Microwaves & RF articles from January 2007

Microwaves & RF archives from January 2007

Website correction.(feedback)(Correction notice)
January 1, 2007... THANK YOU VERY MUCH for the mention of Pulse Research Lab in your article "Finding A Filter From An Array Of Choices" (April 2006, p. 88). Unfortunately, the article lists our URL incorrectly. The correct URL is www.pulseresearchlab.com. ...

Mini-Circuits' omission.(feedback)(Correction notice)
January 1, 2007... DUE TO AN OVERSIGHT, the entry for Mini-Circuits was left out of the Microwaves & RF Product Data Directory 2006/07 (PDD). We sincerely apologize to Mini-Circuits and to our readers for the omission. Mini-Circuits' customers can choose...

Keeping that new year's resolution.(forecasts and trends of RFID equipment)(Editorial)
January 1, 2007... By the process of discarding last year's calendar, many folks feel the urge to start life anew. It's as if a new calendar might give rise to an improved personality and an enhanced set of skills. In truth, resolutions can be made at any time...

Big orders are imminent for RFID.(the front end)(radio frequency identification)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND -- According to a report from Dr. Peter Harrop of IDTechEx, most of the RFID business is booming (see figure). Andrew Price, RFID manager at IATA, the airline trade association, enthuses, "In the next few years, the air...

Mainland China to have over 32 million mobile video users in 2008.(the front end)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... SINGAPORE -- The mobile video market in China will take off in 2008, driven by interest in the 2008 Summer Olympics to be held in Beijing. A study from ABI Research forecasts total mobile video users at more than 32 million in 2008;...

Focus Enhancements receives FCC approval for UWB modulation.(the front end)(Federal Communications Commission)(ultrawideband)
January 1, 2007... CAMPBELL, CA -- Focus Enhancements, Inc. announced that it has received Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval for its ultrawideband (UWB) DS-OFDM[TM] modulation scheme. This approval was granted without waiver restrictions that are...

Kudos.(the front end)(briefs)
January 1, 2007... ST. CHARLES, IL -- The overall customer performance rating for Trompeter, a producer of RF interconnect products, increased by four positions in the 2006 Bishop & Associates Connector Industry Survey. Trompeter's ranking rose to tenth overall,...

RFID innovations deepen market penetration: as RFID becomes further entrenched in applications ranging from retail to healthcare, companies are developing technologies that will add even more uses.(News Report)(radio-frequency identification)(Editorial)
January 1, 2007... Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is widely used to identify and track objects, animals, or people. Its applications range from tagging retail goods and inventory control to enabling payment, providing secure identification, and tracking...

RFID world view spotlights Aussie advancements.(News Report)(Editorial)
January 1, 2007... Despite RFID's popularity, not all countries are eagerly adopting it. The countries that are widely using RFID are doing so in quite varied ways. According to Teresa Henry at IDTechEx (www.idtechex.com), the US is by far the largest adopter of...

QUALCOMM makes two acquisitions.(financialnews)(Airgo Networks Inc.)(RF Micro Devices Inc.)
January 1, 2007... QUALCOMM, Inc., a developer of advanced wireless technologies and data solutions, has announced that it will be making acquisitions to complement its core wireless-technology offerings. QUALCOMM will acquire for cash the WLAN technology...

Motorola, Inc.(CONTRACTS)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Motorola, Inc. -- Announced that it has signed a $75 million GSM network-expansion contract with M-tel, a mobile-communications operator in Nigeria. This expansion will enable M-tel to extend its coverage across Nigeria. The scope of the...

Herley Industries, Inc.(CONTRACTS)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Herley Industries, Inc. -- Announced that its Herley New England facility in Woburn, MA has received a $1.2 million contract award from a major US defense contractor. The Herley division will manufacture complex integrated microwave assemblies...

Nokia and Total Access Communication plc (DTAC).(CONTRACTS)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Nokia and Total Access Communication plc (DTAC) -- Have signed a network-expansion contract, valued at approximately $110 million. Nokia's GSM/EDGE radio and core network solutions and services will improve DTAC's network coverage and capacity,...

