Here’s a recap of industry news from the past week or so that I think is worth noting:

Companies and Products

MaxLinear reported Q1 revenue of $8 million, up 2 percent sequentially and down 13 percent from the prior year’s quarter. The revenue decline reflects the end-of-life of MaxLinear’s video SoC and was offset by some growth from broadband and wireless infrastructure products.

During the earnings call, MaxLinear’s CEO was asked how 5G will affect wireless backhaul. He sees 5G adding revenue during the latter half of 2018, with MaxLinear well positioned to capture share.

National Instruments reported record Q1 revenue of $300 million, up 5 percent from Q1 of 2016, reflecting strength in wireless, semiconductors and transportation. Orders increased 9 percent year-over-year.

Northrop Grumman delivered the first production AN/TPS-80 G/ATOR (Ground/Air Task-Oriented Radar) to the U.S. Marines. G/ATOR replaces five legacy radars, integrating the five and improving their individual performance. GaN is used in the T/R modules.

Pasternack announced six free-running, fixed oscillators for 10, 50 and 100 MHz. The family achieves stability of ±5 ppm, with aging less than 1 ppm. Phase noise is as low as −150 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz offset, with spurious at or below −70 dBc. Output power is +7 dBm.

Raytheon was awarded a $327 million contract to start production of the AN/SPY-6(V) AMDR (Air and Missile Defense Radar) that is deployed on the Navy’s DDG-51 destroyer. AMDR uses GaN-based T/R modules.

Skyworks released a 0.5 to 5.9 GHz DPDT switch for switching between mobile antennas. Skyworks says this switch, with frequency coverage to 5.9 GHz, is the first cellular antenna switch to support new high band applications such as LAA/LTE-U. Also, Skyworks published a white paper on 5G, discussing the current state of LTE and how it can evolve to deliver 5G use cases.

Sprint, SoftBank and Qualcomm will jointly develop a 5G new radio (NR) for Sprint's 2.5 GHz spectrum. 2.5 GHz is also used in China and Japan. Sprint's “Magic Box” small cell will use the 2.5 GHz spectrum to connect users to the network as well as for network backhaul. Zahid Ghadialy explains in this blog post.

Thales Alenia Space will supply an S-Band transponder for TeamIndus, one of the finalists competing for Google's Lunar XPRIZE. The XPRIZE is offering $20 million to the first team to land a spacecraft on the moon, dispatch a vehicle that travels at least 500 m and transmits images and video back to earth.

T-Mobile, the third largest U.S. cellular operator, and Sprint, the fourth, are reported to be exploring a merger.

Verizon snatched Straight Path Communications from AT&T’s arms, bidding $184/share for Straight Path’s 28 and 39 GHz spectrum. AT&T bid $95.63.

Markets and Technology

Cellular and 5G — The top two U.S. cable operators, Comcast and Charter, agreed to work jointly on Wi-Fi/cellular offerings to their respective customers. They both buy access to Verizon’s network. Should either want to acquire a mobile operator, they agreed to do so jointly.

The Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) released their latest report updating statistics on LTE and 5G. The report has been renamed “Evolution to 5G.” Download it here.

Interlligent UK is holding their third RF and microwave design seminar this week (May 18), in Cambridge (U.K.). The conference will focus on 5G. Read the program and register here.

Broadband — To help people disconnect from technology and strengthen personal interaction, some coffee shops don’t offer Wi-Fi; they suggest that customers talk with one another — a blue ocean strategy, perhaps? Read about this counter-trend in The New York Times.

Defense — The U.S. Senate confirmed Heather Wilson to be the next Air Force secretary. It’s just the second Pentagon appointment by the Trump administration to be approved by the Senate.

A Wall Street Journal reporter hitched a ride in an F-15 to fly alongside the F-35A, a preview of their future deployment to the U.K.

Technology — Will quantum computing eliminate traffic jams? Volkswagen's CIO thinks so. VW, D-Wave and IBM are investing in quantum technology, expecting it to make quantum leaps. Read The Wall Street Journal article.

Thoughts? Please leave a comment below.