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Much of the buzz on the show floor at the 2017 IMS in Honolulu was about millimeter-wave devices and circuits. At one time, frequencies above 30 GHz were considered “exotic” and only for military or scientific applications. But times have changed, and available spectrum is scarce.

Smart clothing is emerging as a very interesting application for IoT. Last week, the Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA) opened in Cambridge, MA near the MIT campus.

This is the first year that NIWeek has taken place in late May instead of its normal early August time slot and switches permanently to this part of the calendar. NIWeek 2017 kicked off with new CEO Alex Davern paying tribute to Dr. T with a standing ovation from the audience. Read this full summary of NIWeek 2017.

The impact of final surface finish on circuit loss will depend not only on the type of surface finish but on the thickness of the substrate material and the type of transmission-line technology, such as microstrip or grounded coplanar waveguide (GCPW). This posting will describe some of the effects of various finishes.

The Internet of Things (IoT) will require several wireless technologies if it’s to meet its potential. For example, Bluetooth low energy or IEEE 802.15.4 are good choices for battery-powered sensors sending data to the Cloud via a building’s Local Area Network (LAN). But for sensors that are constantly moving, or are remote from a LAN, short-range wireless technologies run into problems.

Qualcomm engineers have recently completed initial testing of drones on commercial 4G LTE networks at the Qualcomm UAS Flight Center in San Diego. They evaluated key performance indicators (KPIs) such as coverage, signal strength, throughput, latency, and mobility under various scenarios on commercial LTE networks.