Microwaves & RF

Firms Prepare For The Unthinkable

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:00:10 MST

For those who commute into New York City on a regular basis, thoughts of September 11, 2001 are never far away. The increased ever-present police presence at mass-transit facilities together with signs and announcements about "staying alert" serve as a constant reminder. Lest we forget, new plots are sometimes unearthed and made public. On September 11 of this year, for example, one group was allegedly planning to blow up a variety of NYC buildings. Because of the...

Multimode Transceiver Eliminates SAW Filters

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:00:10 MST

Wireless device designers seek increased functionality but without added size, especially when supporting handset designs with multimode, multiple-band capabilities. Fujitsu Microelectronics America has responded to the needs of these designers with the functionpacked model MB86L01A multimode third-generation (3G) cellular radio transceiver, which is fabricated without 3G transmit and receive interstage surface-acoustic-wave (SAW) filters and ...

Analyzers Scrutinize Signals To 26.5 GHz

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:00:10 MST

Microwave signal analysis once brought to mind a slow-sweeping spectrum analyzer with unsteady cathode- ray-tube (CRT) screen to display signal traces barely above the noise floor. By leveraging performance advancements in semiconductors, digital signal processing, and analog components, however, Agilent Technologies has given rise to its PXA series of high-performance signal analyzers that keep the noise floor low and signal levels high enough...

New EDA Software Versions Boast Broad Enhancements

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:00:10 MST

Electronic-design-automation (EDA) software tools have become the voltmeter and the slide rule to the modern high-frequency engineer. But unlike those two hardware tools, software can be updated for improved performance, as is the case in recent releases from Applied Wave Research [AWR] for Version 2009 of the firm's widely used Microwave Office design environment and Version 2009 of the Visual System Simulator (VSS) software tools. Both new software versions ...

Data Converters Process RF/MW Signals

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:00:10 MST

Product life cycles can be short, particularly with certain semiconductors. As any computer owner knows, for example, memory chips continue to grow in density and drop in cost, quickly rendering older memory devices obsolete. Short product life cycles pose daunting challenges for system designers, especially for commercial and military systems that rely on the availability of some devices for a decade or longer. Fortunately, Lansdale Semiconductor...