David Vye, MWJ Editor | Microwave Journal

David Vye is responsible for Microwave Journal's editorial content, article review and special industry reporting. Prior to joining the Journal, Mr. Vye was a product-marketing manager with Ansoft Corporation, responsible for high frequency circuit/system design tools and technical marketing communications. He previously worked for Raytheon Research Division and Advanced Device Center as a Sr. Design Engineer, responsible for PHEMT, HBT and MESFET characterization and modeling as well as MMIC design and test. David also worked at M/A-COM's Advanced Semiconductor Operations developing automated test systems and active device modeling methods for GaAs FETs. He is a 1984 graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, with a concentration in microwave engineering.

Skyworks Revenue Down for Q2

April 24, 2009

David Vye

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RF/microwave integrated device manufacturer, Skyworks Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: SWKS) announced their second fiscal quarter 2009 results on Thursday. Revenue for the quarter was $173.0 million, a 14 percent decrease from $201.7 million in the year-ago period and versus guidance of $168.0 million. Non-GAAP operating income was $21.2 million in the second fiscal quarter with diluted earnings per share of $0.12, $0.02 better than consensus estimates. On a GAAP basis, operating loss for the second fiscal quarter was $3.7 million and diluted loss per share was $0.03, including $19.4 million of previously disclosed charges relating to the Company’s operating expense reduction...

TriQuint Reports Q1 2009 earnings

April 23, 2009

David Vye

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As expected, Q1 2009 revenue was seasonally down, compared to Q4, in a challenging economic environment of inventory correction and reduced short term demand. Still, total revenue was up 7% as compared to Q1 2008. These results were led by Handset growth of 24% and Defense / Aerospace growth of 23%. The reduction of both channel and TriQuint inventory drove Oregon fab’s utilization to 35% and pushed gross margin down, resulting in a Non-GAAP net loss of ($0.07) per share on revenue of $118.9 million, both on the favorable end of our expectations. Fortunately, an inflection point of increasing demand...

AWR Reports Good Results

April 22, 2009

David Vye

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On Monday (April 20th) high-frequency EDA supplier AWR® announced record annual revenues for its 2009 fiscal year that ended March 31, as well as for the year’s fourth quarter, and record backlog as it enters the 2010 fiscal year. This achievement marks the twelfth consecutive year of revenue growth for the company and was broad-based, with strong bookings throughout Europe, North America and the Asia Pacific region from both new and existing customers. It is an impressive streak for the software innovator - especially in light of the worldwide recession. AWR executives attribute the performance to several factors. The company...

Oracle to Acquire Sun Microsystems

April 20, 2009

David Vye

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Back in the mid-80s, do you remember sign-up sheets for workstations, which were extremely expensive and in short supply. Design software such as MDS (HP), Libra (EEsof) and Harmonica (Compact Software) required the high performance computing only available on these machines and EM simulation software such as HFSS was not yet widely available. Many of us (junior) engineers had to work later in the evening waiting for a workstation to became available. Do you remember the Unix wars between the proponents of BSD from Univerity of California, Berkeley and System V from AT&T? BSD Unix vendor Sun Microsytems and AT&T...

WCAI Wireless Policy Summit is Approaching

April 17, 2009

David Vye

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It was announced this week that Sean Maloney, executive vice president and chief sales and marketing officer at Intel Corporation will give the opening keynote address at the WCAI’s Wireless Policy Summit on May 5 in Washington, DC. The Summit, being held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, will gather key officials from government and industry in an open forum for the exchange of ideas between attendees. This event is an ideal opportunity to meet face-to-face with top decision-makers who are shaping the future of the industry in 2009 and beyond. As the new Administration is acting on its commitment to...

R&S Demos Femtocell Design Verification

March 31, 2009

David Vye

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At CTIA Wireless 2009, Rohde & Schwarz is demonstrating their LTE frequency division duplexing (FDD) testing capabilities based on the newest femtocell design from mimoOn. The compact test setup features the R&S® SMBV100A vector signal generator and the R&S® FSV signal analyzer to generate and analyze LTE signals that meet the newest specification. The test setup on display at Rohde & Schwarz booth 6033 verifies that the femtocell reference design from mimoOn correctly operates according to the LTE specification that is about to be finalized. Accurate validation of the generated downlink signal of the mimoOn reference design is carried out...

Greenray Industries Debuts New TCXO

March 25, 2009

David Vye

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Greenray Industries of Mechanicsburg, PA announced a new High Frequency TCXO for Wireless & Mobile Apps last month, the T121 TCXO just in time for Satellite 2009. The device is designed to serve as a super-stable frequency reference in high shock and high vibration environments. The T121 Series TCXO, available from 50 to 100MHz, provides extremely stable sinewave output and temperature stability to ±0.5ppm over -40 to +85°C. The T121 measures 0.68 x 0.68 x 0.200” and features vibration sensitivity of 7 x 10-10/g or better. The T121 Series combines a compact, rugged package, tight stability and high frequency availability...

CPI Satcom Showcases 100 watt Ku-band outdoor SSPA

March 25, 2009

David Vye

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CPI Satcom Division is featuring its 100 watt Ku-band outdoor SSPA at the SATELLITE 2009 Conference and Exhibition. This outdoor SSPA is the latest addition to the company’s extensive range of solid state amplifiers and is being touted by the company for its flexibility and easy maintainance. Frequency bands can be changed among X-, C- and Ku-band very quickly without rewiring and using only minor hand tools. Swapping out fans typically takes less time than it does to simply remove the cover on competing products. The ease of owning a CPI SSPA is enhanced by the company’s fifteen worldwide service...

At Satellite 09 Aeroflex Unveils Latest Payload Tester

March 25, 2009

David Vye

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At Satellite 2009 in Washington DC, Aeroflex announced the commercial availability of their Synthetic Multifunction Adaptable Reconfigurable Test Environment (SMART^E™) 5200 Series. This new hybrid synthetic Satellite Payload Test Environment includes hardware, software, test practices and support provides standard and customizable test programs tailored to the specific problems of testing (standard and customizable) high performance payloads, which consist of multiple channels, each with up to hundreds of connections between the test system and payload under test. “The SMART^E 5200 replaces the STI1000C Satellite Payload Test System currently installed and in operation at customer sites worldwide,” according to Dr. Francesco Lupinetti,...

Treating Tumors with Microwave Ablation

March 11, 2009

David Vye

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More news from the "microwaves in applied science" front. A new minimally-invasive option for treating liver tumors, called microwave ablation, is now available at UC San Diego Medical Center and Moores UCSD Cancer Center, the only hospitals in the region to offer this technology to patients. “Microwave ablation causes the tumor to be quickly and precisely removed. If necessary, multiple tumors can be treated at the same time,” said Marquis Hart, MD, transplant surgeon at UC San Diego Medical Center. “This method appears to be more efficient than other ablation techniques which translates to better tumor destruction and less time...