 Friday 31 Thursday 30 Wednesday 29  That's a mighty familiar-looking Yagi antenna configuration with reflector and director elements - implemented with gold deposited on a glass substrate. "Physicists from the University of Würzburg have developed a low-footprint optical nano antenna that measures only 800 nanometres in size. The physicists used the antenna to convert electrical signals into photons and radiated them in specific directions. Directional antennas convert electrical signals to radio waves and emit them in a particular direction, allowing increased performance and reduced interference. This principle, which is useful in radio wave technology, could also be interesting for miniaturized light sources. After all, almost all internet-based communication utilizes optical light communication..."
 Mark Miller, of Pasternack, has an article on the Electronic Design website entitled, "Waveguide Makes a Comeback in 5G - for Antennas." Says Mr. Miller: "Waveguide is taking on a new role in the next generation of wireless systems in small form factors considered inconceivable before. For most design engineers, study of waveguide technology ended when they got their last degree. The only time waveguide comes up is to use it as a last resort in applications such as mmWave measurements, where coaxial cable is too lossy, expensive, and fragile. That's not to say waveguide isn't used anymore, but it's not considered 'modern' technology and of little use in applications such as wireless. However, that perception is beginning to change, and the needs for waveguide's benefits at mmWave frequencies for 5G are driving substantial amounts of research..."
 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. Since the conception of WFT, we have introduced products that have been purchased by a wide range of customers, from hobbyists to education facilities to government agencies. Worldwide customers include Europe, Australia, and Asia. Please contact Windfreak today to learn how they might help you with your current project.
Tuesday 28  Each month Radio & TV News magazine contained a section entitled, "What's New in Radio," which reported on some of the latest happenings in the fields of commercial, military, space, transportation, broadcast, and all other forms of wireless communications. This 1958 issue show the world's first volume production airborne digital computer, designed by Hughes Aircraft Company, installed in the nose of a U.S. Air Force F-102A Delta Dagger fighter jet (built by Convair). The 456th Fighter Interceptor Squadron website has a lot of information about the Hughes MA-1 Digitair computer and its integration with airborne radar to create a flight control system that could guide aircraft to a target for ordinance (bombs, missiles) deployment. Other topics included a wideband oscilloscope from Electronic Industries (EIC) that handled a whopping 5 MHz...
 Paul Rako has a useful article over at Electronic Design entitled, "How to Select a Fuse." Not all fuses are created equal however, to paraphrase Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence. "Fuses for Electronics" and "Selecting the Proper Fuse"" are a couple articles I've posted on the topic from vintage magazines. Paul begins, "It's easy to trivialize the need for a fuse and how to select one. We have all been annoyed or exasperated by a blown fuse. Sometimes we wish there was no such component needed for our circuits. With the advent of electrical distribution in the 1800s, fuses became an essential device in preventing fires. Electrical systems need them for the same reason. Electronic systems have the same fire concerns and they need fuses as well..."
 Custom MMIC is a fabless RF and microwave MMIC designer entrusted by government and defense industry OEMs. Custom and off-the-shelf products include switches, phase shifters, attenuators, mixers and multipliers, and low noise, low phase noise, and distributed amplifiers. From next-generation long range military radar systems, to advanced aerospace and space-qualified satellite communications, microwave signal chains are being pushed to new limits - and no one understands this more than Custom MMIC. Please contact Custom MMIC today to see how they use their modern engineering, testing and packaging facility to help your project.
 ThinkRF Corporation, the leader in software-defined spectrum analysis, today announced the launch of the ThinkRF™ Surveillance System for in place monitoring and bug detection to secure facilities or to understand channel utilization for dynamic signal allocation. The complete surveillance system allows government agencies and enterprises to locate unauthorized RF signals more quickly and cost-effectively, even in difficult indoor environments, such as large corporate office buildings, government facilities, and other secure locations. The system is comprised of a ThinkRF R5x50 Real-Time Spectrum Analyzer, combined with the Kestrel Technical Surveillance Countermeasures (TSCM) Professional Software, as well as omni-directional or optional directional antennae, and all other required equipment in an easily transportable case. The fully integrated, networkable system can be deployed...
