No link between Mobile Phone Base Stations and Early Childhood Cancers

There is no association between risk of early childhood cancers and a mother’s exposure to a mobile phone base station during pregnancy, concludes a new study published on bmj.com last week. This is the first study to look at phone masts in Britain as a whole and is the largest of its kind.


Use of mobile phones has increased markedly in recent years and questions have been raised about possible health effects, including brain and other cancers, especially after prolonged use. Surveys also indicate high levels of public concern about the potential risks of living near mobile phone masts. Previous reports of apparent cancer clusters near mobile phone base stations are difficult to interpret due to small numbers and possible biases that could have affected the results. Also, any radiobiological explanation for such cancer excesses is lacking.



So researchers at Imperial College London set out to investigate the risk of early childhood cancers, such as brain tumours and leukaemia, and proximity to a mobile phone base station during pregnancy. Here is a link to the full story.

ADI Data Converters Buried Under South Pole Ice Cap

This ADI news release came out today and it is a very interesting piece of science so I have to share it here:

Buried two kilometers under solid ice on one of the coldest continents on Earth, Analog Devices’ (ADI) data converters and amplifiers are helping scientists at the South Pole build the world’s largest telescope to search for the smallest subatomic particles known to humankind.

The innovative “underground” telescope project is called IceCube and uses a cubic kilometer of pure, ultra-translucent ice at the South Pole as a telescopic “window” or particle detector to search the universe for its smallest known particles, called neutrinos. Neutrinos are subatomic particles that lack an electric charge produced by the decay of radioactive elements and elementary particles. Neutrinos travel at near the speed of light and are so tiny that they can typically pass through solid matter without colliding with any atoms. However when neutrinos collide with an atom, light energy is emitted that can help detect the presence and direction of these sub-atomic particles.

IceCube will search for neutrinos from the most violent astrophysical sources, including events like exploding stars, gamma ray bursts, and cataclysmic phenomena involving black holes and neutron stars. The IceCube telescope is a powerful tool to search for dark matter, and could reveal new physical processes associated with the enigmatic origin of the highest energy particles in nature.

IceCube uses Antarctica’s ice sheet as the largest instrumented volume of ice/water in the world. Neutrinos passing through the ice sheet collide with atoms creating a blue light at impact that can be detected by IceCube’s digital optical modules (DOMS).

Analog Devices’ data converters and amplifiers are installed in more than 5,000 of these DOMS. The DOMs, which are 13–inch-diameter glass pressure spheres, are deployed under the ice on a cable at depths of between 1.5 and 2.5 km. Over the next 25 years while embedded in ice, the DOMs will detect and transmit experimental data about particle collisions.

“We needed low-power, reliable products capable of providing the longevity needed for this project, especially on the main board in the DOMs. Design teams at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison used ADI data converters and amplifiers that fit our needs and requirements," said Jerry Przyblski, LBNL Design Engineer. “We used ADI products, such as ADCs (analog-to-digital converters), DACs (digital-to-analog converters) and amplifiers, in the DOMS and the communications system. So far, IceCube’s scientists have gathered data equal to thousands of DOM years of operation.”

iPhone 4 Antenna Design NOT So Revolutionary

I blogged about the iPhone 4 and its revolutionary new antenna design a little of a week ago and how it might be the future for antenna design for handsets. But I was concerned about how touching the antenna in different ways would affect its performance and how they designed for that.

Well, I guess the answer was they did not completely take that into account and now have reception issues with the iPhone 4. Various reports last week highlighted this issue including a user's e-mail directly to Steve Jobs in which he responded to the user saying well, if it does not work well when you hold it a certain way, don't hold it that way. Are you kidding me? The user has to avoid holding it in the lower left corner or buy a $30 case from Apple to solve a problem that no phone should have in the first place.

Here is a video (there are many of them now) demonstrating the phone showing 4 bars of reception strength without holding it and going to no reception if you hold it normally in the palm of your hand. It also shows that holding it without touch the side band where the antenna resides does not affect the reception. I am very surprised this was not discovered in testing and re-designed.

