Those of you following me on twitter (@mwjournal) received a tweet yesterday as I was about to meet with the folks at Stellar Industries in Millbury Massachusetts –a quiet New England town blending residential homes and “old-school manufacturing” facilities on the outskirts of Worcester. Stellar Industries, a manufacturer with just over 30 employees specializes in custom designed substrates and direct bond copper for photonics and microelectronics. The company does a brisk business selling products to the Telecom, Biomedical, and Defense Industries.
The company believes there is a good business opportunity for their products in the RF market, thus they requested a meeting to see how the Journal could help spread the word. With the recent inflation in gold prices, their copper clad substrate technology offers excellent heat-sinking properties at very competitive prices. Company President Ron Visser is well acquainted with the Microwave industry and has been attending the MTT-S IMS for years. Exhibiting at last year’s show, Ron and his sales manager Eric Brown were pleased by the amount of interest exhibition attendees showed for their technology.
The astronomical price of gold (thanks to speculators and other investors looking for safe haven) would give their copper submounts a huge cost advantage. And the company’s double-digit growth last year vindicates their bullish enthusiasm for revenue growth in the immediate future. So we look forward to hearing more from this company in the future.
Another tidbit that I heard from Eric Brown during our facility tour concerned a successful government initiative to support Stellar’s growth as a business. The Mass Manufacturing Extension Partnership offers companies training in the Time Wise® Principles of Lean Manufacturing to help them become more competitive. I was very impressed by this story, especially considering the news this week about the California solar panel manufacturer that received federal seed money yet is now filing for bunkruptcy because they can't compete with their Chinese counterparts.
Too often the media reports on the government’s shortcomings and one can come to believe the public sector is incapable of getting anything right. But based on Eric Brown's praise for this particular state funded program, this just isnt the case. In an age where government is portrayed as “the” problem and a roadblock to capitalism and the free-market, this example illustrates how government can be get it right. As any investor knows, in business you win some and you lose some. This example tells me that we need continued government support for the private sector, even if every effort doesnt succeed.
From the Mass Manufacturing Extension Partnership website:
http://www.massmep.org/success_stories/stellar.html
Stellar also specializes in vapor deposited thin films and gold/tin solders on thick film and thin film as well as on semiconductor wafers. For small manufacturers, on-time delivery and high quality, long-lasting products are what separates them from larger companies and overseas competition.Stellar Industries, a manufacturer with just over 30 employees, makes a unique product which is good for business, but the types of custom requests it receives from customers can slow down delivery. The Millbury-based company makes miniaturized heat conductive ceramic blocks, similar to circuit boards, which are made-to-order for customers in the telecom, biomedical, and defense industries. Demand for their products is increasing and as the company grew, management recognized a need to more efficiently manage their production process. Stellar called on the Massachusetts Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MassMEP) to help streamline their performance on the production lines.
Utilizing the Time Wise® Principles of Lean Manufacturing, the MassMEP trained all 32 employees. Stellar Industries showed great progress in the time it takes to produce a product and improved their teamwork skills. "The MassMEP team opened our eyes to different ways of manufacturing," said Ron Visser, President of Stellar Industries. "We can now look at everything from a different standpoint. We take what the customer wants and break it down into smaller steps to increase productivity and product quality."Since the program was implemented, the dollar output per manufacturing employee has increased 8 percent to an all time high for the company. Product output has increased by 25 percent. For the first time ever, all weekly work orders were delivered on time."Communication is key. As a result of the training, we have opened up lines of communication that weren’t there before," added Visser.The company also conducts frequent Kaizen events, short bursts of activity to make small improvements with a goal of making large gains in efficiency and productivity, which will continue to wring out more waste from their operation. They now also have a Lean steering committee that monitors such activity."The next step for us is to be certified by the International Organization of Standardization (ISO), the world’s largest developer of production and manufacturing standards," said Visser. "Lean has allowed us to be more disciplined, so we should be able to go into ISO much easier than a year ago. Every day, we see improvements. It takes a continual effort."
About Stellar Industries
Stellar’s products include custom lapped and polished electronic grade ceramics composed of Alumina, Beryllium Oxide, Aluminum Nitride, or specialty ceramics. Stellar also supplies custom services for metalizations on these ceramics using a variety of thick film, thin film, refractory and Direct Bond Copper metalizations. Our ceramic substrates are used in a variety of electronic components including:
Laser Diode / Photodetector Submounts:
• Featuring precision machining and wrap-around metalization vapor deposited gold/tin solder alloys
High Power Microelectronic substrates:
• Featuring Copper Clad High Temperature DBC metalization
Microwave and RF thin film substrates:
• Featuring Precision Ion Etch geometries
Friday, September 2, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
Wireless Sensor Networks to Reach $2 Billion in 2021
According to IDTechEx research in the new report "Wireless Sensor Networks 2011-2021", WSN will grow rapidly from $0.45 billion in 2011 to $2 billion in 2021. These figures refer to WSN defined as wireless mesh networks, i.e. self-healing and self-organizing. Wireless Sensor Networks will eventually enable the automatic monitoring of forest fires, avalanches, hurricanes, failure of country wide utility equipment, traffic, hospitals and much more over wide areas, something previously impossible. It has started already with more humble killer applications such as automating meter readings in buildings, and manufacture and process control automation.
The market for non-mesh wireless sensor systems in general is far larger and some proposed standards apply to both. For example, in addition to the above, the market for Real Time Locating Systems is $0.38 billion in 2011 rising to $1.6 billion in 2021.
Mesh WSN - status today
By far the biggest success of WSN has been in smart meters. Lesson number one - the Governments can make things happen faster than industry. In many countries around the world Governments have mandated that so called "smart meters" need to be installed in certain circumstances, such as new house builds or retrofits. More than 50 million have been installed so far. Now meter reading data is sent wirelessly, and the power is taken from the electricity supply so no batteries are needed. This is seen as a starting point to home automation - wireless sensors embedded in the house that will automatically communicate with the smart meter, your thermostat etc. It is part of the smart grid activity. Here, the ZigBee protocol is being employed.
Lack of Standards Delays Adoption
However, those that supply WSN need to be aware. There is no single standard that has emerged as a clear winner. Indeed, many so called standards are not - many companies implementing ZigBee for example meet the basic criteria to use the ZigBee label but add further capability resulting in systems that are not interoperable with different sensors from different vendors. Many vendors, including giant system integrators that have their own proprietary wireless communications, hope that they may become the chosen default "standard". A small number may win. The industry is not gearing towards a more collaborative approach to allow many to win. This in turn is putting off adoption. Would you install tens of thousands of wireless sensors in your plant locations if it was a proprietary solution? What if that company would not exist in five years?
This reads on to the lack of scalability - party due to lack of multi vendors sensors working together - but no-one has really tested many tens of thousands of mesh wireless sensor nodes. Theory suggests key network paths may form and if they are removed the system can slow down to unacceptable levels.
Lack of Total Solution Delays Adoption
Another challenge that vendors need to address is that many only offer hardware. Adopters are often on their own for the software - which they need in order to make useful decisions on the data collected to give the system a payback. IDTechEx note that in wireless sensing, the big successes are those that offer complete solutions. One example is Savi Technology, part of Lockheed Martin, that offer a full solution to asset tracking/visibility and the other is Ubisense, a successful UK company that has recently listed (and oversubscribed in doing so) based on a real time locating systems (RTLS) solution offering. Those selling only hardware now take note.
Adoption Forecasts
In the new IDTechEx report "Wireless Sensor Networks 2011-2021", IDTechEx forecasts the market in great detail. We study how the average price per node will drop from $29 in 2011 per piece to $25 per piece in 2021. The report looks at the latest activity and sees how these challenges are being tackled.
US ahead but Asia catching up
The USA dominates the development and use of WSN partly because of the heavier funding available there. US industry sits astride the computer industry thanks to companies such as Microsoft and IBM and WSN is regarded as a next wave of computing, so US industry is particularly interested to participate. Add to that the fact that the US Military, deeply interested in WSN, spends more than all other military forces combined and creating and funding start-ups is particularly easy in the USA and you can see why the US is ahead at present.
Watch the Governments
It was the Governments that created the first killer market for wireless sensors in smart meters, even though in reality most do not use the wireless features of the smart meters yet. The US military have spent more than $21.5 Billion on RTLS/sensor asset tracking solutions. Industry usually prioritises rapid payback, Governments don't always have to as they seek better security, safety, longer term efficiency etc. One such new project in Europe is "Living planIT", focused on making smarter cities. 22% of the global population lives in 600 major sized cities, representing 50% of the global GDP. Improving quality of life is therefore a very important challenge but also represents a great opportunity for sustainable technologies. Living PlanIT's aim is to create an ICT platform through aggregating existing and proven technologies that will be blended into real estate development. That would have as a prerequisite to embed technology (e.g. wireless sensors) into the construction process rather than rely on retrofitting which becomes more cost intensive.
In the first wave of the project, 2, 897,640 sensors will be embedded in Living PlanIT's "test-city" in Portugal. Requirements for these include standardisation, open API, horizontal integration but also, zero maintenance for embedded sensors that would have to meet lifetime expectations of over 30 years. Living PlanIT will be presenting at the IDTechEx event "Wireless Sensor Networks & RTLS USA 2011" in Boston, USA on November 15-16. This is the only event on the topic to cover the latest progress with technology and adoption. You will hear the needs and experiences of many end users.
Source: IDTechEx report "Wireless Sensor Networks 2011-2021" www.IDTechEx.com/wsn
The market for non-mesh wireless sensor systems in general is far larger and some proposed standards apply to both. For example, in addition to the above, the market for Real Time Locating Systems is $0.38 billion in 2011 rising to $1.6 billion in 2021.
