would like to have
published, send them to me and I'll be glad to add a few seconds to your
lifetime allotment of 15 minutes of fame...
 Triad RF Systems has released the
TTRM1105, a compact and lightweight bi-directional amplifier that operates in the
lower C-band from 5300 to 5900 MHz and offers up to 5 W of output power. The
TTRM1105 also features new proprietary high speed Tx/Rx switching circuitry, as
well as improved Rx Noise Figure, leading to higher data rates at longer link
distances. This unit also has a wide voltage input range of 10 to 28 VDC making
system integration less of a hassle. This class A GaAs module is designed for
both military...
 Here for your enjoyment at the end of another
week are three more vintage
electronics-themed comics - this time from a 1966 issue of Popular Electronics
magazine. The "quarter-inch Mylar" referenced in the title is recorder tape used
in the very popular machines of the day. Not only were serious" music
aficionados huge proponents of the medium, but so were the many recreational
users. There was a sort of mystique involved with being able to record and
instantly play back even normal conversations - sort of like with videos these
days, except there is no mystique anymore because most users couldn't care less
about the technology which enables their proclivities...
 This pre-recorded "mmWave and Prototyping" webinar is currently available for downloading.
Featured papers include "Users with Incumbent Fixed Stations over 70 and 80 GHz," "5G
mmWave Positioning for Vehicular Networks," and " Field Experimental Evaluation of Beamtracking
and Latency Performance for 5G mmWave Radio Access in Outdoor Mobile
Environment." Sponsored by National Instruments...
 Please welcome Rohde & Schwarz as an RF Cafe
sponsor. Rohde & Schwarz is one of the world's leading manufacturers of information
and communications technology products for professional users. R&S began business
with a focus on RF engineering and RF applications in test and measurement, radio communications
and broadcasting. They are now introducing the
RTM3000 and RTA4000 oscilloscopes.
Please visit Rohde & Schwarz today to see how they can assist you...
 "The impact of the U.S. denial order preventing
ZTE from doing business with any U.S. companies has been made brutally clear in a ZTE
investor filing. 'As disclosed in the announcement of the Company dated 20 April 2018,
BIS has issued an order for the activation of a denial order,' said the filing. As a
result of the
Denial Order,
the major operating activities of the Company have ceased. As of now, the
Company maintains sufficient cash and strictly adheres to its commercial
obligations subject to compliance with laws and regulations. The Company and..."
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