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3 of the July 2016 homepage
archives.
 While all RF Cafe crosswords do in fact use
only my hand-entered dictionary of terms and clues (literally thousands accumulated
over the years) that pertain exclusively to science, engineering, chemistry, physics,
mathematics, astronomy, etc., the choice for a particular title is to help attract
search engines to the page. There is nothing deceptive going on, just an attempt
to exploit the nature of search engine algorithms that rank pages based on meta
tags coinciding with relevant keywords and phrases occurring on the page. Enjoy
...
 "Scientists have looked for different ways
to force hydrogen into a metallic state for decades. A metallic state of hydrogen
is a holy grail for materials science because it could be used for
superconductors, materials that have no
resistance to the flow of electrons, which increases electricity transfer efficiency
many times over. For the first time researchers, led by Carnegie's Viktor Struzhkin,
have experimentally produced a new class of materials blending hydrogen
..."
 Since I don't watch TV, I was unaware of
a Canadian police detective series titled "Murdoch
Mysteries," which is cast in Toronto at the turn of the 20th century. Melanie
found a DVD at the library with season 1 episodes, and noted that the first show
was "Power," with a storyline based on the debate over whether Thomas Edison's DC
current was safer than Nikola Tesla's AC current (Tesla was
backed by George Westinghouse). You might be familiar with the heated and
often violent exchanges that really happened between the two camps, often referred
to as "The War of Currents." After all, a lot of money
...
The
HFS-12000-XA is a 7,000 to 12,000 MHz
surface-mount frequency synthesizer designed as a high performance down-converter
LO for RADAR Digital Signal Processors. The design also features low phase noise
(<-90 dBc/Hz @ 100 KHz offset) and fast switching
capability (<750 μSec, Band-Edge to Band-Edge)
critical for signals intelligence applications. The HFS-12000-XA also locks to a
100 MHz reference and contains a channel step size of 1 MHz or
 "Researchers have been working on a number
of alternative chemistries to lithium-ion for next-generation batteries,
silicon-air among them. However, while
the technology has been viewed as promising and cost-effective, to date researchers
haven't managed to develop a battery of this chemistry with a viable running time.
That's until now, with the invention by researchers in Germany of a silicon-air
battery that can run more than
..."
 Wendy Pearson, writing for
IMS ExpertServices, offers this first
installment in a series of articles advising people new to the expert witness realm
on how to prepare for the process. Being an authority in your professed field is
not always to enough assure success in the courtroom - or even for making it as
far as a courtroom. Part 1 provides a basic introduction to legal lingo. Just
as a person who does not speak the language of a country he/she is visiting is in
many ways easy prey for crafty operators, a witness at trial can have his/her credibility
damaged by being made to appear ignorant of standard courtroom procedures and language.
Accordingly, competent counsel
...
 "Researchers have nearly doubled the continuous
output power of a type of laser, called a
terahertz quantum cascade laser, with
potential applications in medical imaging, airport security and more. Increasing
the continuous output power of these lasers is an important step toward increasing
the range of practical applications. The researchers report their results in the
journal AIP Advances, from AIP Publishing. Terahertz radiation sits between microwaves
and infrared light on the electromagnetic
..."
 Here is a very in-depth and comprehensive
discussion on antenna system design and evaluation for a
mobile platform; i.e., a car or truck. As was common with QST
articles of yore, there is a plethora of equations, sketches, graphs, and tables
provided for reference. Radiation resistance, ground resistance, system impedance,
antenna tuning, radiation efficiency, current distributions, and much more are introduced
and explained. Even being six decades old, the information is as valuable today
as it was then
...
 "Gallium nitride (GaN) is capturing market
share in high-power RF semiconductors, especially in wireless infrastructure, the
market research firm said.
'GaN is increasing its market share in
2016, and we believe it will be a significant force by 2021,' said Lance Wilson,
research director at ABI Research, in a statement. 'This now mainstream technology
bridges the gap between two older technologies, exhibiting the high-frequency performance
of Gallium Arsenide and power handling capabilities of Silicon LDMOS
..."
