Articles by Dan Massé, Associate Technical Editor

The Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA), the voice of the global semiconductor industry, announced the results of its quarterly Wafer Fabrication and Back-end Pricing Survey, analyzing prices paid per wafer and mask set and for outsourced assembly services by fabless semiconductor companies and integrated device manufacturers (IDM). The results of...

MEMS (Micro-electromechanical Systems) are starting to be the “Swiss Army Knives” of modern consumer electronics: they can take the form of (or be incorporated in) accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers, altimeters, screens, projectors and microphones. New data from ABI Research indicates that strong growth in the MEMS market over the next...

There is no question that in the long term LTE will become the mainstay 4G network technology, although its universal use is still in the future. Until then, says ABI Research, some service providers will benefit from a dual-platform strategy based on both LTE and WiMAX. Who stands to...

Harris Corp. introduced an unfurlable space antenna designed to support emerging requirements for high-throughput Ka-band satellites. The new Harris Ka-band antenna greatly increases the gain and potential spot beams currently available to spacecraft manufacturers and service providers. The increased frequency reuse provided by the additional spot beams enables higher...

Lockheed Martin announced that the US Missile Defense Agency has awarded it a $43.3 M contract for concept definition and program planning for the Standard Missile-3 Block IIB (SM-3 IIB). The new missile, formerly known as the Next Generation Aegis Missile, will provide early intercept capability against intermediate- and...

Raytheon Co. was awarded $42 M for the initial concept development and program planning for the Standard Missile-3 Block IIB, which is the Missile Defense Agency’s next-generation Aegis missile. “Raytheon is the lowest-risk, lowest-cost, most-technically capable provider of missile defense solutions,” said Frank Wyatt, Vice President of Raytheon’s Air...

Raytheon Co. and Northrop Grumman Corp. recently completed a significant milestone for the Cobra Judy Replacement program. The CJR S-band active phased-array antenna was successfully delivered to the CJR integration site at Kiewit Offshore Services, Corpus Christi, TX, completing the development phase of the program. The mission of the...

Northrop Grumman Corp. has set a new standard for its gallium nitride-based high power transmit/receive (T/R) modules by reliably operating them for more than 180 days during continuous high power testing. In a rigorous evaluation conducted by the company’s Advanced Concepts and Technology Division, the T/R modules were tested...

The Boeing Co. and industry partner Northrop Grumman Corp. submitted their joint proposal for the competitive development and sustainment contract for future work on the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) element of the United States’ ballistic missile defense system. “This development and sustainment contract proposal is backed by the full...

Raytheon Co. has delivered its 250th APG-79 active electronically scanned array radar to Boeing. The APG-79 radar is flown on US Navy F/A-18E/F and EA-18G aircraft, and on the Royal Australian Air Force F/A-18F Super Hornet. “As we recognize this milestone of the 250 th APG-79 AESA delivery, it...