Homepage Archive - January 2017 (page 1)

These archive pages are provided in order to make it easier for you to find items that you remember seeing on the RF Cafe homepage. Of course probably the easiest way to find anything on the website is to use the "Search RF Cafe" box at the top of every page. About RF Cafe.

Homepage Archive Pages

2024:  Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec

2023:  Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec

2022:  Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec

2021:  Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec

2020:  Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec

2019:  Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec

2018:  Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec

2017:  Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec

2016:  Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec

2015:  Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec

2014:  Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec

2013:  Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec

2012:  1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 (no archives before 2012)

See Page 1 | 2 | 3 of the January 2017 homepage archives.

 

Friday 13

Get Rid of Public Speaking Anxiety

Get Rid of Public Speaking Anxiety - RF CafeWho knew the 'left leg shake' was a well-known symptom of Glossophobia? "As a an engineer, there is a good chance that you are an introvert. There is nothing wrong with being soft spoken unless part of your job includes public speaking. You are great at communicating complex ideas, but just not to large groups of people. You get speech anxiety. In the privacy of your dim lit office, your fingers dance across the keyboard and you have no problem expressing yourself. You love what you do, but when the time comes to give ..."

Dividing Networks

Dividing Networks, December 1949 Radio & Television News - RF CafeDividing network is another name for a crossover network used to separate and direct parts of the audio frequency band to specific speakers - bass, midrange, and tweeter, for example. It is the audio equivalent of a diplexer or multiplexer filter in the RF and microwave realm. As with many other aspects of consumer electronics, there was a time when many audiophiles chose to design and/or build their own crossover networks for home-built speakers. Although never really a bona fide audiophile ...

10th Annual Military Radar Summit: February 27 - March 1, 2017

Military Radar Summit 2017 banner - RF CafeDon't miss out on the 10th Annual Military Radar Summit - February 27 through March 1, 2017, in Arlington, Virginia. This conference will have an excellent lineup of speakers, workshops, and exhibitors that span the entire spectrum of the military radar community. Recently there has been further improvement on these modern radars which has led to more enhanced performance. Topics covered include:  • Next Generation Radar for Contested Environments  • Upgrades in Military Radar for UAVs  • Transforming the Battlefield Sensor Network  <more>

Molybdenum-Disulfide 2D Transistors Go Ballistic

Molybdenum-Disulfide 2D Transistors - RF Cafe"Molybdenum disulfide, a 2-D semiconductor that's just 3 atoms thick, has had a big year. In October, a group of researchers made a 1-nanometer transistor from the material, showing that even if silicon transistors stop shrinking, the new material might provide a path forward. In December, at the IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting in San Francisco, researchers presented work they say shows that molybdenum disulfide not only makes for superlative single transistors ..."

Google Fiber, Nokia Support 3.7-4.2 GHz for Fixed Wireless

Google Fiber, Nokia Support 3.7-4.2 GHz for Fixed Wireless - RF Cafe"Google Fiber and Nokia are among the stakeholders throwing their support behind a petition by the Fixed Wireless Communications Coalition (FWCC) that seeks to explore ways to facilitate greater terrestrial use of the 3.7-4.2 GHz band. The FWCC filed a petition with the FCC in October asking regulators to update the rules for the 3.7-4.2 GHz band so that more of the spectrum can be used for terrestrial applications. Not surprisingly, the satellite industry ..."

Thursday 12

Report Analyzes the Automotive Radar Sensors Market

Report Analyzes the Automotive Radar Sensors Market - RF Cafe"Technavio has published a new report that provides an analysis of the most important trends in the global automotive radar sensors market expected to impact the market outlook from 2017-2021. They have compiled the data for the automotive radar sensors market by using a bottom-up sizing approach. They assimilated the sizes for of the different constituent markets by application. They then further refined the data by applying selective ..."

