Here's the industry news that caught my attention during the past week.

Companies and Products

Continuing its growth strategy, Anokiwave appointed Carl Frank chief operating officer. He reports to CEO Bob Donahue.

Anritsu released a cable/antenna analyzer for field testing. The Site Master S331P measures from 150 kHz to either 4 or 6 GHz, the latter for testing LTE in unlicensed spectrum (LTE-U).

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket venture said it will develop a new rocket capable of putting payloads into orbit. The New Glenn rocket will compete with the Falcon 9 developed by SpaceX.

e2v and Peregrine Semiconductor introduced an ultra-low phase noise PLL, the first space product from their strategic reseller agreement announced in February 2016.

MACOM released five 75 Ω amplifiers designed for DOCSIS 3.1. All five cover the downstream cable band, from 45 to 1218 MHz; two also cover the upstream band, from 5 to 1218 MHz.

MaxLinear announced a three-channel satellite receiver designed for high definition and ultra-high definition, personal video recorder (PVR) set-top boxes.

Renesas will acquire Intersil for $3.2 billion, in an all-cash deal motivated to strengthen Renesas' position in the automotive market. Reuters reports that Maxim also bid for Intersil.

Filter start-up Resonant raised $11.5 million in a public stock offering, which will carry the company into 2018. Resonant has won several design contracts that, if successful, will generate revenue before then.

Tesla upgraded their Autopilot software, making the radar a primary control sensor with equal weight to the cameras. The company published an informative discussion about the capabilities of radar and Tesla's sensor fusion philosophy.

Texas Instruments (TI) released a single-chip, wireless microcontroller (MCU) that covers both the Bluetooth and the sub-1 GHz bands. The low power consumption of the chip ensures greater than a 10-year battery life.

Releasing August revenue, WIN Semiconductors dropped their guidance for fiscal Q3 to a “low single-digit decline” (from low single-digit growth). WIN said that customer demand has become “more conservative” due to smartphone product transitions and a “wait-and-see market atmosphere.”

Markets and Technology

Cellular — The iPhone 7 went on sale Friday, September 16. One analyst predicts it won't be a huge hit in China.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission stepped in and issued a formal recall of Samsung's Galaxy Note 7, prompted by the risk of fire.

5G — Amidst the rush of 5G field trials and marketing hype, the Small Cell Forum is seeking to avoid the fragmentation of 5G. Developing an integrated, industry-wide HetNet/5G roadmap — prior to the 3GPP publishing its standards in 2017 — was the focus of a meeting in Rome last week.

How much spectrum will 5G actually need? Zahid Ghadialy, author of the 3G4G blog, compiled some estimates.

IoT — Smart cities is one of the IoT applications we hear about, often without much detail. Read Intel's view of how the IoT will actually make cities smarter, written by Asha Keddy (a VP in Intel'’s Mobile and Communications Group and GM of the standards and advanced technology team).

Broadband — Google Fiber, AT&T, and Comcast are in a tussle over how best to string fiber to each of 44,000 utility poles in Nashville. Nashville's Metro Council sided with Google in the second of three votes, despite the threat of lawsuits.

The availability of video via the Internet enables “cutting the cord“ with your cable or satellite TV service provider. Here's the story of one such cord cutter. How are your viewing habits changing?

Autonomous Driving — Self-driving (sort of) Uber cars are on the roads in Pittsburgh. Journalists took the first rides.

Parting Thoughts — Something to ponder as you travel your career path: what are you choosing, time or money?

If you come across news that you think is worth including in the weekly report, please send it to me at glerude@mwjournal.com. Your feedback about content is always welcome.

Have a good week.