Articles by David Vye

In the latest deal in a wave of consolidation sweeping the wireless industry, Apple has announced it plans to acquire Sprint, and its stake in Clearwire. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but there is a provision in the deal for Apple to also buy out Clearwire's other investors, which include Google, Intel, and several cable firms. For Apple and Sprint, this deal represents a quick resolution to several long-term challenges facing each company. Sprint, which had been reeling in the wake of the AT&T/T-Mobile deal, gains the iPhone, the cash it needs to buy out Clearwire from its...

Everyone who "does" trade shows knows how a week away from the office and three days of back to back meetings can put you in the weeds. So while Richard Mumford and I have posted our show wrap-up and impressions earlier this week, I've been playing catch up on a number of fronts, including at least one more intended blog about events from Mobile World Congress. So here's some more on what we did not cover so far. For the complete Journal coverage of MWC try the links below. MWC news and twitter feed http://www.mwjournal.com/Article/MWC2011/AR_10287/ see Richard's wrap-up http://www.mwjournal.com/News/article.asp?HH_ID=AR_10365...

From our hotel just off La Rambla in the heart of Barcelona, Publisher Carl Sheffres, European editor Richard Mumford and I take the metro to Place Espanya among a sea of black suits, which must be the official business attire color for those attending Mobile World Congress. At the top of the salida (exit), we stop for a quick photo opportunity. Anticipating a mob at the registration desk (attendance estimates are north of 50,000 attendees) each of us had already obtained our passes the day before and so with passes in hand the three of us glide past the...

PCTEL, Inc. (NASDAQ: PCTI ), a provider of antenna and scanning receiver solutions, unveiled its new high-performance, dual-band Multiple Input and Multiple Output (MIMO) panel antenna. This antenna is optimized for cellular data offloading applications. The antenna enables high speed video and data applications on mobile devices through the use of 802.11n based WiFi networks. Offloading data reduces the traffic load on cellular networks in areas with a high concentration of data users such as stadiums, other entertainment venues and transportation hubs. PCTEL’s MIMO antenna has recently been deployed by a major carrier at the Cowboys’ Stadium in Dallas, initially...

I was shoveling (still) more snow from my driveway this morning and found myself thinking about a blog parody concerning scientists having successfully developed a way to remove snow using microwaves. In my fictitious report, I would embed quotes from Dr. Mi Bak Aches and his colleague Dr. Pho Zen Tose on how they came up with the technology to efficiently melt an 8 inch covering of snow from a 700 square foot driveway in the time it takes to microwave a large Idaho potato. Ah, a truly wonderful fantasy as the snow banks surrounding the end of my driveway...

With my camera-enabled Blackberry (or any phone), its much easier to record life's little snipets for posterity. Eventually though, its time to get those images off the phone's memory, to start a new collection of moments for sharing. And so this week I find myself cleaning out my camera's memory at years end. I'm not one to take pictures frequently (with a camera or phone), but I did travel quite a bit for work towards the end of 2010 and that is when I am most likely to "snap a few shots". And so here's a quick photo essay of...

In cosmology, cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation (also CMBR, CBR, MBR, and relic radiation) is a form of electromagnetic radiation that fills the universe. Unlike a traditional optical telescope, whereby the space between stars and galaxies appears pitch black, the radio telescope, exhibits a faint background glow between celestial bodies, almost exactly the same in all directions, that is not associated with any star, galaxy, or other object. This glow is strongest in the microwave region of the radio spectrum, hence the name cosmic microwave background radiation. Most scientists believe the universe was created in the Big Bang around 13.7...

Thanks to the “don’t touch my junk” traveler, most of the public is now aware of the controversy over the body imaging technology being employed at various airports (65 as of October 2010). Two types of body imaging technologies are actually employed. The first one known as Backscatter X-ray is an advanced imaging technology that detects the radiation that reflected from the target. . Traditional X-ray machines detect hard and soft materials by the variation in transmission through the target. A competing technology is millimeter wave scanner which produces a 3D image whereas the backscatter x-ray 2D image. The...

The Global Semiconductor Association (GSA) just announced its 2010 Award Nominees for the Annual Awards Dinner Celebration and there are a few familiar RF/Microwave semiconductor vendors among the list of companies being honored at the gala happening on December 9th in San Jose. - SiGe Semiconductor, Inc. was nominated for the Most Respected Private Semiconductor Company award - Broadcom Corporation was nominated for the Most Respected Public Semiconductor Company award nominees achieving $500 million to $10 billion in annual sales - Hittite Microwave Corporation and QUALCOMM CDMA Technologies were nominated for the Best Financially Managed Semiconductor Company award - In...

Courtesy of TriQuint Semiconductor Q: What is 4G and where does it fit in the development of cellular communication standards? A: 4G refers to the Fourth Generation of cellular wireless standards. The First Generation (1G) of cellular wireless supported analog mobile phones. This transitioned to Second Generation (2G) digital service, which offered a significant upgrade in capabilities. The Third Generation (3G) supports multi-media, spread-spectrum transmission with larger volumes of data transfer and improved speeds. It enables numerous applications including e-mail and web browsing. Fourth Generation (4G) takes the capabilities of wireless a step further. 4G increases bandwidth and modulation complexity...