Pat Hindle, MWJ Editor | Microwave Journal

Pat Hindle is responsible for editorial content, article review and special industry reporting for Microwave Journal magazine and its web site in addition to social media and special digital projects. Prior to joining the Journal, Mr. Hindle held various technical and marketing positions throughout New England, including Marketing Communications Manager at M/A-COM (Tyco Electronics), Product/QA Manager at Alpha Industries (Skyworks), Program Manager at Raytheon and Project Manager/Quality Engineer at MIT. Mr. Hindle graduated from Northeastern University - Graduate School of Business Administration and holds a BS degree from Cornell University in Materials Science Engineering.

E-Ink Cover for Esquire Magazine

September 16, 2008

Patrick Hindle

0 Comments

By now most people have heard of or seen the 75th anniversary issue cover of Esquire magazine with the E-Ink display that flashes messages electronically (see link to Engadget video above). But why is this interesting to the RF and microwave community? Well, the future E-Ink technology might enable electronic newspapers or e-books to be transmitted via wireless to your piece of E-Ink "paper" in real time. Imagine picking up your E-Ink sheet each day off the kitchen table and seeing the latest news from your favorite newspaper or reading your e-book on the way to work. What an Eco-friendly...

2007 GaAs Device Manufacturers Rankings - not much surprise here

September 9, 2008

Patrick Hindle

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Last week the GaAs device manufacturer rankings report came out from Strategic Analytics for 2007. RFMD, Skyworks and Triquint were the top 3 and represent 50% of the $3.6 billion market. I was surprised that the market grew by 17% year on year. North American companies, also including Avago and M/A-COM, accounted for 7 out of the top 10. The largest Japanese manufacturer was Mitsubishi Electric joined by Eudyna in the top ten and the largest European manufacturer was UMS at #12. Taiwan manufacturer Win semiconductor's revenue grew by over 50% year on year as they entered the top 10....

Nortel Demonstrates Mobile 4G HDTV

September 5, 2008

Patrick Hindle

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I read in the news last week that Nortel Networks has achieved the first high capacity Long Term Evolution(LTE) handoff between cell sites at 100 km/hr (62 mi/hr). During a recent test at a development center in Ottawa, the company was able to maintain a high-definition video stream to a handset while driving in a car and was able to travel between cell sites. The company used Nortel's LTE radio, network gear, and a prototype 4G LG Electronics handset to demonstrate the handoff. This sounds impressive and bodes well for future broadband services but we don't even have good 3G...

Smart Tires Use RFID for Real Time Monitoring

September 2, 2008

Patrick Hindle

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So I was listening to one of my favorite Tech podcasts from CNET.com and heard that Pirelli has a new sensor embedded tire called Cyber Tyre that uses RFID for real time monitoring of tire data such as temperature and pressure, vertical load on the tire, dimensions of the footprint, etc. This data is transmitted to the automobile electronic systems and can be used to improve safety and performance by interacting with the ABS and traction control systems. It can quickly communicate blowouts so the car can react faster or under inflation to improve fuel economy. I have heard of...

IEEE EMC 2008 - Detroit, MI

August 19, 2008

Patrick Hindle

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I am here at the IEEE EMC 2008 Symposium in Detroit, MI and the attendance seems relatively light but the quality of attendees very good. Three companies are anchoring the exhibition as you enter; AR, ETS Lingren and Rohde & Schwarz. From a RF/microwave perspective, AR is featuring its high power amplifiers such as its 700 W .8 to 4.2 GHz CW, 120 W 4 to 8 GHz CW and 20 W 10 to 20 GHz CW units. ETS Lingren and R & S are actually overlapping their booths showing how they can combine their hardware and software to...

Cell Phone Radiation - Are You Concerned?

August 8, 2008

Patrick Hindle

7 Comments

For the last couple of weeks, there has been a great amount of discussion about the possible risk that cell phone radiation can cause brain tumors since the head of a prominent cancer center released a letter to the faculty recommending that everyone limit their use of cell phones, especially children (Here is a link to the ABC news coverage on the story ). He recommends that children not use them at all (except for emergencies) and that adults should reduce exposure levels as much as possible (limited use or always use Bluetooth devices). He says there is no data...

Tyco Electronics sells off the last piece of the M/A-COM components group

August 1, 2008

Patrick Hindle

3 Comments

Tyco Electronics has sold off the last remaining piece of the original M/A-COM components and sub-systems group this week and only retains the land mobile radio group. Autoliv of Sweden has purchased the automotive sensor group for $42 million and a few months ago Cobham announced that they will purchase the military and commercial RF/microwave groups. Once the Cobham purchase is complete, they plan to sell off the commercial group. Tyco Electronics seems satisfied to retain the radio group which has the multi-billion dollar New York state public safety radio network contract and is expected to continue to grow at...

Darren

July 21, 2008

Patrick Hindle

0 Comments

darrenmccarthytektronix__1.mp3...

IMS 2008 Podcast

July 21, 2008

Patrick Hindle

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Jenn's podcast about Online Show Daily Jenn.mp3...

Infineon, Triquint Winners in iPhone 3G

July 15, 2008

Patrick Hindle

1 Comment

Well, it took no time at all for someone to crack open the new iPhone 3G and see what chips are inside. iFixit.com got one in the first major time zone for it to go on sale (New Zealand) and dissected it immediately ( http://live.ifixit.com/images/XiuvbfUecK3GsDUm-large.jpg ). Infineon with 4 chips and Triquint with 3 chips were the clear winners here. Skyworks had one chip, a quad band amplifier module which I think they also had a similar part in the first generation iPhone. Triquint has 3 amplifier modules that include an input filter, linear amplifier, duplexer and coupler. Infineon...