Motorola poised to spin off a debt-free handset group

Details are emerging about Motorola's plan to split in two entities next year, resulting in the spin off its handset unit. This division, according to reports in The Wall Street Journal, will emerge largely debt-free, and will have a cash reserve of $3bn to $4bn. Following a slew of smartphone launches, the company’s handset division is expected to regain profitability by the end of this year, after losing about $5bn over the past three years, resulting in a severe cost cutting program.

The separated device business would be called Motorola Mobility, say the reports, and will also include the set-top-box businesses. The remaining assets, which include the wireless infrastructure, enterprise and public safety activities, will be grouped under the name Motorola Solutions. This division will take on the remaining pension obligations and liabilities - it has been positive in most of its units over the past few years, unlike handsets, and generated a combined $11.1bn in 2009.

GaN and Si Based Technologies Invading GaAs Territory

Our June cover story takes a look at the state of GaAs foundries, their market outlook and how GaN and Si based technologies are impeding on their market share in several applications. SiGe is active in highly integrated mmWave application areas such as automotive radar and high frequency backhaul. Si CMOS designs for handset front ends are starting to find traction in some lower end cellular handsets (Javelin, Skyworks/Axiom, Blue Sand Technolgies, RFAxis, etc). And GaN is taking over some of the very high power niches in commercial and military applications. Read the full cover story here.

Since writing this article, additional news items have been released to support this story as we will continue to follow it. About a week ago, Skyworks announced a cost-effective CMOS front-end module (FEM) for GPRS handsets. Skyworks’ new device offers handset OEMs architectures and high-performance solutions for entry-level phones in a small 5 x 6 mm package. By eliminating the need to optimize matching between the amplifier and the switch, this module helps accelerate customers’ time-to-market relative to other more traditional architectures, and simplifies the supply chain for high-volume, cost-sensitive phones. I believe this device is a continuation of the work done by Axiom Microdevices that they acquired about a year ago. This keeps them in the cellular handset market with both technologies.

And now Engalco has released a new report on how GaN and SiGe are making in roads into traditional GaAs markets. According to their market report – MMICs2 – the compound semiconductor MMIC market to 2015 – GaAs MMICs will remain important, while GaN and SiGe MMICs will progressively invade these markets. Although the overall worldwide total markets are forecasted to reach $6.26 B in 2015, this total continues to be dominated by the commodity markets of cell phones (over $3 B) and both intelligent cruise control and mobile WiMAX ($1.2 B each). After these end-users have been considered, the remaining market segments of defense, ISM, microwave radio, millimeter-wave radio, SATCOM and SATNAV all come in with much lower market shares. Of these, microwave radio accounts for a market worth around $280 M in 2015; millimeter-wave radio exhibits exceptionally high (double-digit) growth to reach $420 M in the same year. The latter market is driven by the exploding capacity requirements of multi-Gbit links.

In the defense segment the report says North America (principally the US) leads, but both Europe and Asia (especially) are increasingly important. The report indicates how both GaN- and SiGe-based MMICs will progressively invade many market segments. The utility of GaN MMICs for high-power/high-efficiency RF amplification is becoming well known; the application will also be extended to other functions in RF modules. SiGe-based MMICs are already being implemented in low-power signal processing roles, mainly in receivers and switches.

Anadigics Stock Price Jumps as Trading Opens

According to the Boston Globe today, shares of Anadigics jumped ahead of regular trading Thursday after a Stifel Nicolaus analyst upgraded the stock, saying the company's earnings are likely to beat expectations in the second half of the year. Stifel Nicolaus analyst Patrick Newton raised the company to "Buy" from "Hold" and gave it a price target of $5.50.

