Homepage Archive - June 2018 (page 3)

These archive pages are provided in order to make it easier for you to find items that you remember seeing on the RF Cafe homepage. Of course probably the easiest way to find anything on the website is to use the "Search RF Cafe" box at the top of every page. About RF Cafe.

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Friday 29

Facts About Lightning Protection

Facts About Lightning Protection, July 1959 Electronics World - RF CafeLightning season is upon us once again. The National Weather Service says June, July, and August, are the most active lightning months in the U.S., which is probably true in all of the northern hemisphere, and then December, January, and February in the southern hemisphere. According to the National Safety Council, the average American has a 1:114,195 chance of being killed by lightning in a lifetime (which ends abruptly upon being killed). That's much less than your chance of dying due to cancer (1:7) or being killed in a car accident (1:102), but is sucks if you're that one in 114,195. Not all lightning strikes are fatal, but many cause personal and property damage. Mitigating the chance of being harmed requires taking some simple actions to not expose ...

"You Might Be an Engineer If..."

"You Might Be an Engineer If..." - RF CafeDesign News has a new batch of entries for the "You Might Be an Engineer If..." feature. How many describe you? The only one I don't agree with is that engineers are not (or should not be) concerned with proper grammar because language is too imprecise. It is one thing to end a sentence with a preposition or unintentionally misspell a word, but mixing up contractions like "your" and "you're," or "its" and "it's," is, IMHO, inexcusable. Engineers - and every educated person who knows better - should strive to set a good example for others  ...

What Is an Anechoic Chamber?

What Is an Anechoic Chamber? (Antenna Test Lab) - RF CafeGlen Robb, proprietor and chief engineer of Antenna Test Lab, has posted a series of short white papers on his company's website. Among them is one titled, "What Is an Anechoic Chamber?," which has, among others, the picture shown in this thumbnail that uses a mirrored room (i.e., a house of mirrors) to illustrate the concept of a space with infinite reflections. Identifying the true location of an image is difficult. Paint all the surfaces flat black and you have an optical wavelength anechoic chamber. If creating an RF nonreflective chamber was that easy, there wouldn't be as much need for enlisting the help of testing services - presuming you have an experienced test expert on hand. Fortunately, Glen is standing by awaiting your call ...

Comics with an Electronics Theme

Comics with an Electronics Theme, March 1965 Popular Electronics - RF CafeTGIF, and that means tech-themed comics from vintage electronics magazines if I happen to have any. You'll really appreciate the comic on page 96 of the 1965 issue of Popular Electronics. In a way, the drawing's concept was very prescient regarding the future of flexible, bendable circuits. A big part of the electronics world at the time centered around servicing all the newfangled circuits and test equipment for troubleshooting and aligning them. As is still true today, technology changed quickly and there was always a newer model television, radio, tape recorder, stereo system, video recorder, etc. Customer interactions and repair shop experiences ...

Capital-Gazette Newspaper Office Shooting

Capital-Gazette Newspaper Office Shooting - RF CafeI sat stunned yesterday while listening to the radio report of the shooting at the Capital-Gazette newspaper offices in Annapolis, Maryland. My father, Art Blattenberger, was the classified ad Art Blattenberger, Evening Capital Newspaper - RF Cafedepartment manager there for more than two decades, back when it was called the Evening Capital, and was located downtown on West Street. Even though Annapolis is 300 miles away from Erie, the event still feels close to home. My sisters still live in the area, but none work at The Capital.

300 GHz IC Enables Wireless Data Rates of 100 Gbps

300 GHz IC Enables Wireless Data Rates of 100 Gbps - RF Cafe"Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation and Tokyo Institute of Technology have jointly developed an ultra high-speed IC for wireless front-ends that operates in the terahertz frequency band. This new IC technology has achieved 100 gigabit per second (Gbps) wireless transmission data rates in the 300 GHz band. The details of the technology were presented at the 2018 IEEE MTT-S IMS 2018 in Philadelphia last week. Terahertz waves are being used for a wide range of research projects as this is one frequency where wide frequency bands ..."

