Microwaves & RF articles from September 2007

Microwaves & RF archives from September 2007

Claire Wainwright.(feedback)(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2007... * I HAVE BEEN A READER of Microwaves & RF for more than 30 years, and I was very sad when I read your editorial ("The Odyssey Of Claire Wainwright," Editorial, June 2007, p. 17) about my very good friend Claire Wainwright. Apart from being a...

MTT-S editorial.(feedback)(Editorial)(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2007... * A CORRECTION IS NEEDED in regard to your July editorial ("Hawaii Gets A Thumbs Up After All," Editorial, July 2007, p. 17). The acronym MTT-S has always represented Microwave Theory and Techniques Society, never MTT Symposium. The...

WiMAX article.(feedback)(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2007... * I WAS LOOKING OVER the WiMAX article that you graciously published as the Cover Story in the June issue ("Single Chip Holds WiMAX Transceivers," June 2007, p. 96), and I found one typo and a misplaced figure reference. The typo occurred...

Waveguide components.(feedback)(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2007... * IT IS VERY RARE that I am driven to write to the media but your recent piece in Microwaves & RF supposedly reviewing the world of waveguides ("Waveguide Components Cut Losses While Passing Power," July 2007, p. 40) has certainly raised some...

Wireless adoption surges despite fears.(from the editor)(Editorial)
September 1, 2007... About a year ago, I received a phone call from a man who was looking for backup material for his son's science-fair project. The project asserted that exposure to a wireless local-area network (WLAN) would prevent living things from...

RFID transponders approach the $1B mark.(the front end)
September 1, 2007... NATICK, MA--According to a report from Venture Development Corp. (www.vdc-corp.com), the global market for RFID transponders approached $1 billion in 2006 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24 percent through...

QUALCOMM equips 300 million mobile handsets worldwide with GPS.(the front end)
September 1, 2007... SAN DIEGO, CA--QUALCOMM, Inc., a developer of code-division multiple access (CDMA) and other advanced wireless technologies, has marked a milestone in the adoption of the company's gpsOne[R] position-location technology. More than 300 million...

Prospects are improving for RF power-amplifier markets.(the front end)
September 1, 2007... SCOTTSDALE, AZ -- Updated forecasts from ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com) for the global RF power-amplifier market indicate that while the total available market for these essential cellular base-station equipment items is still shrinking,...

Tracking trends in military-electronics technologies; Some of the largest of military programs are pushing for troop and fleet modernization, making use of advanced technologies as well as practical manufacturing approaches.(News Report)
September 1, 2007... Military-electronics technology has long trended toward achieving more functionality and performance in smaller packages. The ways in which electronic technologies are applied may change, but that trend for smaller and lighter electronic...

Dividers/combiners channel RF/microwave signals; Power dividers/combiners perform the essential functions of splitting and combining signals in high-frequency systems such as receivers and transmitters.(News Report)
September 1, 2007... Signals must often be divided or combined within a system, a task usually handled at RF and microwave frequencies by power dividers and combiners. An ideal power divider would also be an ideal power combiner, but this is not always the case....

RFMD to acquire Sirenza Microdevices.(financial news)
September 1, 2007... RF Micro Devices, Inc. and Sirenza Microdevices announced that they have signed a definitive merger agreement. Under the terms of the merger agreement unanimously approved by the respective boards of directors of the two companies, each...

MU-DEL ELECTRONICS, Inc.(United States. Federal Aviation Administration)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... MU-DEL ELECTRONICS, Inc. -- For the second time in 12years, has been awarded an Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) five-year contract by the FAA to supply the FAA with its new generation of VHF and UHF receiver multicouplers. The...

Motorola, Inc.(CONTRACTS)
September 1, 2007... Motorola, Inc. -- Announced contracts worth $394 million with China Mobile Communications Corp. (CMCC) for GSM network expansion. The multiple contracts were signed in the first half of 2007. Approximately 60 percent of the revenue from these...

Alliant Techsystems.(Sadia National Laboratories)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... Alliant Techsystems -- Announced that its Mission Research & Technical Services (MRTS) business division has been awarded a $2.8 million contract by Sandia National Laboratories to build a unique multichannel test source for the US Nuclear...