 "Smaller and faster has been the trend for
electronic devices since the inception of the computer chip, but flat transistors
have gotten about as small as physically possible. For researchers pushing for even
faster speeds and higher performance, the only way to go is up. University of Illinois
researchers have developed a way to etch very tall, narrow
finFETs, a type of transistor that forms
a tall semiconductor 'fin' for the current to travel over. The etching technique
..."
 "Flying drones might sound like a fun hobby,
but some RF engineers are making it part of their job, going so far as to envision
flying COWs, or
Cells on Wings, to provide LTE coverage
at concerts or during emergencies. Earlier this month, AT&T announced the launch
of a national trial involving drones in a program being overseen by Art Pregler,
who serves as AT&T's drone program director and began his tech career in the
U.S. Air Force. More trials are continuing, including this week. AT&T started
its LTE drone program investigation a year
..."
vidaRF has introduced a line of
4.1/9.5 series
connectors and cable assemblies that are designed to address increasing demands
in mobile communication industry, including increased performance demands, low PIM,
Albaloy plating, and at same time reducing its size to support ongoing space
reduction requirements. They feature a smaller footprint than the 7/16 connector
(30% less) with similar RF performance
 My career involving controlled movement of
electrons began with working around high voltages and currents. In electrical vocational
classes, the instructor lectured on the potential (pun intended)
harm that could be done to life and property because of ignorance or inattention
to the job at hand.
Safety
practices were reviewed prior to allowing us plebes to handle not just 3-Ø,
480 V supplies for motors, but also for household AC circuits and low voltage
sources with high current outputs. We all had the opportunity to get 'lit up' with
115Vac and even 230 Vac if we dared (a practice that
would never be allowed in today's environment). We watched films
...
 "The old rules don't necessarily apply when
building electronic components out of two-dimensional materials, according to scientists
at Rice University. The Rice lab of theoretical physicist Boris Yakobson analyzed
hybrids that put 2-D materials like graphene and boron nitride side by side to see
what happens at the border. They found that the electronic characteristics of such
'co-planar' hybrids differ from bulkier
components. Their results appear this month in the American Chemical Society journal
Nano Letters. Shrinking electronics means shrinking their components. Academic labs
..."
 "What progress individuals could make, and
what progress the world would make, if thinking were given proper consideration!
It seems to me that not one man in a thousand appreciates what can be accomplished
by training the mind to think." --
Thomas Edison during an interview with B.C. Forbes in The
American Magazine, January 1921.
 "Companies around the globe are launching
an increasing number of
satellites, crowding Earth's orbit in
an effort to satisfy the ravenous on-demand desire for more broadband, satellite
television and communications. In the past five years, the number of operational
satellites has jumped 40%, and nearly 1,400 now orbit the Earth. Industry officials
say that number could more than double in five years as a revolution in technology
has made satellites smaller and more affordable. Entrepreneurs eye the ethereal
real estate a couple of hundred miles up as a potentially
..."
 e2v is looking for an RF Test / Product Engineer
that will support high performance RF IC products and Broad Band Data Converters.
This position will develop the test programs, analyse and optimize RF device types
such as switches, mixers, PLLs, DSA, and prescalers in challenging environments
for defense an space systems. High speed data converters with industry leading performance
will also be a key focus. The position will also require the candidate to take the
lead role in assessing and understanding Aerospace and Defense Electronics customers'
system requirements ...
 When this May 1949 issue of Radio & Television
News was being written, Messrs.
Bardeen. Shockley, and Brattain had recently announced to the
world their invention of the point contact germanium transistor. Sylvania Electric
here is touting a miniature pocket radio featuring their line of subminiature (aka
"peanut") tubes. Tubes like the
1AC5 'only' needed about 60 volts for operation as opposed to
300 volts or more for standard tubes. This required a voltage multiplier circuit
that consisted of inductors, diodes, and capacitors for implementation, which added
significant volume to the radio. It was in the Autumn of 1954 that Regency began
selling its
TR-1 transistor radio - the world's first.
 "As the Pentagon seeks to cram more electronic
gear and wireless devices into a shrinking amount of
radio spectrum, its research arm announced
guidelines this week for yet another technology competition designed to find new
ways to share and ensure access to the airwaves. The Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency announced a Spectrum Collaboration Challenge in March designed to leverage
emerging machine-learning tools
..."