Newton said he expects the company to be taking a bigger share of the market as the year goes on. He said that should help the company's earnings outstrip Wall Street forecasts in the near term. Further out, the company's quarterly revenue of about $80 million to $90 million should pick up to $160 million to $200 million, Newton said. Anadigics shares rose 25 cents, or 6.2 percent, to $4.25 in premarket trading.

Find out what Anadigics it doing right in Microwave Journal interview with Mario Rivas, CEO of Anadigics: http://www.mwjournal.com/News/article.asp?HH_ID=AR_9321

Low Cost 2.4 GHz Weatherproof Antennas Targets M2M Apps

Since Pat has brought up the topic of antennas with his blog about this component's "five minutes of fame" sharing the stage with Steve Jobs as the Apple founder introduced the new 4G iPhone, I thought I would share the following product release that came across my desk today as well. After all, any RF/microwave device targeting Smart grid applications has as much of a cool factor as any in the latest smartphone. Well, maybe not. But helping to save the planet by being green gets my seal of approval.

Pulse, a Technitrol Company (NYSE: TNL), a manufacturer of electronic components and subassembly design and manufacturing, introduces its new low cost, weatherproof antennas for 2.4 GHz devices used in industrial, smart grid metering, security, broadband access, and other machine-to-machine(M2M) applications. These robust, high-efficiency, compact antennas meet Bluetooth, WLAN, WiFi, IEEE 802.11b/g, ZigBee IEEE 802.15.4, and 2.4 GHz ISM band system standards.

Pulse's W5001, W5010, and W5011 antennas function in ruggedized conditions, offering IP65 water ingress protection in accordance with international standard IEC 60529, UV protection, and the ability to withstand 100 mph wind loading. They have a maximum gain of 1.5 dBi in the 2,400 to 2,500 MHz range, an efficiency of 70%, and an operating temperature range of -40°C to 85°C. The antennas have a small footprint and low profile, measuring only 128mm x 18mm.


Pulse's W5001, W5010, and W5011 antennas are available in three SMA connector configurations: fixed right angle, straight SMA, and RP-SMA. They are packaged in quantities of 20 pieces per bag. Additional information regarding these antennas is available on the Pulse website at www.pulseeng.com/file.php?3685.

Antenna Design Enables Multi-band iPhone 4

It is not often that RF technology is one of the leading features mentioned in the release of a new phone even though it is the the enabling technology for wireless devices, but one of the main features mentioned in the iPhone 4 announcement was the external antenna design. Apple cleverly uses the stainless steel band around the phone as a the antenna for GSM, UMTS, WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth (there are spaces separating the multiple antennas around the phone - photo via intomobile.com). This is an amazing example of maximizing the antenna size (for better performance) and minimizing the space it occupies. The iPhone has been notorious for dropping calls so it was imperative that Apple did something about this issue and featured it in the announcement. This could be the future of the way antennas are designed into phones and should improve the performance of the phone especially at lower frequencies where larger antennas are typically provide better performance.

Antenna technology is really being pushed to its limits with all of the different frequencies they have to accommodate in smart phones as they need to connect via multiple cellular bands, WiFi, Bluetooth and receive GPS signals not to mention the coming of mobile TV and video which may require even more frequencies. Tunable antennas seem to be the upcoming technology as a single antenna might be used for all the frequencies by changing its impedance to optimize performance at various frequencies but this can lead to other issues. Most of these tunable antenna are still in development so using the space around the phone body of the phone is an ingenious way to free up board space that would be taken up by multiple antennas. Apparently, the iPad also uses a similar approach where the antenna is the LCD frame around the screen.

One draw back (which must have been considered in the design) is that touching the antenna body will change it characteristics significantly, so I would be curious how that affected the design. There will also be people who will question the radiation being directly in contact with the skin, but I don't think there is much difference in having the antenna touch your skin versus being a few millimeters away inside the phone (the phone is now only 9.3 mm thick).

The new antenna design in the iPhone 4 could revolutionize the way in which antennas are designed in future phones and has enabled Apple to reduce the size of the phone while improving performance to solve the problem of dropped calls and poor reception. Do you think this is the future of antenna design for phones?

