The Kunkel family (Mike, George and Wendy) and their Oregon rep, Larry Dreeke, smile from Spira"s exhibit booth at the IEEE-EMC Symposium in Portland. See more> PHOTOS

Agilent Fields CISPR-Compliant Receiver

Agilent Technologies Inc. re-entered the CISPR-compliant EMI receiver market with a preview of its compliance EMI receiver solution at the IEEE-EMC show in August. Its high-performance, outstanding accuracy and full compliance with the CISPR 16-1-1 and MIL STD 461 standards enable EMC engineers and managers working with in-house EMC test labs, third-party EMC test houses and solution providers to increase the speed of and confidence in pre-compliance and compliance measurements.

The PSA-based EMI receiver comprises any of Agilent"s premier high-performance spectrum analyzers and the new N9039A RF pre-selector. Featuring the outstanding accuracy and speed of its PSA Series analyzers, the new compliance EMI receiver enables decreased test time, increased measurement accuracy and an increased probability of intercepting unwanted EMI signals.

"With its exceptional accuracy, flexibility, reliability and worldwide local support, Agilent"s PSA-based EMI receiver fully supports the needs of EMI compliance engineers and managers," said Ron Nersesian, vice president and general manager of Agilent"s Wireless Business Unit.

Engineers Invent Stealth Radar

Ohio State University engineers, led by Eric Walton, senior research scientist in OSU"s ElectroScience Lab, have invented a radar system that is virtually undetectable, can penetrate solid walls, and sees objects that are nearby. It is inherently able to distinguish between many types of targets because of its ultra-wideband characteristics.

Like traditional radar, the "noise" radar detects objects by bouncing a radio signal off them and detecting the rebound. Altogether, the components cost less than $100.

The difference is that the noise radar generates a signal that resembles random noise, and a computer calculates very small differences in the return signal. The calculations happen billions of times every second, and the pattern of the signal changes constantly. A receiver couldn"t detect the signal unless it knew exactly what random pattern to look for.

The university is expected to license the patented radar system which could have applications in law enforcement, the military, and disaster rescue.

Waldom Electronics Partners with Triad Magnetics

Waldom Electronics of Rockford, Illinois, a leader in the electronic component re-distribution market, has partnered with Triad Magnetics, a manufacturer of power conversion products. Waldom has agreed to inventory Triad"s complete line of products, including power and audio transformers, power supplies, inductors, switchmode/high frequency magnetics and wall plug-in adapters.

"Waldom maintains the resources to inventory the complete product line and provide same-day shipments, which other re-distributors are typically not capable of doing," said Bill Dull, president of Triad Magnetics.

Waldom caters solely to the unique needs of distributors, providing them with access to premier brands, (such as Amp/Tyco, Cherry Electrical, Cinch, Crydom and Molex), off the shelf delivery, low order minimum, broken pack quantities and same day shipments. Waldom has over 280,000 part numbers in stock.

Herrick

TÜV Offers Local CE Certification, Appoints Herrick

North American medical device manufacturers now have a faster way of obtaining CE certification for exports to Europe. TÜV Rheinland Group is now offering North American-based CE certification for medical devices, on behalf of the Notified Body TÜV Rheinland Product Safety GmbH, which will allow companies to get their products to market quicker.

"Unlike most compliance and certification companies, TÜV Rheinland of North America now has CE certifiers located within the U.S., which translates to accelerated time to market for companies looking to get their medical devices into the European Union," says Tamas Borsai, manager of the company"s medical division.

In other news, TÜV Rheinland of North America has named Anissa Herrick regional sales manager for the Northeast region of the U.S. She will be based out of the Boxboro, Massachusetts, office.

"Anissa has been working for the past 13 years in the testing and certification industry and her extensive experience is just what TÜV Rheinland needs to grow its market in North America," says Deep Krishnan, vice president of operations. She was previously with Intertek and attended the University of Lowell.

Dalian Plans to Build Maglev Test Line

According to China Daily, engineers in Dalian, a port city in Northeast Liaoning Province, plan to build a magnetic levitation (maglev) train test line later this year.

With core technologies developed by a permanent magnetic levitation team, a newly-invented magnetic engine will drive the train on a 3km-long railway to be built in the city"s development zone, said Li Lingqun, chief engineer of the team. Li said they are currently considering the exact site of the line.