RFID Ltd.(CONTRACTS)
September 1, 2007... RFID Ltd. -- Entered into an agreement with Northern California-based Capton, Inc., a provider of RFID solutions for the hospitality industry and Blue Star, a distributor of pointof- sale and RFID products. Capton's beverage tracker will...

Harris Corp.(CONTRACTS)
September 1, 2007... Harris Corp. -- Has been awarded a $76 million contract to supply the government of Pakistan with Falcon[R] II high-frequency tactical radios. Under terms of the contract, Harris will provide Pakistan with the Falcon[R] II RF-5800H, an...

MU-DEL ELECTRONICS, Inc.(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... MU-DEL ELECTRONICS, Inc. -- Has just signed on two new representatives to market their products. MU-DEL manufactures high-technology RF equipment, which includes the following: RF multicouplers from 1 kHz to 40.0 GHz, RF frequency converters...

QUALCOMM, Inc.(FRESH STARTS)
September 1, 2007... QUALCOMM, Inc. -- Announced that it has repurchased and retired approximately 29 million shares of common stock during July and August 2007 for approximately $1.1 billion under its $3.0 billion stock repurchase repurchase program. Approximately...

TriQuint Semiconductor.(FRESH STARTS)
September 1, 2007... TriQuint Semiconductor -- Has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Park Devices, Inc. of Boulder, CO, in a cash transaction expected to close within the quarter. Peak Devices is a privately held, fabless semiconductor company with a...

Zarlink Semiconductor, Inc.(FRESH STARTS)
September 1, 2007... Zarlink Semiconductor, Inc. -- Announced that it has sold its Mitel Networks Corp. shares for $12.9 million, following the approval of the merger of Mitel and Inter-Tel (Delaware), Inc.

Coaxial Dynamics.(FRESH STARTS)
September 1, 2007... Coaxial Dynamics -- Has appointed Evergo Instruments, Inc. as its representative in Taiwan. Evergo's contact information is: Evergo Instruments, Inc., 5 Fl. No. 495, Chung-Cheng Rd., Hsin-Tien, Taipei, Taiwan ROC 231; 886-2-2752-0767, FAX:...

Skyworks Solutions names palette as VP and CFO.(people)
September 1, 2007... Skyworks Solutions, Inc. has announced that DONALD (DON) W. PALETTE has joined Skyworks as vice president and CFO. Palette most recently served as senior vice president of finance and controller of Axcelis Technologies, Inc.

Harris Corp.(people)
September 1, 2007... Harris Corp. -- BRIAN A. FITZPATRICK to vice president of business development for the Civil Programs business of Harris Government Communications Systems; formerly corporate director of business development for Homeland Security with Northrop...

Motorola, Inc.(people)
September 1, 2007... Motorola, Inc. -- ANTHONY J. VINCIQUERRA to the board of directors; continues as president and CEO of the Fox Networks Group. Also, GREG BROWN to the board of directors; continues as president and COO of Motorola.

GigaBeam Corp.(people)
September 1, 2007... GigaBeam Corp. -- MARK HAHN to CFO and vice president of finance and administration; formerly CFO at BuildLinks, Inc.

ANADIGICS, Inc.(people)
September 1, 2007... ANADIGICS, Inc. -- DUANE KOONCE to Western regional sales manager. Also, DAVID BENNETT to Americas and European broadband sales director for WLAN and WiMAX products. In addition, STEPHEN SIMON to broadband key customer sales director.

Openwave Systems, Inc.(people)
September 1, 2007... Openwave Systems, Inc. -- DR. JEANYVES DEXIMER to CFO; formerly CFO at Informix Software, Octel Communications, and Thomson Consumer Electronics.

Excellon Automation.(people)
September 1, 2007... Excellon Automation -- WARREN WONG to North American parts business manager; formerly employed in machine production, technical sales support, and applications engineering with Excellon.

STMicroelectronics.(people)
September 1, 2007... STMicroelectronics -- PHILIPPE LAMBINET to corporate vice president and general manager of the company's Home Entertainment and Displays (HED) Group; formerly chief marketing and strategy officer and vice chairman of the board of directors at...

Lockheed Martin.(people)
September 1, 2007... Lockheed Martin -- CHRISTOPHER E. KUBASIK to leader of the Electronic Systems Business Area; formerly executive vice president and CFO. Also, BRUCE L. TANNER to executive vice president and CFO; formerly vice president of finance and business...