A Few Great RF & Microwave Engineering Articles for January 2017

A Few Great RF & Microwave Engineering Articles for January 2017 - RF CafeThis latest collection of articles from our industry's magazine publishers with a mix of topics including one of my favorite: grounding. Items move onto and off of all homepages quickly, so even if you visit Microwave & RF, Microwave Journal, Microwave Product Digest, High Frequency Electronics, et al ...

Properly Ground Your Circuits

Free Software Shows Radar

    Coverage

Near-Field Scanning: Useful

    or Misleading?  <more>

Understanding Graphene-Semiconductor Schottky Contacts

Understanding Graphene-Semiconductor Schottky Contacts - RF Cafe"Researchers in Singapore, the USA and Italy have been developing a modified model of Schottky contacts between graphene (Gr) and 2D and 3D semiconductors. The model takes better account of the effective 'zero mass' and zero gap (semi-metal) conduction/valence band structure of Gr with approximately linear energy-wavevector relations relations. Metals and semiconductors are usually modeled with quadratic energy-wavevector relations, giving non-zero effective mass. The Gr material was produced by chemical vapor ..."

Transistor Circuitry: Characteristics and Operating Considerations

Transistor Circuitry, December 1953 QST - RF CafeTransistor basics have not changed since they were first introduced to the market around 1953. The first available transistors used germanium substrates, and then in 1954 Texas Instruments introduced the first commercial silicon transistor. The hybrid pi equivalent circuit for a PN junction transistor used in modern circuit simulators has many more 'virtual' components in it that allow for high frequency and nonlinear operation modeling, but for audio and AM type that operates entirely within the linear region ...

GaN-on-Silicon for Scalable High Electron Mobility Transistors

GaN-on-Silicon for Scalable High Electron Mobility Transistors - RF Cafe"A team of researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has advanced gallium nitride (GaN)-on-silicon transistor technology by optimizing the composition of the semiconductor layers that make up the device. Working with industry partners Veeco and IBM, the team created the high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) structure on a 200 mm silicon substrate with a process that will scale to larger industry ..."

Mechanically Based Antennas Enable Underwater Radio Transmissions

Mechanically Based Antennas Enable Underwater Radio Transmissions - RF Cafe"When you think about it, wireless communication seems nothing short of magic, it is a brilliant, reality-anchored application of physics and engineering in which radio signals travel from a transmitter to a receiver in the form of electric and magnetic fields woven into fast-as-light electromagnetic waves. However, that very same physics imposes some strict limits, including ones that frustrate the Department of Defense. Key among these is that radio frequency signals hit veritable and literal walls when they encounter materials like water ..."

Wednesday 11

Optical Gain for Communications on Silicon

Optical Gain for Communications on Silicon - RF Cafe"42.5 dB of low loss optical gain has been demonstrated in a CMOS waveguide at wavelengths around 1,500nm. Key to the achievement is a parametric amplifier architecture using a silicon nitride waveguide with far higher silicon content than usual – Si7N3. 'We have developed an optical amplifier which is able to amplify light by 17,000 times at the telecommunications wavelength ..."

The Loudness Control

The Loudness Control, December 1963 Electronics World - RF CafeRaise your hand if your old stereo system had a "Loudness" control, but you never really knew what it did - other than change the loudness (my hand is up). Author Rudolph Jacobs addresses the subject in a technical manner - Fletcher-Munson curves and all - in this 1963 edition of Electronics World magazine. In a nutshell, in case you don't feel like reading the entire article, Loudness compensates for the difference in perceived sound intensity level across the audio frequency spectrum as the reference level is varied ...

Pasternack USB-Controlled 25 MHz to 27 GHz PLL Synthesizers

Pasternack Debuts High-Performance USB-Controlled, 25 MHz to 27 GHz PLL Synthesizers - RF CafePasternack has launched a new line of USB-controlled Phase Locked Loop (PLL) frequency synthesizers. These new PLL synthesizers can be useful in applications involving signal generators, benchtop test and measurement, electronic warfare, and microwave radios. Pasternack's six new models of PLL frequency synthesizers cover a broad range of frequency bands from 25 MHz to 27 GHz. The compact and rugged ...