On another note, I noticed in the iPhone teardown of the prototype on Gizmodo showed that the Skyworks FEM is again the winner for the RF section last the previous iPhone design. That is a big win for them (I could not make out if there were any additional FEMs on the board).

Cell Phone Market Forecast by Forward Concepts

Forward Concepts has published an in-depth study of the worldwide cellphone market and the associated ecosystem of subscribers, operators and technologies. Some of the key findings from the study are:

• Worldwide unit cellphone shipments fell by 0.5% in 2009, as the entire electronics market was muted by global economic conditions. They are forecasting a much healthier 11% growth in 2010 to 1.4 billion units.
  
• Unit growth varies markedly by region, with China's market forecast to grow by 23% in 2010, while Western Europe's will grow by a more sedate 4%.
  
• India will lead in subscriber growth this year, growing an estimated 30% compared to China's 7%.
  
• Apple exhibited the greatest unit growth of all cellphone vendors in 2009, with an 83% growth. Following Apple was Tianyu with 68%, NEC with 46%, RIM with 44%, Inventec with 23%, LGE with 21%, TCL and Huawei each with 17%, Samsung with 16% and HTC with 10%. Of course, the lesser-known companies began with smaller shipment bases.
  
• In smartphones, ZTE had the highest 2009 unit growth, at 160%, with revenues of $400 million in that category, followed by Apple's 83% growth, but with much higher revenues of $13.8 billion.
  
• Smartphones, such as those by RIM, Apple and HTC get the most press, but they only constitute 13% of the unit cellphone market, while so-called feature phones make up 25%.
  
• Budget cellphones, popular in India, China and Africa presently make up 23% of the market, while mid-range units account for the largest market, at 39%. We forecast that the budget market will flatten as their replacements will lead to better growth of mid-range models.

TriQuint and Avago Supply RF FEMs for New HTC Evo

Earlier this week I saw that iFixit.com had already performed a teardown on the new HTC Evo 4G phone. It shows the RF device winners to be TriQuint and Avago for the RF front end modules which is significant as this is expected to be a hot phone that can compete with the iPhone (although the new iPhone is set to release soon). The TriQunt device is a TQM613029 (outlined in green - image from iFixit.com) CDMA PA-duplexer module that integrates a single-ended transmit filter, duplexer, high efficiency PA die, RF power coupler, matching and built in voltage regulator functionality eliminating the need for external switch circuitry (all in 28 sq mm). The Avago device is a AFEM7758 (outlined in orange) front end module is a fully matched CDMA Front-End Module featuring the integration of power amplifier, duplexer, band- pass filter and coupler. The module uses FBAR-based technology that offers low insertion and good isolation.

These components are the typical RF platform for HTC designs of this type but new here is the 4G capability supplied by the Sequans SQN210 WiMAX chip that supports mobile WiMAX baseband and three frequency bands: 2.3-2.4, 2.5-2.7, 3.3-3.8 GHz. This includes a low-complexity MIMO algorithm on the downlink and 2Tx on the uplink for 2Tx diversity and optional full 2×2 uplink MIMO. This type of integration is impressive and they will offer LTE solutions also.

Is it too early for a 4G phone with such limited infrastructure in place? What do you think??

Surprises on the MTTS 2010 IMS Show Floor

You never know what type of products or companies you will run into at the IMS show. I came across Phillip Jobson who has developed the "pocket radar." It is a palm sized speed radar unit that provide accurate real-time speed measurements of moving objects using 24 GHz radar. It is suitable for things like baseball, racing soccer, tennis, track, etc. It is accurate to +/- 1 mph and measures speeds from 7 to 375 mph. It sells for about $200.

What did you see at the show that was unique or surprising?