Thursday 28

Carl and Jerry: Tunnel Stomping

Carl and Jerry: Tunnel Stomping, March 1962 Popular Electronics - RF CafeA year has passed since I last posted a Carl and Jerry high-tech saga. John T. Frye created the duo of teenage sleuths in 1954 for the very first issue of Popular Electronics magazine. More than 100 adventures carried Carl and Jerry from high school through college. Their practical jokes, crime solving, and mystery investigations incorporated microphones, timers, cameras, Ham radio, transformers, metal detectors, remote controllers, home brew circuits, photodetectors, and a host of other gadgets that could be pulled from a stash of parts in Carl's or Jerry's basement workshop, or borrowed from a friend. In this story, Carl and Jerry, now students at Parvoo University in Indiana, have an unexpected confrontation with a radio operator while exploring a campus ...

Miniaturization of EW Microelectronics for Self-Protecting Weapons

Miniaturization of EW Microelectronics for Self-Protecting Weapons - RF Cafe"The advent of precision guided weapon technologies has greatly reduced the military's 'cost per kill,' along with the associated logistics and supply costs for maintaining a large number of conventional munitions in inventory. Key to this advance is the integration of advanced guidance, navigation and control (GNC) systems using laser, electro-optical, infrared, radar and/or GPS signals to direct the weapon to its designated target. To counter this threat, adversaries are increasingly turning to electronic attack measures to disrupt the operation of these GNC systems. Mitigation of adversarial attack is accomplished through the integration of self-protection capability ..."

Color Codes Chart

Color Codes Chart, July 1959 Electronics World - RF Cafe"Who needs another color code chart?," you might be asking. Well, as is always the case there are new people coming into the electronics field all the time and they are looking for resources just as we were lo those many years ago when we were first smitten by the science. For that matter, a lot of seasoned electronics professionals and hobbyists decide to take on the task of refurbishing or repairing vintage equipment and need a quick reference for interpreting the colored dots and stripes on resistors, capacitors, and inductors, as well as the colors of transformer lead wires ...

Withwave Intros DC to 40 GHz T-Probes

Withwave Intros DC to 40 GHz T-Probes - RF CafeWithwave's T−Probe is coaxial probe that offers one signal pin on center and several fixed pitch ground contact with low inductance. This probe provides excellent electrical performance for applications having test point with adjacent grounds. They have various pitch ranges of 0.8, 1.5, 2.5 mm from signal to ground contacts and are produced by precision manufacturing process. The T−probe is available for signal probing test in these applications such as RF module signal insertion/output measurement , high speed digital & high frequency circuit board analysis ...

Rutgers Creates New Class of 2D Artificial Materials

Rutgers Creates New Class of 2D Artificial Materials - RF Cafe"In 1965, a renowned Princeton University physicist theorized that ferroelectric metals could conduct electricity despite not existing in nature. For decades, scientists thought it would be impossible to prove the theory by Philip W. Anderson, who shared the 1977 Nobel Prize in physics. It was like trying to blend fire and water, but a Rutgers-led international team of scientists has verified the theory and their findings are published online in Nature Communications. 'It's exciting,' said Jak Chakhalian, a team leader of the study and Professor Claud Lovelace ..."

Wednesday 27

The "Ins" and "Outs" of Resistor Pads

The "Ins" and "Outs" of Resistor Pads, July 1959 Electronics World - RF CafeNothing has change in the design and application of resistive attenuator pads since this article appeared in a 1959 issue of Electronics World. It could be legitimately reproduced verbatim in the August 2018 issue of any magazine. When you crank through the equations you will arrive at resistor values slightly different from those presented here because the author chose the nearest standard 5% tolerance resistor values. For instance the 10 dB, T-type attenuator for 75 Ω terminations shown in Figure 7 gives series branch resistors of 33 Ω and a parallel branch resistor value of 51 Ω. The result is an attenuator that does not present exactly the desired input and output impedances or the exact attenuation value. More precise values are 39.0 Ω and 52.7 Ω ...

RF Connector Usage vs. Frequency Chart from RFCT

RF Connector Usage vs. Frequency Chart (RFCT) - RF CafeAll RF connectors are not created equal. Aside from form factor, environmental (temperature, humidity, vibration, etc.) tolerance, power handling, and cable type accommodation, the RF characteristics must be considered for optimum performance. For example, you should never use a BNC connector for C-band satellite transceiver because the frequency is too high for acceptable s-parameters. An SMA connector, although rated through 18 GHz, would not be used at the output of a 100 kW VHF commercial broadcast TV power amplifier even though it operates at only a couple hundred MHz. RF & Connector Technology (RFCT) has a handy-dandy chart to help you choose your connector based on frequency ...