Mesh WSN - status today
By far the biggest success of WSN has been in smart meters. Lesson number one - the Governments can make things happen faster than industry. In many countries around the world Governments have mandated that so called "smart meters" need to be installed in certain circumstances, such as new house builds or retrofits. More than 50 million have been installed so far. Now meter reading data is sent wirelessly, and the power is taken from the electricity supply so no batteries are needed. This is seen as a starting point to home automation - wireless sensors embedded in the house that will automatically communicate with the smart meter, your thermostat etc. It is part of the smart grid activity. Here, the ZigBee protocol is being employed.
Lack of Standards Delays Adoption
However, those that supply WSN need to be aware. There is no single standard that has emerged as a clear winner. Indeed, many so called standards are not - many companies implementing ZigBee for example meet the basic criteria to use the ZigBee label but add further capability resulting in systems that are not interoperable with different sensors from different vendors. Many vendors, including giant system integrators that have their own proprietary wireless communications, hope that they may become the chosen default "standard". A small number may win. The industry is not gearing towards a more collaborative approach to allow many to win. This in turn is putting off adoption. Would you install tens of thousands of wireless sensors in your plant locations if it was a proprietary solution? What if that company would not exist in five years?
This reads on to the lack of scalability - party due to lack of multi vendors sensors working together - but no-one has really tested many tens of thousands of mesh wireless sensor nodes. Theory suggests key network paths may form and if they are removed the system can slow down to unacceptable levels.
Lack of Total Solution Delays Adoption
Another challenge that vendors need to address is that many only offer hardware. Adopters are often on their own for the software - which they need in order to make useful decisions on the data collected to give the system a payback. IDTechEx note that in wireless sensing, the big successes are those that offer complete solutions. One example is Savi Technology, part of Lockheed Martin, that offer a full solution to asset tracking/visibility and the other is Ubisense, a successful UK company that has recently listed (and oversubscribed in doing so) based on a real time locating systems (RTLS) solution offering. Those selling only hardware now take note.
Adoption Forecasts
In the new IDTechEx report "Wireless Sensor Networks 2011-2021", IDTechEx forecasts the market in great detail. We study how the average price per node will drop from $29 in 2011 per piece to $25 per piece in 2021. The report looks at the latest activity and sees how these challenges are being tackled.
US ahead but Asia catching up
The USA dominates the development and use of WSN partly because of the heavier funding available there. US industry sits astride the computer industry thanks to companies such as Microsoft and IBM and WSN is regarded as a next wave of computing, so US industry is particularly interested to participate. Add to that the fact that the US Military, deeply interested in WSN, spends more than all other military forces combined and creating and funding start-ups is particularly easy in the USA and you can see why the US is ahead at present.
Watch the Governments
It was the Governments that created the first killer market for wireless sensors in smart meters, even though in reality most do not use the wireless features of the smart meters yet. The US military have spent more than $21.5 Billion on RTLS/sensor asset tracking solutions. Industry usually prioritises rapid payback, Governments don't always have to as they seek better security, safety, longer term efficiency etc. One such new project in Europe is "Living planIT", focused on making smarter cities. 22% of the global population lives in 600 major sized cities, representing 50% of the global GDP. Improving quality of life is therefore a very important challenge but also represents a great opportunity for sustainable technologies. Living PlanIT's aim is to create an ICT platform through aggregating existing and proven technologies that will be blended into real estate development. That would have as a prerequisite to embed technology (e.g. wireless sensors) into the construction process rather than rely on retrofitting which becomes more cost intensive.
In the first wave of the project, 2, 897,640 sensors will be embedded in Living PlanIT's "test-city" in Portugal. Requirements for these include standardisation, open API, horizontal integration but also, zero maintenance for embedded sensors that would have to meet lifetime expectations of over 30 years. Living PlanIT will be presenting at the IDTechEx event "Wireless Sensor Networks & RTLS USA 2011" in Boston, USA on November 15-16. This is the only event on the topic to cover the latest progress with technology and adoption. You will hear the needs and experiences of many end users.
Source: IDTechEx report "Wireless Sensor Networks 2011-2021" www.IDTechEx.com/wsn
Friday, August 26, 2011
Industry leaders predict a 'White Space economy'
Cambridge Consultants has released a report discussing the foremost business opportunities in wireless technologies enabled by White Space frequencies, predicting the development of the first White Space consumer devices in the next five years. The report entitled is the result of a White Space workshop hosted by Cambridge Consultants, and brings together experts from across the wireless and broadcast industries including representatives from Nokia, Samsung, BBC, BSkyB, Neul and CSR to discuss White Space technology.
The report views the use of White Space radio as an inevitability, addressing a critical need for redressing methods of spectrum usage and opening up new possibilities for wireless devices. Much discussion of White Space to date has focused on the potential for helping meet rapidly increasing demand for mobile data on smartphones. However, the report emphasises that White Space technology has the potential to provide for a far broader range of applications and presents a solution for the ‘always on’ society.
Deemed the ‘White Space economy’, the report considers the expansive new business opportunities for a range of industries and suggests that initial market opportunities will emerge as a series of smaller, niche applications which would minimise dependency on multiple parties and require lower investment. In terms of revenue generation, White Space technologies could see returns both through direct data delivery or indirect revenue streams such as advertising. Data revenue may suit certain geographies for applications such as rural broadband, whereas advertising could be more suitable for applications such as local content broadcasting.
The report also examines the role of the UK as leading Europe in White Space development, and the role Ofcom has in creating a successful model that will set the blueprint for other countries to follow.
Specific opportunities highlighted:
Micro or localised wireless Internet service providers (WISP)
There is great potential for businesses (supermarkets or local government, for example) operating in more remote areas to supply Internet services and advertising to the local surrounding area. Delivery of personalised and location based services to very local clientele, for a very modest investment by the supplier, is an attractive new business model and the report speculates that delivery could cost as little as one tenth of the cost of copper.
Localised broadcasting
For broadcasters, there is now interest in using White Space for interactive ‘back-channel’ applications and the delivery of highly localised content and advertising.
The ‘Internet of Things’
Encompassing areas such as M2M, smart metering, and applications that require connectivity over a long-range but low data rate, White Space stands out as an enabler of the ‘Internet of Things’. White Space is especially appropriate firstly because the method for connecting can be optimised to meet the need for longer range and lower bit rate. Secondly, the data transferred is low rate and in some instances very infrequent, and for some applications the majority of data can be transferred at a time when it is less likely to cause interference.
The report predicts that we will see enterprise White Space devices developed by the end of 2011, and consumer devices entering the market in five years.
The report views the use of White Space radio as an inevitability, addressing a critical need for redressing methods of spectrum usage and opening up new possibilities for wireless devices. Much discussion of White Space to date has focused on the potential for helping meet rapidly increasing demand for mobile data on smartphones. However, the report emphasises that White Space technology has the potential to provide for a far broader range of applications and presents a solution for the ‘always on’ society.
Deemed the ‘White Space economy’, the report considers the expansive new business opportunities for a range of industries and suggests that initial market opportunities will emerge as a series of smaller, niche applications which would minimise dependency on multiple parties and require lower investment. In terms of revenue generation, White Space technologies could see returns both through direct data delivery or indirect revenue streams such as advertising. Data revenue may suit certain geographies for applications such as rural broadband, whereas advertising could be more suitable for applications such as local content broadcasting.
The report also examines the role of the UK as leading Europe in White Space development, and the role Ofcom has in creating a successful model that will set the blueprint for other countries to follow.
Specific opportunities highlighted:
Micro or localised wireless Internet service providers (WISP)
There is great potential for businesses (supermarkets or local government, for example) operating in more remote areas to supply Internet services and advertising to the local surrounding area. Delivery of personalised and location based services to very local clientele, for a very modest investment by the supplier, is an attractive new business model and the report speculates that delivery could cost as little as one tenth of the cost of copper.
Localised broadcasting
For broadcasters, there is now interest in using White Space for interactive ‘back-channel’ applications and the delivery of highly localised content and advertising.
The ‘Internet of Things’
Encompassing areas such as M2M, smart metering, and applications that require connectivity over a long-range but low data rate, White Space stands out as an enabler of the ‘Internet of Things’. White Space is especially appropriate firstly because the method for connecting can be optimised to meet the need for longer range and lower bit rate. Secondly, the data transferred is low rate and in some instances very infrequent, and for some applications the majority of data can be transferred at a time when it is less likely to cause interference.
The report predicts that we will see enterprise White Space devices developed by the end of 2011, and consumer devices entering the market in five years.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Product Highlights from EMC 2011
I spent the last two days in lovely Long Beach, CA at the IEEE EMC 2011 conference and exhibition. It is a great venue right on the harbor including the nice southern CA weather with the Queen Mary parked right across the harbor. The traffic in the exhibition was average with some busy times in the morning but typically slowing as the day went on. I visited all the microwave companies at the show and have noted below some of the more interesting products I came across. A full report will be coming in a couple of days highlighting all the companies I visited.
AR was showing off their DER2018 digital emissions receiver with continuous coverage from 20 Hz to 18 GHz with 140 MHz of instantaneous bandwidth. We shot a video to demonstrate its fast scanning performance as it displayed a full scan in 7 sec that would take a spectrum analyzer something like 10 minutes to produce.
For test and measurement, R&S had several displays but highlighted their RTO Oscilloscope in a video we shot. The touch screen display and noise floor are very impressive. Agilent was showing off their N9038A MXE EMI receiver which we also captured on video. It can scan 20 minutes of gap less data using its data recording function. Aeroflex was showing off their new S-Series fast, low noise signal generator operating from 100 kHz to 3 or 6 GHz.
