Anatech Electronics Newsletter - March 2014

Anatech Electronics has published its March 2014 newsletter. As always, it includes both company news and some tidbits about relevant industry events, regulations, and standards. This month, Sam Benzacar offers his views on the subjects of AT&T's Digital Life service, LightSquared "Crawling back to life," the challenges of Defense contracting, and IMS2014 in Tampa Bay, Florida.

WHAT'S NEWS   It’s a Digital Life There’s been a lot of talk over the years about home automation and AT&T and other carriers are making sure everybody knows they’re leading the charge. AT&T’s Digital Life service is now available in 68 markets throughout the US, and Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks and Comcast are also are introducing their own as well. Digital Life lets you control everything from cameras to door locks to lights,  thermostats, appliances, and security cameras via an app available for iOS, Android, Windows and Blackberry phones. Entry level is $29.99 a month plus $149.99 for equipment and installation. The high-end variant costs $39.99, $249.99. LightSquared: Crawling Back to Life? As LightSquared moves out of bankruptcy, people close to the hearings have indicated that the FCC will approve 30 MHz of LightSquared's spectrum for use by the end of 2015 and another 10 MHz in seven years. LightSquared filed for bankruptcy protection in May 2012 after the FCC, after rancorous hearings and massive outpourings of loathing from the GPS industry, DoD, and other “interested parties” revoked its license based on potential interference with GPS receivers. The company will first have to pay off its creditors, which has been an arduous process. Wi-Fi: You Can Run But You Can’t Hide Wi-Fi, which started its life as is a wireless alternative to wired LANs is now the elephant in the room. Cisco VNI estimates that 45% of global wireless traffic was offloaded to Wi-Fi hotspots or femto cells in 2012 and that every year it will increase until it actually passes traffic on carrier wireless networks. Cable operators were leaders in deploying service provider Wi-Fi, but wireless carriers are catching up quickly. AT&T now claims the nation’s largest Wi-Fi network, and the roll-out of Wi-Fi hotspots by carriers is projected to increase 13% per year through 2018.

THE CHALLENGES OF DEFENSE SYSTEMS          By Sam Benzacar Systems designed for use in defense applications have always been the toughest challenge (aside from the space environment) for RF designers, and for good reason. DoD has typically always wanted the highest levels of performance regardless of cost. These days, cost is a far bigger consideration, but performance is still the crucial metric. However, DoD systems are not the only ones that require the highest levels of RF and microwave performance. For example, even though the FAA is not an agency of DoD, the tunable filters we design for their avionics systems must tune extremely fast from frequency to frequency, reliably, day in and day out for many years. Our voltage-tuned filters used in airborne applications need to function under wide temperature ranges, sometimes hostile environments, while still providing precision frequency accuracy, high speed, very low loss and high rejection. To satisfy these demands, we subject these products to extreme conditions, often well beyond what they will ever encounter in service, for the simple reason that they absolutely must deliver their rated performance in order to meet the requirements of specific standards. Tests include, shock, vibration, temperature cycling, exposure to hazardous substances, and the ability to resist the intrusion of dust and other contaminants, and to name a few. We've learned a lot over the last 24 years about new ways to ensure that once Deployed these products will continue to perform unfailingly for the many years they are likely to be in service. As a result, Anatech continues to be a major supplier to all branches of DoD, the FAA, as well as prime contractors, when ultimate reliability and performance “under duress” are the key criteria. So if you’re looking tunable filters, voltage-tuned filters, cavity filters, duplexers, and other components designed for extreme service, you ought to call us first. You won’t be disappointed.   Anatech Electronics has been solving interference problems in wireless systems since the first cellular systems appeared, and we can help you solve yours today. So please give us a call at (973) 772-4242 or send us an email to sales@anatehelectronics.com.

IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN Difficult as it may be to believe, less than three months from now IMS 2014 will Once again be upon us, this time and sunny Tampa. And after this winter, here in New Jersey were definitely looking forward to it. We hope to see you there and that you'll make it a point to stop by our booth and see our new products and discuss your needs. You'll find us at Booth 239. Try Out Our Technical Workbook! Calculate parameters for bandpass, lowpass, and highpass filters, as well as attenuators, and directional couplers. This interactive workbook also covers system cascade parameters, coil and wire inductance, mixer conversion, radar blind speed, propagation time versus frequency and many other helpful tools. Check it out! Download Our Technical Guides Request a Quote   Download Our Short-Form Catalog   Visit Our Web Store