Microwaves & RF articles from November 2006

Microwaves & RF archives from November 2006

Measure and troubleshoot digitally modulated signals.(MEASUREMENT SOLUTIONS SERIES)
November 1, 2006... Digitally modulated signals are ubiquitous in modern wireless-communications systems, enabling multimedia services over limited bandwidths. The number of tests required to evaluate digitally modulated signals can be daunting. Fortunately, the...

Microwaves & RF Notepad.(feedback)
November 1, 2006... THANKS FOR the best implementation of a PDF-style magazine that I have seen. Most of them are almost unreadable and are very frustrating to navigate. Yours is correctly sized for reading and each page comfortably fitting into one screen without...

Microwave Legends.(feedback)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2006... I HAD A LOOK at the Microwave Legends article in your August issue (p. 51), and I thought you might be interested in another piece of information. My dad, Gene Guthrie, wrote a patent in 1968 on a "Compact Frequency Multiplier" #3381207...

Don't lose sight of importance of test.(Agilent Technologies Inc.)(Editorial)
November 1, 2006... Working closely with Agilent Technologies (www.agilent.com) for the last several months on a series of White Papers for this magazine has served as a strong reminder of the place of the test function in this industry. More often than not, talk...

Semiconductor sales will rise to $255.7B in '06.(the front end)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... EL SEGUNDO, CA -- According to a report by iSuppli Corp.'s Gary Grandbois, iSuppli predicts that global semiconductor sales will rise to $255.7 billion in 2006, up 7.8 percent from $237.2 billion in 2005. The previous forecast, issued in June,...

Via Licensing issues a call for patents.(the front end)
November 1, 2006... SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- Via Licensing Corp., in association with the RFID Consortium, has announced a call for essential patents with respect to the air-interface standards and specifications announced by EPCglobal, Inc. and ISO/IEC for...

Kudos.(the front end)(briefs)
November 1, 2006... BOULDER, CO -- Freewave Technologies, a designer and manufacturer of spread-spectrum radios, has been named to Deloitte's prestigious Colorado Technology Fast 50 Program. The Fast 50 is a ranking of the 50 fastest-growing technology, media,...

Twenty-five percent of WCDMA handsets will include GPS by 2008.(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... NEW YORK, NY -- GPS in the GSM mobile phone has always seemed to be a year away. But 2007 may be the year that it finally arrives, and 25 percent of WCDMA handsets will offer GPS by the end of 2008, according to a new study from ABI Research....

Shrinking cables and connectors raise performance: as demands on system performance increase, cables, connectors, and cable assemblies are using new materials and techniques to increase accuracy, repeatability, and flexibility while reducing size and weight.(News Report)
November 1, 2006... Compared to whiz-bang radios and other flashier RF products, cable and connector development seems relatively slow. Yet the companies that produce cables, connectors, and cable assemblies are continuously developing new products. In the...

2006 IEDM points way for device power and speed: the 2006 edition of the IEDM features some new marks for solid-state microwave frequency and power along with some practical approaches for saving processing costs.(News Report)(International Electron Devices Meeting)(Conference news)
November 1, 2006... Few conferences carry the clout of the IEEE's International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM). For 51 years, it has been a launching pad for a wide range of semiconductor technologies, including gallium-arsenide (GaAs) transistors,...

Raytheon reports strong third quarter.(financialnews)(Financial report)
November 1, 2006... Raytheon Co. reported third-quarter 2006 income from continuing operations of $323 million or $0.72 per diluted share compared to $231 million or $0.51 per diluted share in the third quarter 2005.Third-quarter 2006 net income was $321 million...

Contracts.(companynews)(briefs)(WFI)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Herley Industries, Inc. -- Announced that it has received $2.6 million in contract awards from a major US defense company to design and manufacture phase shifters and other microwave assemblies for the F-16 aircraft upgrade program. Herley...

