This video is going viral. Three thugs bust into a house with guns drawn and
move like a SWAT team. The lady living there comes out firing and the trio of heroes
scatter like cockroaches when a light is turned on. One runs right through a glass
door pane as he flees. What would likely have happened to the woman if she hadn't
taken control? Death? Rape? Mortal wound? "When seconds count, the cops are just
minutes away."
This is amazing!
"A top Chinese military technology company shocked physicists around the world this
week when it announced it had developed a new form of radar able to detect stealth
planes 100km away. The breakthrough relies on a ghostly phenomenon known as quantum
entanglement, which Albert Einstein dubbed 'spooky action at a distance'. China
Electronics Technology Group Corporation said on Sunday that the new radar system's
entangled photons had detected targets
100 km away
..."
Saelig Company has introduced the
Syscomp SIG-101
Signature Analyzer - a PC-based two-channel 200 kHz oscilloscope, sampling
at 2MSa/s, that includes an arbitrary waveform generator, and an 8-bit digital I/O
port. Building on the CGR-101, its successful predecessor, the SIG-101 also adds
calibrated signature techniques to the oscilloscope waveform display capabilities
for quickly troubleshooting circuit boards. Unlike most PC-based oscilloscopes with
8-bit A/D sampling, the SIG-101 has an 11-bit A/D that gives eight times
Voltage multipliers were found in nearly
every form of battery-powered electronics in the days of vacuum tubes, because of
the 100-volt or more requirement for plate voltages. Primary batteries in 30, 45,
and 67½ volt sizes were produced by Eveready, Burgess, and a few other companies
in order to help simplify biasing circuits. They were bulky and heavy, often comprising
a significant portion of the assembly's volume. Heavy transformers contributed mightily
to the weight and size as well. Exell still manufactures 30, 45, and 67½ V
...
This story is reminiscent of the
VW EPA scandal.
My 2008 model Sharp 26" LCD, is rated at 120 W. Here is a table of
power usage for various TV sizes and display types. "The Natural
Resources Defense Council (NRDC) said many sets were designed to perform well in
government tests, but used more energy in regular use. It said energy consumption
could be twice the expected amount. But the U.S. Consumer Technology Association
said modern TVs were an 'efficiency success story.' The NRDC said it found many
television sets disabled energy saving features
..."
Anatech Electronics
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. Anatech has introduced
3 new : a 32 MHz IF SAW filter in an SMD package, a 564 MHz cavity bandpass
filter with N connectors, and a 417 / 427 MHz ceramic duplexer in an SMD package
"62% of
engineering employers say graduates don't
have the right skills for today's workplace, while 68% are concerned that the education
system will struggle to keep up with the skills required for technological change,
according to the 2016 Skills and Demand in Industry report, published by the Institution
of Engineering and Technology today. To address these growing concerns over skills
..."
"A cereal box-size satellite, fueled by
water power, is in the running for the
first tiny satellite to orbit the moon. A Cornell University student team called
the Cislunar Explorers is developing the little orbiter as part of NASA's Cube Quest
Challenge, which is offering $5.5 million in total to teams that build small satellites
known as cubesats. Cislunar means 'between Earth and the moon,' which is exactly
where the winning
..."
"Antenova Ltd, manufacturer of antennas and RF antenna modules for M2M and the
Internet of Things, is announcing Beltii, (P/N
SR4G013), a brand
new embedded antenna which measures only 15.6mm x 3.3mm x 4.4mm, and operates with
all global public satellite constellations. The antenna has been cleverly designed
to work over a very small ground plane on a small PCB, where it can be placed in
a corner position, and does not need any ground "
"It has been a year since EE Times produced
a version16.1 of the
Silicon 60. Over that time while the global
economic situation can - at best - be said to have stabilized the semiconductor
and electronics industries are on the edge of 'great expectations.' There seems
no doubt that the Internet of Things will have a revolutionary impact on how people
can live their lives, but exactly how that will manifest itself
..."
Have you ever heard of a Mershon condenser?
Me neither, but this
Crosley Model AC-7 radio used one (or more).
Ohio State University alums are familiar with the name Mershon, if not the man.
Ralph Mershon was, among other things, an early manufacturer of
electrolytic capacitors. This 1930 service sheet for a Crosley radio mentions the
propensity of Mershon capacitors to experience breakdown of the electrolyte when
the radio is not used for many months. Rejuvenation is necessary via a prescribed
procedure to ensure
...