MTTS 2010 IMS Attendance Up Over Last Year

The MTTS 2010 IMS saw more than 9,500 participants according to preliminary numbers from the IEEE. Here is a summary of the stats to date:

- The exhibit floor showcased a total of 556 companies & 892 booths representing 40 countries

- Technical registration numbers totaled 2,793 participants

- Exhibit-only registration numbers indicate 2,687 participants

- A total of 858 technical papers were submitted at this year’s conference, representing countries from around the world

The exhibition seems very lively and positive according to most people on the floor. What did you think?

MTTS 2010 IMS Exhibition Opens

The MTTS 2010 IMS exhibition was very lively as it opened yesterday in Anaheim. The traffic was robust and the was mood upbeat as the industry seems to have shaken off the recession. There seemed to be a wide variety of new amplifiers available with very high linearity and efficiency. The improvements in modeling and matching have resulted in some really nice designs. There were also several suppliers with cellular band LNAs that have less than .5 dB noise figures. The larger component manufacturers seem to be filling out their portfolios to meet a wider variety of needs to satisfy as much of the block diagram as they can with their products. Several of the component manufacturers are also offering SMT filters as the frequency bands of many applications are now inferring with each other in smart device applications.

There is certainly high interest in smart grid/metering market along with the wireless consumer applications which are projected to grow rapidly. Also the higher frequency backhaul point to point radio market seems to be a prime target for component offerings. Strategy Analytics today released a report that shipments of short range gigabit radios for display links, HDMI cable replacement, streaming multimedia and last hundred meter Internet access will reach tens of millions of units per year in 2014 (short-range 60 GHz radio, 802.11n 4 x n / 802.11ac, inductive coupling, and proprietary ISM-band approaches such as WHDI).

Mike Cobb - Friend, Mentor

Hopefully everyone, at some point in their career, has the good fortune to be taken under the wing of a kind and knowledgeable mentor. For me, that time occurred several years into my career when I was working at the Raytheon Research Division in Lexington, Ma. Only a few years out of a state school (University of Massachusetts), I found myself surrounded by plenty of heavy hitters from the microwave semiconductor field, more than a few with PhD’s from the likes of MIT, Harvard and Stanford; brilliant men and women whose technical achievements were inspiring and intimidating. And yet among these highly capable engineers and scientists, Mike Cobb was in a league of his own.

Mike was my manager for a brief period of two years, in which time he supported me in my job with solid technical guidance, sage advice, and good humor. I am sure that my experience with Mike was far from unique. Most everyone who worked with Mike remember his unwavering skills as an engineer, common sense approach to problem solving and positive attitude. Born in North Carolina in 1951, Mike’s southern accent was a rarity among the Boston natives at Raytheon and yet he addressed any and all northeast elitist attitudes with a firm engineering grasp and a touch of southern charm.

Mike received the B.S. degree in physics from East Carolina University in 1978 and the M.S. degree in microwave engineering from the University of Massachusetts under the UMASS/Raytheon MSEE Degree program. He began working at Raytheon in 1980, where he performed dc and RF characterization measurements of pulsed X-band GaAs IMPATT diodes and circuits, transitioning into a MMIC design and simulation role.

I’ll remember consulting with Mike many times in his office. I can remember looking past him and up toward the family picture he kept tacked to the cork board over his desk. In it, Mike stands on a dock with his young son and daughter, hooking bait onto their fishing lines. I always found it reassuring to be working for someone with such a strong and loving connection to those in his care.

Last summer Mike learned that he had a lung cancer that had spread to his nervous system with no hope for a cure. Mike was 58. His goal was to live long enough to see his 1st grand kid. He made it, but just barely. His cancer spread aggressively to his meninges, and he went downhill very fast, within days. He passed away peacefully this Monday at his daughter's house in Providence. Mike got to hold his brand new granddaughter, Clara Michelle, before he passed.

Mike – your passing truly saddens all of us who knew you and had the pleasure to work with you.

Services will be in Providence, on Sunday at 3pm, with visitation from 1-3pm, at Monahan, Drabble, and Sherman Funeral Home, 230 Waterman St., Providence, RI. A private burial for family will take place on Monday morning.