 For a given semiconductor compound, the maximum operational speed of a transistor is governed pretty much by its gate thickness. Capacitance and impurities along with lithography precision and accuracy are the culprits. Shrinking gate sizes and growing crystals with greater purity has driven operational speeds upward significantly over the years. An equivalent set of issues plagued vacuum tube development a century ago. The physical spacing of grid elements wrt each other as well as to the cathode and plate placed an upper limit on amplification bandwidth. As always, judicious study of the underlying causes led to the development of new designs that, along with improved manufacturing techniques, overcame existing barriers and, also as always, exposed yet a new set of limiting criteria for conquering...
 "A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in France and one in the U.S. has found that objects of different mass dropped in space fall at a rate within 2E-12% of each other. In their paper published in the journal Physical Review Letters, the group describes their satellite-based physics study and what they learned from it. Most everyone has heard the story of Galileo dropping two different sized cannon balls from the Tower of Pisa in the 17th century to demonstrate his theory that in the absence of air resistance, two objects will fall at the same rate. Einstein later refined the theory and added it to his Theory of General Relativity. Since that time, many people have tested the theory, and it has always been confirmed. Still, some physicists believe that there are bound to be exceptions to the theory because of the disconnect between general relativity and quantum mechanics..."
 Since 2003, Bittele Electronics has consistently provided low-volume, electronic contract manufacturing (ECM) and turnkey PCB assembly services. It specializes in board level turnkey PCB assembly for design engineers needing low volume or prototype multi-layer printed circuit boards. Free Passive Components: Bittele Electronics is taking one further step in its commitment of offering the best service to clients of its PCB assembly business. Bittele is now offering common passive components to its clients FREE of Charge.
Monday 27  Upon seeing this advertisement by Bell Laboratories for their "Twistor" form of magnetic memory data storage in a 1958 issue of Radio News magazine, my thought was that it was just another flash in the pan, so to speak, in the history of breakthrough, paradigm-changing inventions. It was a variation of the non-volatile magnetic core memory that used sections of ferromagnetic wire twisted around copper wire in such a way that electrical currents directed to particular intersections in an x-y grid would cause a magnetic orientation to be set (store a bit) and a set or read and sense wires permitted detection of the stored magnetic field to be determined (read a bit). The Twistor was hailed as a much more manufacturable form of the magnetic core memory, which required production workers with small hands and finger to manually thread...
 News headlines are filled with stories about how certain segments of the society are routinely excluded from participation in activities which have been historically 'dominated' by adult white males. Not only have 'outsiders' been prevented from engagement, but, you would likely conclude based on the invective words that drip from the pens and/or mouths of those reporting, tireless campaigns have been mounted to see to it that exclusiveness continues. I will agree that there have been instances of preferential treatment by some groups and people, but I also know many attempts have been made over the decades to attract other than white males into all kinds of activities normally associated with white males. In fact, it is not a stretch to say many specialty groups go out of their way to make a big deal out of non-typical persons interested in joining. Here is one of many examples that appeared in a 1935 (yes, 1935) edition of Short Wave Craft where the editor, Hugo Gernsback, encouraged women and girls to get involved in amateur radio...
 RF Cafe typically receives 8,000-15,000 website visits each weekday and about half that on weekends. RF Cafe is a favorite of engineers, technicians, hobbyists, and students all over the world. With more than 8,000 pages in the Google search index, RF Cafe returns in favorable positions on many types of key searches, both for text and images. New content is added on a daily basis, which keeps the major search engines interested enough to spider it multiple times each day. Items added on the homepage often can be found in a Google search within a few hours of being posted. I also re-broadcast homepage items on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. If you need your company news to be seen, RF Cafe is the place to be. Advertising begins at $45/month.
 "Analog machine learning hardware offers a promising alternative to digital counterparts as a more energy efficient and faster platform. Wave physics based on acoustics and optics is a natural candidate to build analog processors for time-varying signals. In a new report on Science Advances, Tyler W. Hughes and a research team in the departments of Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, California, identified mapping between the dynamics of wave physics and computation in recurrent neural networks. The map indicated the possibility of training physical wave systems to learn complex features in temporal data using standard training techniques used for neural networks. As proof of principle, they demonstrated an inverse-designed..."