Triton Services, Inc., Electron Technology Division.(CONTRACTS)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Triton Services, Inc., Electron Technology Division -- Has been awarded a contract for the development of a new traveling-wave-tube amplifier (TWTA) for a shipboard tracking radar. The value of the contract awarded by a European defense...

Empower RF Systems, Inc.(FRESH STARTS)(investment in company)(Summit Partners)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Empower RF Systems, Inc. -- Announced that it has received a minority investment from Summit Partners, a private equity and venture capital firm with a capital base of nearly $9 billion.

The ZigBee[R] Alliance.(FRESH STARTS)(addition of new member to the board)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... The ZigBee[R] Alliance -- Announced that Eaton Corp. is now a Promoter-level member and the newest member of the ZigBee Alliance board of directors.

ERF Wireless.(FRESH STARTS)(Enhanced Network Services, LP )(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... ERF Wireless -- Has completed the acquisition of the wireless broadband assets and operations of southwest Enhanced Network Services, LP (The Door to the Internet, "The Door"), a wireless broadband affiliate of Windstream Corp. The all-cash...

Hittite Microwave Corp.(FRESH STARTS)(opening of new facility )(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Hittite Microwave Corp. -- Announced the establishment of an integrated-circuit (IC) design center located in Ottawa, ON, Canada. The center is operational and is staffed with a team of recently hired engineers.

Gigabeam Corp.(FRESH STARTS)(MABCO enters into a contract )(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Gigabeam Corp. -- Has received an order for three WiFiber[R] wireless fiber links from MABCO, which is headquartered in Amman, Jordan. MABCO is a wireless broadband provider specializing in telecommunication and office equipment solutions. ...

RF Micro Devices, Inc.(FRESH STARTS)(opening of new facility)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... RF Micro Devices, Inc. -- Announced the official opening of its new customer support center in Shanghai, China. The new center will expand RFMD's capacity to support wireless customers throughout the Far East by expanding and complementing...

Antenova Ltd.(FRESH STARTS)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Antenova Ltd. -- Announced that it has acquired the RF design engineering team from a US-based developer of advanced RF power amplifiers for mobile handsets. Antenova further announced plans for an R & D center in the Chicago area in the first...

Azimuth Systems, Inc.(FRESH STARTS)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Azimuth Systems, Inc. -- Has received $7.5 million in new venture-capital funding from its current investors.

Phihong Technology.(FRESH STARTS)(opening of a new facility)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Phihong Technology -- Has opened a new facility in Suzhou, China. Located close to Shanghai and only five miles from their existing facility in Suzhou, the 1 million-sq.-ft. plant will house up to 50 production lines and employ over 9000...

Alereon, Inc.(FRESH STARTS)(Samsung Ventures)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Alereon, Inc. -- Announced that it has received a $4 million investment from Samsung Ventures' strategic technologies investment fund.

Laird Technologies, Inc.(FRESH STARTS)(acquisition of Steward Inc. and Coollab AB)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Laird Technologies, Inc. -- Announced the acquisition of Steward, Inc. and its subsidiaries for $52.5 million. Steward is a provider of ferrite-based products that are used to remove unwanted EMI "noise" and other signals at unwanted...

Azimuth systems appoints Iuliano as new CEO.(people)(Jim Iuliano appointed)(chief executive officer)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Azimuth Systems, Inc. has named JIM IULIANO as the company's new CEO. Iuliano has been CEO for both public and private technology companies for more than a decade. Previously, Iuliano was CEO of E Ink Corp. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Xceive Corp.(people)(Rich Beyer appointed )(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Xceive Corp. -- RICH BEYER to the board of directors; continues as CEO and director of Intersil Corp.

Tundra Semiconductor Corp.(people)(Terry Nickerson appointed)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Tundra Semiconductor Corp. -- TERRY NICKERSON to the board of directors; formerly CFO at ATI Technologies.