Instead of flowers, we are asking for donations in memory of Mike towards thoracic oncology research:

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute10 Brookline Place West, 6th floorBrookline, MA 02445-7226ATTN: Contribution Services
1-(800) 52-JIMMY (54669)

www.Dana-farber.org

Raytheon Microwave System to Prevent Frost in Vineyards

Although this news item is a few weeks old, I thought it was interesting enough to cover here since I have never seen microwave technology used in the type of application. Raytheon is planning to install a prototype microwave frost protection system at the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, a Canadian horticulture research center located in Ontario, Canada. Raytheon will install a prototype Tempwave system in the center’s vineyard, prepare it for operation and support initial testing over a four-month period. Raytheon’s Tempwave radiant heating system offers a more efficient way to warm crops and avoid the adverse effects of frost on the growing season.

Tempwave’s Microwave Approach
Tempwave is Raytheon’s patent-pending system that uses low-level microwave radiant heat to prevent frost damage to crops. The system directly transmits microwave energy from towers located in an orchard or vineyard to crops without heating the intervening air. Among the system’s many advantages, Tempwave uses no water; emits no smoke, unlike fuel heaters; and operates silently, unlike noisy wind machines used for frost protection.

Mission Innovation is charged with exploring and applying Raytheon technical expertise to address global challenges outside Raytheon’s traditional core business interests in defense, homeland security and other government markets.

Do you see any other potential uses for this technology?

Big M&A Activity as MTTS 2010 IMS Nears

The past week has included several big announcements in the microwave industry for Mergers & Acquisitions which I will extend to also include some significant partnerships that were formed. On the mergers front, Aeroflex officially acquired Willtek from Wireless Telecom Group which was previously announced but is now complete. They paid $2.75 M plus assumed some liabilities.

Next Comtech Telecommunications acquired CPI International for about $475 M. Fred Kornberg, President and CEO of Comtech said the acquisition is a significant step in their strategy of developing a one-stop shopping approach for RF microwave products. The transition is expected to be seamless as they will keep all of CPI's agreements and executive staff in place.

Finally on the merger front, M/A-COM and Mimix agreed to merge last week which was not unexpected as they were both owned by John Ocampo/GaAs labs. I blogged about this previously so I wont' go into any details here.

With 3 big mergers there were also 3 big partnerships/market entries announced recently in the microwave world. The first partnership was IBM teamed up with Peregrine to run their UltraCMOS SOS process on their 8 inch, 180 nm line giving Peregrine a large capacity, low cost chip fab. They plan to utilize future processes using 130 and 90 nm processes for higher performance.

Next Freescale surprised me by announcing they are entering the GaAs MMIC market with 4 new devices. They have always been such a force in the high power LDMOS market that I never envisioned them entering into the GaAs market but I think it is a good move. These products include both PHEMT and HBT products and seem to mostly target the base station market so it expands their portfolio of products in that area.

And finally, EADS and Alcatel announced they are teaming up develop a mobile solution designed specifically to address the public safety market in the United States. The solution, based on LTE and on the public safety Project 25 (P25) standards and will provide mission-critical communications to state and local public safety organizations (fire, police and ambulance departments). The solution is an IP based system that will be interoperable with other communication systems.

This is the busiest pre-MTTS/IMS show news year I have ever seen with a lot of business activity and products announcements. Visit our show news page for up to date information prior to, during and after the show and here is a sneak peak at a May online article on Microwave M&A from a business stand point.

ABI Handset Market Estimates for 1Q-2010

According to ABI Research, handset shipments globally for 1Q-2010 powered ahead to 303 million, up 19% Year-on-Year. This bodes well for 2010 as a whole as shipments could reach 1.3 billion. It is also notable that 3G handset shipments eclipsed 2G handset shipments. The strongest handset shipment growth was seen in the Middle East and Africa (20% YoY) followed by the Americas, particularly the US (11%). Europe, on the other hand, is languishing with single-digit growth.

