Microwaves & RF articles from September 2005

Microwaves & RF archives from September 2005

Cable company doubles as connector supplier: more associated with their hand-formable flexible cables, this firm also offers high-performance RF/microwave connectors for use with printed circuit boards and cables.(wireless communications)
September 1, 2005... Some firms are synonymous with particular product lines. Even the name of EZ Form Cable Corp. (Hamden, CT) suggests their long association with cable products. But this is a firm that also offers extensive lines of RF/microwave coaxial...

Coax cables improve receiver performance: these unique coaxial cable assemblies cover the frequency range 0.5 to 18 GHz and feature integrated active components to provide an almost lossless coaxial cable link between antennas and receiver equipment.(coaxial cables)
September 1, 2005... Coaxial cable assemblies provide the vital link between antennas and receivers for high-performance avionics systems. Unfortunately, the signal attenuation caused by these coaxial cable assemblies has historically resulted in a significant...

Ceramic technology yields stable resonators: this high-performance ceramic resonator technology supports frequency-stable components from 500 MHz to >67 GHz with frequency tolerances as low as 0.1 percent.(wireless communications)
September 1, 2005... Frequency stability is critical in many applications that can require tight spectral tolerances. For those components subject to frequency variations, Dielectric Laboratories (Cazenovia, NY) has developed a customizable ceramic process for...

Looking back.
September 1, 2005... ALMOST 38 YEARS AGO, HRB-Singer (State College, PA) introduced a pair of octave-band transistor receivers with 85-dB dynamic range from 1 to 2 GHz and from 2 to 4 GHz. The receivers featured YIG preselectors for filtering prior to...

Author omissions.(feedback)(Correction Notice)
September 1, 2005... DUE TO AN editorial error, the correct names and contact information of the three authors of "Biconical Antenna Scans 4.8 To 5.8 GHz" in the August 2005 issue (p. 53) did not run in the print edition. The correct author names and contact...

Microstrip antennas.(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2005... DR. A. KUMAR'S article on microstrip antennas ("Microstrip Antennas Guide Satellite Data Transmission," July 2005, p. 68) is superb. I was wondering if the 437-MHz antenna could be applied to the radio astronomy band of 408 MHz. This would...

Re-evaluating base closings.(to the editor)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2005... DEFENSE BASE CLOSINGS have been as much a part of recent military news as the war in Iraq. The Department of Defense (DoD) has proposed consolidating a total of 62 major domestic US military bases and over 770 smaller installations in order to...

US leads in electronic-design influence--but China is catching up.(united states)(maket compitition)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... EL SEGUNDO, CA -- Although China is rising fast, the United States remains the leading player in worldwide electronic system design (see figure), a position that gives the US enormous influence over the global semiconductor supply chain,...

Silicon tuner enables TV on a USB stick.(Xceive Corp)(television equipment)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... SANTA CLARA, CA -- Xceive Corp, has announced that its XC2028 silicon tuner is a key part of Compro's new VideoMate U880, bringing TV to the PC. Compro Technology, a manufacturer of PC multimedia products, released the world's smallest USB...

e-Call should provide boost for European Telematics.(tracking systems for motorists)
September 1, 2005... OYSTER BAY, NY -- For several years, the European commission has been working on a project known as e-Call, an emergency service intended to bring rapid assistance to motorists involved in a collision anywhere in the EU. It will employ a...

Kudos.(achievements in electronics and software industry)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... MYRTLE BEACH, SC -- AVX Corp. has received the 2004 ULTimate Supplier Award from Universal Lighting Technologies. AVX was recognized at a recent awards banquet. EL SEGUNDO, CA -- Applied Wave Research, Inc. announced that the company's...

Wireless puts down medical roots: as hospitals increasingly recognize the benefits of going wireless, opportunities are being revealed for a diverse range of engineering products, companies, and technologies.(wireless communications)
September 1, 2005... Wireless-communications and other high-frequency technologies are increasingly revolutionizing the medical industry. The obvious applications for these technologies are the wireless local-area networks (WLANs) that are being installed in some...

Laser-Com system boasts 800-Gb/s bandwidth.(telecommunications equipment)(AOptix Technologies)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... A NEW OPTICAL subsystem can control beam diameter down to a few centimeters. The tightly collimated beam promises to deliver 200x the power of conventional laser-COM systems as well as low-probability-of-detection/low-probability-of-intercept...