See also the
Atwater Kent Model 30 Radio Service Data Sheet
...
"The Institute for Quantum Computing at the
University of Waterloo set a world record for creating a Canadian flag measuring
about one one-hundredth the width of a human hair.
Guinness World Records granted the inaugural
award for smallest national flag to the Institute for Quantum Computing
(IQC) at Waterloo for the flag measuring 1.178 micrometres
in length. It is invisible without the aid of an
..."
"The ability to code is now as important as
grammar and mathematics skills and it can unlock important new career options. I
can easily imagine a new wave of design entrepreneurs looking back and citing today
as the day their passion for technology began." -
Simon Segars, CEO of ARM
This online webinar will be broadcast on September 28, at 8am PT/ 11am ET. Sponsored
by Rogers Corporation, presented by Art Aguayo. "Consumption of mobile data continues
to grow at a rate exceeding 50% annually through 2020. In order to support this
growth,
mobile networks are going through evolutionary
and revolutionary changes. We are all well aware of the evolutionary changes in
the networks, 3G to 4G (FDD-LTE and TD-LTE) and how
implementation of additional frequency bands, small cells,
..."
"Brace yourself - the debate over what should
and shouldn't count as 5G has only begun. Defining the next generation of wireless
networks is complicated, partly because engineers are developing so many exciting
technologies at once and have yet to agree on the standards by which they will operate.
Stéphane Téral, an analyst at IHS Markit, recently weighed in by criticizing the
use of '5G' to describe
sub-6 GHz developments in
..."
Withwave's
Compact Calibration Kits offer excellent performance characteristics
for fine-tuning in production environments and quality testing facilities, using
50 ohm N-type & 3.5 mm connectors up to 6 GHz and 9 GHz respectively. These
Cal Kits include all needed calibration standards (Open,
Short, Load, and Through) in one unit. It is the best solution available
for ease of use in VNA calibration, especially in the field. We solve your performance
...
Just as it seems unlikely that the world
will anytime soon converge on a single, common language (Esperanto
failed), it is also unlikely that 'last-mile' electrical distribution systems
will agree on a common
voltage and frequency standard. In both cases, local implementations
are so entrenched that a wholesale realignment would be prohibitively expensive
in terms of both resources and finances. The global nature of all aspects of industrial,
commercial, and consumer products has necessitated that accommodation be made for
all existing systems, and that object
...
"Millitech, a leader in millimeter-wave technology and a brand of Smiths Microwave,
announces its high performance
E-Band Linear-to-Circular Polarizer. Offering a low axial ratio
of > 0.6 dB, a low insertion loss of < 0.5 dB, and a typical VSWR of 1.25:1
within the high and low unlicensed communication bands (71
– 86 GHz), the polarizer can be optimized for any frequency you require from
18 – 110 GHz and "
Triad RF Systems has introduced the
TTRM1019, a 20-1000 MHz, 20 W Bidirectional Amplifier
(BDA). The TTRM1019 is a broadband bi-directional low SWAP amplifier utilizing GaN
devices. It is well suited for EW / SIGINT applications and also can be used as
a general purpose SSPA for commercial / laboratory use. This class AB GaN module
is designed for both military and commercial applications. It is capable of supporting
any signal type and
"Materials with large dielectric constants
- aka 'high-K materials' - have recently come
in to the spotlight due to their potential use within future generations of reduced-dimension
semiconductor devices. Barium strontium titanate, one such material, possesses an
inherently large dielectric constant that can be altered significantly by the application
of an electrical field. Though this property has been known to exist for more than
half a century and many researchers
..."
This is just a reminder that Wolfspeed is
now sponsoring FREE access to Dr. Francesco Fornetti's masterpiece,
Conquer
Radio Frequency - A Multimedia Conceptual Guide to RF & Microwave Engineering,
based on AWR Microwave Office. The material takes an original approach to explaining
the fundamental principles behind the design of passive and active RF & microwave
circuits ...
Something about the moniker "plumber's delight" for homebuilt antennas always appealed to me.
In the early days of radio it referred to antennas built with threaded galvanized
or soldered copper plumbing pipe or threaded black gas pipe. Today, it also includes
structures that incorporate sections of cemented PVC pipe
(with wire elements strung along or within them). A major issue with using
threaded pipe is the potential for passive intermodulation products
(PIMs) being generated at the dissimilar
...