There were many impressive amplifiers such as IFI's 1 to 6 GHz, single band amplifier which is unique to the industry, Ophir's family of 80 to 1000 MHz models ranging from 200 to 2000 W and CPI's 18 to 22 GHz 250 W model. Miteq had on display their family of fiber optic links to 22
GHz which are well suited for low loss equipment links that are immune to interference. 3M showed me a ribbon flex cable that performs to 12 GHz even when fully folded at a 90 degree angle.
I was able to attend the Gala Event on the Queen Mary which was spectacular and well put together. Hundreds of attendees were transported for a short ride to the other side of the harbor and enjoyed drinks and dinner on the majestic ship. The organizers did a great job this year! Next year's show is in Pittsburgh, PA - see you there.
AR was showing off their DER2018 digital emissions receiver with continuous coverage from 20 Hz to 18 GHz with 140 MHz of instantaneous bandwidth. We shot a video to demonstrate its fast scanning performance as it displayed a full scan in 7 sec that would take a spectrum analyzer something like 10 minutes to produce.
For test and measurement, R&S had several displays but highlighted their RTO Oscilloscope in a video we shot. The touch screen display and noise floor are very impressive. Agilent was showing off their N9038A MXE EMI receiver which we also captured on video. It can scan 20 minutes of gap less data using its data recording function. Aeroflex was showing off their new S-Series fast, low noise signal generator operating from 100 kHz to 3 or 6 GHz.
There were many impressive amplifiers such as IFI's 1 to 6 GHz, single band amplifier which is unique to the industry, Ophir's family of 80 to 1000 MHz models ranging from 200 to 2000 W and CPI's 18 to 22 GHz 250 W model. Miteq had on display their family of fiber optic links to 22
GHz which are well suited for low loss equipment links that are immune to interference. 3M showed me a ribbon flex cable that performs to 12 GHz even when fully folded at a 90 degree angle.
I was able to attend the Gala Event on the Queen Mary which was spectacular and well put together. Hundreds of attendees were transported for a short ride to the other side of the harbor and enjoyed drinks and dinner on the majestic ship. The organizers did a great job this year! Next year's show is in Pittsburgh, PA - see you there.
RF Things to look for in the UK
At the Journal, we are currently working on our September European Microwave Week Show issue. This year the event takes place in Manchester, UK and so England is on our minds. The show is about six weeks away and early signs of heavy activity among Journal advertisers and EuMW exhibitors is indicating a strong show. If you are among the microwave professionals travelling to the UK keep your eyes out for the RFID way-finding system that is being deployed troughout the country to assist the blind and partially sighted.
According to RFID News, a UK-based charitable organization known as Guide Dogs is working with the University of Reading to employ RFID technology to provide the visually impared with the means to choose how they get about. The way-finding system consists of three main components: RFID tags, a handheld receiver, and a database of pre-recorded messages about each tag’s location.
The tags are embedded in the surrounding environment such as at bus stops or indoor shopping centers. When it comes into range, the handheld reader scans the tag and speaks to the user, telling exactly where he/she is. The system, dubbed Talking Tags can also provide additional information about the immediate environment around them. Users and potential service providers such as city officals, retail outlets, and transit providers recently tested the system in London and gave it positive reviews.
According to RFID News, a UK-based charitable organization known as Guide Dogs is working with the University of Reading to employ RFID technology to provide the visually impared with the means to choose how they get about. The way-finding system consists of three main components: RFID tags, a handheld receiver, and a database of pre-recorded messages about each tag’s location.
The tags are embedded in the surrounding environment such as at bus stops or indoor shopping centers. When it comes into range, the handheld reader scans the tag and speaks to the user, telling exactly where he/she is. The system, dubbed Talking Tags can also provide additional information about the immediate environment around them. Users and potential service providers such as city officals, retail outlets, and transit providers recently tested the system in London and gave it positive reviews.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Electromagnetic Fish Hook Repels Sharks
This news is a couple of months old but I found it interesting and just now stumbled upon it. A New Jersey-based Shark Defense company developed the SMART (Selective Magnetic and Repellent-Treated) Hook that is intended to repel sharks but does not affect other types of fish. It is magnetic and coated with a metal that produces an electrical current when placed in seawater. Electromagnetic fields are known to affect sharks' sensory systems they try to steer clear of them when possible. Market-valuable fish, such as tuna, do not have this electrical sense and are not repelled by the hook. It requires no power source, and reportedly only costs slightly more than a traditional hook (an amount that should be made back through reductions in damaged equipment, wasted time, and unmarketable catches).
In a set of 50 tests using two different groups of sharks, it was found that smaller, recreational-sized SMART hooks with bait received 66 percent less shark strikes than their conventional counterparts. Larger, commercial-sized SMART hooks received 94 percent less, due to the fact that more of the shark-repellent metal was present.
As reported by Live Science, the original work was sponsored by NSF SBIR grant. "Combining a magnetic repellent with a galvanic repellent is very important, because many studies have shown that sharks behave differently to magnets or metals alone," said Craig O'Connell, who researches the effects of magnetism in sharks with Shark Defense and publishes on the subject. "There are many species of shark, and they seek out their prey differently. Having two repellents available increases the chances that the sharks will be deterred."Magnetic and voltage-creating metals have separately been shown to reduce shark catches by 18 to 68 percent in past studies, although the Shark Defense researchers state that combining the two properties boosts the SMART hook's repellent properties.
EM waves have many uses!
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Google Wallet and NFC Smartphones Starting to Take Off
ABI stated that recent developments in contactless payment technology are generating renewed interest, and suggest that the long-delayed dream of comprehensive contactless payment systems may finally be approaching reality. The introduction of Google Wallet and the expectation that several new NFC-enabled smartphones will reach consumer markets soon have created a sense of optimism.
According to ABI Research, in 2010 only about 10% of total POS terminal shipments included some form of contactless technology. While the analyst firm does not agree with some of the wilder media predictions for contactless POS growth – for example that within 12 months, one third of all terminals in the US will accept contactless payments – it does forecast that 85% of terminals shipped worldwide will be contactless-enabled in 2016, driven by increased proliferation of contactless cards and especially, rapid adoption of NFC-enabled cell phones.
Senior analyst Craig Foster comments, “Contactless has the potential to change the way we pay for goods completely, significantly reducing time spent queuing at the point of sale. It also represents an almost perfect fit for the vending industry, because:
• The increased speed and simplicity of check-out go hand-in-hand with the very essence of the vending machine – to provide goods quickly and conveniently;
• The fact that small-value transactions – typically under $25 in the US – do not need to be authenticated by signature or PIN entry is very appealing to vending machine operators.”
M2M practice director Sam Lucero adds, “Contactless technology is also in the very early stages of adoption in ATMs: rather than inserting the card, a customer waves it in front of the machine and enters a PIN.”
Ingenico, VeriFone, and Hypercom are the three leading vendors of POS terminals and command most of the market. VeriFone recently completed the acquisition of Hypercom after satisfying the antitrust concerns of the US Department of Justice. Contactless terminals have formed an increasingly significant part of Ingenico’s portfolio in recent years, accounting for a claimed 21% of the company’s shipments in 2010.
According to ABI Research, in 2010 only about 10% of total POS terminal shipments included some form of contactless technology. While the analyst firm does not agree with some of the wilder media predictions for contactless POS growth – for example that within 12 months, one third of all terminals in the US will accept contactless payments – it does forecast that 85% of terminals shipped worldwide will be contactless-enabled in 2016, driven by increased proliferation of contactless cards and especially, rapid adoption of NFC-enabled cell phones.
Senior analyst Craig Foster comments, “Contactless has the potential to change the way we pay for goods completely, significantly reducing time spent queuing at the point of sale. It also represents an almost perfect fit for the vending industry, because:
• The increased speed and simplicity of check-out go hand-in-hand with the very essence of the vending machine – to provide goods quickly and conveniently;
• The fact that small-value transactions – typically under $25 in the US – do not need to be authenticated by signature or PIN entry is very appealing to vending machine operators.”
M2M practice director Sam Lucero adds, “Contactless technology is also in the very early stages of adoption in ATMs: rather than inserting the card, a customer waves it in front of the machine and enters a PIN.”
Ingenico, VeriFone, and Hypercom are the three leading vendors of POS terminals and command most of the market. VeriFone recently completed the acquisition of Hypercom after satisfying the antitrust concerns of the US Department of Justice. Contactless terminals have formed an increasingly significant part of Ingenico’s portfolio in recent years, accounting for a claimed 21% of the company’s shipments in 2010.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
After Chinook Downing, RPG Defeat Should Get More Priority
It was very sad to hear about the recent downing of the Chinook helicopter in Afghanistan that killed 38 soldiers. Eastern Afghanistan has steep mountain ranges, providing shelter for militants with rocket-propelled grenade launchers creating a dangerous area for military aircraft and personnel. Large, slow-moving air transports like the CH-47 Chinook are particularly vulnerable, so the military should not be surprised that one was shot down especially if it is not equipped with countermeasures as it is a relatively defenseless aircraft.
The two greatest dangers faced in asymmetric warfare are improvised explosive devices (IED) and rock propelled grenades (RPG) as they are easy to obtain and widely used by insurgents. Large funding has gone into IED defeat systems in the US, such the Warlock and JCREW programs, with thousands of systems being fielded. These are RF based systems to jam wireless frequencies that remotely detonate the IEDs. The systems have been relatively effective but there are other ways to detonate IEDs (wires, pressure plates, etc.) so they are not a total solution to defeat them. However, there seems to be much less emphasis put on defeating RPGs as there are only a few systems available today.
