News

 375 results found for News, displaying items 1 - 20

February 2010   [Communications]
Wireless Demands Focus Designers On Integration
Integration has been a key to the advancement of wireless communications, leading to smaller devices with more functionality. Although the mobile handset is at the forefront of these trends, cost savings and time to market are among the drivers pushing for higher integration in cellular infrastructure as well. As wireless integrators strive for more functions in smaller packages, the trend in ICs continues toward higher levels of analog, digital, and...  — Nancy Friedrich

February 2010   [Crosstalk]
An Interview With John Regazzi
NF: How has the test and measurement industry changed over the last 30 years? JR: When Giga-tronics was founded, the microwave test industry was much less mature than it is today. The microwave field was evolving rapidly with product advancements occurring on a regular basis. In 1980, a few milliwatts of power at 20 GHz were difficult to achieve and the best synthesizers could fetch up to $70,000...  — Nancy Friedrich

January 2010   [Test & Measurement]
Nonlinear S-Parameters And SDR Impact Test And Measurement Equipment
Test and measurement is crucial for research and development through production. As a result, test-equipment manufacturers have had to speed the evolution of their instruments to keep up with rapidly changing wireless-communications standards. They also are relying more on software—either through links to electronic-design-automation (EDA) tools or via software-designed-radio (SDR) architectures. At the same time, test equipment is increasingly being ...  — Nancy Friedrich

January 2010   [Test & Measurement]
Spectrum Analyzers Open Windows On An RF World
Spectrum analyzers have changed drastically in recent years, due largely to the use of digital components. Once predominately based on a superheterodyne receiver architecture to downconvert input signals to intermediate-frequency (IF) signals that were then filtered and processed, newer spectrum analyzers are just as likely to be called “signal analyzers” and employ sampling techniques with a high-speed analog-to-digital converter (ADC). As...  — Jack Browne

January 2010   [Computer-Aided Engineering]
An Interview With Jim McGillivary
NF: Software—especially EDA software—is increasingly playing a bigger role in test and measurement. How do you see that trend growing? JM: There’s currently a disaggregation of the design process as manufacturers focus on being a system integrator and trying to build software ecosystems. For example, handset designers have sockets and they want vendors to compete for those sockets. They need a...  — Nancy Friedrich

December 2009   [Industry News]
Medical And Smart-Grid Markets Beckon Designers
Microwave companies have largely weathered the current recession with grace, thanks to steady military requirements and evolving communications markets. Those markets have offered microwave firms new opportunities supporting fourth-generation (4G) wireless systems, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and improvised-explosive-device (IED) detection. Yet high-frequency technology also is viewed as a solution for nontraditional markets, such as the medical and smart-grid areas, as a means of...  — Nancy Friedrich

December 2009   [Components]
Taking Measure Of Microwave Mixers
Microwave mixers are widely used in commercial and military electronic systems for frequency conversion. They are essential for shifting the frequency of a signal downward (downconversion) or upward (upconversion) as might be needed in a receiver and transmitter, respectively. By understanding some fundamental concepts about mixer operation and performance, specifying a mixer for an application can be greatly simplified. A frequency mixer is a three-port component, with two ports...  — Ferenc Marki , et al.

November 25, 2009   [Industry News]
Video Interviews
Video interviews on MWRF  — Staff

November 2009   [Components]
Cables and Connectors Make Vital System Links
Cables and connectors work best when noticed least. Ideally, they should remain electrically invisible with minimal impact on system performance. Understanding a few simple performance parameters for each type of interconnection can help when searching for cables and connectors. Coaxial cables come in many forms, including flexible, semi-rigid, and handformable varieties. Many suppliers, such as ...  — Jack Browne

November 2009   [Computer-Aided Engineering]
Microwave Software Covers More Of The Design Flow
High-frequency designs once were created with the help of many different computer-aided-design (CAD) tools—many lacking interfaces between them. Over the past decade, however, it has become possible for a microwave designer to step through design, layout, fabrication, and more as part of a continuous design flow. If that flow lacks any specialty, such as three-dimensional (3D) electromagnetic (EM) simulation, it generally will offer an easy interface ...  — Nancy Friedrich