"Originally VC funded with the aim of becoming
a device developer using
synthetic diamond, British startup Evince
Technology was restructured in 2013 to focus on IP development. The company has
demonstrated proof of concept devices and is currently developing prototypes of
two solid-state devices based on proprietary IP that leverages diamond's unique
electronic
..."
From October 4 to 6, 2016,
Rohde & Schwarz will demonstrate its
expertise in the field of test and measurement, including in the highest frequency
ranges, at the European Microwave Week (EuMW) international
trade fair in London. The highlights on display in hall S11, booth 3 at ExCel London
will include the following T&M solutions: Radar test solutions, Satellite test
solutions, Automotive test
Many years have passed since I last did a
PCB layout. The world has changed considerably terms of simulation capabilities
as nowadays designers often need to perform carefully modeled electromagnetic and
thermal simulations to help assure a first-pass success. Companies spend big $-¥-€-£-₩-₨-₱-₫
for software licenses in order to reduce
...
-
Effectively Tune the Performance
of Your RF Board Design
-
5G and the IoT: 5 Trends and
Implications
-
Check the Lab for False Radiated
Emissions <more>
How can this happen? The problem is contractually
non-conforming
fuel tank tubing insulation that "is
not compatible with fuel." Huh? Of course we'll never know who the supplier
was or where they're located. Government contract assignments are as subject to
political correctness as men being allowed in women's restrooms. We're doomed
...
"SemiGen is featuring a range of products
at EDI Con 2016 in Boston at booth #505. Limiter, Schottky, step recovery and point
contact diodes. The SLP7100 series limiter diodes feature a low capacitance, resistance
and quick turn on times. These limiters are ideally suited for high-power applications
as protection against unwanted power surges or spikes for low noise components
..."
My introduction to
passive intermodulation (PIM) issues was while working on a BTS
switching system back around the turn of the century (yes,
this century), where because of high power levels, the matrix had to be guaranteed
to not generate PIM products greater than a certain value. About 1/3 of the units
were not passing test. The cause turned out to be a high power attenuator in one
of the paths. The manufacturer of the attenuator was a very well established and
reputable firm. The PIM levels were intermittent and would come and go after removing
...
"Researchers studying the behavior of nanoscale
materials at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have uncovered
remarkable behavior that could advance microprocessors beyond today's silicon-based
chips. The study, featured on the cover of Advanced Electronic Materials, shows
that a single crystal complex oxide material, when confined to micro- and nanoscales,
can act like a multi-component electrical circuit
..."
Smiths Microwave Subsystems is pleased to announce that TRAK has released the
8836 series tactical GPS Time and Frequency System. The design approach integrates
a ground-based GPS receiver module (GB-GRAM), a rubidium oscillator, time and frequency
signal generation, and control/status circuitry in a compact, ruggedized enclosure.
Standard outputs include 1PPS, low noise
For the sake of avid cruciverbalists amongst
us, each week I create a new
crossword puzzle that has a theme related to engineering, mathematics,
chemistry, physics, and other technical words. You will never be asked the name
of a movie star unless he/she was involved in a technical endeavor (e.g., Hedy Lamar). Enjoy!
...
"Wearable electronics poses many challenges
for the
antenna design engineer. When designing
wearable consumer electronics in particular, rapidly evolving performance requirements,
new usage scenarios and regulatory constraints make the ability to accurately and
efficiently evaluate and consider different design options critical in being competitive.
In this webinar, we will look at some of the challenges facing antenna designers
in the design of a new smartwatch product. The presentation will explore some design
examples
..."
Coilcraft has been added to the Inductor Vendors
page on RF Cafe. I'm not sure how they got deleted since they were there originally,
but somehow I managed to do it. Apologies to the good folks at Coilcraft.
Coilcraft has been a long-time
maker of ceramic and ferrite chip inductors, air core spring inductors, RF transformers,
tunable inductors, broadband conical inductors, and common mode chokes. Their website
includes parametric search tools, SPICE models, and S-parameters. Designer's Kits
and free evaluation samples available ...
Here is a
great
chart for your next informal project status
meeting, assuming most people in attendance lie in the upper right quadrant and
are not likely to have their safe spaces violated. It comes from Carlo Cipolla's
book, "The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity."