Semiconductor Discs Could Boost Night Vision

Semiconductor Discs Could Boost Night Vision - RF Cafe"A new method of fabricating nanoscale optical crystals capable of converting infrared to visible light has been developed by researchers in Australia, China and Italy. The new technique allows the crystals to be placed onto glass and could lead to improvements in holographic imaging – and even the development of improved night-vision goggles. Second-harmonic generation, or frequency doubling, is an optical process whereby two photons with the same frequency ..."

Graphene-Girded Interconnects Could Enable Next Gen Chips

Graphene-Girded Interconnects Could Enable Next Gen Chips - RF Cafe"Most of the celebration and hand wringing over Moore's law focuses on the ever-shrinking silicon transistor. But increasingly researchers are focusing on another critical part of the infrastructure: the copper wires that connect individual transistors into complex circuits. At the IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting in San Francisco in December, researchers described the coming problems for copper interconnects, and debated ways of getting around them. One approach studied by a group led by ..."

Tuesday 10

Engineering Career Articles for January 2017

Engineering Career and Job Hunting Advice for January 2017 - RF CafeIf one of your New Years' resolutions was to finally, seriously look for a new job, now is the time to start. There is reason to hope that this year will be the beginning of a new era of manufacturing in America, so there should be a wave of openings for manufacturing, test, and quality control engineering specialists. Not that doing the design and R&D ...

How to Talk About Your

   Soul-Sucking Job While You Look

   for a Better One (love that title!)

Get Your Resume Ready for

   a Job Search

What You Can Do to Get

    Promoted in 2017,  <more>

A Transistor That Can Be Stretched 2x Its Length

A Transistor That Can Be Stretched 2x Its Length - RF Cafe"An international team of researchers has developed a transistor that can be stretched to twice its length and still maintain most of its conductivity. As the group notes in their paper published in the journal Science, such a transistor could prove very useful in the design of wearable electronic devices, particularly those affixed directly to the skin. As the researchers note, use of transistors in bendable ..."

General Electric Germanium Transistor Advertisement

General Electric Germanium Transistor Advertisement, November 1953 QST - RF Cafe"If you're not using transistors already, chances are you'll consider them for amplifiers and oscillators in future circuits." So says the line in an advertisement for General Electric vacuum-sealed transistors in a 1953 edition of QST magazine. To say the claim was prescient is an understatement. A lot of people resisted the switch to transistors for many years - especially hobbyists who had grown accustomed to working with vacuum tubes. Maybe GE figured pitching the newfangled devices as being "vacuum-sealed" would help the ...

Time-Shifted PN Codes for CW LIDAR, RADAR, and SONAR

Time-Shifted PN Codes for CW LIDAR, RADAR, and SONAR - RF Cafe"NASA's Langley Research Center has developed a waveform processing technique to eliminate signal noise resulting from sources of interference (scatterers) that can degrade continuous wave (CW) lidar return data. The algorithm was developed to enable CW lidar measurement of atmospheric gas concentrations as part of NASA's Active Sensing of CO2 Emissions over Nights, Days, and Seasons (ASCENDS) program, but can be used to test any chemical species ..."

Stamping Technique Enabled Printable Electronics at the Nanoscale

Stamping Technique Enabled Printable Electronics at the Nanoscale - RF Cafe"The next time you place your coffee order, imagine slapping onto your to-go cup a sticker that acts as an electronic decal, letting you know the precise temperature of your triple-venti no-foam latte. Someday, the high-tech stamping that produces such a sticker might also bring us food packaging that displays a digital countdown to warn of spoiling produce, or even a window pane that shows the day's forecast, based on measurements of the weather conditions outside. Engineers at MIT have invented a fast, precise printing process that may make such electronic surfaces ..."