Fresh starts.(companynews)
November 1, 2006... Keithley Instruments -- The Evaluation Committee of the IEEE Joseph F. Keithley Award in Instrumentation & Measurement is asking for nominations and suggestions for nominations from colleagues in the Instrumentation and Measurements community...

Fox taps Hsiao for Asia Pacific sales-management spot.(people)(Tundra Semiconductor Corp. appointed David Long)(Science Applications International Corp. appointed Dr. Joseph Guerci)(Fox Electronics Inc. appointed David Hsiao)
November 1, 2006... Fox Electronics has appointed DAVID HSIAO to the position of manager of sales and marketing for Fox Asia Pacific. Prior to taking on his current role at Fox Electronics, Hsiao worked as managing director of sales for Hosonic Electronic Ltd. ...

Short Courses.(education)
November 1, 2006... Microwave Measurements for Emerging Technologies November 28-29 (Broomfield, CO) For further information, contact: David K. Walker NIST, M.S. 813.01 325 Broadway Boulder, CO 80305 (303) 497-5490, FAX: (303) 497-3970...

Meetings.(education)(Brief article)(Calendar)
November 1, 2006... Active RFID Summit 2006 November 14-15 (Atlanta, GA) Renaissance Waverly Hotel Internet: www.activerfidsummit.com electronica 2006 November 14-17 (Munich, Germany) New Munich Trade Show Center Internet:...

Approach improves impedance bandwidth of microstrip antennas.(R & D roundup)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... MICROSTRIP ANTENNAS have been miniaturized through a number of techniques and choices of materials. Traditional techniques involve the use of high permittivity dielectric materials to decrease the physical dimensions of the radiator. Pekka...

FDTD modeling of ELF radar supports calculations of geodesic grid.(R & D roundup)(extremely low frequencies)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... MODELING THE EARTH'S PROPAGATION behavior at extremely low frequencies (ELFs) is an effective method for developing a three-dimensional geodesic grid of the Earth-ionosphere cavity for the purposes of studying electromagnetic (EM) precursors to...

Method scrutinizes behavior of WCDMA signals with a spectrum analyzer.(R & D roundup)(wideband code-division-multiple-access)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... FREQUENCY-SELECTIVE MEASUREMENTS using a spectrum analyzer are one of the proven techniques for measuring the power of a communications signal, even for complex waveforms such as used in wideband code-division-multiple-access (WCDMA) systems....

RF video amplifiers enable FTTP's last mile: video signals coming from fiber-optic lines can receive a huge boost from the right video amplifier and support the operation of ONTs in FTTP/FTTH installations.(design feature)
November 1, 2006... Fiber to the premises/home (FTTP/FTTH) is growing rapidly, as telecommunications companies seek to provide the triple-play services of voice, video, and high-speed data. Part of the last mile in this communications link includes the final 100...

Design an MMIC LNA with GaAs PHEMTs: this approach evaluates both enhancement-mode and depletion-mode GaAs PHEMTs for the design of an X-band (about 8 GHz) LNA designed to run on battery power.(monolithic-microwave-integrated-circuit, low-noise amplifiers, pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistors)
November 1, 2006... Low-noise amplifiers (LNAs) are critical for extracting signals from noise in communications receivers. Other techniques are available for controlling noise in a system, including filtering and cryogenic cooling, but high-performance LNAs offer...

Parametric simulation helps optimize antenna performance: computer-aided simulation tools can dramatically speed the design of RF/microwave antennas for wireless systems, as this WiMAX example illustrates.
November 1, 2006... Antenna design traditionally involves a trial-and-error process consisting of building a series of prototypes and testing their performance while iterating to an optimized design. More recently, antenna designers have begun to simulate antennas...

ACM controls cost of increased spectral efficiency: adaptive code and modulation (ACM) technology is poised to provide cellular backhaul infrastructure with the efficiency needed to meet growing demand for high-capacity payloads.(design feature)
November 1, 2006... Cellular-communications system operators depend on efficient access network technologies to maximum spectral efficiency (bits/Hz) at minimum cost. Adaptive code and modulation (ACM) is an emerging wireless technology that promises to do just...