"Researchers have observed quantum effects
in electrons by squeezing them into one-dimensional 'quantum wires' and observing the interactions
between them. The results could be used to aid in the development of quantum technologies,
including quantum computing. Scientists have controlled electrons by packing them
so tightly that they start to display quantum effects, using an extension of the
technology currently used to make computer processors
..."
Skyworks has introduced a highly integrated 470 to 510 MHz front-end module (FEM)
that is ideal for smart energy, smart metering (electric,
gas, water, heat), security, RFID, industrial and other Internet of Things
(IoT) applications. The
SKY66115-11 FEM operates over a wide variety of supply voltages
at low power consumption, and comes in a small 4 x 4 x 0.9 mm, 16-pin multichip
module solution. Its extended
As a life-long aircraft enthusiast, my attention
is always drawn to photos, drawings, and titles in articles dealing with any aspect
- but particularly a historical aspect - of aviation. This 1937 edition of Radio-Craft
magazine reported on the fledgling field of aircraft radio maintenance, and in particular
the opportunities is presented to radio repairmen.
Aircraft electronics - avionics - have of course change significantly
over the last 80 years. Accordingly, maintenance has become such a highly specialized
skill that other than swapping out entire pieces of equipment, relatively few facilities
exist that are qualified
...
"Boingo Wireless, Microsoft, Broadcom and
Ruckus Wireless are among those calling out Ericsson for a report in which Ericsson
shared results of its
LTE-U/Wi-Fi coexistence tests. Not surprisingly,
the tests found that LTE-U will fairly coexist with Wi-Fi. The companies challenged
Ericsson's claim that its tests are closely aligned with the Wi-Fi Alliance
..."
Innovative Power Products introduces their latest that operates over the
full 4000 – 6000 MHz band. The new Model
IPP-7133,
handles 100 watts CW and comes in a small SMD Style package which is only 0.20 x
0.56 x 0.10 (W, L, H) inches and available on tape & reel. The IPP-7133 will
combine two signals up to 100 Watts CW of total output power. This coupler has excellent
amplitude balance across the full band and insertion loss of <0.25 dB
"The Pentagon has been developing a number
of ways to better share the limited resources of the electromagnetic spectrum, both
with other U.S. military services and civilian agencies. But considering the number
of future missions that are expected to be conducted with coalition partners,
sharing spectrum with other countries
also is important. Researchers from the Army Communications-Electronics Research,
Development and Engineering Center, or CERDEC, and the Korea's Agency for Defense
Development, or ADD
..."
This
is legitimate fodder for RF Cafe because it is science related. In fact, you might
use one of these tricks to warm up a lecture or slide show audience. These nifty
challenges are a sample of those presented in psychologist Richard Wiseman's book
101 Bets You Will Always Win: The Science
of the Seemingly Impossible. I've seen many of them before, but the one about
a discharged battery bouncing higher than a charged battery is a new one for me.
I wanted to test it myself, but couldn't find identical charged and discharged batteries
...
Whether or not this kind of stuff goes on
over the Ham bands these days, I couldn't tell you. It is easy to imagine such
obnoxiousness of some people back in the day. Of course if you
assume the way kids are portrayed in contemporary movies and TV shows is typical,
even the aforementioned behavior would seem mild in comparison. Fortunately, kids
today have a plethora of social media venues
...
Usually, concepts like an infographic formatted
resume seem too gimmicky to be used in a serious job search, but if done well, it
can demonstrate real creativity and outside-the-box thinking. It could be just the
thing you need to defeat the rote processing by HR department drones who are known
to run resumes ...
-
IEEE ResumeLab, IEEE JobSite
-
Should You Be a Job Reference?
-
How to Create an Awesome
Infographic Resume <more...>
"Materials with large dielectric constants
- aka "high-K materials" - have recently garnered attention for their
potential use within future generations of reduced-dimension semiconductor devices.
Barium strontium titanate, one such material, possesses an inherently large dielectric
constant that can be altered significantly by an applied electrical field—by as
much as a factor of 10. While this property has been known to exist
..."
Anatech Electronics,
a maker of RF and microwave filters, has published its August 2016 newsletter. As
always, it includes both company news and some tidbits about relevant industry happenings.