Most solutions are deployed on land vehicles which have cages or nets around them that are designed to defeat RPGs but these would not be appropriate for airborne vehicles (photo courtesy of Polish military). There are a couple of active RPG defeat systems that have been developed for vehicles that use RF technology. Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aircraft Industries' Elta Group developed an active protection system called Trophy. Trophy intercepts and destroys incoming missiles and rockets with a shotgun-like blast by using radar sensors to track the incoming RPGs. The system includes the Elta EL/M-2133 F/G-band fire-control radar with four flat-panel antennas mounted on the vehicle, that has a 360-degree field of view. A computer uses the signal from the incoming weapon and calculates an approach vector. The system then calculates the optimal time and angle to fire the neutralizers. The launchers fire the neutralizing agents, which are usually small metal pellets (like buckshot).
A few years ago it was reported that there was resistance to incorporating Trophy into the US Army. The US DoD had contracted with Raytheon to develop a similar system, Quick Kill, which at the time was several years behind Trophy in development so there were rumors they wanted their own system instead of the Trophy. Later, in February 2011, Rafael announced that the Trophy system completed a successful evaluation in the US. This system is primarily intended to be used on ground vehicles so these systems probably need to be adapted to be used on airborne vehicles.
Another system that is a non-lethal RPG defeat concept is the RPGNet from Qinetiq US that uses a net shaped "trap" made of super-high strength ballistic fiber, developed under a joint ONR/DARPA program. The net intercepts the flight trajectory at a safe distance from the vehicle and defeats the RPG by crushing its nose, rendering the fuse inoperable. This prevents the high-order blast effect by preventing the formation of the shaped charge plasma jet. The system is in development by Foster Miller from program for the Office of Naval Research (ONR).
Several US companies are working on systems to defeat RPGs but they seem behind several other countries like Israel and the UK. General Dynamics has developed the ShotScreen™ RPG Defeat System which is an active protection system that can be mounted on new or retrofitted on a variety of vehicles including helicopters. The system releases a wave of small diameter, low velocity non-lethal pellets from several non-slewing locations to defeat multiple anti-tank type RPGs. It provides 360° horizontal protection with variable inclination coverage and an option for full hemispherical coverage. As mentioned previously, Raytheon has also worked on active protection systems.
Asymmetric warfare presents different challenges than the military is used to dealing with over the years so priorities need to be assessed and new systems deployed quickly to meet these new challenges. Airborne vehicles operating in insurgent areas need protection/countermeasures such as RPG defeat systems which should be more of a priority for the military on vehicles performing critical missions such as the Chinook that was shot down.
The two greatest dangers faced in asymmetric warfare are improvised explosive devices (IED) and rock propelled grenades (RPG) as they are easy to obtain and widely used by insurgents. Large funding has gone into IED defeat systems in the US, such the Warlock and JCREW programs, with thousands of systems being fielded. These are RF based systems to jam wireless frequencies that remotely detonate the IEDs. The systems have been relatively effective but there are other ways to detonate IEDs (wires, pressure plates, etc.) so they are not a total solution to defeat them. However, there seems to be much less emphasis put on defeating RPGs as there are only a few systems available today.
Most solutions are deployed on land vehicles which have cages or nets around them that are designed to defeat RPGs but these would not be appropriate for airborne vehicles (photo courtesy of Polish military). There are a couple of active RPG defeat systems that have been developed for vehicles that use RF technology. Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aircraft Industries' Elta Group developed an active protection system called Trophy. Trophy intercepts and destroys incoming missiles and rockets with a shotgun-like blast by using radar sensors to track the incoming RPGs. The system includes the Elta EL/M-2133 F/G-band fire-control radar with four flat-panel antennas mounted on the vehicle, that has a 360-degree field of view. A computer uses the signal from the incoming weapon and calculates an approach vector. The system then calculates the optimal time and angle to fire the neutralizers. The launchers fire the neutralizing agents, which are usually small metal pellets (like buckshot).
A few years ago it was reported that there was resistance to incorporating Trophy into the US Army. The US DoD had contracted with Raytheon to develop a similar system, Quick Kill, which at the time was several years behind Trophy in development so there were rumors they wanted their own system instead of the Trophy. Later, in February 2011, Rafael announced that the Trophy system completed a successful evaluation in the US. This system is primarily intended to be used on ground vehicles so these systems probably need to be adapted to be used on airborne vehicles.
Another system that is a non-lethal RPG defeat concept is the RPGNet from Qinetiq US that uses a net shaped "trap" made of super-high strength ballistic fiber, developed under a joint ONR/DARPA program. The net intercepts the flight trajectory at a safe distance from the vehicle and defeats the RPG by crushing its nose, rendering the fuse inoperable. This prevents the high-order blast effect by preventing the formation of the shaped charge plasma jet. The system is in development by Foster Miller from program for the Office of Naval Research (ONR).
Several US companies are working on systems to defeat RPGs but they seem behind several other countries like Israel and the UK. General Dynamics has developed the ShotScreen™ RPG Defeat System which is an active protection system that can be mounted on new or retrofitted on a variety of vehicles including helicopters. The system releases a wave of small diameter, low velocity non-lethal pellets from several non-slewing locations to defeat multiple anti-tank type RPGs. It provides 360° horizontal protection with variable inclination coverage and an option for full hemispherical coverage. As mentioned previously, Raytheon has also worked on active protection systems.
Asymmetric warfare presents different challenges than the military is used to dealing with over the years so priorities need to be assessed and new systems deployed quickly to meet these new challenges. Airborne vehicles operating in insurgent areas need protection/countermeasures such as RPG defeat systems which should be more of a priority for the military on vehicles performing critical missions such as the Chinook that was shot down.
Friday, July 29, 2011
NI Week: Austin in August
Every year in August, National Instruments hosts NIWeek, a truly impressive event that focuses on graphical system design and the company’s test & measurement and controller software. This conference attracts more than 3,000 of the world's brightest engineers, educators, and scientists. NIWeek 2011, the company's 17th annual customer and technology conference, opens August 2 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas, for three days of interactive technical sessions, targeted summits, hands-on workshops, and exhibitions on the latest developments for design, control, automation, manufacturing, and test. The conference also features keynote presentations and demonstrations that highlight how engineers and scientists can use NI graphical system design to test, measure, and fix inefficient products and processes to improve everyday life.
There are many benefits for attending NIWeek 2011, including the technical sessions, a chance to see NI collaborators and their products, and the opportunity to network, which is such a critical part of our careers. The conference provides opportunities to boost productivity through the three full days of interactive technical sessions, exhibitions, and hands-on workshops on the latest technologies for control, design, measurement, automation, manufacturing, and test. The company claims that most engineering professionals who attend the conference increase their productivity significantly.
This year's keynotes include founder Dr. James Truchard who will discuss the latest technologies, including timing and synchronization, streaming digital signal processor (DSP) design, and software-defined radios, to optimize graphical system designs around the world.Jeff Kodosky, coinventor and "Father of LabVIEW" with more than 30 patented LabVIEW technologies, sharing his vision for tackling challenging timing problems with LabVIEW, the future of graphical system design, and the possibilities it presents for engineers and scientists.
NI R&D engineers will also explore cutting-edge products and technologies that enable new applications and change the way engineers and scientists design, build, and test complex systems. I had the chance to attend NI Week several years ago and I have to say it is a great experience. The atmosphere is similar to the most advanced science fair you could ever imagine. When the R&D team shows off their stuff, they always put together a highly entertaining demo. When I attended there were chopper motorcycles, dunk tanks, archery, high-speed video capture and giant flat panel screens called into service to wow the audience. Not to mention the hyped-up sound system. It was a little bit like a Vegas production, a little bit Mac World.
If we wanted to get the next generation of kids excited about science, I would send them to NIWeek. Its that much fun. Unlike dedicated microwave shows like IMS, this event really lets engineers experience technology far outside their usual experience. It is very rewarding and eye opening. Of course their will be a dedicated RF pavilion for RF/microwave engineers that want to slip into their comfort zone while attending. I will also be there to meet Massachusetts Executive Fanny Mlinarsky of Octoscope and hear her talk about Over-the-Air Test solutions.
And the big acquisition of AWR and Phase Matrix this past spring should make this year's NI week especially relevant. Hope to see some of our readers there.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Industry Hardware Gets 15 Minutes of Fame
I get that this is entertainment and not real news, so please indulge my little rant, which is meant for your entertainment.
My "exposure" to the daily television show GMA (Good Morning America) occurs as a captive viewer stuck on a treadmill at the local gym. With no access to the TV controls, getting in shape usually means turning a little piece of my brain into mush on those days. Between the steady diet of "mind-numbing repetition of that day's big story with little depth or insight" or the "day after day reporting of nothing new in some long-drawn out soap-opera trial for some grizzly murder", it is hard for me to say great things about the programming of this or other similar shows. But the kicker for me is the health alert. You know the one. This segment warns the viewer that what you don’t know about some commonly found object, food/drink or activity could harm you and your family.
As mentioned, I’m just a captive audience on a treadmill. My intake is purely visual, no audio. And so what gets burned into my consciousness is the message suspended on the lower portion of the TV screen during the segment that is responsible for today’s rant, which reads, “Health Alert: Cell Phone Cancer Alarm, Rating your Radiation Levels”. Well that doesn’t look good. And I wonder, do most people understand the difference between non-ionizing microwave radiation and X-ray radiation? If you’ve ever watched the hilarious Jay Leno interviews with the average person on the street, it is hard to believe that they do. Certainly the appearance of the words “Cancer” and “radiation” next to each other doesn’t help clarify the distinction.