Test equipment simplifies antenna path alignment.(Pendulum Instruments Inc.)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... MICROWAVE LINKS DEMAND the accurate alignment of the path between antennas. Traditionally, microwave path alignment requires a transmitter and receiver, which are located at each end of the microwave link. If the antennas are aligned (i.e.,...

Tips ease antenna design for ISM-band and short-range devices.(Texas Instruments Inc., Industrial-Scientific-Medical)
November 1, 2006... VARIOUS TYPES OF ANTENNAS are used for short-range and Industrial-Scientific-Medical (ISM)-band devices. For example, the antennas that excite an electrical field are called electrical antennas. In contrast, those that excite a magnetic field...

Site Speeds Search for RF/microwave components: this upgraded search function supports parametric selection of components based on actual measured data, allowing engineers to quickly match a component to an application.
November 1, 2006... Matching a component to an application can be tedious and even unnerving at times. No matter how well versed a high-frequency engineer is in terms of the latest components, few if any can understand how some components can fit into a circuit or...

Power sensors work with USB computers: these miniature power sensors connect to a personal computer via its USB port, providing power measurements from -50 to +20 dB at frequencies to 18.5 GHz, with a 26.5-GHz model available within 2006 and plans for 40 GHz in early 2007.(universal-serial-bus)
November 1, 2006... Universal-serial-bus (USB) connections have greatly simplified the operation of a personal computer (PC) with peripheral devices, such as keyboards and printers. A USB connection can also make it easier to perform RF/microwave power...

Vector signal generator cuts measurement costs: this powerful bench-top instrument is designed to produce the low-noise, complex waveforms needed to test cellular systems and components through 2200 MHz.(Product Technology)
November 1, 2006... Test sources for modern radio-communications systems and components must generate complex waveforms. The advent of vector signal generators some years ago solved this problem with wideband internal or external digital in-phase (I) and...

Software shortens path to working RF designs: by combining three technologies that target RF system designers, this software helps engineers choose the optimal frequency and architecture, perform simulation, and complete other tasks to get a design ready for manufacturing.(Product Technology)
November 1, 2006... Electronic-design-automation (EDA) tools save time and design costs while allowing engineers to focus on making products more competitive. To keep delivering on such promises, however, EDA tools must be regularly updated. For example, Agilent...

Small-footprint oscilloscopes reach 2 GHz: aside from providing a large screen for their small size, these oscilloscopes promise to find and display rare anomalies in circuit behavior.(Product Technology)
November 1, 2006... While the basic function of an oscilloscope is to display voltage as a function of time, the capabilities of commercial instruments vary widely depending on their intended application. For engineering design and test, the most popular...

Exciter and simulator team for 100-Hz resolution.(editor's choice)(Summation Research, Inc)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... IN ORDER TO PRODUCE transmission-ready signals in the S- or L-band frequency spectrum, a new exciter and test-signal simulator (TSS) merges RF upconverters with a digital or analog dual modulator. Dubbed the SE-4250, the device offers data...

15-W GaN HEMT targets WiMAX.(editor's choice)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... THE WIMAX STANDARD was spawned to enable high-data-rate wireless communications over long distances. WiMAX applications must therefore work under high-power conditions while satisfying tough efficiency and linearity requirements. To meet these...

Power sensors deliver 7- and 10-ns rise times.(editor's choice)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... FOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS, defense, medical, and other applications, it is essential to be able to accurately measure the power of ultra-fast signals. To deliver such measurements, two peak power sensors now promise to perform at very high speeds....

Clock generator beats 1-ps jitter.(editor's choice)
November 1, 2006... TO HELP THE PUSH toward ever-smaller solutions, a clock IC now brings the voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) on chip. In addition, the AD9516 series integrates an integer-N synthesizer, two reference inputs, programmable dividers, adjustable...