This month, Sam Benzacar discusses the topic of "," the Fed's pledge of $400M for
5G Research, the FCC's new 3.5 GHz spectrum allocation, and the Apple Watch possibly
getting GPS. Anatech's business is to make certain that system and circuit designers
have capable filters available
"The
electronic energy states allowed by quantum mechanics determine whether a solid
is an insulator
or whether it conducts electric current as a metal. Researchers at ETH have now
theoretically predicted a novel material whose energy states exhibit a hitherto
unknown peculiarity. If one looked deep into three different solids using a super-microscope,
one would, in principle, always see the same thing: atomic nuclei arranged in a
crystal lattice and electrons, of which some orbit the atomic nuclei and others
crisscross the entire crystal lattice
..."
Who among us has not purposely hooked up a
power supply to an
electrolytic capacitor and turned up the voltage until it popped?
It was a ritual for new guys in the shop. Admittedly, the ones I've blown up were
insignificant compared to the one shown in this photo where the staff at Daven Labs
reproduced a test failure and was sure to be rolling film during the process. Hopefully,
no one was in the room
...
"Engineers at North Carolina State University
and at Intel have come up with a solution to one of the modern microprocessor's
most persistent problems: communication between the processor's many cores. Their
answer is a dedicated set of logic circuits they call the
Queue Management Device, or QMD. In simulations,
integrating the QMD with the processor's on-chip network, at a minimum, doubled
core-to-core communication
..."
"Despite naysayers who questioned whether
a plan would be ready this month, the
Wi-Fi Alliance
(WFA) reassured attendees at last week's CTIA Super Mobility 2016 trade show
that, indeed, the coexistence Wi-Fi/LTE-U testing plan it's been developing is expected
to be delivered as planned on September 21. The reassurance from the WFA is noteworthy
because some members of the LTE community, many of whom were
..."
Author Edward Tilton discusses here the tradeoff
between bandwidth and
sensitivity in receivers, given that broadband noise power follows
bandwidth in a 10 log BW fashion. Pulling in the most distant stations requires
very low noise in able to get the SNR as high as possible, which requires the minimum
bandwidth possible. Prior to highly stable local oscillators, operating successfully
in a narrow bandwidth for voice (phone), and particularly for CW (Morse code), dictated
the use of a fixed frequency crystal to keep from having to constantly re-tune
...
EDI CON USA 2016 brings together RF, microwave, and high-speed digital design
engineers and system integrators for networking, training and learning opportunities.
Attendees will find solutions, products and design ideas that they can put into
immediate practice for today's communication, defense, consumer electronics, aerospace
and medical industries.
Keysight (Booth 321) will showcase design,
test and service solutions for: mmWave Communication, EW & Satellite
"RF and microwave experts at Continental Electronics
Corp. in Dallas will maintain and upgrade electronic components a U.S. Navy high-power
communications system that sends one-way text messages to submerged nuclear ballistic
missile submarine forces. The Navy shore VLF/LF transmitter facilities transmit
a 50 baud submarine command and control broadcast which is the backbone of the submarine
broadcast system, Navy officials say. The VLF/LF radio broadcast provides good performance
in atmospheric
..."
For Sale: Würth
Electronics SMD 0402 Multilayer Ceramic Capacitor Design Kit, SMD Air Coil Inductor
Design Kit, and Power Elements Design Kit. These are the kits - all unused - graciously
provided by Würth for a product review. I have no need for them at this time, so
this could be your lucky day. Full details are available
here. They sell on Digi-Key for about $110 each, but you can buy
all three for a mere
...
Saelig Company has introduced the Siglent
SDG1000X Series of Function / Arbitrary Waveform Generators which
output sine, square, ramp, and pulse waveforms to 60MHz with a 14-bit sampling rate
of 150 MSa/s at up to ±20V. The SDG1000X generators feature Siglent's
patented EasyPulse technology for low jitter and very fast rising and falling edges
that are frequency-independent even at low duty cycle settings. EasyPulse technology
results in a much more versatile generator than
"Nanomaterials have been responsible for
all sorts of innovation of audio speaker designs. We've seen magnetic nanoparticles
used to eliminate the need for a magnet in speakers.
Carbon nanotubes have also been demonstrated
to produce sound with heat. Researchers at KAIST have developed a new speaker design
specifically targeted for the mobile audio market that draws its capabilities from
nanomaterials. The KAIST researchers have used graphene
..."