My "exposure" to the daily television show GMA (Good Morning America) occurs as a captive viewer stuck on a treadmill at the local gym. With no access to the TV controls, getting in shape usually means turning a little piece of my brain into mush on those days. Between the steady diet of "mind-numbing repetition of that day's big story with little depth or insight" or the "day after day reporting of nothing new in some long-drawn out soap-opera trial for some grizzly murder", it is hard for me to say great things about the programming of this or other similar shows. But the kicker for me is the health alert. You know the one. This segment warns the viewer that what you don’t know about some commonly found object, food/drink or activity could harm you and your family.
As mentioned, I’m just a captive audience on a treadmill. My intake is purely visual, no audio. And so what gets burned into my consciousness is the message suspended on the lower portion of the TV screen during the segment that is responsible for today’s rant, which reads, “Health Alert: Cell Phone Cancer Alarm, Rating your Radiation Levels”. Well that doesn’t look good. And I wonder, do most people understand the difference between non-ionizing microwave radiation and X-ray radiation? If you’ve ever watched the hilarious Jay Leno interviews with the average person on the street, it is hard to believe that they do. Certainly the appearance of the words “Cancer” and “radiation” next to each other doesn’t help clarify the distinction.
View Video
This recent broadcast was a follow up to a statement from the World Health Organization this month that people should be “more cautious about how much we use our cell phones due to concerns about a link to brain cancer”. Wait, back-up. What statement? What was the link? What was the method used to determine a link? Could you explain/quantify “more cautious”? Not in this segment.
Here’s a little background on the WHO report, courtesy of CNN.
A team of 31 scientists from 14 countries, including the United States, made the decision after reviewing peer-reviewed studies on cell phone safety. The team found enough evidence to categorize personal exposure as "possibly carcinogenic to humans."
What that means is they found some evidence of increase in glioma and acoustic neuroma brain cancer for mobile phone users, but have not been able to draw conclusions for other types of cancers. "The biggest problem we have is that we know most environmental factors take several decades of exposure before we really see the consequences," said Dr. Keith Black, chairman of neurology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
"What microwave radiation does in most simplistic terms is similar to what happens to food in microwaves, essentially cooking the brain," Black said. "So in addition to leading to a development of cancer and tumors, there could be a whole host of other effects like cognitive memory function, since the memory temporal lobes are where we hold our cell phones." In February, a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health, revealed radiation emitted after just 50 minutes on a mobile phone increases the activity in brain cells. The effects of brain activity being artificially stimulated are still unknown.
Wireless industry responded to the announcement saying it "does not mean cell phones cause cancer." CTIA-The Wireless Association added that WHO researchers "did not conduct any new research, but rather reviewed published studies."
"When you look at cancer development -- particularly brain cancer -- it takes a long time to develop. I think it is a good idea to give the public some sort of warning that long-term exposure to radiation from your cell phone could possibly cause cancer," said Dr. Henry Lai, research professor in bioengineering at University of Washington who has studied radiation for more than 30 years.
Results from the largest international study on cell phones and cancer was released in 2010. It showed participants in the study who used a cell phone for 10 years or more had doubled the rate of brain glioma, a type of tumor. To date, there have been no long-term studies on the effects of cell phone usage among children.
"Children's skulls and scalps are thinner. So the radiation can penetrate deeper into the brain of children and young adults. Their cells are at a dividing faster rate, so the impact of radiation can be much larger." said Black of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Of course, I rarely see children hold a phone up to their head, nobody can text that way.
Back to the GMA segment where electrical engineering associate professor, Dr. Michael Knox from NYU Polytechnic University (winner of the 2011 Distinguished Teacher Award) has been recruited to monitor the RF energy in a typical American home (husband, wife, 2 kids, 5 cell phones, Wi-Fi and microwave oven) using the N9340B Handheld Spectrum Analyzer from Agilent Technologies. I had to chuckle as the anchor described how the family allowed ABC to invade their home with a “Big machine that measures radiation”. Maybe I’ve seen too many handheld spectrum analyzers at various trade shows, but that one doesn’t look so big to me. In fact it looks kind of cute. Congratulations on making prime time TV, Agilent.
As Dr. Knox roamed the house (interrupting dinner time) with a “fancy machine that measures radio waves” aka spectrum analyzer, the family got a visual glimpse of the radio activity from their cell phones, Wi-Fi and microwave oven. While Agilent’s spectrum analyzer performed flawlessly detecting the RF signals from each, I’m not convinced the information meant anything to the on looking, non-technical family. I have to imagine the same was true for the majority of the TV audience paying attention. Nice try GMA. I wonder what’s on The Today Show?
Here’s a little background on the WHO report, courtesy of CNN.
A team of 31 scientists from 14 countries, including the United States, made the decision after reviewing peer-reviewed studies on cell phone safety. The team found enough evidence to categorize personal exposure as "possibly carcinogenic to humans."
What that means is they found some evidence of increase in glioma and acoustic neuroma brain cancer for mobile phone users, but have not been able to draw conclusions for other types of cancers. "The biggest problem we have is that we know most environmental factors take several decades of exposure before we really see the consequences," said Dr. Keith Black, chairman of neurology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
"What microwave radiation does in most simplistic terms is similar to what happens to food in microwaves, essentially cooking the brain," Black said. "So in addition to leading to a development of cancer and tumors, there could be a whole host of other effects like cognitive memory function, since the memory temporal lobes are where we hold our cell phones." In February, a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health, revealed radiation emitted after just 50 minutes on a mobile phone increases the activity in brain cells. The effects of brain activity being artificially stimulated are still unknown.
Wireless industry responded to the announcement saying it "does not mean cell phones cause cancer." CTIA-The Wireless Association added that WHO researchers "did not conduct any new research, but rather reviewed published studies."
"When you look at cancer development -- particularly brain cancer -- it takes a long time to develop. I think it is a good idea to give the public some sort of warning that long-term exposure to radiation from your cell phone could possibly cause cancer," said Dr. Henry Lai, research professor in bioengineering at University of Washington who has studied radiation for more than 30 years.
Results from the largest international study on cell phones and cancer was released in 2010. It showed participants in the study who used a cell phone for 10 years or more had doubled the rate of brain glioma, a type of tumor. To date, there have been no long-term studies on the effects of cell phone usage among children.
"Children's skulls and scalps are thinner. So the radiation can penetrate deeper into the brain of children and young adults. Their cells are at a dividing faster rate, so the impact of radiation can be much larger." said Black of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Of course, I rarely see children hold a phone up to their head, nobody can text that way.
Back to the GMA segment where electrical engineering associate professor, Dr. Michael Knox from NYU Polytechnic University (winner of the 2011 Distinguished Teacher Award) has been recruited to monitor the RF energy in a typical American home (husband, wife, 2 kids, 5 cell phones, Wi-Fi and microwave oven) using the N9340B Handheld Spectrum Analyzer from Agilent Technologies. I had to chuckle as the anchor described how the family allowed ABC to invade their home with a “Big machine that measures radiation”. Maybe I’ve seen too many handheld spectrum analyzers at various trade shows, but that one doesn’t look so big to me. In fact it looks kind of cute. Congratulations on making prime time TV, Agilent.
As Dr. Knox roamed the house (interrupting dinner time) with a “fancy machine that measures radio waves” aka spectrum analyzer, the family got a visual glimpse of the radio activity from their cell phones, Wi-Fi and microwave oven. While Agilent’s spectrum analyzer performed flawlessly detecting the RF signals from each, I’m not convinced the information meant anything to the on looking, non-technical family. I have to imagine the same was true for the majority of the TV audience paying attention. Nice try GMA. I wonder what’s on The Today Show?
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
The Mine Clearing Beast Autonomous Vehicle
Wireless controlled autonomous vehicles of all kinds are being developed by the military. An interesting type being developed are IED and mine clearing vehicles. They can safely clear areas for the military and civilians caught in war tore areas.
The Digger D-3 is a mine-clearing robot with a unique approach. Instead of poking around to locate mines and explosives, it shreds that area and eats them. It is a land tiller on steroids (and lots of them). At the front of the D-3 is a giant spinning metal pulverizer, which has tungsten hammers that beat down a quarter meter into the ground, turning everything into mulch. The mines do blow up but don't seem to damage the Digger at all. It is designed to width stand antitank mines and unexploded shells of sizes up to 81 mm and has been able to successfully ingest mines containing as much as 8 kilograms of explosive.
Here is the Digger D-2 in action:
An operator commands this beast from a safe distance using a remote control unit. The hull of the robot is made up of hardened steel plates in a "V" shape to help limit any damage from explosions. The only potentially vulnerable spots are the air intakes, which are protected from flying shrapnel by special grates. At full throttle, the D-3 can reliably clear a comforting 100 percent of landmines from the ground at a rate of 1,000 square meters per hour (about 10,000 square feet per hour), while also divesting the land of any unwanted shrubbery (I guess you can plant the field it leaves behind). I can't wait to try one in my back yard so I can plant new grass!
The Digger D-3 is a mine-clearing robot with a unique approach. Instead of poking around to locate mines and explosives, it shreds that area and eats them. It is a land tiller on steroids (and lots of them). At the front of the D-3 is a giant spinning metal pulverizer, which has tungsten hammers that beat down a quarter meter into the ground, turning everything into mulch. The mines do blow up but don't seem to damage the Digger at all. It is designed to width stand antitank mines and unexploded shells of sizes up to 81 mm and has been able to successfully ingest mines containing as much as 8 kilograms of explosive.
