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RF DesignLine Newsletter
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The RF DesignLine Newsletter is delivered to you
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06-10-2009

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This issue sponsored by: Elsevier

Newnes Press is a portfolio of practical books for engineers,
developers, and designers that make things happen. Newnes
offers timeless fundamentals mixed with cutting-edge techniques
and hot technology to give today's working engineers a toolkit
for beating deadlines and creating the next best thing! Click
here to become a Newnes Press member and start saving today:
http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0G5Na0Ej
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EDITOR'S NOTE

--At last, it's the week of the big microwave/RF show, MTT-S (also
known as IMS 2009), http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HKCf0E1
I'll be there and have a report/sense of the show for you next week,
so as they used to say in the old days, stay tuned.

--Meanwhile, if you are looking for way to turn that nearly-worthless
TV dish antenna (how many channels do you get? And what's actually
worth watching?) into something useful, check out this article in the
June issue of QST (main publication of the amateur radio American
Radio Relay League), "Build a Homebrew Radio Telescope." It is not
available online except by paid subscription, so see if a friend gets
it, or do what I do, visit the public library; most of them have a
subscription. The article describes the fairly straightforward
electronics needed to turn that standard "dish" antenna, and its
low-noise blocks, into a nice front end and also shows what you can do
with the recovered signal.

--Although the article itself is not online open access, its
references are, and will give you a sense of the situation and more
details on the mechanical construction, which is fairly simple.
Click on:
http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HKCg0E2
for "Procedure for Making the Itty Bitty Radio Telescope" for one
of them, and it also links to others. The idea of adapting commercially
available, low- or modest-cost equipment for other engineering and
science purposes is not new, of course, and it is always worth
re-visiting in new contexts.

--While you are checking into radio astronomy, which is obviously an
"RF" topic, you may also be interested in this not-quite-RF article
from the June issue of Physics Today, "Probing stars with optical and
near-IR interferometry"
http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HKCh0E3
which discusses how new high-resolution data and images, derived from
the light gathered by separated telescopes, are revealing that stars
are not always as they seem. Very interesting, indeed.

--On to this week's articles and more: we have Parts 1 and 2 of a
3-part article on power detection and control for mobile handsets, an
important topic. We also look at how the Los Angeles Metro is using
RFID for contactless ticketing. And our other new feature looks at
design of embedded systems which don't require fans; while this
is not an RF topic, strictly speaking, it is certainly of interest
many system designers, since even RF designs need boards and
enclosures and cooling.

--Among our new products this week is a very-high-end test set which
extends measurement of X parameters to 60 GHz (you don't know what
they are? Find out!). And we recently had a new, advanced spectrum
analyzer. These instruments are essential tools of today's advanced
designs, which have ever-more stringent performance requirements, and
in electronically more challenging environments. So check them out,
and also look at the 6 GHz, tiny RF relay and the TV tuner IC we have,
among other items.

--Finally, take a look below in the shorter items, where we are asking
for user input (that means you) on the impact of the Apollo moon
program, 40 years ago, on engineering, your career perhaps, and more.

And that's it for this week

Bill Schweber, Site Editor, RF DesignLine,
bschweber (AT) techinsights (DOT) com
P.S. Be sure to check our next set of RF-related technical articles of
interest from other sources (at the very end).

TECHNICAL ARTICLES

--Power detection and control for mobile handsets, (Part 1 of 3):
Power amplifier biasing for power control-- Understand the various
biasing methods and tradeoffs in GSM/EDGE mobile unit PA stages

http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HKCi0E4

--Power detection and control for mobile handsets, (Part 2 of 3):
Power detection methods-- Understand the various biasing methods and
tradeoffs in GSM/EDGE mobile unit PA stages

http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HKCj0E5

--Fanless design for embedded applications-- This article emphasizes
analytical hand calculation for first-order approximations
http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HKCk0E6

--L.A. Metro Taps NXP's MIFARE Plus for Contactless TAP Ticketing--
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (L.A.
Metro) replaced antiquated fare boxes and equipment on buses. It also
installed boxes to validate TAP cards on rail lines, and installed
ticket vending machines that could load passes at rail stations and
selected bus lines, such as Metro Orange Line.
http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HKCl0E7

--Design Tip: Simulating "Raw" Error Vector Magnitude (EVM) for a
Quick Measure-- This Agilent EEsof EDA division article shows a quick
method of obtaining relatively complex information about a design's
performance, specifically around EVM (Error Vector Magnitude) or BER
(Bit Error Ratio).
http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HJek0Ee

--Optimizing WLAN Test Systems for Measurement Speed-- Understand the
tradeoffs of the different test strategies for reducing test time of
wireless local area networks

http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HJej0Ed

PRODUCTS

--Agilent Nonlinear Vector Network Analyzer family extends active
device test to 50 GHz; yields X-parameters for advanced component and
system insight-- PNA-X NVNA network analyzer extends range,
performance; reduces cost, test time, footprint
http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HKCm0E8

--Compact tuner receives T-DMB, ISDB-T, and DAB broadcasts-- Maxim's
multimode silicon tuner for mobile TV receives signals in the FM,
VHF-III, UHF, and L-band spectrums, making it well-suited for
multimode applications that need to receive mobile TV and audio
broadcasts.
http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HKCn0EA

--Microwave USB sensors measure power to 18 GHz -- Anritsu has
developed microwave USB power sensors that provide accurate average
power measurements from 10 MHz to 18 GHz over 60 dB of dynamic range.
http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HKCo0EB

