From The Editor | December 4, 2024

Saying Goodbye To The Year That Was

John Headshot cropped 500 px wide

By John Oncea, Editor

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It’s time to look at the most-read articles that appeared on RF Globalnet this year. Come for the nostalgic look at A Charlie Brown Christmas, stay for the beautiful cables, death of analog, oscillators, mysteries, and so much more.

  • Lucy Van Pelt: Say, by the way, can you play Jingle Bells?
  • [Schroeder proceeds to play Jingle Bells, which sounds like a traditional grand piano]
  • Lucy Van Pelt: [interrupting] No, no. I mean Jingle Bells. You know, deck them halls and all that stuff?
  • [Schroeder begins to play again, with the piano sounding like an organ]
  • Lucy Van Pelt: [interrupting again] No, no. You don't get it at all. I mean Jingle Bells. You know, Santa Claus and ho-ho-ho, and mistletoe and presents to pretty girls.
  • [gazes lovingly at Schroeder, who then out of frustration taps one key of the piano while playing Jingle Bells, which sounds like a child's toy piano]
  • Lucy Van Pelt: [lights up] That's it!
  • [Schroeder turns a few somersaults from Lucy’s reaction]

Yep. It’s that time of year again. Time to gather ‘round and watch holiday shows like my all-time favorite A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Hold on … I’m being told that’s not the right that-time-of-year assignment. The assignment I was given was a different that-time-of-year staple: the year in review and, for no extra cost, a look at the year to come.

So, just like last year, we’re going to take a quarter-by-quarter look at the articles that resonated with you the most. Oh, and for those of you who remember my inability to comprehend anything on Cosmopolitan’s best pop moments of 2023, I tried something different this year: Vogue Scandinavia’s list. I recognized more names this time but saw more of Björk (NSFW) than I wanted to.

Beautiful Cables, Wi-Fi 7, And Russia’s Nuclear Space Weapon

The most-read story of the first quarter was about a book. More specifically, it was about Open Circuits: The Inner Beauty of Electronic Components by Windell Oskay and Eric Schlaepfer. The book, according to the website supporting it, “is a photographic exploration of the beautiful design inside everyday electronics. Its stunning cross-section photography unlocks a hidden world full of elegance, subtle complexity, and wonder.” As I wrote in my article, that description does the book a disservice.

Next up? This article about detecting, tracking, and discriminating incoming threats XBR. We break down what X-Band is, go inside each functional component area of next-gen XBR (thanks to our friends at Qorvo), look at X-Band at sea, then glimpse into the future of the technology.

The third most-read article was a once-and-for-all determination of which semiconductor material is best: GaN, GaAs, Or SiGe. Spoiler: it might just be cubic boron arsenide.

Numbers four and five were stories about Wi-Fi 7 and Russia’s nuclear space weapon, respectively. The Wi-Fi 7 story was pretty straight forward but I did manage to sprinkle in a bunch of Rolling Stones song titles. The nuclear space weapon story, though a bit gloomy, does highlight some bright spots including a look at what nations are doing to keep this very thing from happening. Of course, it does end with a look at what a detonation in space will look like and what it would do to the planet so, read at your own risk.

Quantum Breaks Your Heart And The Death Of Analog TV

Next up, the second quarter’s top five, starting with this look at how the military is using mmWaves. The technology is used by the defense industry due to its wider capacity, secure and survivable communication, higher bandwidth, increased connectivity with many more channels, and faster exchange of data during tactical communication. These attributes help to improve the performance of radar, airborne datalink, and satellite communications.

We move from there to something a little less intense - the day analog TV died. This was a fun little story in which I got to relive the Pittsburgh Penguins winning a Stanley Cup! Oh, and we also looked at June 12, 2009 – the day broadcasting transitioned from analog systems to digital systems.

The third-most-read story looked at the future trends in radar and antenna technology. In it, we explored stealthy, quantum, space-based radar, as well as smaller, smarter antennas. Quantum computing was the topic of the next-most-read story. More specifically, how it is going to ultimately break your heart if you’re expecting big things.

We wrap up the best of quarter two with this look at oscillators, fundamental components in electronics found in everything from computers to watches to clocks to … Led Zeppelin and Taylor Swift?

Quantum EW, Troubles With SDR, And Oscillators In Space

This brings us to quarter three and its most-read story, The Trouble With Software Defined Radio (And How To Overcome Them). While SDRs bring flexibility, cost efficiency, and power to drive communications forward, they aren’t perfect. We looked at these imperfections, as well as one possible future for the technology.

Story number two revisits one of the topics from the second quarter – oscillators. More specifically, their role in satellites and satellite systems. The quarter’s third-most-read story – Electronic Warfare Goes Quantum – looks at how quantum technologies could revolutionize warfare and defense, enhancing military operations through quantum computing, the internet, cyber warfare, communication, and advanced sensing.

We play myth busters in story number four, debunking a bunch of misconceptions surrounding the current and future status of self-driving cars. Are they safe? Will they reduce traffic congestion? What role is and will AI and machine learning play in their development? I could answer those questions for you here, but I already did back in August.

Last but not least, a return to the defense industry, this time focusing on how it is using GaN technology. Current uses include communications, power management, and in the power drives of unmanned aerial vehicles. Future uses? Well, you’ll just have to hit the link to read about that.

Counter Drone Warfare, Unraveling Mysteries, And More EW

The final quarter of the year features a couple of articles about the uses of RF in surprising places and one each focusing on the defense industry, satellites, and global aviation.
The first of the two RF stories was about ways it is being used in medicine and the second was an unraveling of several RF mysteries. Some of the medical uses include radio frequency ablation and robotic-assisted surgery and the mysteries include FRB 20220610A’s distant origin and GPM J1839-10’s puzzling behavior.

The defense industry article is a look at counter drone warfare and was inspired by a 2019 drone swarming of U.S. Navy destroyers off the coast of California. We look at the military’s current drone defense strategy before digging deep into Operation Hard Kill, a significant counter-unmanned aerial system (C-UAS) exercise conducted by the United States Army's 10th Mountain Division in collaboration with the Combat Capabilities Development Command.

The aviation-focused article looked at how electronic warfare is disrupting commercial aviation, starting with a New Jersey man's attempt to defeat the GPS tracking device his employer had installed in his pickup truck and ending up in Ukraine and Gaza.

Finally – to space! In the fourth quarter’s fifth-most-read article, we examined how satellites are being kept safe from the harsh environment of space including radiation, temperature extremes, and debris.

My Faves

Of the 20 articles above I’d say the ones about Oskay and Schlaepfer and the death of analog TV would make my personal favorites list. I’d also add to that list this article about autonomous trains and my look at digital twins. But, my top five most fun articles to write were:

I hope you enjoyed reading all of what I wrote as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please don’t hesitate to send me an email (joncea@vertmarkets.com) or connect with me on LinkedIn if you have something you’d like me to write about. Thanks for a great year and here’s to an even better 2025!