Channel Master Antenna Advertisement

Channel Master Antenna Advertisement, October 1959 Electronics World - RF CafeA few months ago I posted a write-up on the vintage Alliance Model U-100 Tenna-Rotor that I installed in the garage attic with a Channel Master CM5020 VHF / UHF / FM antenna atop it. There are not many television antenna manufacturers around anymore; their numbers have been decreasing continually due first to the advent of cable-delivered TV and now with Internet-delivered TV. The "cord-cutter" movement is helping to give over-the-air television broadcasting a rebirth due to the outrageous cost of subscription programming. Anyone contemplating installing a television antenna today has the same concerns as those back in 1959 when this Channel Master advertisement appeared in Electronics World magazine - gain, directivity, bandwidth, ruggedness ...

Qorvo Intros Ultra-Compact, GaN X-Band FEMs for Radar Applications

Qorvo Intros Ultra-Compact, GaN X-Band FEMs for Radar Applications - RF Cafe"Qorvo, a leading provider of innovative RF solutions that connect the world, high-performance, X-band front end modules (FEMs) designed for use in next-generation active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar. These export-compliant gallium nitride (GaN) products also meet the need for high RF power survivability essential for mission-critical operations. The demand for RF front end components for radar applications is expected to exceed $1B by 2022, growing at 9% CAGR over the next five years. The market for RF GaN devices ..."

Thanks to Antenna Test Lab Co for Continued Support!

Antenna Test Lab Co logoSince 2001, Antenna Test Lab Co has evaluated countless antennas and RF transmitter products. With a fully anechoic Antenna Test Lab Co Anechoic Chamber - RF Cafechamber, antennas can be quickly developed and RF products refined and deployed. Mounting surfaces like drywall, glass, wood, and even curved metal Antenna Test Lab Co 2D & 2D Patterns - RF Cafesimulated 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!

"World's Smallest Computer Dwarfed by a Grain of Rice

World's Smallest Computer Dwarfed by a Grain of Rice - RF Cafe"IBM threw down a challenge in March of this year when they built what they claimed was the world's smallest computer. The IBM computer is smaller than a grain of rock salt, but computing engineers around the world decided they'd attempt to go smaller. The challenge also didn't sit well with a team at the University of Michigan who previously held the record for world's smallest computer. After months of development, the Michigan team announced they've bested their corporate challengers. The computing device they created measures only 0.3 mm on a side ..."

Tuesday 26

The Photoelectric Effect in Stereo

The Photoelectric Effect in Stereo - RF Cafe"In the photoelectric effect, a photon ejects an electron from a material. Researchers have now used attosecond laser pulses to measure the time evolution of this effect in molecules. From their results they can deduce the exact location of a photoionization event. When a photon hits a material, it can eject an electron from it provided it has enough energy. Albert Einstein found the theoretical explanation of this phenomenon, which is known as the photoelectric effect, in Bern during his 'year of wonders' 1905. That explanation was a crucial contribution to the development of quantum mechanics, which was under way at the time, and it earned him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921 ..."

Antenna Orientation

Antenna Orientation, March 1965 Popular Electronics - RF CafeElectronics-themed comics are usually saved for Fridays, but what the hey; maybe you need some humor on Tuesday this week. At least three of these antenna-based comics required a harder look to determine what was happening and why it is humorous. One of those even requires a little technical insight to "get it." To see my take on the comics, highlight the text ...

Practical Wireless Magazine

Practical Wireless Magazine - RF CafePractical Wireless is Great Britain's largest selling amateur radio magazine. As with the ARRL's QST magazine, it has monthly reviews on the latest radio and test equipment, exclusive features, club event listings, building projects, and more. You can get a hard copy in the mail if you're willing to pay a lit extra for shipping Radio User magazine - RF Cafecharges. Bundle in a Radio User subscription and you will also receive features on all forms of radio listening - broadcast, airband, scanning, DXTV, weather satellites, amateur bands, decode, SSB utilities, numbers stations, milair and propagation. ...