Transceiver IC delivers +29 dBm RF output power.(telecommunications equipment)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... A QUAD-BAND, RF transceiver integrated circuit (IC) is now offering true Class-12, 236-kb/s transmit and receive data rates. The TR15431N features a quad-band, multimode E-GPRS radio. It offers up to 40 percent power efficiency for EDGE. The IC...

RF capacitor boasts high Q and low ESR.(electronic equipment)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... RF AND MICROWAVE applications ranging from 1 MHz to 10 GHz can now rely on a new porcelain and ceramic dielectric multilayer capacitor (MLC). The SQCS series provides high Q, low ESR, and high self-resonance with voltages up to 250 VDC. For the...

Quad-frequency XOs and VCXOs target 1.4 GHz.(semiconductor devices)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... INSTEAD OF USING multiple, discrete phase-locked-loop (PLL) components, the Si530 and Si550 families of crystal oscillators XOs) and voltage-controlled crystal oscillators (VCXOs) house a single IC. That IC integrates the...

QUALCOMM will acquire Flarion.(Flarion Technologies Inc.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... QUALCOMM, INC. announced that it will acquire Flarion Technologies, a developer of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex Access (OFDMA) technology and the inventor of FLASH-OFDM[R] technology for mobile broadband Internet-protocol (IP)...

Rockwell Collins.(contract from The Boeing Co.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... Rockwell Collins--Announced that it has been awarded a contract from The Boeing Co. to provide the display for the B-1B Threat Situation Awareness System (TSAS) upgrade. Under this contract, Rockwell Collins will provide an 8 x 6-in....

Radyne Corp.(contract to supply satellite telecommunications equipment)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... Radyne Corp.--Has received $2.3 million in a contract to supply satellite telecommunications equipment to a leading telecom provider in the Asia Pacific region. The equipment will be used to provide secure and reliable services to new and...

EMS Technologies, Inc.(contracts)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... EMS Technologies, Inc.--Announced that its Defense & Space Systems division is performing on a contract awarded in December 2004 to provide intermediate-frequency (IF) modules for the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environment Satellite...

Hittite Microwave Corp.(initial public offering)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... Hittite Microwave Corp.--Announced the pricing of its initial public offering of 4,500,000 shares of its common stock at $17.00 per share. Hittite is offering 2,700,000 shares of common stock and the selling stockholders are offering 1,800,000...

Microwave Data Systems (MDS).(bankruptcy)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... Microwave Data Systems (MDS)--Announced that its parent company, Moseley Associates, Inc., elected not to make the highest bid in the US Bankruptcy-approved auction for the significant assets of Proxim Corp. held on July 18, 2005. Microwaves &...

SEQUANS Communications.(FRESH STARTS)
September 1, 2005... SEQUANS Communications--Has shipped equipment to CETECOM Labs for validation and conformance testing. SEQUANS' WiMAX solution for Subscriber Stations SQN1010 SoC) and Base Stations (SQN2010 SoC) will be in the first wave of WiMAX Forum...

MI Technologies.(RF Spin s.r.o., Amideon Systems Ltd., G-Systems, AM Technologies and Spark Measurement Technologies selected for product representation)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... MI Technologies--Announced that it has selected five independent sales organizations to represent its line of RF and microwave test and measurement products to customers in The Czech Republic and Slovakia, Ireland, Greece, Poland, and Turkey....

Agilent Technologies and Eagleware Corp.(acquisitions)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... Agilent Technologies and Eagleware Corp.--Have signed a definitive agreement for Agilent to acquire substantially all of the assets and business of Eagleware-Elanix, a provider of system and circuit-design software for the communications...

CSR plc.(Cambridge Silicon Radio Ltd. to acquire UbiNetics Holdings Ltd.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... CSR plc--Announced that it has entered into an agreement with UbiNetics Holdings Ltd. to acquire UbiNetics' software business for a cash consideration of $48 million. UbiNetics is based in Cambridge, England and specializes in communication...

G.T. Microwave.(www.gtmicrowave.com. site released)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... G.T. Microwave--Announced the release of its new updated website. Highlights of the new website include useful application notes, product catalogs, and data sheets. The graphical design makes navigating the site much easier. The revised site...