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. Since the conception of WFT, we have introduced products that have been purchased by a wide range of customers, from hobbyists to education facilities to government agencies. Worldwide customers include Europe, Australia, and Asia. Please contact Windfreak today to learn how they might help you with your current project.  Copper Mountain Technologies (CMT) has produced a series of videos to help users of its diverse line of VNAs get the most out of their extensive capabilities. Proprietary features in both hardware and software supplies VNAs designed by CMT with capabilities far beyond similar equipment by other companies. This video entitled, "Time Domain Reflectometry Measurements with a Vector Network Analyzer," is one of a series of videos that can be found on the Copper Mountain Technologies website. Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) has traditionally been performed using a fast oscilloscope and a very sharp impulse or step type excitation. Reflections from the excitation are measured at the source and distance and the magnitude...
 Innovative Power Products (IPP) has over 30 years of experience designing & manufacturing RF & microwave passive components. Their high power, broadband couplers, combiners, resistors, baluns, terminations and attenuators are fabricated using the latest materials and design tools available, resulting in unrivaled product performance. Applications in military, medical, industrial and commercial markets. Take a couple minutes to visit their website and see how IPP can help you today.
Sunday 26  As with my hundreds of previous engineering and science-themed crossword puzzles, this one for January 26, 2020, contains only clues and terms associated with engineering, science, physical, astronomy, mathematics, chemistry, etc., which I have built up over nearly two decades. Many new words and company names have been added that had not even been created when I started in the year 2002. You will never find a word taxing your knowledge of a numbnut soap opera star or the name of some obscure village in the Andes mountains. You might, however, encounter the name of a movie star like Hedy Lamarr or a geographical location like Tunguska, Russia, for reasons which, if you don't already know, might surprise you...
|  On February 5th at 12:30 pm ET, Keysight Technologies will present a live-streamed event entitled, "RF Back to Basics Seminar." You can attend the entire entire event or simply join for your topic of interest. "This seminar will improve your understanding of basic RF measurement, design and simulation techniques. Recent engineering graduates involved in RF and engineers or technicians transitioning to RF will benefit from this seminar. Attendees should have a good understanding of basic electrical engineering principles. Sessions include RF/microwave signal chain and network analysis, transmit and receive signal chains, key characteristics for design and measurement, network analysis, transmission line theory, S-parameters, Smith Chart, and impedance measurements / matching techniques..."
 Sam Benzacar of Anatech Electronics, an RF and microwave filter company, has published his January newsletter that features his short op−ed entitled "Some Good News on IoT Wireless Protocol Incompatibility," which gives kudos to the many independent IoT device manufacturers who are making their products with in[ter]compatible - rather than incompatible - communications protocols. Was there no organized industry collaboration effort for this before a group called "Open Connectivity Foundation" introduced itself at CES 2020? Sam also mentions Amazon's new 900 MHz "Sidewalk" longer range, low datarate device protocol. Verizon believes that 5G can eventually replace Wi-Fi, reversing the trend for small Wi-Fi cells filling the bandwidth gap...
Very unusual types 
RF Cafe typically receives 8,000-15,000 website visits each weekday and about half that on weekends. RF Cafe is a favorite of engineers, technicians, hobbyists, and students all over the world. With more than 8,000 pages in the Google search index, RF Cafe returns in favorable positions on many types of key searches, both for text and images. New content is added on a daily basis, which keeps the major search engines interested enough to spider it multiple times each day. Items added on the homepage often can be found in a Google search within a few hours of being posted. I also re-broadcast homepage items on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. If you need your company news to be seen, RF Cafe is the place to be. Advertising begins at $45/month.  RF Cascade Workbook 2018 is the next phase in the evolution of RF Cafe's long-running series, RF Cascade Workbook. It is a full-featured RF system cascade parameter and frequency planner that includes filters and mixers for a mere $45. Built in MS Excel, using RF Cascade Workbook 2018 is a cinch and the format is entirely customizable. It is significantly easier and faster than using a multi-thousand dollar simulator when a high level system analysis is all that is needed. An intro video takes you through the main features...
 With more than 780 custom-built symbols, this has got to be the most comprehensive set of Visio Stencils available for RF, analog, and digital system and schematic drawings! Every object has been built from scratch to fit proportionally on the provided A- and B-size drawing page templates (you can use your own page if preferred). Components are provided for equipment racks (EIA and ETSI) and test equipment, system block diagrams and conceptual drawings, and for schematics...
