Articles by David Vye

At the Journal, we are currently working on our September European Microwave Week Show issue. This year the event takes place in Manchester, UK and so England is on our minds. The show is about six weeks away and early signs of heavy activity among Journal advertisers and EuMW exhibitors is indicating a strong show. If you are among the microwave professionals travelling to the UK keep your eyes out for the RFID way-finding system that is being deployed troughout the country to assist the blind and partially sighted. According to RFID News, a UK-based charitable organization known as Guide...

Every year in August, National Instruments hosts NIWeek, a truly impressive event that focuses on graphical system design and the company’s test & measurement and controller software. This conference attracts more than 3,000 of the world's brightest engineers, educators, and scientists. NIWeek 2011, the company's 17th annual customer and technology conference, opens August 2 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas, for three days of interactive technical sessions, targeted summits, hands-on workshops, and exhibitions on the latest developments for design, control, automation, manufacturing, and test. The conference also features keynote presentations and demonstrations that highlight how engineers and...

I get that this is entertainment and not real news, so please indulge my little rant, which is meant for your entertainment. My "exposure" to the daily television show GMA (Good Morning America) occurs as a captive viewer stuck on a treadmill at the local gym. With no access to the TV controls, getting in shape usually means turning a little piece of my brain into mush on those days. Between the steady diet of "mind-numbing repetition of that day's big story with little depth or insight" or the "day after day reporting of nothing new in some long-drawn...

Editor's note: Even though its summertime, news from the Microwave industry remains quite active in both military and commercial markets with announcements of contract wins, new products, M&A activity and more. We offer this light version of this weeks news as a reminder to enjoy the lazy days of summer. From Raytheon Stimulus money can still be found As Raytheon breaks new ground To deploy 700 Megahertz LTE Dedicated to serving public safety From Suncastle Microwave A new antenna with decade-plus bandwidth and high gain Will help extend the coverage range Of UAVs on special missions Thanks to Suncastle...

A new report released today by Mobile Experts predicts an industry shift away from the 3GPP roadmap, which calls for evolution to 8x8 MIMO (Multiple Input-Multiple Output) technology. “Field testing has shown limited benefit from the simple addition of more antennas and early implementation of Multi-User MIMO” said Joe Madden, Principal Analyst at Mobile Experts. “Instead of blindly following the 3GPP evolution path, mobile operators are looking for different, creative ways to boost throughput and capacity. Interference cancellation and Cooperative Multipoint (CoMP), as well as advanced MU-MIMO will be important technologies during the next few years”. “Mobile Experts is...

A new report published by TASC, Inc. examines today’s key cyber threats facing the United States and highlights the deep interrelatedness of the challenges facing the nation. As the White House and Congress consider cybersecurity legislation to protect the nation’s cyber systems, there is an urgent need for better coordination and cooperation across government and industry. “The integration of the Internet into critical operational structures of all levels of the government, the military and the nation’s economy has created a collective reliance on information technology that will only increase in the coming years,” says Steve Winterfeld, cyber technical lead at...

In a recent webinar, one of the attendees commented that Besser Instructor Allen Podell was presenting results based on "rather wimpy performance assumptions" for his active mixer versus passive mixer comparison (see below) and suggested using newer active mixers such as ADL5801 or LT5557 from ADI or LTC? This attendee asserted that mixers based on these particular devices compete very well with the best passive mixers­. Allen took up this challenge and did a little investigation. His response is below. Post-webinar response from Allen Podell - First of all, I must admit that it is true that the ADL5801 and...

Around the time last year when the Obama administration was first learning about bin Laden’s where-abouts in Abbottabad Pakistan, we at the Journal were putting the final touches on our August Military Microwave supplement. While the Journal and its staff has no obvious connection to the administration, military and intelligence community behind this successful covert operation, we do have a connection to this story by way of an article we were about to publish that month. The previous fall at the Milcom show in Boston, I had read an article by Dr. Simon et. al. of Queen’s University in Belfast...

Coalition Warns Recent FCC Decision Could Harm U.S. Economy and Exports. Threat of GPS Interference Could Have Unintended Consequences As the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology begins its in-depth examination of spectrum issues, the Coalition to Save Our GPS submitted a detailed statement warning that a recent FCC decision that may disrupt the Global Positioning System(GPS) could have the unintended consequence of giving the Chinese, Russians, and Europeans competitive and economic advantage over the United States. The “Coalition to Save Our GPS” is working to resolve a serious threat to the Global Positioning System. The...

Coalition Warns Recent FCC Decision Could Harm U.S. Economy and Exports Threat of GPS Interference Could Have Unintended Consequences As the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology begins its in-depth examination of spectrum issues, the Coalition to Save Our GPS submitted a detailed statement warning that a recent FCC decision that may disrupt the Global Positioning System (GPS) could have the unintended consequence of giving the Chinese, Russians, and Europeans competitive and economic advantage over the United States. The “Coalition to Save Our GPS” is working to resolve a serious threat to the Global Positioning System....