November 2009   [Materials]
Making The Most Of Microwave Materials
Microwave materials provide the foundations for highfrequency circuits and packaging. Dielectric circuit materials, often referred to as laminates because of the added copper for etching transmission lines, have made progress in recent years in terms of consistency and stability as well as flexibility, with many suppliers offering a wide range of materials in support of designs from RF through millimeter-wave frequencies. High-frequency...  — Jack Browne

November 2009   [Crosstalk]
An Interview With Bob Van Buskirk
MWRF: RFMD is widely recognized as a manufacturer of gallium-arsenide (GaAs) compound semiconductors. At this year’s International Microwave Symposium (IMS) in Boston, MA, the company announced the availability of GaN foundry services. Why the move toward GaN? BV: Gallium nitride (GaN) is a revolutionary high-power compound-semiconductor technology that has been in development at RFMD for several years. GaN offers performance advantages not achievable with...  — Nancy Friedrich

October 2009   [Communications]
Enhanced Connectivity Drives Wireless Standards
Five or more years ago, it seemed that a new wireless standard was being proposed almost monthly. Much debate has focused on which standards would outlast the others, proving themselves to be the optimal solutions for given applications. Yet the landscape has not changed very much since then. The IEEE 802.11x standards continue to evolve to meet the needs of the wireless-local-area-network (WLAN) market. Bluetooth has cornered the wireless-headset...  — Nancy Friedrich

October 2009   [Devices & ICs]
Some Older ICs Don’t Fade Away
Product life cycles can be short, particularly with certain semiconductors. As any computer owner knows, for example, memory chips continue to grow in density and drop in cost, quickly rendering older memory devices obsolete. Short product life cycles pose daunting challenges for system designers, especially for commercial and military systems that rely on the availability of some devices for a decade or longer. Fortunately, ...  — Jack Browne

October 2009   [Industry News]
Ozmo Devices Funded For WPAN Growth
Wireless personal-area networks (WPANs) offer practical alternatives to the tangle of cables for such addon personal-computer (PC) components as mice, keyboards, headsets, and the computer itself. Low-power WPAN developer Ozmo Devices is in a better position to serve WPAN markets, thanks to an additional $7.5 million in Series C funding from its investors—Granite Ventures, Intel Capital, and...  — Jack Browne

September 2009   [Defense Electronics]
Component Refinements Advance Defense Systems
Microwave companies have struggled with the economy in 2009 as have most firms involved in designing and selling electronic products. But those involved with military markets have enjoyed far greater success this past year than their counterparts selling to commercial customers, due to the steady flow of business opportunities in the military electronics sector. For RF/microwave companies, opportunities with military customers begin at the system ...  — Jack Browne

September 2009   [Test & Measurement]
Evaluating 4G Testing Needs
Fourth-generation (4G) wireless communications systems are under development to meet the ever-insatiable appetites of consumers for more voice, video, and data services over their portable handsets. These emerging systems include fixed and mobile WiMAX as well as the 4GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) system. As with any new system, testing is a critical issue because of the use of advanced technologies in 4G wireless networks, including multipleinput, ...  — Jack Browne

September 2009   [Crosstalk]
An Interview With Eric Strid
MRF: What is the current management structure at Cascade, with you stepping out of the CEO position? Strid: For a long time, I’ve wanted to switch back to a more technical role. We performed a classic and successful search for the right person to head up the company as CEO. Geoff Wild represents a wonderful combination of experience and complementary skill sets. I am just as busy as ever, but I sleep...  — Jack Browne

September 2009   [Conferences]
Cutting-Edge Developments Shine At EuMW And AOC
Product and technology innovations are released at a constant pace in the microwave market. In the fall, many of these announcements are heralded at two significant industry events: European Microwave Week (EuMW) and the Association of Old Crows (AOC). The site for this year’s EuMW is Rome, Italy from September 28 to October 2 while the AOC International...  — Nancy Friedrich

August 2009   [Conferences]
Sorting Through News From The Boston MTT-S
Attendance was modest at this year’s IEEE Microwave Theory & Techniques Society (MTT-S) annual conference and exhibition, held recently in Boston, MA. But bleak economic forecasts didn’t stop this industry’s resourceful engineers from unleashing a host of new product ideas that can only help to turn business in a positive direction. Among the most noticeable of display booths were those hosted by the major test and measurement and...  — Jack Browne , et al.





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