QUALCOMM, Inc.(people)
September 1, 2007... QUALCOMM, Inc. -- CAROL LAM to acting general counsel; continues as senior vice president and legal counsel.

Interop Technologies.(people)
September 1, 2007... Interop Technologies -- EDDY COJULUN VELA to regional sales director for Latin America and the Caribbean; formerly marketing director for broadband strategy at Nortel Networks in Peru and Ecuador.

Newark.(people)
September 1, 2007... Newark -- PAUL BUCKLEY to senior vice president for product and regional supplier management; formerly senior vice president for the Supplier Services Group at Arrow Electronics.

Labsphere.(people)
September 1, 2007... Labsphere -- ROGER XIAO to Asia Pacific sales director; formerly international business development manager at Electro Rent Corp.

Catalyst Semiconductor, Inc.(people)
September 1, 2007... Catalyst Semiconductor, Inc. -- DAVID EICHLER to CFO and vice president of finance and administration; formerly senior vice president and CFO for Phoenix Technologies Ltd.

Short Courses.(education)(Calendar)
September 1, 2007... R.A. Wood Associates Short Courses Introductory RF and Microwaves November 5-6 (Philadelphia, PA) RF and Microwave Receiver Design November 7-9 (Philadelphia, PA) RF Power Amplifiers, Classes A-S: How the Circuits Operate, How to...

Meetings.(education)(Brief article)(Calendar)
September 1, 2007... WiMAX world September 25-27 (Chicago, IL) McCormick Place Chicago Internet: http://usa.wimaxworld.com IPC Midwest Conference & Exhibition September 25-28 (Schaumburg, IL) Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel and Convention...

Call for papers.(education)(Calendar)
September 1, 2007... ARMMS RF & Microwave Society Conference November 5-6 (Northamptonshire, United Kingdom) Hotel Elizabeth Rockingham Deadline for submissions: September 5 For more information, contact Steve Williamson at...

Single- sideband Schottky-diode IC mixer covers 180 to 196 GHz.(R & D roundup)
September 1, 2007... BROADBAND TELECOMMUNICATION services and wireless local-area networks (WLANs) increasingly depend on millimeter-wave operation. Millimeter-wave components based on gallium-arsenide (GaAs) and indium-phosphide (InP) monolithic microwave...

2D Tomographic imaging characterizes benign And malignant breast tissue.(Cochin University of Science and Technology)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... X-RAY MAMMOGRAPHY CURRENTLY misses an estimated 15 percent of breast cancer. It also has trouble imaging women with dense breasts and discriminating between benign and malignant masses. As an alternative, a characterization of benign and...

Nonsurgical Microwave Procedure uncovers pregnancy risks.(R & D roundup)
September 1, 2007... DURING PREGNANCY, THE PHYSIOLOGICAL changes that occur can result in complications for the mother and--in turn--the fetus. At the Microwave Tomography and Materials Research Laboratory's Department of Electronics at Cochin University of Science...

Tracking advances in pulsed S-parameter measurements: a high-performance Microwave vector network analyzer employs a number of hardware-and software-based advances to improve the accuracy of narrowband pulsed S-parameter measurements.(Design Feature)
September 1, 2007... Scattering (S) parameter measurements with a vector network analyzer (VNA) are usually performed with a continuous-wave (CW) stimulus applied to the device under test (DUT). In some cases, however, it may be necessary to use a pulsed stimulus...

Making source-corrected noise-figure measurements.(MEASUREMENT SOLUTIONS SERIES)
September 1, 2007... Noise comes in many forms. Noise-figure measurements are usually concerned with shot and thermal noise. Shot noise is generally associated with semiconductor junctions and caused by the random nature of current flow. Thermal noise is due to the...

Reviewing the basics of intermodulation distortion: understanding how nonlinear effects are produced in both active and passive components can help reduce the generation of IMD and resulting interference in communications systems.(Design Feature)
September 1, 2007... Intermodulation distortion (IMD) can wreak havoc in modern wireless-communications systems. The better it is understood, the better its effects can be minimized. IMD can be described by examining the linearity of a two-port network. This study...

