FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK

• 

  5G Breakthrough? Samsung Develops mmWave Adaptive Array Transceiver

  Even though true 4G cellular is yet to arrive, Samsung claims to have already taken a major step toward 5G with the development of a new millimeter-wave adaptive array transceiver. The device, which operates in the Ka band (28 GHz), achieves data transmission speeds of up to 1.056 Gbit/s over distances of up to 2 km.

• 

  The Sequester, DARPA, And A New Reality For U.S. Defense R&D

  Sequestration was the dominant theme at SPIE Defense, Security, and Sensing (DSS) 2013 in Baltimore last week. Talk of U.S. budget cuts and their impact on the defense industry was almost omnipresent during the event, starting with Monday’s plenary keynote address by DARPA Director Arati Prabhakar, who explained how the agency will approach the development of new military capabilities amidst both fiscal and threat uncertainties.

• 

  Microwave Ablation Devices Heating Up, But Competition Looms

  Over the past several years, microwave ablation has established itself as the medical procedure of choice for the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias and liver, prostate, kidney, lung, and other forms of cancer. However, it doesn’t appear as though the microwave ablation device market will rest on its laurels. If recent research reports and news coverage of novel applications are any indication, the technology is poised for significant future growth.

• Cosmic Microwave Background Anomalies Challenge Principles Of Big Bang Theory
• Power Amplifier ‘Heals’ Itself After Laser Blasts
• DARPA Wants Remote Control Pods To Hide UAVs On Seafloor

PRODUCTS TO SEE AT IMS2013

AR’s Newly Redesigned “W” Series

Our newly redesigned “W” Series Class A solid state amplifiers have significantly increased their value to our customers.  We have superior gain flatness, better noise figure, improved linear power margins, better efficiency, and better harmonics measured at higher powers than in previous designs.  And if that wasn’t enough we reduced the size and weight by approximately  50%.

Low Phase Noise Reference Oscillator: XO5085

Low phase noise, high frequency reference oscillators improve signal-to-noise ratios in microwave radios, RF/EW/ATE,  radar systems, spectrum analyzers and more. The XO5085 covers the 50 MHz to 160 MHz range, has very low phase noise and comes in a 1” sq. package.

Diplexers And Multiplexers

Diplexers are three port devices that are used to combine or split signals that are at different frequencies. A diplexer is designed with two fixed bandpass filters that are connected to a common port. Multiplexers are passive devices used to split or combine signals, usually of different frequencies. Once several frequencies are combined, a single transmission medium is used to send or receive the signals

Low Cost Attenuators With Ethernet/RS-232 And Manual Control

The 50BA-series from JFW Industries is an all-new line of variable attenuator systems. These plug-and-play modules come complete with Ethernet/RS-232 interfaces as well as manual control (via Momentary Lever Actuator Switches with 7-segment digital display).

Broadband VNA: VectorStar ME7838A

Anritsu’s VectorStar ME7838A Broadband VNA is the first millimeter-wave system with stable real time leveling of power without the need for calibration software correction tables. The broadband system may be configured to include a full range of banded millimeter-wave modules extending the frequency range to 750 GHz and beyond.

DC Thru 20 GHz Microwave Chip Resistor

MSI’s MSMW series, a thin film microwave chip resistor being manufactured using specialized Laser Trimming for Optimal Performance over Operating Frequency Ranges of DC to 20 Ghz. Standard case sizes starting at 0201.

Visit us at IMAPS Booth 613.

RF Transistor: 2729GN-500V

Microsemi’s 2729GN-500V RF transistor is based on GaN on SiC technologies and targeted at high-power air traffic control airport surveillance radar applications. The 2729GN-500V delivers unparalleled performance of 500W of peak power with 12 dB of power gain and 53% drain efficiency over band 2.7 to 2.9 GHz band.