--CSR launches Bluetooth ROM device line-- Aimed at the Bluetooth mono
headset market, the BlueCore series of ROM-based chips consists of
three devices, two of which include CSR's powerful audio processing
DSP core.
http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HKCp0EC

--Miniature broadband relays operate from dc to 6 GHz-- Designed to be
a practical surface-mount solution that simplifies pc board
manufacturing and solder joint inspection, the SRF300/SRF303 series
ultraminature broadband TO-5 relays permit easy removal and
replacement using hand tools.
http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HKCq0ED

--Swept spectrum analyzer offers sophisticated triggering for elusive
signal capture, insight-- Tektronix RSA6000 Series operates to 14 GHz,
triggers on signals within signals, performs sophisticated analysis

http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HJel0Ef

--Nujira's DPD module said to simplify basestation design-- Power
amplifier specialist Nujira (Cambridge, England) claims the digital
pre-distortion (DPD) version of its Coolteq-h power modulator will
simplify the design of cellular basestations.
http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HJen0Eh

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NEWS

--MEMS barometers boost hard drives, GPS-- Microelectromechanical
system sensors for head height are being designed into hard drives
alongside MEMS accelerometers, according to Freescale, which entered
the digital barometric pressure sensor market with a rollout at
Computex in Taipei.
http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HKCr0EE

--National sees clouds at 50th anniversary party-- This week, National
Semiconductor Corp. is celebrating its 50th anniversary. In a
statement, National touted its accomplishments over the years and
announced some news in its latest product thrust: solar.
http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HKCs0EF

--Apollo forum: The epic that launched a generation of engineers-- On
the 40th anniversary of the first manned landing on the Moon, EE Times
will celebrate the voyage of Apollo 11 through the stories of those
who helped send human beings to another world. We want to hear from
readers about how Apollo 11 and the five other lunar landings inspired
them to become engineers and problem solvers.
http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HKCt0EG

--Antenna specialist claims big SAR advance for small devices--
Antenna specialist SkyCross (Viera, FL.) claims it has developed a way
to reduce Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) levels in small wireless
devices without sacrificing signal strength.
http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HKCu0EH

--Invisibility cloaks spread out--
An emerging discipline called transformation optics were used recently
to develop an improved invisibility cloak with a 100-fold increase in
area compared to previous visible-wavelength cloaks.
http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HJep0Ej

--Handheld ultrasound gets FDA approval-- Startup Signostics got
approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to ship what it
claims is the world's smallest ultrasound device, the pocket-sized,
one-pound Signos that sells for about $4,000 as a kind of visual
stethoscope.
http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HJer0El

VIEWPOINT

--RF4CE vs IR: the next remote-control "battle"?-- IR remote controls
have a viable, up-and-coming, RF-based competitor--maybe
http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HKCv0EI

--Respecting your RF cables and connectors-- Cables and connectors are
critical parts of an RF system, ignore their care and feeding at your
peril
http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HJes0Em

MOST POPULAR ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

--Time-saving Measurements for Basic, Low-Cost Oscilloscopes--
Understand how even a low-cost scope can often the functions and
features needed for substantive education, design, development, and
debug needs

http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HJDT0Ei

--Using Antenna Diversity to Create Highly Robust Radio Links-- An
improved algorithm can ease the burden of managing diversity antennas
despite the additional hardware or software load they impose
http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HIIe0E4

--Getting some basic RF experience--
The best way to learn RF circuits is to build some basic ones, but
where to start?
http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HHgE0E1

--Report: Ultrawideband dies by 2013--
Ultrawideband technology is effectively dead in consumer and computer
markets, according to a new report from market watcher In-Stat.
http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HIIn0EE

--Wi-Fi backers drive to 60 GHz--
Five top Wi-Fi chip makers and a handful of computer and consumer OEMs
have created the Wireless Gigabit Alliance that aims to release later
this year a specification for 60 GHz networking at rates up to 6
Gbits/second.
http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HIIo0EF

--Design Considerations for Robust, Low-Power RF Products (Part 3)--
Understand the techniques you can use to minimize power dissipation
while achieving performance goals
http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HIhS0EI

AROUND THE WEB
Some interesting technical articles recently seen in other
publications:
--Modern low-cost multifunction GaAs MMICs have roots in early devices
fabricated from considerably smaller wafers and targeted largely at
the needs of military applications:
"Recalling Early GaAs MMIC Developments,"
http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HKCw0EJ
Microwaves & RF, March 2009
--A basic tutorial on microstrip patch antennas, intended to
familiarize engineers with the structure, feed and radiation
properties of this common type of antenna:
"The Fundamentals of Patch Antenna Design and Performance,"
http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HKCx0EK
High Frequency Electronics, March 2009
--How economical, easy-to-use USB power sensors can be combined with
standard lab accessories to create a scalar network analysis system:
"Reflection/Transmission Measurements Using USB Power Detectors,"
http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HKCy0EL
High Frequency Electronics, March 2009

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NOW HIRING ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Electronics Group Now Hiring 05/08/09

Boston Scientific seeking Principal Electrical Engineer in Natick, MA
http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HFFO0Eb

EnergyHub seeking Senior Electrical Engineer in Brooklyn, NY
http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HFFP0Ec

Schweitzer Engineering Labs seeking Engineer III in Pullman, WA
http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HFBI0ER

Schweitzer Engineering Labs seeking Manufacturing Engineer in
Pullman, WA
http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HHFF0EU

Osram Sylvania seeking Sr. Engineer in Hillsboro, NH
http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0HIEp0EC

For more great jobs, career-related news, features and services,
please visit TechInsights EETimesCareers.
http://newsletter.designlinenetwork....rT0QTC0EfwY0E4
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