Articles by Patrick Hindle

According to new projections from ABI Research, the number of subscribers to mobile WiMAX services will approach 59 million in 2015. That represents a positive forecast in light of recent economic conditions, although research analyst Xavier Ortiz notes, “WiMAX’s growth has not been as early or as strong as many would have hoped several years ago.” The factors impeding WiMAX’s growth haven’t been technological, he says, but economic and psychological: “The recession certainly played a role, making investors wary and delaying some deployments. On top of that, delays in the formation of the new Clearwire have constrained the rest of...

I found this very interesting that Ford is reported to be the first auto company to use Wi - Fi on the assembly line to wirelessly deliver SYNC software to vehicles equipped with the new MyFord Touch driver technology. The new on-the-assembly-line Wi - Fi capability eliminates the need for building, stocking and storing multiple SYNC hardware modules, thus reducing manufacturing complexity and saving cost. “Using wireless software installation via Wi - Fi , we can stock just one type of SYNC module powering MyFord Touch and loaded with a basic software package,” explained Sukhwinder Wadhwa , SYNC global platform...

According to ABI Research, the market for short range wireless ICs is forecast to expand this year; total shipments of Bluetooth, NFC, UWB, 802.15.4 and Wi-Fi ICs will increase approximately 20% compared to 2009. “Bluetooth ICs still lead the short-range wireless IC market,” says ABI Research industry analyst Celia Bo. “Unit shipments are expected to exceed 58% of the total short-range wireless IC shipments in 2010. Wi-Fi ICs rank second place in this market, making up approximately 35% of the total shipments, with the rest of the shipments accounted for by NFC, UWB and 502.15.4 ICs.” Cellular handsets and accessories...

The Connected Convergent Devices ( CCDs ) market will claim a global installed base of over 400 million units by 2014, according to research just released by analyst firm Strategy Analytics. The report, “Connected Convergent Devices: The New Battleground,” envisions CCDs filling the gap between smartphones and netbooks —a gap that is ripe for growth. The firm estimates the value of the CCD market will exceed $50 billion in 2014. Some cannibalization is inevitable, according to the report, particularly among the tablets, netbooks , eBook readers and Mobile Internet devices ( MIDs ) categories.“ All categories have the potential to...

I thought this was a very interesting news article from ANSYS about the world’s first commercial “flying car." Photo courtesy of ANSYS. Massachusetts-based Terrafugia used ANSYS® engineering simulation software to design and verify its new production prototype of the Transition® aircraft that also can drive on the highway, which was unveiled yesterday at the EAA AirVenture airshow. Terrafugia engineers conducted whole-vehicle airflow tests that assessed the effects of design changes on overall performance — working in parallel across the various Transition components. The simulations were used to maximize wing lift in the air and to minimize the effects of...

ABI Research reports the Cellular Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication market has been a challenging place for cellular embedded module vendors over the past 18 months. 2007 was this market’s last “good year”: 2008 saw both shipment volumes and revenue decrease. In 2009, the cellular M2M module market grew somewhat in terms of unit shipment volume, although rapidly declining module prices meant that 2009 revenue was still below that of 2007. Despite its difficulties, however, this market is on an upward path. Unit shipment volume growth and the growing importance of 3G are already resulting in stronger performance and a new ABI...

The Qi low power standard, was finalized at the end of last month by the Wireless Power Consortium. The standard calls for delivering up to 5 Watts into wireless power receivers. The goal is for the standard to be interoperable between chargers and gadgets from different makers. This would be a big step forward if they are able to accomplish this as many wireless applications are slow to the market or fail without standardization. The Qi low power specifications consist of 3 documents: Part 1, Interface Definition. This document defines the interface for contactless power transfer between a power transmitter...

We are at the IEEE International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility in Ft. Lauderdale , FL and finished our first day of attending the exhibition. Over 2000 attendees are on site with over 150 exhibitors at the Ft. Lauderdale Convention Center. The primary RF and microwave modeling, design, test/measurement and component companies that offer EMC / EMI solutions are here. The theme of the 2010 Symposium is "Systems Engineering" and the emphasis is preventing or catching EMC issues early in design with proper modeling and early testing. The technical program is designed cover everything from EMC fundamentals to advanced numerical...

By now most everyone has heard about the iPhone 4 antenna problems. Holding it in certain areas can either bridge the gap between two of the antennas embedded into the outside frame causing them to not work properly or covering the lower part of the phone can attenuate the signal resulting in poor reception. There is no software that can fix this physical problem although Apple was pushing this as a solution by reprogramming the sensitivity of the signal strength indicator (number of bars displayed). There were numerous complaints and now there are lawsuits against Apple that they shipped a...

At the beginning of this month, everyone in Finland has been given the legal right to broadband service making it equivalent to a utility available to most everyone in developed countries. The Finnish law means that from 1 July all telecommunications companies will be obliged to provide all residents with broadband lines that can run at a minimum 1 Mbps speed and has vowed to connect everyone to a 100 Mbps connection by 2015. It is believed up to 96% of the population are already online and that only about 4,000 homes still need connecting to comply with the law...