Qorvo Intros Industry's Smallest & Power-Efficient Wi-Fi FEMs

Qorvo Intros Industry’s Smallest & Power-Efficient Wi-Fi FEMs - RF Cafe"Qorvo®, a leading provider of innovative RF solutions that connect the world, has introduced a new family of 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi Front-End Modules (FEMs) that pave the way for smaller, more energy-efficient wireless routers, gateways and other networked devices in the home. The seven new FEMs support high-bandwidth throughput with minimal power consumption in a small form factor and maximum reliable range. With more than 1.2 Gbps throughput per stream ..."

Monday 9

Color Television?

Color Television?, December 1949 Radio & Television News - RF CafeThe 1954 Tournament of Roses was famously the world's first national commercial color television broadcast, provided by the National Broadcasting Company (NBC). Prior to the NTSC finally settling on an all-electronic scheme for TV sets, many electro-mechanical and electro-optical types were developed. The integrated RGB color gun within a CRT was a relatively new concept in 1949. This article presents some of the propositions by the two major research and development players at the time: RCA and CBS. They might seem ridiculous in the light of ...

Renesas Aims at Car Radar with 32-Bit MCUs

Renesas Aims at Car Radar with 32-Bit MCUs - RF Cafe"Renesas has added automotive radar microcontrollers to its 32bit RH850 family. Called RH850/V1R, they are aimed at driver assistance and autonomous driving. “Radar sensors are required for ADAS [driver assistance] applications, including emergency braking and adaptive cruise control, because radar sensors are not negatively affected by adverse weather conditions, such as rain, fog or whether the sun is shining or not.” In autonomous ..."

Wall-Mounted Wirelessly Charging System for Gadgets

Wall-Mounted Wirelessly Charging System for Gadgets - RF Cafe"Imagine if you could walk into your living room and all your electronics started charging, without a single wire or plug needed. According to a team of engineers at Duke University and the University of Washington, this idea isn't too far from reality, and the technology already exists to build it. They say a single charger mounted high on a wall could 'beam' power to several ..." Just be sure to take it out of your pants pocket before entering the room ...  :-o

EM Research Intros Broadband, High Performance Synthesizer

EM Research Intros Broadband, High Performance Synthesizer - RF CafeThe ZFR-20000-XA is a multi-octave frequency synthesizer operating from 4 to 20 GHz with fast switching capability (<100 µSec) and <-60 dBc spurs across the entire range. The ZFR offers a low profile design for use as a local oscillator in airborne radar applications capable of withstanding high vibration and shock. The ZFR-20000-XA locks to an external 10 MHz reference and exhibits extremely low phase noise at any frequency; <-101 dBc/Hz ...

Electronics-Themed Comics

Electronics-Themed Comics, April 1947 Radio News - RF CafeWhat better way is there to begin another week of long hours, marginally useful meetings, unpredictable customers, nagging design and/or production issues, and, hopefully, even a success or two, than to see a couple electronics-themed comics from a mid-last-century magazine? These appeared in 1947 edition of Radio & Television News. Seeing a comic panel in any modern technical magazine these days is rare, if for no other reason than a fear amongst publishers (and their lawyers) that somebody, somewhere might be ...

Next-Generation Spectrum Management

Next-Generation Spectrum Management - RF Cafe"Dr. Konstantinos Stavropoulos, Technical Marketing Lead at Amdocs discusses the biggest elements of a 5G spectrum strategy worth considering. 'Better use of radio frequencies: Reducing divergences between regulatory practices, long license durations, coupled with more stringent requirements to use spectrum effectively and efficiently, and timely release of spectrum […] and more converged spectrum policies.' These are excerpts from the 2016 State of the Union address of Jean-Claude Juncker ..."

RF & Microwave Crossword Puzzle for January 8, 2017

RF & Microwave Crossword Puzzle for January 8, 2017 - RF CafeAvid cruciverbalists amongst us will appreciate this new RF & Microwave 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!