Different from electromagnetic suspension and superconducting magnet technology as used in Germany and Japan, the Dalian maglev will use the newer permanent magnet (permagnet) mechanism. This technology has proven successful in the workshop, Li said, as the train moved soundlessly through the air above the rails.

The team has made two types of engines: One has a top speed of 218km/h and an optimum speed of 140km/h, making it suitable for metropolitan services. The other has a maximum speed of 536km/h.

"Combined with the abundant resources of permanent magnetic materials in China, our technology will be about 50% cheaper than that of foreign countries"," Li said.

So far they have applied for more than 50 patents, with three authorized in China and another three in the United States and Germany.

Harris Corporation Hires Russ Johnson

Harris Corporation has appointed Russ Johnson vice president of sales for the Americas for its broadcast communications division in Cincinnati, Ohio.

With more than 20 years of senior management experience in the broadcast industry, Johnson has a solid background in direct sales and tactical marketing, strategic accounts management, systems and service sales, and resale channel management. He comes to Harris from Thomson-Grass Valley, where he led a period of significant expansion of sales.

"Russ"s tenure in the industry, coupled with his outstanding record of driving sales growth, makes him the ideal person to lead our Americas" sales team," said Tim Thorsteinson, president of Harris"s broadcast communications division.

Broadband Light Amplifier on a Silicon Chip

Cornell University researchers working with Professor Alexander Gaeta and Assistant Professor Michal Lipson have created a broadband light amplifier on a silicon chip, a major breakthrough in the creation of photonic microchips. In such microchips, beams of light traveling through microscopic waveguides will replace electric currents traveling through microscopic wires.

The amplifier uses four-wave mixing, in which a signal to be amplified is "pumped" by another light source inside a very narrow waveguide. The waveguide is a channel 300 x 550 nanometers wide, smaller than the wavelength of the infrared light traveling through it. The photons of light in the pump and signal beams are tightly confined, allowing for transfer of energy between the two beams.This scheme works over a fairly broad range of wavelengths--an advantage over previous methods of light amplification. The process also creates a duplicate signal at a different wavelength, so the devices could be used to convert a signal from one wavelength to another.

The devices were tested with infrared light at wavelengths near 1,555nm, the light used in most fiber-optic communications. Amplification took place over a range of wavelengths 28nm wide, from 1,512 to 1,535nm. Longer waveguides gave greater amplification in a range from 1,525 to 1,540nm. The researchers predict that even better performance can be obtained by refining the process.

Denmark Lab Developing Magnetic Refrigerator

Another attempt to develop a marketable magnetic refrigerator for home use is under way at the Riso National Laboratory in Roskilde, Denmark, reports Appliance Service News.

According to researchers, it has long been known that heat can be shifted by exploiting the magnetocaloric properties of ferrite-and manganite-containing ceramic materials. When an external magnetic field is applied to such ceramics, the temperature of these materials rises.

To make such a refrigerator work, Riso is looking for a way to tie these ceramics to a heat exchanger. Then, the heating and cooling of the ceramics as the magnetic field is applied and removed would pull heat from the refrigerator cabinet.

Such a refrigerator would be silent due to its lack of compressor and also would use substantially less electricity than current models, researchers said.

Riso hopes to have a prototype ready for demonstration by early next year.

RF Tester Is First with HSDPA Test Cases

Cetecom Spain is continuing its development and provision of complete RF test solutions for GCF and PTCRB. The newest platform for conformance testing, the MINT T1152-HSDPA, is a technological evolution of the MINT family of test systems and now includes the first RF HSDPA test cases validated for all bands. MINT T1152 is a HSDPA radio frequency test system based on the MINT advanced hardware and test techniques, and the Aeroflex 6401signaling unit.

MINT testers architecture optimizes the amount of equipment, and the HSDPA RF tester can be provided in a compact solution or combined with other MINT platforms, thus saving hardware costs.

Rafael Garcia, product manager of Cetecom Spain, said, "The MINT RF tester has been addressing the testing and performance needs for the industry. It is a highly scaleable, modular and automatic platform ideally suited to ensure compliance with the applicable GCF and PTCRB certification criteria, and we can customize our systems for all kinds of users."