Nokia’s market-share stood at 34%. New smartphones such as the N8 are helping the manufacturer to shore up its handset portfolio, as its loss of traction in the smartphone sector hit sales hard. In response, revamped efforts with Symbian ^3 and ^4, are intended to help Nokia regain momentum. Samsung had a strong quarter, securing 21%, and has been cultivating deeper relationships with US and European carriers which helped the firm grow its shipments 40.2% YoY.

LG’s market-share, 8.9%, has suffered from a weak smartphone portfolio in the North American market. Shipments grew 20% YoY. Motorola is benefiting from its initial success (2.8%) with the Droid and it keen to back it up with new products such as the Quench but the market is overtaking it. 1Q-2010 proved to a strong quarter for Apple (8.75m, 2.9%) devices shipped, which is up 130% YoY: a remarkable feat, but Apple should diversify its lineup.

I think the HTC is a real up and coming leader in the market. They make many phones for other manufacturers but I like their HD2 which is out of stock every where in my area due to high demand (I tried to get one the other day but there was even a waiting list, so I settled for a Blackberry Bold). With 1 GHz processors and many GBs of flash memory standard on most new phones, smartphones are really just mini-computers now.

M/A-COM Merges with Mimix

M/A-COM Technology Solutions and Mimix announced yesterday that they had agreed to merge and all products in the Mimix portfolio would reside within the M/A-COM family of products. This is not too surprising as they are both owned by the GaAs Labs/John Ocampo group after they purchased M/A-COM from Cobham in March of 2009.

I think this will strengthen both companies as Mimix brings some very good pt. to pt. radio and other MMIC products into the M/A-COM family that complement M/A-COM's existing portfolio. After Tyco Electronics divided M/A-COM up and sold them off several years ago, this gives the remaining entity that will carry on the name and heritage some more size and broadens the portfolio as the regain their market presence.

The original M/A-COM now resides in 5 different companies:

• M/A-COM Technology Solutions has the commercial product lines
• Cobham has the aerospace/defense product lines
• Harris has the wireless systems (LMR) product lines
• Autoliv (Sweden) has the automotive radar product lines
• Micronetics has the RFID product lines

I believe M/A-COM Technology Solutions will be the company that carries on the name and the others will transition away from the brand. It looks like the company will leverage a hybrid fab model as they continue to operate the M/A-COM wafer fabs but also use external foundries for chip production. Mimix is a fabless company and M/A-COM was already transitioning to the hybird model to improve flexibility and reduce capital investments from what I could tell.

For a short history of M/A-COM, read our April special report "M/A-COM is Reborn on Its 60th Birthday". What do you think of the merger and implications on the industry?

HP re-enters Wireless Domain

Yesterday, HP returned to the wireless world with the announcement that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which the company will purchase Palm, a provider of smartphones powered by the Palm webOS mobile operating system, at a price of $5.70 per share of Palm common stock in cash or an enterprise value of approximately $1.2 billion. The transaction has been approved by the HP and Palm boards of directors.

HP’s global scale and financial strength combined with Palm’s unparalleled webOS platform will enhance HP’s ability to participate more aggressively in the fast-growing, highly profitable smartphone and connected mobile device markets. Palm’s unique webOS will allow HP to take advantage of features such as true multitasking and always up-to-date information sharing across applications. While Palm gains the financial muscle to compete more aggressively with smartphone giants, Apple and Blackberry.

“Palm’s innovative operating system provides an ideal platform to expand HP’s mobility strategy and create a unique HP experience spanning multiple mobile connected devices,” said Todd Bradley, executive vice president, Personal Systems Group, HP. “And, Palm possesses significant IP assets and has a highly skilled team. The smartphone market is large, profitable and rapidly growing, and companies that can provide an integrated device and experience command a higher share. Advances in mobility are offering significant opportunities, and HP intends to be a leader in this market.”