Friday 6

Cornell-Dubilier Capacitor Ad: 2017 or 1947?

Cornell-Dubilier Capacitor Ad: 2017 or 1947? - RF CafeAfter looking at so many vintage electronics magazines, the differences in form factors of resistors, capacitors, inductors, amplifiers, and even hookup wire between then and now is very apparent. Physical sizes have shrunken significantly, and the packaging materials are noticeably more refined today. There were no surface mount devices, and nearly all components had either long leads for wrapping and soldering to posts or lugs, or they had lugs or posts to which said components leads ...

Saelig Intros GPS-Logger with Gyro/Tilt/Compass and Accelerometer

Saelig Intros GPS-Logger with Gyro/Tilt/Compass and Accelerometer - RF CafeSaelig Company, Inc. announces the availability of the Aaronia GPS Logger - a six-parameter datalogger that has been designed for recording the position and orientation of RF antennas (such as the Aaronia HyperLOG X, HyperLOG EMI, and Magnotracker series) during field investigations. But it is also very useful for a wide range of non-RF applications where position and movement logging is required. The Aaronia GPS Logger includes a total of six state-of-the-art sensors in ...

Short Wave League: Code Test Below 6 Meter Must Go!

Short Wave League: Code Test Below 6 Meter Must Go!, February 1935 Short Wave Craft - RF CafeThis article from an issue of Short Wave Craft shows that the necessity for Morse code in order for amateur radio operators to ply their hobby was in question as early as 1935. Elimination of the requirement to demonstrate proficiency in Morse code when earning an Amateur Radio license did not formally begin until 1991 - nearly 60 years later - when the 5-words-per-minute code test for the entry-level Technician level license was removed. It was done so to prevent scaring off potential newcomers who might otherwise seek an operator's license. Licensee numbers had ...

Avalanche Photodiode with Photomultiplier-Like Performance

Avalanche Photodiode with Photomultiplier-Like Performance - RF Cafe"Researchers in China and France have developed photomultiplier tube (PMT)-type performance from avalanche photodiodes (APDs) that implement periodically stacked structures (PSSs) of gallium nitride (GaN) and aluminium nitride (AlN). The PSS APD had a record high gain of order 104 with noise factor as low as 500 and ionization coefficient of 0.05, according to the researchers. The highest gain for silicon APDs in linear mode is about 100 ..."

NASA Tech Briefs a Very Useful Electronics News Resource

NASA Tech Briefs a Very Useful Electronics News Resource - RF CafeAs far back as the mid 1980s, I remember going to the technical library at the Westinghouse Electric Oceanic Division in Annapolis, Maryland to read the latest copy of NASA Tech Briefs. During and after doing a four-year stint in the U.S. Air Force as an air traffic control radar technician, I was voraciously consumed all the information I could obtain on electronics, mechanics, aerodynamics, astrodynamics, etc., and was determined to earn an electrical engineering degree. In the pre-Internet days, acquiring such material required finagling a ...

Optical Clock Mimics Spin–Orbit Coupling

Optical Clock Mimics Spin–Orbit Coupling - RF Cafe"An optical atomic clock has been used by physicists in the U.S. to study the effects of spin–orbit coupling. Spin–orbit coupling is fundamental to understanding how electrons behave within condensed-matter systems and could be exploited in the design of new materials, such as topological insulators and superconductors. The researchers also plan to adapt their atomic-clock design to study other fundamental phenomena in ..."

Thursday 5

Updating Missile-Defense Radar Signal Processing

Updating Missile-Defense Radar Signal Processing - RF Cafe"Radar signal processing experts at the Raytheon Co. will upgrade a missile-defense radar system in Greenland in place to provide missile defense and early warning of enemy ballistic missile launches and potential threats in space. Officials of the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) in Huntsville, Ala., announced a $40.5 million order Friday to the Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems segment in Woburn, Massachusetts, to upgrade the Solid State ..."