 A few years ago, I wrote an article titled
"Too Clever by Half?," which presented a few magazine advertisements
that IMHO were, based on the choice of graphics, either very effective or a total
failure. This Koaxis ad appeared
in the July 2016 issue of Microwaves &
RF magazine. Whether intentional or not, the bald guy lineup is eye-catching
- and therefore effective - as evidenced by motivating me to call attention to it.
Put a monocle on the guy 2nd from the left and you'll have
Werner
Klemperer (Colonel Klink of Hogan's Heroes)!
...
 "Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's
(DOE) Ames Laboratory have discovered an unusual property of purple bronze that
may point to new ways to achieve
high temperature superconductivity. While
studying purple bronze, a molybdenum oxide, researchers discovered an unconventional
charge density wave on its surface. A charge density wave (CDW) is a state of matter
where electrons bunch together in a repeating pattern, like a standing wave of surface
of water
..."
 Good Calculators
has large collection of calculators for engineering, finance, logistics, loans,
budgets, conversions, sports & health, statistics, mechanics, and other topics.
Unfortunately, there do not appear to be any electrical engineering calculators,
but if you need to check the health of your retirement fund or to calculate the
surface area or volume of a
frustum,
then it has you covered.
 "The Changji-Guquan
ultra high voltage DC (UHVDC) link will
transmit power from the Xinjiang region in the Northwest, to Anhui province in eastern
China, setting a new world record in terms of voltage level, transmission capacity
and distance. It will be capable of transporting 12,000 megawatts of electricity
- the equivalent of 12 large power plants - and is a 50% increase in transmission
capacity compared to the 800 kV UHVDC links currently in operation. Using the higher
..."
 LadyBug Technologies means Peak Performance
in Power Sensors: 9 kHz to 40 GHz and 80 dB DR. LadyBug manufactures a broad
line  of First Tier NIST traceable
USB
power sensors that are compatible with Windows XP, Win 7, 8 & 10; in 32
and 64 bit systems, along with LINUX. Also the only SPI & I2C sensor available.
Patented NoZero NoCal feature - Simply connect and measure to receive a high accuracy
measurement.
 These two
electronics-themed comics appeared in a 1952 edition of Radio &
Television News magazine. In the early days of television, it was common in
comedy skits and in cartoons to have someone on a television show interact, to the
viewer's great shock, directly with the viewer or to reach out of the set and do
something, as in the first comic here. The Three Stooges show did that
in a couple shows. One in particular I remember was when they were doing plumbing
in a house and had water coming
...
 "A new edition of the European Table of Frequency
Allocations in the range 8.3 kHz to 3000 GHz has been released. The table is maintained
by the European
Conference of Postal and Telecommunications
Administrations (CEPT) Working Group Frequency Management. Information collected
in the European Common Allocation (ECA) table is intended to reflect the main usage
of spectrum within CEPT countries. A fully searchable electronic version of the
ECA
..."
 "The
radiation-hardened electronics industry
is in the midst of yet-another major transition -- the second in the last quarter-century
-- that once again is likely to re-define the space market, boost new industry players,
and shake out some of the old ones. The latest round of disruptive technology in
the rad-hard electronics industry involves the emerging market for small satellites
(SmallSats) with limited life cycles
..."
Anatech Electronics has introduced 1 new bandpass filter design: a 5590 MHz cavity
bandpass filter with "N" connectors, a surface mount 1575.42 MHz / 1189.5 MHz ceramic
duplexer , and a 217.5 MHz / 221 MHz cavity duplexer with SMA connectors.
Anatech offers the industry's largest portfolio of high-performance standard and
customized RF and microwave
filters and filter-related products for military, commercial, aerospace and
defense, and industrial applications up to 40 GHz
 This week's
tech-themed crossword puzzle, as is the case every week, contains
only words pertaining to science, engineering, amateur radio, physics, mechanics,
mathematics, etc. Making a special appearance is the name of the most recent company
to support RF Cafe through advertising. You will see their banner graphical ad appearing
in the right page border sometime this week. Opportunities exist for your company
to advertise if you are interested
...
