Articles by Patrick Hindle

As editors, we get to participate in company and product briefings quite often, so I thought I would start covering them here as interesting tidbits beyond the typical product or press releases. They get much more in depth than the news items so they can provide additional insights. I talked with Elektrobit (now EB) last week about their new emulator platform, EB Propsim F8, and was very impressed with its capability to test all current and future cellular standards including real air interface conditions that the standards do not necessarily cover. It supports the current standards in place plus...

We all see references to 2G, 3G and 4G wireless systems and sometimes we see references to 2.5G as an in between system, but now I am seeing 2.75G, 3.75G and even 3.9G (why not just say close to 4G or just under 4G). How can you have a half or three quarters of a generation? I guess if you just base it on data rates, maybe we can get these fractional generations. What caught my eye was the Asus announcement that they are adding 3.75G wireless to their new laptops due out in October 2008. They state download rates...

It this corner, we have the champion, Apple's iPhone 3G, and in the other corner we have the new contender, Google's (and its partner's) Android phone. Well, everyone is buzzing now after the release of the first Android phone with T-Mobile's G1. The initial reviews are in and they seemed to be mixed. The G1 has a lot of nice features and great potential with its open platform. But the G1 does not have some key features like Exchange support so that counts it out of the corporate board room (for now). One key to Apple's success is its great...

European Microwave Week (EuMW) is coming up at the end of Oct. in Amsterdam. As we gear up for the show and coverage, I noticed that there are quite a few spin offs from Aachen University of Applied Sciences including Mician, MiG, IMST and Heuermann HF-Technik. We have worked with Mician, MiG and IMST - all of them have very impressive products and now we noticed that Heuermann HF-Technik also has developed some interesting products such as lap timing microwave devices for racing applications. Quite an impressive incubator of new companies coming out of Aachen University indeed. Our September...

By now most people have heard of or seen the 75th anniversary issue cover of Esquire magazine with the E-Ink display that flashes messages electronically (see link to Engadget video above). But why is this interesting to the RF and microwave community? Well, the future E-Ink technology might enable electronic newspapers or e-books to be transmitted via wireless to your piece of E-Ink "paper" in real time. Imagine picking up your E-Ink sheet each day off the kitchen table and seeing the latest news from your favorite newspaper or reading your e-book on the way to work. What an Eco-friendly...

Last week the GaAs device manufacturer rankings report came out from Strategic Analytics for 2007. RFMD, Skyworks and Triquint were the top 3 and represent 50% of the $3.6 billion market. I was surprised that the market grew by 17% year on year. North American companies, also including Avago and M/A-COM, accounted for 7 out of the top 10. The largest Japanese manufacturer was Mitsubishi Electric joined by Eudyna in the top ten and the largest European manufacturer was UMS at #12. Taiwan manufacturer Win semiconductor's revenue grew by over 50% year on year as they entered the top 10....

I read in the news last week that Nortel Networks has achieved the first high capacity Long Term Evolution(LTE) handoff between cell sites at 100 km/hr (62 mi/hr). During a recent test at a development center in Ottawa, the company was able to maintain a high-definition video stream to a handset while driving in a car and was able to travel between cell sites. The company used Nortel's LTE radio, network gear, and a prototype 4G LG Electronics handset to demonstrate the handoff. This sounds impressive and bodes well for future broadband services but we don't even have good 3G...

So I was listening to one of my favorite Tech podcasts from CNET.com and heard that Pirelli has a new sensor embedded tire called Cyber Tyre that uses RFID for real time monitoring of tire data such as temperature and pressure, vertical load on the tire, dimensions of the footprint, etc. This data is transmitted to the automobile electronic systems and can be used to improve safety and performance by interacting with the ABS and traction control systems. It can quickly communicate blowouts so the car can react faster or under inflation to improve fuel economy. I have heard of...

I am here at the IEEE EMC 2008 Symposium in Detroit, MI and the attendance seems relatively light but the quality of attendees very good. Three companies are anchoring the exhibition as you enter; AR, ETS Lingren and Rohde & Schwarz. From a RF/microwave perspective, AR is featuring its high power amplifiers such as its 700 W .8 to 4.2 GHz CW, 120 W 4 to 8 GHz CW and 20 W 10 to 20 GHz CW units. ETS Lingren and R & S are actually overlapping their booths showing how they can combine their hardware and software to...

For the last couple of weeks, there has been a great amount of discussion about the possible risk that cell phone radiation can cause brain tumors since the head of a prominent cancer center released a letter to the faculty recommending that everyone limit their use of cell phones, especially children (Here is a link to the ABC news coverage on the story ). He recommends that children not use them at all (except for emergencies) and that adults should reduce exposure levels as much as possible (limited use or always use Bluetooth devices). He says there is no data...