Here is the Digger D-2 in action:
An operator commands this beast from a safe distance using a remote control unit. The hull of the robot is made up of hardened steel plates in a "V" shape to help limit any damage from explosions. The only potentially vulnerable spots are the air intakes, which are protected from flying shrapnel by special grates. At full throttle, the D-3 can reliably clear a comforting 100 percent of landmines from the ground at a rate of 1,000 square meters per hour (about 10,000 square feet per hour), while also divesting the land of any unwanted shrubbery (I guess you can plant the field it leaves behind). I can't wait to try one in my back yard so I can plant new grass!
Is RF Radiation from Cell Phones Dangerous?
A very controversial subject is whether RF radiation from cell phones is dangerous to our health. There are studies showing that it might be and others that show is not dangerous. Many people do not realize that RF radiation at these frequencies is non-ionizing so it cannot damage the cell structure on the molecular level like solar radiation does. However, it can heat the cells (as a microwave oven does to food) but cell phones are relatively low power so does it do any damage to us? Nothing conclusive to date has shown that it is dangerous at the power limits set by the FCC or other international organizations. Below is a recent release about the subject.
The International Journal of Hyperthermia has unveiled a new special issue which addresses the thermal aspects of RF exposure on human health. This special issue resulted from a workshop born out of the controversies surrounding huge growth and use of wireless communication. In the issue, invited experts further refine a quantitative assessment of the effects of thermal energy on tissue damage, fetal development, immune function and neurocognitive behaviour. The special issue papers are available on: http://informahealthcare.com/toc/hth/27/4.
One of the key findings of the workshop and research papers is that while RF exposure standards can surely be refined further, it is fair to say that the present exposure limits set for the general public are far more protective against thermal hazards than recommended limits for the temperature of hot water in the home.
“The purpose of the workshop – and the resulting special issue – was to review current knowledge of the effects of heat on the body that are of potential relevance to setting limits for human exposure to RF,” explains the lead review author, Kenneth R Foster, of the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania. “Thermal damage to the body is clearly a very large topic; our discussion and this special issue focuses on thermal effects that are likely to be relevant to setting RF exposure limits.”
“We examined the most appropriate health endpoints for a given tissue or system, appropriate time periods for acute and chronic exposure, time-temperature thresholds for adverse effects, as well as cost effective and targeted research to help us better understand and define human exposure standards,” continued Foster.
“The upshot was that current RF limits, as recommended by the WHO and adopted by the majority of the world’s governments, are – in thermal terms – far below temperatures that could harm the body,” says Foster. “Indeed, under ordinary environmental conditions, exposure at the whole body limits for the general public, will lead to no detectable increase in core body temperature due to thermoregulatory responses.
That said, both sets of current guidelines on exposure to radiofrequency are subject to limitations, despite the fact that they form the basis for exposure guidelines throughout most of the world. The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) and the ICNIRP (International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection) limits set out basic restrictions in terms of power absorbed in tissue. However, the biologically significant quantity is the thermal exposure (increase in temperature and duration of exposure to elevated temperature).
Within the human body, time-temperature functions for thermal damage to different tissue types varies widely and current limit definitions are complex and difficult to explain to the public. In addition, new technologies employing high-power mmWave sources are coming into use and the possibility of human exposure to such energy at potentially injurious levels is increasing.
I am sure there will be more to come on this subject. What do you think?
Monday, July 18, 2011
New Ga Tech Device Captures Ambient EM Energy to Drive Small Electronic Devices
This was published from Ga Tech a week or so ago - interesting research on energy scavenging:
Researchers have discovered a way to capture and harness energy transmitted by such sources as radio and television transmitters, cell phone networks and satellite communications systems. By scavenging this ambient energy from the air around us, the technique could provide a new way to power networks of wireless sensors, microprocessors and communications chips.
Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering professor Manos Tentzeris displays an inkjet-printed rectifying antenna used to convert microwave energy to DC power. This grid was printed on flexible Kapton material and is expected to operate with frequencies as high as 10 gigahertz when complete. (Click image for high-resolution version. Credit: Gary Meek).
“There is a large amount of electromagnetic energy all around us, but nobody has been able to tap into it,” said Manos Tentzeris, a professor in the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering who is leading the research. “We are using an ultra-wideband antenna that lets us exploit a variety of signals in different frequency ranges, giving us greatly increased power-gathering capability.”
Tentzeris and his team are using inkjet printers to combine sensors, antennas and energy-scavenging capabilities on paper or flexible polymers. The resulting self-powered wireless sensors could be used for chemical, biological, heat and stress sensing for defense and industry; radio-frequency identification (RFID) tagging for manufacturing and shipping, and monitoring tasks in many fields including communications and power usage.
A presentation on this energy-scavenging technology was given July 6 at the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Symposium in Spokane, Wash. The discovery is based on research supported by multiple sponsors, including the National Science Foundation, the Federal Highway Administration and Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).
Communications devices transmit energy in many different frequency ranges, or bands. The team’s scavenging devices can capture this energy, convert it from AC to DC, and then store it in capacitors and batteries. The scavenging technology can take advantage presently of frequencies from FM radio to radar, a range spanning 100 megahertz (MHz) to 15 gigahertz (GHz) or higher.
Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering professor Manos Tentzeris holds a sensor (left) and an ultra-broadband spiral antenna for wearable energy-scavenging applications. Both were printed on paper using inkjet technology. (Click image for high-resolution version. Credit: Gary Meek)
Scavenging experiments utilizing TV bands have already yielded power amounting to hundreds of microwatts, and multi-band systems are expected to generate one milliwatt or more. That amount of power is enough to operate many small electronic devices, including a variety of sensors and microprocessors.
And by combining energy-scavenging technology with super-capacitors and cycled operation, the Georgia Tech team expects to power devices requiring above 50 milliwatts. In this approach, energy builds up in a battery-like supercapacitor and is utilized when the required power level is reached.
The researchers have already successfully operated a temperature sensor using electromagnetic energy captured from a television station that was half a kilometer distant. They are preparing another demonstration in which a microprocessor-based microcontroller would be activated simply by holding it in the air.
Exploiting a range of electromagnetic bands increases the dependability of energy-scavenging devices, explained Tentzeris, who is also a faculty researcher in the Georgia Electronic Design Center at Georgia Tech. If one frequency range fades temporarily due to usage variations, the system can still exploit other frequencies.
The scavenging device could be used by itself or in tandem with other generating technologies. For example, scavenged energy could assist a solar element to charge a battery during the day. At night, when solar cells don’t provide power, scavenged energy would continue to increase the battery charge or would prevent discharging.
Georgia Tech graduate student Rushi Vyas (front) holds a prototype energy-scavenging device, while School of Electrical and Computer Engineering professor Manos Tentzeris displays a miniaturized flexible antenna that was inkjet-printed on paper and could be used for broadband energy scavenging. (Click image for high-resolution version. Credit: Gary Meek)
Utilizing ambient electromagnetic energy could also provide a form of system backup. If a battery or a solar-collector/battery package failed completely, scavenged energy could allow the system to transmit a wireless distress signal while also potentially maintaining critical functionalities.
The researchers are utilizing inkjet technology to print these energy scavenging devices on paper or flexible paper-like polymers – a technique they already using to produce sensors and antennas. The result would be paper-based wireless sensors that are self-powered, low-cost and able to function independently almost anywhere.
To print electrical components and circuits, the Georgia Tech researchers use a standard materials inkjet printer. However, they add what Tentzeris calls “a unique in-house recipe” containing silver nanoparticles and/or other nanoparticles in an emulsion. This approach enables the team to print not only RF components and circuits, but also novel sensing devices based on such nanomaterials as carbon nanotubes.
When Tentzeris and his research group began inkjet printing of antennas in 2006, the paper-based circuits only functioned at frequencies of 100 or 200 MHz, recalled Rushi Vyas, a graduate student who is working with Tentzeris and graduate student Vasileios Lakafosis on several projects.
“We can now print circuits that are capable of functioning at up to 15 GHz — 60 GHz if we print on a polymer,” Vyas said. “So we have seen a frequency operation improvement of two orders of magnitude.”
The researchers believe that self powered, wireless paper-based sensors will soon be widely available at very low cost. The resulting proliferation of autonomous, inexpensive sensors could be used for applications that include:
· Airport security: Airports have both multiple security concerns and vast amounts of available ambient energy from radar and communications sources. These dual factors make them a natural environment for large numbers of wireless sensors capable of detecting potential threats such as explosives or smuggled nuclear material.
· Energy savings: Self-powered wireless sensing devices placed throughout a home could provide continuous monitoring of temperature and humidity conditions, leading to highly significant savings on heating and air conditioning costs. And unlike many of today’s sensing devices, environmentally friendly paper-based sensors would degrade quickly in landfills.
· Structural integrity: Paper or polymer based sensors could be placed throughout various types of structures to monitor stress. Self powered sensors on buildings, bridges or aircraft could quietly watch for problems, perhaps for many years, and then transmit a signal when they detected an unusual condition.
· Food and perishable material storage and quality monitoring: Inexpensive sensors on foods could scan for chemicals that indicate spoilage and send out an early warning if they encountered problems.
· Wearable bio-monitoring devices: This emerging wireless technology could become widely used for autonomous observation of patient medical issues.
Friday, July 8, 2011
The Week's Microwave News... in Rhyme
Editor's note: Even though its summertime, news from the Microwave industry remains quite active in both military and commercial markets with announcements of contract wins, new products, M&A activity and more. We offer this light version of this weeks news as a reminder to enjoy the lazy days of summer.