 This assortment of custom-designed themes by RF Cafe includes T-Shirts, Mouse Pads, Clocks, Tote Bags, Coffee Mugs and Steins, Purses, Sweatshirts, and Baseball Caps. Choose from amazingly clever "We Are the World's Matchmakers" Smith chart design or the "Engineer's Troubleshooting Flow Chart." My "Matchmaker's" design has been ripped off by other people and used on their products, so please be sure to purchase only official RF Cafe gear. My markup is only a paltry 50¢ per item - Cafe Press gets the rest of your purchase price. These would make excellent gifts for husbands, wives, kids, significant others, and for handing out at company events or as rewards for excellent service. It's a great way to help support RF Cafe. Thanks...
 RF Cafe's raison d'être is and always has been to provide useful, quality content for engineers, technicians, engineering managers, students, and hobbyists. Part of that mission is offering to post applicable job openings. HR department employees and/or managers of hiring companies are welcome to submit opportunities for posting at no charge (of course a gratuity will be graciously accepted). 3rd party recruiters and temp agencies are not included so as to assure a high quality of listings. Please read through the easy procedure to benefit from RF Cafe's high quality visitors...
|  "Medical implants of the future may feature reconfigurable electronic platforms that can morph in shape and size dynamically as bodies change or transform to relocate from one area to monitor another within our bodies. Researchers from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology and the University of California, Berkeley report a silicon honeycomb-serpentine reconfigurable electronic platform that can dynamically morph into three different shapes: quatrefoils (four lobes), stars, and irregular ones. 'Quatrefoils can be used for rectangular object-based operation, while stars are for more intricate architectures, and irregular-shaped ones are specifically for implanted bioelectronics..."
 "MIRAIT Corporation, a leading information & communication engineering solutions provider and Metawave Corporation, developer of data communication antenna and in-vehicle millimeter-wave radar, have conducted radio wave propagation experiments in the quasi-millimeter wave band (20 to 30 GHz) using metamaterial reflectors. They confirmed that the result reached the expected performance level. MIRAIT is working to accelerate the technological development of the next-generation 5G mobile communication system, and emerging enterprise local 5G, which will start in earnest in the spring of 2020. Metawave has state-of-the-art technology in this field. Since last December, MIRAIT has been evaluating to confirm the practicality of Metawave's metamaterial reflectors..."
 "What makes a job nearly perfect? It's a combination of salary, demand (the number empty posts waiting to be filled), and job satisfaction, according to job search firm Glassdoor, which this week released a list of the best jobs in America for 2020. Using median base salaries reported on Glassdoor in 2019, the number of U.S. job openings as of 18 December 2019, and the overall job satisfaction rating (on a scale of 1 to 5) reported by employees in those jobs, the company put front-end engineer in the number one spot, followed by Java developer and data scientist. That's a switch previous trends; data scientist held the number one spot on Glassdoor's top jobs list for the four previous years. In fact, you don't hit a non-tech job until the 8th ranking, where speech language pathologist claims the spot, boosted by astronomical demand..."
 "New program aims to develop wideband adaptive RF circuit technology to mitigate interference from external and self-generated signals. Today's electromagnetic (EM) spectrum is a scarce resource that is becoming increasingly congested and contested as friendly, unfriendly, and neutral entities vie for available spectrum resources at any given time, location, and frequency. Within the Department of Defense (DoD), radio frequency (RF) systems, such as communications networks and radar, must operate within this congested environment and contend with mission-compromising interference from both self- and externally generated signals. A desire to support wideband EM spectrum operations also adds to the burden, as current approaches to mitigating wideband receiver interference..."
 "The General Motors electrical integration lab at the Warren Technical Center wades through the chore of testing the multitude of electronic devices in modern cars. Time was when General Motors' engineering and validation functions were part of the same organization, according to Gary Bandurski, executive director of global electric components and subsystems. That was before the disastrous GM ignition key scandal, when cars inadvertently switched off while driving. Checking your own work is a bit of the fox guarding the henhouse, Bandurski observed, so now GM has a separate global validation organization led by executive director Kristin Siemen to check out the engineering team's innovations. "
 Not sure how I missed this, but on July 21th,
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