In-Stat.(new office in China)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... In-Stat--Opened its Beijing, China office on July 12, 2005, formally announcing the launch of their China-focused research and consulting services.

TestMart.(www.usa.testmart.com site launched)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... TestMart--Has launched www.usa.testmart.com, a marketplace specifically designed to assist government, military, and authorized federal contractor test-equipment buyers.

Aeroflex, Inc.(new sales office in Taipei City, Taiwan )(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... Aeroflex, Inc.--Announced the opening of a new sales office for their Test and Measurement group in Taipei City, Taiwan in the Xinyi District. This new office will become the nucleus for the sales and support of Aeroflex test products and...

HTC Engineering, Inc. (HTC-e).(contract engineering services)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... HTC Engineering, Inc. (HTC-e)--Announced its entry into the field of contract engineering services, focusing in the areas of analog, mixed-signal, and digital IC design, communications-system design, and electromechanical design. For...

Anite taps Sullivan as VP of Americas operations.(Scott Sullivan appointed)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... Anite Telecoms has appointed SCOTT SULLIVAN as vice president for its Americas Operations. Sullivan will be based in Chicago. Prior to his new role at Anite, Sullivan was national sales manager for Wireless Test Products at Anritsu.

Artimi, Inc.(Colin Macnab appointed)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... Artimi, Inc.--COLIN MACNAB to CEO; formerly vice president of marketing and business development for Atheros.

ABI Research.(Joe Hamner appointed)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... ABI Research--JOE HAMNER to vice president of sales; formerly director of strategic accounts at Gartner, Inc.

Peregrine Semiconductor.(Gary A. Monetti)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... Peregrine Semiconductor--GARY A. MONETTI to the board of directors; formerly president of TriQuint Semiconductor's Sawtek Division.

Conexant Systems, Inc.(Christian Scherp appointed)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... Conexant Systems, Inc.--CHRISTIAN SCHERP to senior vice president of worldwide sales; formerly vice president and general manager for the wireless/wireline Communications Group for Infineon Technologies North America.

Agilent Technologies, Inc.(David Churchill appointed)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... Agilent Technologies, Inc.--DAVID CHURCHILL to vice president and general manager of the Design Validation Division; formerly vice president and general manager of the Communications and Video Business Unit at Tektronix.

DesignAdvance Systems, Inc.(Howard Coltin appointed)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... DesignAdvance Systems, Inc.--HOWARD COLTIN to vice president of sales; formerly vice president of sales for VeSys Ltd.

IPC.(Shane, Whiteside appointed)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... IPC--SHANE WHITESIDE to the board of directors; continues as senior vice president and COO at TTM Technologies.

Communication Technologies, Inc.(Allen P. Todd appointed)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... Communication Technologies, Inc.--ALLEN P. TODD to vice president for BPL Operations; formerly director of utilities for the city of Manassas, VA.

Harris Corp.'s Broadcast Communications Division (BCD).(Tom Jones appointed)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... Harris Corp.'s Broadcast Communications Division (BCD)--TOM JONES to director for Radio Engineering; formerly director for Radio Transmission products.

FreeWave Technologies.(Robert Werth and Ian Linn appointed)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... FreeWave Technologies--IAN LINN to manufacturing process engineer; formerly field engineer at Siemens. Also, ROBERT WERTH to RF design engineer; formerly RF design engineer at Skyworks Solutions and Rockwell Collins.

picoChip.(Gullaume D'Eyssautier appointed by Picochip Designs Ltd.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... picoChip--GUILLAUME D'EYSSAUTIER to CEO; formerly senior vice president and general manager EMEA at Cadence Design Systems. Also, IAIN SILVESTER to CFO; formerly finance director at Motion Media plc.

Janos Technology, Inc.(John Tejada appointed)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... Janos Technology, Inc.--JOHN TEJADA to optical designer; formerly senior optical scientist at Insight Technology, Inc.

Harris Corp.(Jeffrey S. Shuman appointed)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... Harris Corp.--JEFFREY S. SHUMAN to vice president for human resources and corporate relations; formerly vice president for human resources and administration at Northrop Grumman's Information Technology business.

Raytheon JPS Communications.(Fred Leenerts appointed)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... Raytheon JPS Communications--FRED LEENERTS to director of international sales; formerly vice president of business development for Thales Mackay Radio.