The Oscilloscope as a Resonance and LC Tester

The Oscilloscope as a Resonance and LC Tester, February 1960 Electronics World - RF CafeAll of the oscilloscope measurement techniques presented in this 1960 Electronics World article apply to 2018 circuit measurements. Anyone who attended a high school or college electronics lab has created and measured capacitance, inductance and resonance using an o-scope as part of a classroom exercise. We all were wowed the first time we hooked up signal generators to both the horizontal and vertical deflection inputs and observed rotating Lissajous patterns on the display. Don't tell me you didn't twist the frequency and amplitude knobs of the sig gens with the delight of a kid playing with an Etch-A-Sketch. When I was taking labs in the 1970's and 1980's, school oscilloscopes were all analog ...

Spectrum Analyzer Software for SDRPlay Radios

Spectrum Analyzer Software for SDRPlay Radios - RF CafeRF Cafe visitor Tom M. sent a note to let you know about the SDRPlay spectrum analyzer software available for free downloading. Versions are available SDRuno spectrum analyzer display - RF Cafefor Windows, Mac, Linux, Raspberry Pi, Android, and ARM64 platforms. Powerful radio configuration and post-processing algorithms like this was available only in high-end commercial test equipment and military gear just two decades ago. Trench-coat-clad sleuths hid in shadows and maneuvered furtively in attempts to abscond with such magnificent technology. Today, even more capable products are available to anyone for a couple hundred dollars. It's a wonderful world ...

NASA Has a Deep Space Communications Hub in Desert

 NASA Has a Deep Space Communications Hub in Desert  - RF Cafe"In the 1950s, NASA engineers were looking for a quiet place to build a network of large radio antennas. The idea was to build a series of antennas with huge parabolic dishes and receivers that could detect extremely faint radio signals. After scouting multiple locations, they selected a remote stretch of the Mojave Desert near the ghost town of Goldstone and the U.S. Army's Fort Irwin - an area. This was a great choice as the region had no interference from power lines or commercial radio and television transmitters. The first antenna built at the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex was the aptly named Pioneer Station. The 85-foot antenna ..."

Monday 25

Open Radio Shack Sighted in Ashtabula, Ohio

Open Radio Shack Sighted in Ashtabula, Ohio (Kirt's Cogitation #304) - RF CafeWhile not quite the equivalent of an Elvis sighting, I was utterly surprised to see an open Radio Shack store in the Ashtabula Towne Square Mall during a recent trip to Ohio. As you can see in the photo, it is a shell of a store, with products on display only along the walls. Do you remember the days when every shopping mall and plaza had a Radio Shack crammed full of stereos, radios, calculators, antennas, computer accessories (and the TRS-80), toys, and of course a huge portion of the store dedicated to electronic project components? I had a "Battery Club" card for a couple decades, and a current catalog was always on my bookshelf. If, as the old saying goes, "Misery loves company," then the good folks at the Ashtabula Radio Shack can at least take some solace ...

Joining Aluminum and Steel for Lighter Vehicles

Joining Aluminum and Steel for Lighter Vehicles - RF Cafe"Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, funded by the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development an Engineering Center, have developed a new process for joining aluminum and steel parts with the aim of lightweighting combat vehicles for more agility and fuel efficiency. The development fills an important gap, particularly when it comes to joining thick aluminum plates with steel. The DoE's Vehicle Technologies Office is also examining the technology for automotive applications. Lab testing found that the joints resulting from the new process, called friction stir dovetailing (FSD), are not only stronger, but demonstrate 5 times higher ..."

Patent Infringers Beware

Patent Infringers Beware, July 1966 Popular Electronics - RF CafeAre you violating patent laws in your basement? Patent laws have changed since this article was published in 1966, but the tenets are basically the same - do your due diligence on prior work assignment before publishing any publicly accessible product (print or physical). Since part of Popular Electronics' raison d'être is to provide circuits for hobbyists to build and benefit from, the lawyer who wrote this piece focuses on such applications. He claims, at least according to 1960 patent law, "There are court decisions which hold that experimental use of a patented invention for the sole purpose of gratifying curiosity or a philosophical taste, or for mere amusement, is not an infringement." HOWEVER, before you conclude that this must still be the case, read this synopsis from the Ius Mentis website ...