From Raytheon
Stimulus money can still be found
As Raytheon breaks new ground
To deploy 700 Megahertz LTE
Dedicated to serving public safety
From Suncastle Microwave
A new antenna with decade-plus bandwidth and high gain
Will help extend the coverage range
Of UAVs on special missions
Thanks to Suncastle Microwave’s recent innovation
From L3 Telemetry-East
To ensure interoperability in aeronautical telemetry
Air Force ground receivers will get an upgrade from L3
A new IRIG standard utilizes C-band
In a down-conversion architecture used across the land.
From Tektronix
To help debug ASICs and FPGAs that are complex
Veridae Systems was acquired by Tektronix
Supporting multi-device systems with enhanced visualization
And shortening the time needed for system validation
From Integral Systems
Installation of Integral System’s SAT-DSA is now complete
And helping Elettronica Industriale of Italy to compete
Through better traffic maintenance and RF interference identification
The company can offer the best broadcast quality in that nation
From Roke Manor Research
For tactical deployments of the military kind
A portable, long range 3G base station was hard to find
Until Roke Manor launched “Battlefield Connect” for ad-hoc communications
To help spectrum overload in both peace-keeping and special operations
From Rohde & Schwarz
As TDD version of LTE fights for market share
Network providers and device OEMs must test their wares
So this week R&S and China Mobile signed an agreement
To collaborate on an end-to-end TD-LTE test environment
From Raytheon
Stimulus money can still be found
As Raytheon breaks new ground
To deploy 700 Megahertz LTE
Dedicated to serving public safety
From Suncastle Microwave
A new antenna with decade-plus bandwidth and high gain
Will help extend the coverage range
Of UAVs on special missions
Thanks to Suncastle Microwave’s recent innovation
From L3 Telemetry-East
To ensure interoperability in aeronautical telemetry
Air Force ground receivers will get an upgrade from L3
A new IRIG standard utilizes C-band
In a down-conversion architecture used across the land.
From Tektronix
To help debug ASICs and FPGAs that are complex
Veridae Systems was acquired by Tektronix
Supporting multi-device systems with enhanced visualization
And shortening the time needed for system validation
From Integral Systems
Installation of Integral System’s SAT-DSA is now complete
And helping Elettronica Industriale of Italy to compete
Through better traffic maintenance and RF interference identification
The company can offer the best broadcast quality in that nation
From Roke Manor Research
For tactical deployments of the military kind
A portable, long range 3G base station was hard to find
Until Roke Manor launched “Battlefield Connect” for ad-hoc communications
To help spectrum overload in both peace-keeping and special operations
From Rohde & Schwarz
As TDD version of LTE fights for market share
Network providers and device OEMs must test their wares
So this week R&S and China Mobile signed an agreement
To collaborate on an end-to-end TD-LTE test environment
Thursday, July 7, 2011
ABI Research Teardown: Samsung Galaxy S II Shows Interesting RF Design-ins
I received this ABI Research promo today and found some interesting RF findings in the Samsung Galaxy S II, a new flagship member of Samsung's Android smartphone lineup. As part of its new Teardown Research Service, ABI Research has dismantled, analyzed, and tested the device down to the component level. If you are looking to keep up with the latest technology in 2011, the Galaxy S II is a good place to start.
According to ABI Research vice president of engineering James Mielke, “Samsung started from scratch with this phone: almost every component is new. Its application processor is the most powerful on the market at present. It is the first to use the Samsung Exynos 4210 dual-core application processor (a competitor to NVIDIA’s dual-core Tegra 2). The name Exynos combines Greek words for ‘smart’ and ‘green,’ indicating Samsung’s energy-efficiency goals for the design.”
Major changes include:
- Exynos dual-core apps processor. 118.8 mm2 die size with amperage specs roughly similar to the Tegra 2
- New single-packaged multi-band multi-mode PA from RFMD
- New CMOS-based antenna switch
- New lower-power XMM6260 cellular chipset from Infineon
Mielke sums up: “Samsung took many risks by combining all these new technologies into one phone. But ABI Research believes those risks will pay off; the Galaxy S II sets a new benchmark for almost every category on which a smartphone is measured.”
ABI Research’s “Samsung Galaxy S II Teardown” report provides detailed photos, process evaluation, and part descriptions for all of the major components such as power amplifier, power management, baseband processor, RF, Bluetooth, GPS, WiLAN, and many discretes. Tying all this information together are unique circuit board photos, performance measurements, cost information, and board area data.
RFMD has been promoting the use of their newer multi-band, multi-mode PAs and it has paid off in this design-in. This is the future of PAs that can support many bands with one device especially as LTE will add many new bands to the already numerous ones current phones have to support.
Microwave Journal has also reported that lower cost CMOS switches have now achieved performance on par with GaAs switches for lower power applications and would make their way into handsets very soon. And here they are!
Friday, June 24, 2011
High Capacity MM-Wave Coms: A Mid-Year Checkup
Wireless Technology Expert Jonathan Wells reports that at mid-2011 the high capacity wireless market segment continues to grow in strength. All the carriers are now advertising 4G networks and claiming super-fast download speeds. High-capacity gigabit wireless products are being deployed in both the microwave and mm-wave frequency bands to address the backhaul demands of these networks.
Over 1 million microwave radios in 2010
Although 2010 saw a drop in overall PTP radio shipments, high capacity solutions remains the shining sector. EJL Wireless reports that of the almost 1.1 million PTP radios shipped last year, 75% of them are in the high capacity product segment. Leading high capacity vendors such as Aviat Networks, Ceragon and Dragonwave all have microwave products that can now deliver almost 1 Gbps true data throughput in the regulated microwave channels.
$500+ million mm-wave market
The 60 GHz and 70/80GHz bands, which permits multi-gigabit transmission, remains the fastest growing market segment. EJL Wireless forecast radio shipments in this sector grew 67% in 2010. Leaders BridgeWave announced earlier this year that they have shipped their 10,000th mm-wave system, and have released a novel 60 GHz product for picocell backhaul. Visant Strategies have forecast that revenue from 60 GHz and 70/80 GHz PTP radios will reach over $500 million in 2016, citing growth from 4G base stations driving Gbps speed requirements in dense urban areas. Infonetics Research has published a more bullish prediction; that 70/80 GHz PTP equipment will grow to over $450 million by 2014.
For More Information
To better understand the high capacity microwave and mm-wave product landscape and the wider wireless technology implications, see his new book on “Multi-Gigabit Microwave and Millimeter-Wave Wireless Communications”. For more information, or to purchase a discounted copy of this book, click here …
Jonathan Wells, Ph.D. M.B.A.
President, AJIS LLC
Wireless Technology Consulting
Email: jonathan@ajisconsulting.com
Web: www.ajisconsulting.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanwells
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
GaAs and Compound Semiconductor Technologies Service (GaAs) Viewpoint
Strategy Analytics reported that recent financial reports from companies in the microelectronics portion of the compound semiconductor industry indicate continued sharp revenue growth. The Strategy Analytics GaAs and Compound Semiconductor Technologies Service (GaAs) viewpoint, “Compound Semiconductor Industry Review April 2011: Microelectronics,” reports the latest revenue results for leading companies in the microelectronics segment of the compound semiconductor industry, such as RFMD, Skyworks Solutions, Fairchild, Fujitsu, Hittite Microwave, TriQuint Semiconductor, Soitech and WIN Semiconductors.
"The strong revenue reports which Strategy Analytics saw in April show continued compound semiconductor market expansion,” noted Eric Higham, Director of the Strategy Analytics GaAs and Compound Semiconductor Technologies Service. “Growth in this industry is broadly-based as both gallium arsenide (GaAs) and silicon manufacturers are showing strong year-on-year revenue gains.”
Asif Anwar, Director, Strategy Analytics Strategic Technologies Practice added, “Increasing data consumption is driving development in consumer electronics and networks.” This viewpoint summarizes April 2011 financial, product, contract and employment developments from major GaAs and silicon suppliers, addressing a variety of commercial and military applications that require gallium arsenide (GaAs), gallium nitride (GaN), Silicon carbide (SiC) and complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technologies.
Eric Higham gave us some exclusive addition information. He added the following:
In our “Compound Semiconductor Industry Review April 2011: Microelectronics” report, we captured the latest quarterly revenue reports from several of the largest compound semiconductor device manufacturers. A few trends were notable. Most of the year-on-year revenue comparisons were positive and substantial, with GaAs manufacturers Hittite and TriQuint reporting 24% growth, Skyworks reporting 37% growth and Silicon manufacturer Microsemi leading them all with 73% quarterly revenue growth. This is important because it shows the growth is broadly based, with both Silicon and GaAs suppliers demonstrating strong results. It is important to note that 2010 was a banner year for the compound semiconductor industry. Strategy Analytics believes revenue in the industry grew by 35% in 2010, so strong quarterly revenue gains in 2011 indicate continued strength in the compound semiconductor industry.
There is a cautionary note, however, and this is the second notable trend. Two of the leading GaAs suppliers in the industry, RFMD and ANADIGICS both saw year-on-year declines in quarterly revenue. Both companies attribute this to challenges at major handset customers. Previous reports from Strategy Analytics have captured how diligently compound semiconductor companies have been working to develop products for a variety of other market applications. This is certainly the case at RFMD and ANADIGICS, but it underscores how important the handset market segment is to the overall compound semiconductor industry.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Uplink and Downlink to Follow Two Different Technology Directions
A new report released today by Mobile Experts predicts an industry shift away from the 3GPP roadmap, which calls for evolution to 8x8 MIMO (Multiple Input-Multiple Output) technology.