RECENT ARTICLES

• 

  How To Localize Interference In The High Frequency Range Using smartDF®

  Are you impacted by an illegal transmitter? …or a legal transmitter not operating within specifications? … or an industrial controller causing fizzle on an adjacent band? … or just crackle from a poor contact in the building’s wiring?

GUEST COLUMNS

• 

  RF Switch Matrix/Signal Conditioning Challenge: Reverse Engineering And Updating Your Legacy Test System

  Almost every company has an old test system in the corner of their lab that provides a test capability that they require. Perhaps it is related to a government program or a commercial product line that has been around forever. Sometimes the system has been mothballed and they need to get it to run again. This is the third in a series of guest columns by Bob Alman of SenarioTek.

• 

  Military Satellite Trends And Outlook: Part 1

  The use of space is increasing and becoming an essential component for infrastructure in communications, navigation and timing, agriculture and weather monitoring, and disaster relief efforts. From a military perspective, space assets provide necessary resources to support troops, including the provision of imagery, supporting communications, improving targeting, and conversely reducing collateral damage. As a force multiplier, space assets can provide advanced capabilities and compensate for reductions in other conventional assets. By Asif Anwar, Director, Advanced Defense Systems (ADS) Service, Strategy Analytics

• 

  Patterned Ground Shields For Silicon RFICs – Part I: What Happens In The Silicon?

  This is part of a series of guest columns by Dr. James C. Rautio of Sonnet Software, Inc.

RECENT NEWSLETTERS

• 05.16.13 -- What Disrupts Radio Waves? NASA To Find Out
• 05.14.13 -- What's The Worst That Could Happen? RF Communication Disasters
• 05.09.13 -- First Transistors Using GaN-On-Diamond Wafers Produced
• 05.07.13 -- Faint Sources Of Almost All Radio Waves From Distant Galaxies Identified
• 05.02.13 -- Optimizing MIMO Mobile Radio Networks

FEATURED PRODUCTS

75FFD: DC Passive Fixed Attenuator

Model 75FFD is a DC passive fixed attenuator from JFW Industries

High-Performance Passive Intermodulation Analyzer: MW8219A PIM Master™

The MW8219A PIM Master High-Performance Passive Intermodulation Analyzer is the industry’s first field test solution that can accurately and quickly locate the source of passive intermodulation (PIM), whether it is at the base station or in the surrounding environment. Covering the PCS and AWS cellular frequency ranges, the MW8219A provides field personnel with a test system that can help ensure optimum network performance and also locate PIM faults before intermodulation distortion adversely affects signal transmission.

3D Signal Integrity Analysis of Complex Cable Structures

CST CABLE STUDIO® is dedicated to the three-dimensional analysis of signal integrity (SI), conducted emission (CE), radiated emission (RE), and electromagnetic susceptibility (EMS) of complex cable structures in electrically large systems.

AK-285R Shielding Effectiveness Antenna Kit -- 1 KHz - 18 GHz

These Shielding Effectivness Kits are a portable and economical approach to having all the antennas required for most shielding effectiveness testing.

38 GHz Packaged Chipset Solution For Point-to-Point Radio Market

M/A-COM Technology Solutions Inc. (M/A-COM Tech) introduces a 38 GHz surface mount technology (SMT) packaged GaAs MMIC chipset solution for the point-to-point (PtP) radio market. This 38 GHz chipset includes an integrated up converter and receiver, driver and power amplifiers, a VCO and a multiplier.

High Power Bandpass/LC Filter: JDLLF06U12

This 100W bandpass/LC filter covers the 350-600 MHz frequency range and has a 0.8dB insertion loss (Max). It also has a >50dB@700 MHz-1800 MHz rejection, a -20⁰C to 60⁰C operating temperature range, an N-Female port connector configuration, and 50W impedance. Different dimensions are available, depending on the user’s requirements.