Please Thank everything RF for Helping to Deliver RF Cafe

everything RFeverything RF has been sponsoring RF Cafe's publication for many years through direct advertising. They have a very wide presence across the Internet on engineering websites. "everything RF is a product discovery platform for RF & Microwave Products/Services." They currently have 203,125 Products from more than 874 Companies across 229 Categories in their database and enable engineers to search for them using the customized parametric search tool. Please visit everything RF now to see how they can help your project ...

World's Thinnest Electrical Wire is Only 3 Atoms Wide

World’s Thinnest Electrical Wire is Only 3 Atoms Wide - RF Cafe"Scientists have officially developed the world's thinnest possible electrical wire measuring three atoms wide. The work comes from scientists at Stanford University and the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. They determined how to use diamondoids, the smallest possible bits of diamonds, to put together the thinnest electrical wire. Nicholas ..."

Mac's Radio Service Shop: Advertising for Dessert

Mac's Radio Service Shop: Advertising for Dessert, July 1949 Radio & Television News - RF CafeReturn on investment for advertising is always a prime consideration for companies, regardless of how wide the perspective audience or the size of the competition. Luck plays some part in whether a certain advertising campaign is successful, but as Mac points out in the July 1949 edition of Radio & Television News, there is great advantage to measuring the effectiveness of each strategy. Advertising has never been cheap, especially in venues with a large contingent of followers. In the Internet age, one of the more popular schemes is 3rd-party pay-per-click ads that are served by ...

Boy Scouts Radio Merit Badge to Include Amateur Radio DF Option

Boy Scouts Radio Merit Badge to Include Amateur Radio DF Option - RF Cafe"The Boy Scouts of America (-···  ···  ·-) have updated the requirements for the Radio Merit Badge for 2017, although a formal announcement is pending the publication of the 2017 Boy Scouts Requirements pamphlet. A new option for the Radio Merit Badge is Amateur Radio Direction Finding (ARDF). ARRL ARDF Coordinator Joe Moell, K0OV, said he's 'really excited' about the move, and he credited Jamboree on the Air Coordinator (JOTA) and K2BSA trustee Jim Wilson, K5ND, with being the 'spark plug' behind the ARDF addition ..."

European GNSS Solution Advancing Autonomous Driving

European GNSS Solution Advancing Autonomous Driving - RF Cafe"Autonomous and connected vehicles are positioning themselves as the way of the future. For some years now Google has been testing their driverless car, and in Pittsburgh Uber recently launched its self-driving car service in collaboration with Volvo. A number of other companies like Apple and Tesla are also working on their versions of autonomous vehicles. A key challenge to the advancement ..."

Wednesday 4

HPE's New IC Marks a Milestone in Optical Computing

HPE's New Chip Marks a Milestone in Optical Computing - RF Cafe"The experimental 1,000-component optical processor is made for challenges like the 'traveling salesman problem.' We may use photons to carry our data, but we rely on the electron to put it to use. One day that division of labor might not be so stark. A team at Hewlett Packard Labs, in Palo Alto, California, has built a demonstration chip that could help push some particularly thorny computations into the realm of light, potentially ..."

European Commission Proposes to Use 700 MHz for Mobile Services

European Commission Proposes to Use 700 MHz for Mobile Services - RF Cafe"The European Commission has presented a proposal to coordinate the use of the 700 MHz band for mobile services. It will improve internet access for all Europeans and help develop cross-border applications. Radio frequencies know no borders: spectrum needs to be better coordinated at EU level to avoid interferences and to allow innovative services, such as connected cars or remote health care, to work across the continent. The EU also has to cope with the growing demand ..."

