The Independence Day holiday made for a quiet news week in the U.S. However, a few items caught my eye that I’d like to pass along.

Companies and Products

IDT released a highly-programmable clock generator that has under 200 fs of phase noise. The device, developed for 10 Gbps or multi-lane 40/100 Gbps applications, can produce virtually any common output frequency from virtually any input frequency.

Nokia and Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi have cross-licensed “standard essential” patents and say they will explore cooperating on IoT, AR, VR and AI.

Adding to their “For Dummies” book series, Qorvo published “5G RF For Dummies.” The e-book can be downloaded for free; registration is required.

Rohde & Schwarz extended the internal analysis bandwidth of their high-end signal and spectrum analyzers to 2 GHz. The R&S FSW-B2001 option is available for the R&S FSW43 and R&S FSW50 signal and spectrum analyzers. Also, the company announced the appointment of Andreas Pauly as executive VP of the test and measurement division. He succeeds Roland Steffen, who will retire at the end of the year.

Silicon Labs introduced the Si54x family of low jitter crystal oscillators, covering 200 kHz to 1.5 GHz with jitter down to 80 fs RMS.

Markets and Technology

Semiconductors — Globalfoundries CEO Sanjay Jha sees the semiconductor industry entering a golden age, driven by IC demand for ultra-large data centers and AI applications.

Cellular and 5G — T-Mobile is rolling out LTE-U in select areas of the U.S. (parts of Bellevue, Washington; Brooklyn, New York; Dearborn, Michigan; Las Vegas, Nevada; Richardson, Texas; and Simi Valley, California). In parallel, the company is beginning field tests of the higher capacity LAA technology. Both standards tap into the 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum to add download capacity. An LAA trial achieved 741 Mbps download with 80 MHz bandwidth.

Attacking a different problem, Verizon demonstrated VoLTE using their Cat M1 IoT network, which will allow IoT services to include voice applications.

Ted Rappaport, founder of NYU Wireless, says the ITU’s recently adopted channel model underestimates millimeter wave capacity in rural areas. Rappaport's team measured 73 GHz propagation in rural Virginia and developed a macrocell path loss model that he says is more accurate and easier to apply. However, it apparently wasn't considered by the ITU.

At the recent Mobile World Congress in Shanghai, Mobile World Live interviewed Ericsson’s Ulf Ewaldsson to get an update on Ericsson's evolving strategy, Ewaldsson’s new role heading digital services and his view about how mobile operators need to evolve.

It’s been a year since the White House Office of Science and Technology (OSTP), the National Science Foundation (NSF) and 26 companies formed Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research (PAWR). PAWR’s objective is to build four advanced wireless testbeds in the U.S. that will develop advanced wireless technologies and provide sufficient linkage with industry to commercialize them — bridging the “valley of death” between university research and more focused industry development. James Kimery of NI contributed this update on PAWR’s activities.

Broadband — Although it happened in May, Facebook just disclosed the second test flight of their Aquila drone, which flew for 1 hour and 46 minutes in airspace around the Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona. Facebook envisions a fleet of high-flying aircraft acting as base stations to provide high speed internet to undeveloped regions of the globe.

Defense — The Pentagon confirmed that North Korea launched an ICBM. Initial estimates suggest the missile could reach Alaska. In March of 1983, President Ronald Reagan called for a missile defense program to develop and field the technology to defend the U.S. from a ballistic missile attack. It was dubbed “Star Wars.”

China — China has moved from copycat to innovator, using speed more than low cost to win market share. China will file more patents this year than Japan and second only to the U.S. “Everything works at startup speed,” says Ben Joffe, a general partner of a five-year-old hardware accelerator and investor.

Technology and Society — It's been a 10 years since Steve Jobs announced Apple's iPhone. The iPhone transformed Apple. The iPhone transformed life.

With the tech industry dominated by males, it’s not surprising that sexual harassment is a common experience of women. We’re now learning how much, as they begin telling their stories. It’s particularly tricky when they seek funding for start-ups. Read “The New York Times” expose.

Thanks for reading. Thoughts? Leave a comment below.