“We’re thrilled by HP’s vote of confidence in Palm’s technological leadership, which delivered Palm webOS and iconic products such as the Palm Pre. HP’s longstanding culture of innovation, scale and global operating resources make it the perfect partner to rapidly accelerate the growth of webOS,” said Jon Rubinstein, chairman and chief executive officer, Palm. ”We look forward to working with HP to continue to deliver industry-leading mobile experiences to our customers and business partners.”

Under the terms of the merger agreement, Palm stockholders will receive $5.70 in cash for each share of Palm common stock that they hold at the closing of the merger. The merger consideration takes into account the updated guidance and other financial information being released by Palm this afternoon. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of domestic and foreign regulatory approvals and the approval of Palm’s stockholders. The transaction is expected to close during HP’s third fiscal quarter ending July 31, 2010.

Stranded Microwaver in Europe

Brian Battaglia is the Sales and Marketing Manager for Integra Technologies, a leading manufacturer of high power rf/microwave transistors (i.e. LDMOS). He e-mailed his friends and acquaintances today to say that the volcano in Iceland that has shut down air travel in Europe has stranded him in Rome during a business trip. I asked Brian if he would like to share his story on this blog for our readers. Break out your violins fellow microwavers, here's his tale of "Whoa in Rome".

[from Brian's e-mail]

David,

I don’t know much about blogging but I always have stories to tell.

One week in Europe including Sweden, Rome and Italy. After a few days in Stockholm at the S.E.E. (Scandinavian electronics event) my flight arrived in Rome on Thursday last week. Upon landing I checked my blackberry and saw several messages – from my mom, girlfriend and boss – concerning the volcano eruption which I had not heard about yet. I may have been one of the last flights out of Sweden since this was big news by the time I landed. Somewhere between baggage claim and customs I found the VP of Amplifier Design of Integra who had just arrived from Los Angeles and we made our way to Rome. We had meetings on Friday and were not planning on leaving until Sunday so the volcano seemed like a temporary disruption that would clear up soon surely by the weekend.

On Friday we visited Selex Systemi Integrati a big customer for high power RF transistors globally. The cancellations started expanding across Europe but we weren’t leaving until Sunday and that seemed far away. Saturday was site-seeing (St. Peters/Vatican City/Pantheon/Trevi Fountain) in Rome with plans to leave the next day if the skies opened up. Sunday morning the news seemed hopeful as the no-fly zones were intended to be removed that night. However it soon became apparent that the European agencies were being extremely cautious and the delays kept coming. The stress of the situation mounted quickly – another hotel night accommodation – same hotel, same room, a little over double the price! New tickets purchased through US travel agency that showed flights leaving EARLY Monday morning i.e. 6:30AM. This meant ordering taxi for 3:30AM and 2:30AM wake up calls.

A quick check of the Internet near midnight brought bad news – additional delays over all of Europe. Although we booked on a US domestic carry the flight was routed through Amsterdam. KLM of the Netherlands wished to start flying on Monday but the government would not allow it. This meant cancelled flight and cancelled taxi, however, my Italian must not be so good since the wake-up call still came! The problem is that the airspace has not been cancelled for a few days…no what they are doing is saying everything will open in 12 hours and that has been repeated for the last five days. So every time you check it seems ok but as the 12 hours get closer it moves another 12 hours. It reminds me of the bar back in NY with a sign saying “Special: Free Beer Tomorrow” and when you return the next day of course the same sign in place.

For clothing first you use your casual dress which soon runs out, then back to your business clothes which eventually run out, so today I am wearing a soccer jersey with the name of the local team captain on the back. With decent Internet connections work can still be done as hot ash does not stop emails from piling up. All and all I don’t expect much sympathy from friends, family and colleagues with being stranded in Rome for a week: history at every turn, great fashion, food and wine. Wednesday is Italy’s National Birthday and all museums were free. Thursday is my birthday and Friday we have flights back to US via Chicago via Chicago. Maybe.

Good luck Brian, we hope you make it home in time for your birthday.