Assembling the Image Orthicon

Assembling the Image Orthicon, January 1956 Popular Electronics - RF CafeSomething that is always in the forefront of my mind when reading these articles from vintage American electronics magazines is how most of the products - including even the smallest components - were made in the United States. When I read vintage British electronics magazines (e.g., Wireless World), most of the products were produced in Europe. The technical and manufacturing know-how was spread throughout the regions of the world where its citizens dreamed up and realized the wonders that made the modern world. Part of the reason is supply and distribution chains were not as capable due to ...

ESD Protective Paper Doubles as Corrosion Inhibitor

ESD Protective Paper Doubles as Corrosion Inhibitor - RF Cafe"Cortec Corporation has developed a static dissipative corrosion inhibiting paper that serves as a complete packaging paper for valuable electrical and electronic items. Sensitive electronic metal items can be wrapped in EcoSonic ESD Paper to be protected from damaging static electricity buildup and corrosion. The EcoSonic ESD Paper eliminates static electricity buildup through the use of an environmentally friendly coating made from soybean oil and coated on the surface of the paper ..."

2017: Folding Smartphone Screens Could Finally Make Their Big Debut

2017: Folding Smartphone Screens Could Finally Make Their Big Debut - RF Cafe"The rumors have been swirling for months. Though they couldn't be confirmed, their persistence suggests that something significant may be coming from ­Samsung, possibly as early as this year: a foldable mobile. Today, the world of mobiles consists of two major realms - tablets and smartphones. Tablets are good for reading magazines and books, typing long messages on a linked keyboard, looking at pictures, and surfing the Web ..."

Tuesday 3

Globalstar Low-Power Terrestrial Network Approved for 2.4 GHz

Globalstar Low-Power Terrestrial Network Approved for 2.4 GHz Satellite Spectrum - RF Cafe"The FCC has approved Globalstar's request to build a terrestrial wireless network using 11.5 MHz of its satellite spectrum at 2483.5-2495 MHz. 'We thank the Commissioners, their staff and the staff of the Bureaus and Offices who worked tirelessly to bring this proceeding to a successful conclusion. We look forward to a busy 2017 as we plan to put our terrestrial authority to use for American consumers and pursue similar authority internationally,' Globalstar CEO Jay Monroe said ..."

RCA Victor Model 261, 555 to 107 Meter, Dual-Range, 10 Tube Superhet

Emerson Model 678 "Auto-Dynamic" 5 Tube Superheterodyne, April 1934 Radio-Craft - RF CafeI have been scanning and posting Radio Service Data Sheets like this one featuring the Emerson Model 678 "Auto-Dynamic" 5 Tube superheterodyne radio receiver for many years now. There are still many people who restore and service these vintage radios, RCA-Victor Model 261 (RadioMuseum.org) - RF Cafeand often it can be difficult or impossible to find schematics and/or tuning information. The RCA Victor Model 261, 555 to 107 meter, dual-range, 10-tube superheterodyne radio receiver is also available now.

Triad RF Systems 2.3 to 2.5 GHz, 40 Watt Bidirectional Amplifier

Triad RF Systems 2.3 to 2.5 GHz, 40 Watt Bidirectional Amplifier - RF CafeThe TTRM1054 class AB LDMOS amplifier by Triad RF Systems operates at a frequency range of 2,300 MHz to 2,500 MHz and has a power output of 40 watts, while still maintaining a compact form factor of 5.3" x 3.25" x 0.57". This unit also features internal protection against over/under voltage and excessive temperature conditions, which coupled with its rugged construction, ensure fault-free operation in even the most ...

CES 2017: 50 Years of Gadgets at the Giant Tech Show

CES 2017: 50 Years of Gadgets at the Giant Tech Show - RF Cafe"The giant CES tech show marks its 50th anniversary this week. As it gets under way in Las Vegas, we look back at some of the hundreds of thousands of gadgets to be have been put on show in past years." Slideshow

T-Mobile 979 Mbps Tests on LTE, Mobile 5G Reaching 1.8 Gbps

T-Mobile 979 Mbps Tests on LTE, Mobile 5G Reaching 1.8 Gbps - RF Cafe"T-Mobile CTO Neville Ray said that the carrier recently conducted tests in its lab using LTE technology that he said reached peak speeds of close to 1 Gbps. The results, he said, indicate that T-Mobile will be able to at some point provide gigabit speeds over its existing LTE network. 'Just last week we reached nearly 1 Gbps (979 Mbps) on our LTE network in our lab thanks to a combination of three carrier aggregation ..."