Quantam3D, Inc.(people)(Stephen Gersuk appointed)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Quantam3D, Inc. -- STEPHEN GERSUK to vice president of technical marketing for the Quantam3D Visual and Sensor Simulation and Training team; formerly served in executive-level business-development positions at Aechelon Technology,...

Kulicke & Soffa Industries, Inc.(people)(Richard Boulanger appointed)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Kulicke & Soffa Industries, Inc. -- RICHARD BOULANGER to general manager of the Die Bonder operations in Berg, Switzerland; formerly vice president of the Advanced Semiconductor Assembly Division of Universal Instruments Corp.

Plextek Ltd.(people)(Tim Phipps appointed)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Plextek Ltd. -- TIM PHIPPS to sales and marketing director; formerly responsible for European sales at TTPCom.

Herley Industries, Inc.(people)(Vernon M. Moore appointed)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Herley Industries, Inc. -- VERNON M. MOORE to chief scientist for the company; formerly principal systems engineer at Herley Lancaster.

Comarco, Inc.(people)(Mark Chapman appointed)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Comarco, Inc. -- MARK CHAPMAN to vice president and general manager of the Wireless Test Solutions Division; formerly a principal at The Bridgeworks Group, a position that included serving as vice president of business development at WiSpry.

iSuppli Corp.(people)(appointments)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... iSuppli Corp. -- LLOYD KAPLAN to COO; formerly executive vice president. Also, GREG SHEPPARD to chief development officer (CDO); formerly executive vice president. In addition, RAYMOND HAN to sales director of China; formerly general manager of...

Harris Corp.(people)(Jim Burke appointed)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Harris Corp. -- JIM BURKE to vice president of corporate communications; formerly vice president of communications for AuthenTec.

Newark InOne.(people)(Dewight Wallance appointed)(Paul Tallentire appointed at Farnell InOne)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Newark InOne -- DEWIGHT WALLACE to president; continues until March 1 as general manager of MCM Electronics. Also, PAUL TALLENTIRE to president of Farnell InOne; formerly president of Newark InOne.

QUALCOMM, Inc.(people)(Sanjay K. Jha and Len J. Lauer appointed)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... QUALCOMM, Inc. -- DR. SANJAY K. JHA to COO; formerly executive vice president. Also, LEN J. LAUER to corporate executive vice president and group president overseeing key divisions; formerly COO for Sprint Nextel.

Raytheon Co.(people)(Jay B. Stephens appointed)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Raytheon Co. -- JAY B. STEPHENS to secretary of the company; continues as senior vice president and general counsel of Raytheon.

Archetype Corp.(people)(Alva Wright appointed)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Archetype Corp. -- ALVA WRIGHT to director of West Coast sales; formerly executive account manager for Quake Global, Inc. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Southwest Research Institute (SwRI).(people)(Lemoey Wiebush Jr.)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) -- LEMOEY WIEBUSH, JR. to assistant director of the Surveillance and Geolocation Department in the Signal Exploitation and Geolocation Division; formerly manager of the Surveillance Systems Section. ...

Education.
January 1, 2007... SHORT COURSES TFI Seminars Technology Forecasting Mini Seminar February 5 Broadband Futures Seminar February 6 Impacts of Broadband on Asset Valuation Symposium February 7 All three seminars will be...

Superstrate antenna suitable for integration with MM-wave transceivers.(R & D roundup)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... MILLIMETER-WAVE frequencies have long held the promise of generous bandwidths, if only the technology could be made more affordable. With that goal in mind, Thomas Zwick and researchers from the IGM Thomas J. Watson Research Center (Yorktown...

Multiband antenna links to mobile satellite-communications terminals.(R & D roundup)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... MOBILE SATELLITE TERMINALS are of increasing interest for military applications requiring rapid deployment and changes in operational positions. In order to support the trend away from large satellite ground stations, Stephen Targonski of the...

Microstrip band-reject filter makes use of Metamaterial Substrate.(R & D roundup)
January 1, 2007... METAMATERIAL SUBSTRATES feature dielectric behavior that can be altered by the application of a voltage. In order to understand how such materials might be used in the design of a band-reject filter, Zachary Thomas and a group of fellow...