Fairview Intros Line of Coaxial RF Surge and Lightning Protectors

Fairview Microwave Announces New Line of Coaxial RF Surge and Lightning Protectors - RF CafeFairview Microwave, a supplier of on-demand RF and microwave components, has just introduced a new family of coaxial surge protectors that were developed to protect wired and wireless communications equipment from indirect lightning strikes and power surges. Fairview Microwave's 45 new coaxial lightning and surge protectors were designed to be used in Wi-Fi networks, active antenna systems, cellular networks, GPS systems and public safety communications systems. These new high performance RF coax surge protectors feature VSWR as low as 1.1:1, max power as high as 2kW, multi-strike capability ...

Microelectrode Arrays Printed on Gelatin, Other Soft Materials  

Microelectrode Arrays Printed on Gelatin - RF Cafe"A joint research team of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Research Centre Jülich has printed patterns onto gummy bears. A joke of underchallenged or bored scientists? Certainly not: What looks like gimmickry at first sight could change medical diagnostics. On the one hand, the scientists around Prof. Bernhard Wolfrum did not print an image or lettering, but a microelectrode array. These components consist of a large number of electrodes and can measure changes in the electrical voltage in cells. These occur, for example, during the activity ..."

Sunday 24

Engineering Crossword Puzzle w/Weekly Headlines June 24

RF Cafe Engineering Crossword Puzzle w/Weekly Headlines June 24, 2018At least 10 clues with an asterisk (*) in this technology-themed crossword puzzle are pulled from this past week's (6/18 - 6/22) "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 to this puzzle's theme, such as Hedy Lamar or the Bikini Atoll, respectively. Enjoy ...

Friday 22

Bridge Circuit Quiz

Bridge Circuit Quiz, December 1966 Popular Electronics - RF CafeI found this Bridge Circuit Quiz in my stack of vintage Popular Electronics magazines. Your challenge here is to decide what the main function of each type of bridge circuit is. Most bridge circuits are designed such that a component of unknown value is inserted into one of its four branches, and then one or more variable components of known values are adjusted to balance the bridge and thereby create a minimum (null) between opposite (circuit-wise) nodes. Admittedly, I did not fare well, but it is because I do not recall having the names associated with many of these bridge circuits. Of course nearly everyone is familiar with the Wheatstone, Kelvin, and Wien bridges. Hyperlinks ...

Quantum Transfer at the Push of a Button

Quantum Transfer at the Push of a Button - RF Cafe"In the new quantum information technologies, fragile quantum states have to be transferred between distant quantum bits. Researchers have now realized such a quantum transmission between two solid-state qubits at the push of a button. Data transmission is the backbone of the modern information society, on both the large and small scale. On the internet, data are exchanged between computers all over the world, most often using fibre optic cables. Inside a computer, on the other hand, information has to be shuttled back and forth between different processors. A reliable exchange of data ..."

More About Wide-Stage Stereo

More About Wide-Stage Stereo, March 1960 Electronics World - RF CafePerhaps one of the most frustrating situations to find yourself in if you are a hard core audiophile is being an unmarried enlisted man in the military, living in the barracks. Unlike residing in a college dorm where comparatively there is no iron hand of peaceful existence enforcement to quell a desire for music hall sound levels with bass saturation that can rock you off your chair (other than dorm mates threatening to beat you to a pulp), in a military establishment there is an immediate threat of arrest, rank demotion, monetary fines, or a letter of reprimand (aka nonpunitive punishment) for blasting a stereo (and your barrack mates might beat you to a pulp). One guy I shared a USAF barracks room with had a couple thousand dollars worth of stereo equipment in a 19" rack in the room. It had something like ...

10 Millionth U.S. Patent - A Century's Change in Demographics

10 Million Patents (Smithsonian magazine June 2018) - RF CafeSmithsonian magazine's Austin Clemens created this map (click thumbnail) of the U.S. showing where the innovation hubs were a century ago compared to now. The occasion is the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) processing its ten millionth patent. America's westward expansion during the period is made obvious by the concentration of black dots (20th century) versus blue dots (21st century). You will eventually be able to read this online at Smithsonianmag.com (page 19), but for now you will have to get the magazine - try your library.