Ferdinand Bödigheimer Quote on Short Wave Propagation

Ferdinand Bödigheimer Quote on Short Wave Propagation - RF Cafe"Before the extraordinary range of short waves was discovered by amateurs, it was held as incontrovertible that the electric waves followed the surface of the earth, and that the strength of the field decreased in proportion to the distance." - Ferdinand Bödigheimer in December 1931/January 32 Short Wave Craft article titled "How Are Shortwaves ...

Monday 2

Researchers Develop Smaller, Faster, Cheaper Nanosatellite Technology

Researchers Develop Smaller, Faster, Cheaper Nanosatellite Technology - RF Cafe"Researchers with the University of Alberta's AlbertaSat team have developed a miniature fluxgate magnetometer. This magnetometer has been developed to go atop the Ex-Alta 1 CubeSat which is set for launch in the spring 2017. The miniature, low-cost instrument will take world-class measurements of the near-Earth magnetic field which influences space weather, demonstrating the potential of nanosatellite technology to significantly reduce barriers ..."

European IC Project Worth 'Billions' Making Progress

European Chip Project Worth 'Billions' Making Progress - RF Cafe"Talks on a funding project valued in the billions of euros and that could include support for European chip manufacturing are making progress, according to a senior executive with ECSEL. ECSEL, which stands for Electronic Components and Systems for European Leadership, is a public-private partnership and secretariat that selects and funds projects of collaborative research in Europe. Speaking at the European Nanoelectronics Forum held in ..."

The New Field of Microwave Spectroscopy

The New Field of Microwave Spectroscopy, July 1949 Radio & Television News - RF Cafe'Nuclear' this and 'nuclear' that were big attention getters after the dropping of the uranium and plutonium bombs that ended World War II in August of 1945. Science was at the cusp of its foray into understanding and manipulating atoms at the nuclear level - a realm that at the time was not directly observable. 'Shadows' of elementary particles were successfully imaged, but many theorized that it would never be possible to directly 'see' an electron, proton, or neutron. One cause ...

World's 1st Vertically Stacked Gate-all-Around Si Nanowire CMOS Transistor

World's First Vertically Stacked Gate-all-Around Si Nanowire CMOS Transistors - RF Cafe"At the IEEE IEDM conference, imec, reported for the integration of vertically stacked gate-all-around (GAA) silicon nanowire MOSFETs on a CMOS Process. Key in the integration scheme is a dual-work-function metal gate enabling matched threshold voltages for the n and p-type devices. Also, the impact of the new architecture on intrinsic ESD performance was studied, and an ESD protection diode is proposed. These breakthrough results advance the development of GAA ..."

New Amateur Radio FM Transponder CubeSat Now in Space

New Amateur Radio FM Transponder CubeSat Now in Space - RF Cafe"The BY70-1 CubeSat launched on December 28 from the Taiyuan Space Launch Center in China, but in a lower orbit than intended. The satellite carries an Amateur Radio FM transponder. BY70-1 was intended to go into a 530-kilometer (approximately 329-mile) circular Sun-synchronous orbit, but it appears the orbit is 524 × 212 kilometers, which will give the spacecraft an orbital lifetime of just a month or two ..."

Science & Electronics Crossword Puzzle for January 1, 2017

Science & Electronics Crossword Puzzle for January 1, 2017 - RF CafeThis is the first RF Cafe crossword puzzle of 2017, which marks the beginning of the 16th year that I have been creating weekly crosswords. Avid cruciverbalists amongst us appreciate that 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 ...