“Field testing has shown limited benefit from the simple addition of more antennas and early implementation of Multi-User MIMO” said Joe Madden, Principal Analyst at Mobile Experts. “Instead of blindly following the 3GPP evolution path, mobile operators are looking for different, creative ways to boost throughput and capacity. Interference cancellation and Cooperative Multipoint (CoMP), as well as advanced MU-MIMO will be important technologies during the next few years”.
“Mobile Experts is the only analyst firm that focuses on the radio chain for both infrastructure and device markets. In the case of MIMO, it is critical to examine concerns of suppliers of a huge variety of equipment, ranging from base stations and femtocells to smartphones, tablets, and PC modems. In particular, the concerns of device suppliers regarding size, battery life, and cost are crucial in the technology choices for the 2014-2016 timeframe”.
The new report, MIMO Adoption in Mobile Communications, can be found at http://www.mobile-experts.net/, and provides:
* A broad overview of the market drivers which are pushing mobile operators toward new architectures;
* Technical analysis and block diagrams for devices and infrastructure;
* Insightful analysis of:
* Infrastructure in the macro layer, including macrocells, microcells and picocells;
* Femtocell adoption of MIMO antenna techniques;
* Expected architectures for DAS, repeaters, and relays;
* Device migration from Tx and Rx diversity to higher order MIMO
* Cost vs. Benefit analysis of MIMO in:
* Handsets and other devices;
* Base stations using Remote Radio Heads (RRH)
* Forecast spreadsheets predict market size and segmentation through 2016:
* By device type (PC embedded modems, tablets, smartphones, feature phones);
* By infrastructure type (Macrocell, microcell, picocell, femtocell, DAS, repeater, relay);
* By uplink vs. downlink;
* By MIMO type (SISO, SIMO, 2x2, 4x2, 4x4, etc.);
* Predictions of alternatives to MIMO are presented.
About Mobile Experts LLC:
Mobile Experts provides insightful market analysis for the mobile infrastructure and mobile handset markets. Research topics center on technology introduction for radio frequency (RF) and communications innovation. Recent publications focus on Multi-Standard Radio Base Stations, Semiconductors for Remote Radio Heads, Outdoor DAS, In-Building Wireless, and Small Cells and HetNets.
“Field testing has shown limited benefit from the simple addition of more antennas and early implementation of Multi-User MIMO” said Joe Madden, Principal Analyst at Mobile Experts. “Instead of blindly following the 3GPP evolution path, mobile operators are looking for different, creative ways to boost throughput and capacity. Interference cancellation and Cooperative Multipoint (CoMP), as well as advanced MU-MIMO will be important technologies during the next few years”.
“Mobile Experts is the only analyst firm that focuses on the radio chain for both infrastructure and device markets. In the case of MIMO, it is critical to examine concerns of suppliers of a huge variety of equipment, ranging from base stations and femtocells to smartphones, tablets, and PC modems. In particular, the concerns of device suppliers regarding size, battery life, and cost are crucial in the technology choices for the 2014-2016 timeframe”.
The new report, MIMO Adoption in Mobile Communications, can be found at http://www.mobile-experts.net/, and provides:
* A broad overview of the market drivers which are pushing mobile operators toward new architectures;
* Technical analysis and block diagrams for devices and infrastructure;
* Insightful analysis of:
* Infrastructure in the macro layer, including macrocells, microcells and picocells;
* Femtocell adoption of MIMO antenna techniques;
* Expected architectures for DAS, repeaters, and relays;
* Device migration from Tx and Rx diversity to higher order MIMO
* Cost vs. Benefit analysis of MIMO in:
* Handsets and other devices;
* Base stations using Remote Radio Heads (RRH)
* Forecast spreadsheets predict market size and segmentation through 2016:
* By device type (PC embedded modems, tablets, smartphones, feature phones);
* By infrastructure type (Macrocell, microcell, picocell, femtocell, DAS, repeater, relay);
* By uplink vs. downlink;
* By MIMO type (SISO, SIMO, 2x2, 4x2, 4x4, etc.);
* Predictions of alternatives to MIMO are presented.
About Mobile Experts LLC:
Mobile Experts provides insightful market analysis for the mobile infrastructure and mobile handset markets. Research topics center on technology introduction for radio frequency (RF) and communications innovation. Recent publications focus on Multi-Standard Radio Base Stations, Semiconductors for Remote Radio Heads, Outdoor DAS, In-Building Wireless, and Small Cells and HetNets.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Interesting Products at IMS2011
After crusing around the inner harbor (aka the exhibition floor) for three days, here is a quick rundown of some interesting products we came across:
- Agilent's integrated vector signal generator up to 44 GHz and analog signal generator up to 67 GHz (operational to 70 GHz), and the first microwave analog signal generator to break the 1 W output power barrier.
- Anritsu introduced a new broadband VNA system that provides single-sweep coverage from 70 kHz to 110 GHz with operation from 40 kHz to 125 GHz, and utilizes an advanced design that eliminates the need for large, heavy mmWave modules and coax combiners.
- R&S introduced a network analyzer with dynamic range up to 140 dB, sweept time of 4 ms with 401 pts
- Hittite's 33 news products (too many to cover here) which is unique for a company of this size
- M/A-COM's new family of GaN products covering L- and S-bands with much better efficiency and power than their BiPolar products
- Avago introduced the first front end module designed specifically for coexistence operation of WiMAX with other cellular and WiFi radios in the same device
- NXP's 1200 W ISM LDMOS transistor that can widthstand a VSWR of 125:1 and still operate
- Peregrine's digitally controlled variable capacitors targeting 100 MHz to 3 GHz applications
- Crane's Multi-Mix technology that creates multilayer integrated microwave circuits and modules using direct bonding of low cost composite substrates reducing cost, weight and size
- Skyworks ceramic based high power filters offering size and weight improvements over metal cavity based filters
- RFMD's upcoming Si SOI and GaN switches should be exciting to see
- ADI's new PLL synthesizer operating from 35 to 4400 MHz with rms jitter of .3 ps and typ EVM of .4% at 2.1 GHz
A couple of new finds were:
- Daisy RS wireless portable power meters using 2.4 GHz wireless links up to 100 meters
- Octane Wearable antennas using flexible antenna technology that allows them to be woven into many shapes and sizes for applications for soldiers, first responders, security/intelligence and more
Let me know what new things you saw at the IMS2011.
- Agilent's integrated vector signal generator up to 44 GHz and analog signal generator up to 67 GHz (operational to 70 GHz), and the first microwave analog signal generator to break the 1 W output power barrier.
- Anritsu introduced a new broadband VNA system that provides single-sweep coverage from 70 kHz to 110 GHz with operation from 40 kHz to 125 GHz, and utilizes an advanced design that eliminates the need for large, heavy mmWave modules and coax combiners.
- R&S introduced a network analyzer with dynamic range up to 140 dB, sweept time of 4 ms with 401 pts
- Hittite's 33 news products (too many to cover here) which is unique for a company of this size
- M/A-COM's new family of GaN products covering L- and S-bands with much better efficiency and power than their BiPolar products
- Avago introduced the first front end module designed specifically for coexistence operation of WiMAX with other cellular and WiFi radios in the same device
- NXP's 1200 W ISM LDMOS transistor that can widthstand a VSWR of 125:1 and still operate
- Peregrine's digitally controlled variable capacitors targeting 100 MHz to 3 GHz applications
- Crane's Multi-Mix technology that creates multilayer integrated microwave circuits and modules using direct bonding of low cost composite substrates reducing cost, weight and size
- Skyworks ceramic based high power filters offering size and weight improvements over metal cavity based filters
- RFMD's upcoming Si SOI and GaN switches should be exciting to see
- ADI's new PLL synthesizer operating from 35 to 4400 MHz with rms jitter of .3 ps and typ EVM of .4% at 2.1 GHz
A couple of new finds were:
- Daisy RS wireless portable power meters using 2.4 GHz wireless links up to 100 meters
- Octane Wearable antennas using flexible antenna technology that allows them to be woven into many shapes and sizes for applications for soldiers, first responders, security/intelligence and more
Let me know what new things you saw at the IMS2011.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
IMS2011 First Impressions
The Baltimore inner harbor area is a beautiful setting for the IMS2011 and certainly convenient for us on the east coast. The sessions are in full swing with some very interesting topics being presented. I see trends in very high efficiency amplifiers with better modeling/measurement techniques, new packaging techniques from LCP to fusion bonded laminates, very wideband active devices to cover multiple frequency bands, highly integrated modules that solve co-existence problems, new signal generators that provide real life signal replication and storage and more.The exhibition is very lively and positive - attendance looks very good this year. The MicroApps sessions seem to get better each year with more companies participating. Our Nonlinear Expert Forum is today at noon in the MicroApps featuring experts sponsored by Agilent, R&S, Anritsu and Tektronix. Some products that caught my eye so far are Agilent's new signal generator that eliminates expensive flight testing, Avago's highly integrated co-existence WiFi/WiMAX module (only 5 x 7 mm), Crane's new MultiMix laminate process to realize highly integrated circuits and modules, Freescale's ever improving LDMOS products with 65:1 VSWR on a low frequency device and improved video bandwidth on their cellular band products, IHP's (Germany) 500 GHz fmax SiGe process and Peregrine's digitally tunable capcitors.
Yesterday we attended the Women in Microwaves reception at the Hilton which is growing each year and then made our way down to the inner harbor for the MWJ customer appreciation party at the Tir Na Nog. It has a nice deck overlooking the harbor with great beers and a nice buffet. I hope everyone who attended had a good time.Let us know what you have seen around the show and in the technical sessions.
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