EM.GRID™

EM.GRID™ is EM.CUBE's flexible data visualization and analysis module. GRID is an acronym for Graphical Representation of Input Data. You can call EM.GRID at the end of a simulation from any one of EM.CUBE's computational modules to plot output data graphs. EM.GRID can also be used as a stand-alone application to visualize any data files with acceptable formats. You can plot graphs of data, customize the graphs and print them or copy them to other applications such as word processors, spreadsheets or presentation software.

FEATURED SUPPLIERS

Anaren Microwave, Inc.

Based in Syracuse, NY with five facilities and approximately 1,200 employees worldwide, Anaren, Inc. is a 40+-year worldwide supplier of custom and standard high-frequency technology for the space, defense, commercial wireless infrastructure, consumer electronics, and medical device sectors.

X-COM Systems

Headquartered near Washington D.C. in Reston, Virginia, X-COM Systems designs, manufactures, and sells advanced products and solutions to all branches of the Department of Defense (DoD) and to commercial technology companies worldwide.

Skyworks Solutions, Inc.

Skyworks is the industry’s leading wireless semiconductor company focused on RF and complete semiconductor systems for mobile communications applications...

RLC Electronics, Inc.

Since its inception in 1959, RLC has been the leading designer and manufacturer of high quality, state-of-the-art coaxial switches, band-pass filters, precision attenuators and other transmission line components for the microwave industry.

CURRENT HEADLINES

• 

  World's Smallest Bluetooth Location 'Stickers', StickNFind, Locate Misplaced Items From Smartphone App Using Nordic Semiconductor nRF51822 SoCs

  Ultra low power (ULP) RF specialist Nordic Semiconductor ASA recently announces that its multiple award-winning nRF51822 SoC ('System-on-Chip') has been specified into the world's smallest Bluetooth low energy coin-sized location stickers, 'StickNFind' by Stick-N-Find Technologies. StickNFinds are the size of a U.S. quarter at just 0.98-inch (24mm) in diameter and 0.16-inches (4mm) thick. Users can easily track up to twenty location stickers on a smartphone app. Stickers can be used to track keys, remote controls, pets, and even people. Using a free smartphone app users can locate their stickers using a 'radar screen', set distance alerts called 'virtual leash', and more.

• 

  New Method Proposed For Detecting Gravitational Waves From Ends Of Universe

  A new window into the nature of the universe may be possible with a device proposed by scientists at the University of Nevada, Reno and Stanford University that would detect elusive gravity waves from the other end of the cosmos. Their paper describing the device and process was published in the prestigious physics journal Physical Review Letters.

• 

  4 To 8 GHz Low Noise Amplifier Offers 1.9 dB Noise Figure

  Custom MMIC, a developer of performance-driven monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs), has added a new low noise amplifier, the CMD185P3, to its expanding line of standard amplifier products.

• 

  Taoglas And Peregrine Semiconductor Team Up On Digitally Tunable LTE Antenna Solution For M2M Market

  Taoglas USA, Inc., provider of antenna solutions to the M2M and connected device market, has teamed up with Peregrine Semiconductor Corporation, a fabless provider of high-performance radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs), to bring a dynamically tunable LTE antenna solution to the M2M market.

• MACOM Introduces The Industry’s Highest Power GaN In Plastic Transistor

  M/A-COM Technology Solutions Inc. (MACOM), a leading supplier of high performance analog semiconductor solutions, introduced today its series of GaN in Plastic packaged power transistors for high-performance civilian and military radar and communications systems.

• 

  SpotterRF Provides ‘Eyes’ For Mobile Force Protection Training At Camp Williams

  The United States spends $1.2 million to send one soldier to serve in Afghanistan for one year*. To protect these warfighters, SpotterRF worked with Camp Williams, Utah in recent exercises to train operators on the use of a compact radar system that cost less than $30,000 with only a 3lb battery and laptop that automatically detects and tracks multiple threats anywhere in a 150-acre area through all weather conditions, night or day. The exercise tested SpotterRF’s effectiveness in conjunction with existing U.S. Army advanced listening systems.