 "Huge magnetic fields can be created by firing
intense, circularly polarized laser pulses at a target, according to calculations
by physicists in Italy, Germany and Russia. Their research suggests that the mysterious
phenomenon of 'radiation friction' plays a crucial role
in generating the field. Measuring such magnetic fields could offer physicists a
new way of studying this poorly understood effect, which is believed to play a crucial
role in the physics underlying astrophysical objects such
..."
 Arthur (Art) Collins, who began his radio
career as a Ham, founded Collins Radio in 1933, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Just as civil
aviation enthusiasts long ago began associating Wichita, Kansas, with Cessna, Lear,
Beechcraft, et al, and its airplanes, radio people associate Cedar Rapids with
Collins Radio. In fact - and this is a fact - electronics companies
like RF Micro Devices (now Qorvo) and Skyworks Solutions
set up RFIC design centers there back in the early 1990s in order to exploit the
availability of highly talented engineers who worked for Collins
...
 "Better lifecycle characteristics than conventional
secondary batteries offers a novel energy source from Murata called
UMAL. With its extremely slim form factor
and superior charge/discharge properties, the UMAL is designed for deployment in
maintenance-free applications such as wireless sensor nodes and wearable designs,
the vendor says. The UMAL has a nominal voltage of 2.3 VDC, can supply 12 mAh
..."
 "The Navy has awarded Rockwell Collins a
$31M contract for weapon replaceable assembly repair support of the Aviation Navy/Airborne
Radio Communication airborne radios, which provide secure voice, data and imagery.
The contract applies to the
AN/ARC 210 version Electronics Protection
Radio System and also calls for support for the Communications Security System requirements
for the Navy and other Defense Department services
..."
 "Stop on the sidewalk on a downtown street
in any large American city, and take a look around. Check out the utility poles
nearby, the metal boxes planted at the street corners, the cameras dangling from
awnings and eaves. Urban infrastructure is made up of thousands upon thousands of
moving parts, and many of the gizmos that make a city run are designed to do their
jobs without attracting too much attention. Now, a
mysterious new device may
..."
 The advent of
selenium rectifiers in the 1940s was a very welcome new option
to circuit designers, consumers, and servicemen. Before that, vacuum tubes did the
job (with some use of copper oxide rectifiers). Selenium rectifiers have the advantage
of ruggedness and reliability over tubes (~85% vs. 60%, respectively). Not requiring
a heater voltage eliminates needing to create heat in excess of that dissipated
due to the innate inefficiency. Voltage and power handling is adjusted by stacking
appropriate layers and adjusting the physical size, respectively. A failed selenium
rectifier reportedly often emitted
...
 "The U.S. government last week unveiled a
multi-million-dollar project to further the development of 5G technologies, including
the establishment of four city-sized testbeds for R&D. National Science Foundation
(NSF) has pledged to invest US$400 million over seven years to support the government's
Advanced
Wireless Research Initiative (AWRI) programme, including a spend of $50 million
on 5G research platforms. Four of these Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research
(PAWR) will be set up under the project, each
..."
 "From a customer perspective, there is a demand
for this service whether its accurate or not." - Nolan Doesken, Colorado State University
professor, in response to
AccuWeather's new 90-day forecasts (HuffPo article). Have you noticed
that a few months ago the AccuWeather online forecast began extending out 90 days?
I remember being dubious when they went from the original 2-week forecast to a 30-day
forecast. Most of the time, for most locations issuing a forecast more than 4 or
5 days in advance is an exercise in vanity. A scientific organization populated
with PhD level climatologists, meteorologists
...
 "The U.S. Air Force is looking to expand
and upgrade its fleet of air-launched electronic warfare jammers, already in wide
use, with a $34.8M contract awarded to Raytheon. The contract calls for Raytheon
to upgrade current versions of the
Miniature Air Launched Decoy-Jammer, known
as MALD-J, improving its flight and EW jamming capabilities. The work is expected
to be completed in 24 months. The MALD-J is a fairly small, low-cost weapon that
can be launched from fighters, bombers and other
..."
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