Continuously Emitting Microlasers with Nanoparticle-Coated Beads

Continuously Emitting Microlasers with Nanoparticle-Coated Beads - RF Cafe"Researchers have found a way to convert nanoparticle-coated microscopic beads into lasers smaller than red blood cells. These microlasers, which convert infrared light into light at higher frequencies, are among the smallest continuously emitting lasers of their kind ever reported and can constantly and stably emit light for hours at a time, even when submerged in biological fluids such as blood serum. These microlasers, which convert infrared light into light at higher frequencies, are among the smallest continuously emitting lasers of their kind ever reported and can constantly and stably emit light for hours at a time ...

Thursday 21

Know Your Electronic Chemicals - Part 1

Know Your Electronic Chemicals (Part 1), February 1960 Electronics World - RF CafeLast week I posted Part 2 of this "Know Your Electronic Chemicals" series which appeared in two 1960 issues of Electronics World. Fortunately, I was able to obtain the previous edition with Part 1 (the vintage magazines I buy typically sell for $2-$3 apiece on eBay). Many, if not most, of the chemicals presented in the articles are not used anymore, but similar types are. Interestingly but typically, almost no emphasis is placed on the use of protective clothing, goggles, gloves, gas masks, etc. A lot of people were harmed unnecessarily due to not taking basic precautions, but it just was not part of normal operating procedure. To be honest, even though I know better, other than ...

Spin on Semiconductors Paves Way for Brain-Inspired Computing

Spin on Semiconductors Paves Way for Brain-Inspired Computing - RF Cafe"'Our brain is a fantastic computer,' says Professor Tamalika Banerjee from the University of Groningen in the northern Netherlands. The brain, after all, has the ability to process vast amounts of information with an energy efficiency far superior to that of today's computers. By integrating storage, memory, and processing into one unit, however, Banerjee and fellow physicists at the University of Groningen hope their semiconductor device someday supports a parallel computing architecture that rivals the workings of the brain. Banerjee's research group studies spintronics ..."

Coilcraft 1:1 Coupled Inductors Provide 1500 Vrms Winding Isolation

Coilcraft 1:1 Coupled Inductors Provide 1500 Vrms Isolation Between Windings - RF CafeCoilcraft has introduced a line of 1:1 coupled surface mount inductors (aka transformers) with 1,500 Vrms, one minute isolation (hipot) between windings. Key features include ultra-small package size (8.0 × 6.4 × 3.5 mm), 13 inductance values ranging from 4.7 to 150 µH, Peak current ratings up to 2.7 A - a 40% increase over previous generation products, provides significant size and cost reductions over conventional bobbin-wound alternatives. Free samples are available ...

Hypnotizing Test Engineers with Figures of Dubious Merit

Hypnotizing Test Engineers with Figures of Dubious Merit - RF CafeRansom Stephens has an interesting article on the EDN website titled, "Hypnotizing Test Engineers with Figures of Dubious Merit." Ever increasing specification complexity makes deciding which parameters to test for and even how to legitimately make the measurements. "Since the dawn of time, standards documents have specified maximum and/or minimum values for design parameters to assure product performance and compatibility. Maximum allowed values for jitter, noise, insertion loss, rise and fall times, minimum extinction ratios, eye height and eye width. Everywhere you looked, a simple measurement screamed yay or nay, stay or go ..."

Recent Developments in Electronics

Recent Developments in Electronics, February 1960 Electronics World - RF CafeThe reflected-beam kinescope (RBK) held high hopes for large video displays with shallow depths. A traditional cathode ray tube (CRT) is as deep from front to back as the width of the display, which means, as anyone who has owned a CRT television or computer monitor knows, a lot of space is required to accommodate a large display. Evidently the RBK never panned out as a manufacturable product. Its "inside-out" configuration resulted in a CRT that looks like someone reached through the front, grabbed the tail end, and pulled it back through the front. In other 1960 news was a high voltage ferroelectric converter ...

Tripling the Energy Storage of Lithium-Ion Batteries

Tripling the Energy Storage of Lithium-Ion Batteries - RF Cafe"Scientists have synthesized a new cathode material from iron fluoride that surpasses the capacity limits of traditional lithium-ion batteries. As the demand for smartphones, electric vehicles, and renewable energy continues to rise, scientists are searching for ways to improve lithium-ion batteries - the most common type of battery found in home electronics and a promising solution for grid-scale energy storage. Increasing the energy density of lithium-ion batteries could facilitate the development of advanced technologies with long-lasting batteries ..."