Cookson Electronics Assembly Materials Group (AMG).(appointments)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... Cookson Electronics Assembly Materials Group (AMG)--PETER PALMER to executive vice president/general manager for the Americas; formerly senior vice president for marketing and new business development at Cookson Electronics.

Short courses.(calendar)(Brief Article)(Calendar)
September 1, 2005... Besser Associates Short Courses RFID Made Simple November 14-15 (Dallas, TX) Applied RF Techniques I November 14-18 (Dallas, TX) February 27-March 3, 2006 (San Diego, CA) Production Testing of RF and SOC Devices for...

Meetings.(education)
September 1, 2005... High Tech Connectors Forum 2005 September 25-27 (Cambridge, MA) Charles Hotel Internet: www.hightechconnections.org European Microwave Week 2005 October 3-7 (Paris, France) CNIT la Defense, International Conference &...

Monopole antenna achieves wide impedance band.(R&D roundup)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... MONOPOLE PATCH ANTENNAS are not normally associated with wide bandwidths. But Ka-Leung Lau and fellow researchers from the Department of Electrical Engineering of the City University of Hong Kong (Kowloon, Hong Kong) have applied a broadening...

Novel composite transistor forms high-linearity RF power amplifiers.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... PREDISTORTION METHODS ARE COMMON in amplifier circuits required to achieve high linearity. But Huai Gao and associates from the Institute of Acoustics at the State Key Laboratory of Modern Acoustics, part of Nanjing University (Nanjing, PRC)...

Silicon Bipolar IC targets 12-GHz Satellite DVB receivers.(R&D roundup)
September 1, 2005... SILICON PROCESS TECHNOLOGIES continue to improve to the point where they can rival and even replace more costly GaAs devices. A case in point is the 12-GHz silicon-bipolar-based dual-conversion receiver integrated circuit (IC) developed by Tino...

Synchronized synthesizers aid multichannel systems: precise synchronization capability in a pair of direct-digital-synthesizer circuits supports the advanced signal-processing requirements of modern radar systems.(semiconductor devices)
September 1, 2005... Direct-digital-synthesis (DDS)- based synthesizers are primarily known as agile frequency sources with low phase noise and excellent spurious performance. In many applications, they offer significant advantages over phase-locked-loop (PLL)...

Tracking transmitter compliance testing: traditional methods of performing high-speed digital communications transmitter compliance testing can provide misleading results compared to newer approaches.(usage of transmitters)
September 1, 2005... Verifying the performance of a digital communications system was once easy. When entire networks were installed and owned by a single company, and the system worked, extensive testing of the subcomponents was unnecessary. But in this age of...

Building wireless sensor networks: a variety of factors contribute to the successful design and operation of a wireless sensor network (WSN), including propagation conditions and requirements for size and power consumption.(sensors)
September 1, 2005... Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) offer great promise for information capture and processing in both commercial and military applications. Successful system design and deployment includes understanding RF channel characteristics, and the choice...

Method measures device power and gain: this approach eliminates many problems encountered when measuring the saturated power of RF transistors and RF ICs under pulsed conditions.(power meters)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... Power measurements on RF transistors and RF integrated circuits (RF ICs) have grown in complexity as a function of the modulation formats used with these devices. One of the most important measures of high-power device performance is saturated...

Using thin-film dielectric capacitors at high frequencies.(capacitors)
September 1, 2005... CAPACITORS AT ONE TIME were treated like the neglected stepchild of yesterday's high-frequency designs. Then, the rise of higher frequencies in the 450-MHz to 3-GHz region spawned the need for surface-mount-device (SMD) chip capacitors. These...

Detailing 6-b, 63-dB IF Digital Attenuators.(usage of attenuators)
September 1, 2005... MANY VARIETIES OF ATTENUATORS exist. Yet they all serve one common function: to provide a fixed amount of signal loss over a range of frequencies. Applications like base stations and automatic-gain-control (AGC) circuits require high...

Wideband mixers hit high intercept points: these new passive diode and high-intercept-point FET mixers employ patented approaches to achieve wide dynamic range without high LO power or conversion loss.(wireless communications services)
September 1, 2005... Mixers are essential to most communications systems. Traditionally, they are used to upconvert signal frequencies for transmission and downconvert received signals to lower intermediate frequencies (IFs) for signal processing. Although they are...