Evaluate accuracy of portable VNAs: the first portion of this two-part article sizes up measurement uncertainties of the latest series of low-cost, portable vector network analyzers (VNAs) and how they compare with higher-priced models.(Design Feature)(Product/service evaluation)
January 1, 2007... Portable vector network analyzers (VNAs) have brought new mobility to one of the most trusted instruments in the RF/microwave industry. The new model LA19-13-02 portable analyzer from LA Techniques (www.latechniques.com), for example, features...

Sigma-delta synthesizer steps across multiple standards: this second-generation fractional-N frequency synthesizer design provides the low phase noise and small step sizes needed to handle a multiple of wireless-communications standards.(Design Feature)
January 1, 2007... Frequency synthesizers are fundamental building blocks in wireless systems. Market pressures drive higher levels of integration in support of multiple wireless standards. But each wireless standard requires a specific crystal reference...

Frequency counter and pulse generator measure time-varying signals.(application notes)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... PULSE COUNTERS ARE usually used just for measuring pulses. When combined with a microwave frequency counter's inhibit input and a pulse generator, however, time-varying signals can be accurately characterized. Such characterization is the focus...

New spectrum analyzers may revolutionize spectrum management.(application notes)
January 1, 2007... ADVANCED SPECTRUM MANAGEMENT is currently evolving in terms of how it is being accomplished. Both spectrum-management and RF signal-monitoring applications have special equipment requirements, which tend to go beyond the typical radio receiver...

Handheld spectrum analyzers Scan 20 GHz: these battery-powered spectrum analyzers bring new measurement capabilities to a portable package that can fit in the palm of a hand.(SPECTRUM ANALYZER)
January 1, 2007... Spectrum analysis is an essential measurement capability at RF and microwave frequencies, almost having the weight of a voltmeter at lower frequencies. If anything, however, it is the weight that has been left out of the latest line of portable...

Portable instrument puts eye patterns at hand.(SPECTRUM ANALYZER)(Anritsu Co. (Richardson, Texas) introduces new analyzer)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Portability has come to eye pattern measurements as well as to spectrum analysis, with the introduction of the MP1026A Eye Pattern Analyzer from Anritsu Co. (www.us.anritsu.com), also known as the Bit Master[TM]. The Bit Master brings the same...

Electronically steerable antenna cuts low profile: a compact electronically steerable antenna array has been developed by means of a clever arrangement of PIN-diode-based parasitic elements on a compact ground plane.(Product Technology)(Periodical review)
January 1, 2007... Two-way mobile communications require tunable antennas for best performance. But mechanically tuned antennas lack the tuning speed and reliability demanded of security, public safety, and first-responder teams. Fortunately, high-frequency...

VCXO delivers [+ or -]0.28 ppm frequency stability.(editor's choice)
January 1, 2007... MANY WIRELESS AND WIRE-LINE communications applications demand high-performance frequency stability in a miniature package. Examples include cellular infrastructure, point-to-point radios, and broadband access and test equipment. Such...

GPS sensors acquire signals down to -155 dBm.(editor's choice)
January 1, 2007... DESPITE THE MANY ADVANCES of Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, it is still difficult to acquire and track signals in weak signal areas. To combat this problem, the CW45A and CW46 GPS sensors flaunt the capability to acquire satellites...

Tower-mounted amplifiers boast 12-dB gain.(editor's choice)
January 1, 2007... The Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) band offers many opportunities for broadband wireless data applications. To provide fast time-to-market in the deployment of such services, a new series of tower-mounted amplifiers (TMAs) has been spawned....

Digital synthesizers house 14-b DACs.(editor's choice)
January 1, 2007... A LINE OF direct-digital-synthesizer (DDS) integrated circuits (ICs) uses digital technology to synthesize waveforms in frequency-agile applications. These ICs flaunt on-chip, 14-b digital-to-analog converters (DACs). Impressively, the AD9910...