Evaluate test system impedance matching and switch quality: the effects of impedance matching and switch quality can play a major role in achieving accurate and repeatable measurements with an RF/microwave test system.(Design Feature)
September 1, 2007... Impedance mismatches cause reflections, an unwanted effect in high-frequency test systems. For AC signals, any change in dielectric constant between materials can result in a change in characteristic impedances and an impedance mismatch. For...

Design cross-coupled absorptive filters: these simple designs can deliver respectable high Q and sharp selectivity absorptive filters at microwave frequencies by combining several hybrids and filter structures.(Design Feature)
September 1, 2007... Microwave filters conventionally reflect electromagnetic (EM) waves from the load back to the source. In some cases, however, it is desirable to separate the reflected wave from the input, to protect the source from excessive power levels, for...

Enhance CMOS charge pumps and phase-frequency detectors: careful design of the phase-frequency detector and charge pump in a PLL frequency synthesizer can yield benefits in reduced phase jitter and output spurious content.(Design Feature)
September 1, 2007... Frequency synthesizers orchestrate the frequency translation in modern wireless transceivers. The performance of the synthesizer, notably its phase jitter and spurious levels, can greatly determine the performance of the overall wireless...

Modern signal generators simplify I/Q-modulator characterization.(application notes)
September 1, 2007... IN-PHASE/QUADRATURE (I/Q) MODULATORS are crucial to modern telecommunications. Currently, designers are working on I/Q modulators to meet the increasing demands for transmission bandwidth and signal quality. The performance of such devices must...

PCB layout enables lowest thermal resistance.(application notes)
September 1, 2007... PRINTED-CIRCUIT-BOARD (PCB) layout is critical to both thermal and RF performance. It is therefore crucial that designers consider the heat source as well as how the heat will be removed before the electromechanical design is finished. Texas...

Block phUpconverter drops ase noise at Ka-Band; This block frequency L-band-to-Ka-band upconverter uses several unique design approaches and manufacturing strategies to serve dual-use commercial and military applications.(UPCONVERTER)
September 1, 2007... Commercial and military satellites deploying Ka-band transponders are driving the need for high-performance L-band-to-Ka-band block upconverters (BUCs). These frequency translators will find use in portable and fixed terminals and must be...

Tri-Company teamwork leads to high performance; demanding customer requirements and challenging design goals have helped to bring three microwave companies within Dover Corp. into a working partnership.(Product Technology)
September 1, 2007... Dover Technologies carries a great deal of "microwave firepower." By acquiring Voltronics Corp. (www.voltronicscorp. com), for example, Dielectric Laboratories (www.dilabs.com) (DLI) added major market share in precision trimmer capacitors to...

Spectrum analyzer spans 20 Hz To 67 GHz: this spectrum analyzer covers 20 Hz to 67 GHz with a single coaxial connection, and without the help of external frequency mixers.(Product Technology)
September 1, 2007... Spectrum analyzers are considered essential RF/microwave test tools. With spectral crowding, the need closely track interference caused by harmonic signals, and the opening of millimeter-wave bands for commercial communications, spectrum...

Calibrator kit pinpoints cable loss.
September 1, 2007... EVERY CABLE has some signal loss. In precision wireless test setups, that loss must be measured and compensated for in order to obtain accurate results. Such is the goal of the TrueCable kit, which measures the loss of cables used in precision...

Switch IC offers broadband operation to 3.8 GHz.
September 1, 2007... WIMAX is inspiring new designs across the industry. A 10-W, double-pole, four-throw (DP4T), gallium-arsenide (GaAs), monolithic-microwave-integratedcircuit (MMIC) switch has now been spawned to help designers integrate WiMAX into customer...

Antenna modeling system checks hearing-aid compatibility.
September 1, 2007... BY FEBRUARY OF NEXT YEAR, all US wireless carriers will have to guarantee that 50 percent of their phones are hearing-aid compatible. With version 2007.4 of the Antenna Modeling Design System (AMDS), users can evaluate hearing-aid compatibility...

>UHF satcom antenna covers 240 to 270 MHz.
September 1, 2007... MOBILE AND SHIPBOARD APPLICATIONS demand high-performance operation from the zenith down to the horizon. Typically, such coverage requires two separate antennas and a switch to select from the two. In contrast, the Model SC-303B provides full...