Disabled to Mentally Control Wheelchairs

Researchers at the University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo have developed a prototype of a system that enables paraplegics and others to control electric wheelchairs merely by thinking of the direction they want to go, according to The Nihon Keizai Shimbun.

Key to the system is an electrode device loaded with 13 sensors to track brain waves. The cap-shaped unit is designed to be worn on the user"s head. The user"s brain waves are first measured by an electroencephalograph, and the wave patterns characteristic of when they think of moving to the left or right are recorded in a PC. The system judges the direction the user wants to go by checking the brain wave patterns with those recorded in the PC.

The research team, led by Professor Kazuo Tanaka, says the system can control wheelchairs with 80% accuracy.

The technology could pave the way for making devices that enable para-plegics and others to control televisions and other home appliances. It could also find applications in computer games and other types of entertainment.

Hickman Retires

Gerald Hickman, senior vice president and general manager at EMS Wireless in Atlanta, Georgia, has retired and moved to the Tennessee mountains, where he and his wife are building a new home. Paul Domorski, president and chief executive officer of EMS Technologies Inc., reports that the company has begun a search for Hickman"s replacement, and that Domorski will act as the division"s general manager in the interim period.

"Hickman played a key role in developing our EMS Wireless division, as cofounder in 1993," says Domorski. "All of us at EMS thank Hickman for his contributions, and we wish him and his wife, Par Lee, many years of health and happiness in retirement."

Before joining EMS in 1988, Hickman served as product line manager of the Radar Cross-Section and Instrumentation product lines for Scientific-Atlanta Inc.

Hickman contributed to two antenna industry books and has authored several papers published in technical journals, including Physical Review, The Journal of Applied Physics and The Review of Scientific Instruments. He has been an active affiliate of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), Association of Old Crows, and the Antenna Measurement Techniques Association.

IEEE to Merge and Improve Standards

The IEEE is merging its SystemVerilog™ and Verilog™ standards into a single document, IEEE P1800™, "SystemVerilog Standard: Unified Hardware Design, Specification and Verification Language."

The project will also enhance SystemVerilog by improving its assertion language, allowing integration with analog mixed signals, supporting interoperability with other design languages such as SystemC and VHDL, as well as errata resolution and various local enhancements to the overall content of the standard. The unified standard will be developed within the IEEE Corporate Standards Program and is targeted for completion by the end of 2008.

"This project is a logical step in the ongoing evolution of this language," says Johny Srouji, chair of the Sys-temVerilog Language Working Group. "It will give them a single language for hardware design and verification that is consistently supported by various vendors."

SystemVerilog is a broad design language created to meet the needs of those designing increasingly complex very large scale integrated circuits. It is intended to make verification, which now consumes 60% of the design cycle, more efficient.

IEEE P1800 is sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society and the Corporate Advisory Group.

Labtech Names Burfoot Sales Manager

Labtech has named Roger Burfoot sales manager for Microwave Broadband Components at its manufacturing center in Milton Keynes, U.K. Burfoot has more than 20 years" experience of sales and marketing in high technology products for both the commercial and defense industries, having also previously worked within the Ministry of Defense for 11 years. He will develop and maintain accounts in the U.K. and European defense electronics industry and work closely with the company"s sales representatives.

Labtech offers a comprehensive build-to-print microwave module and component manufacturing services, including design support, fully automatic chip placement and wire bonding, thin film and box build assembly, microwave printed circuit board manufacture, RF machining and microwave alignment and test up to 40GHz.

Burfoot, a chartered engineer with degrees in physics and management, has experience handling major contracts from research and development through to the final product and has worked for both U.K. and U.S. companies.

RFMD"s POLARIS™ Win Major Awards

RFMD®, a leading provider of proprietary radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) for wireless communications applications, reports its industry-leading POLARIS 2 TOTAL RADIO™ solutions have been recognized for product excellence by top electronics industry publications Portable Design, EDN China and Wireless Design & Development.

These prestigious awards and recognitions--Portable Design"s Editor"s Choice Award, EDN China"s Innovation Award, Top Product and Wireless Design & Development"s 2006 Technology Award--signify the performance, size and cost advantages of RFMD"s POLARIS solutions, which enable the world"s leading handset manufacturers to design smaller, more feature-rich handsets with increasing levels of functionality.

"Winning not one but three distinguished product awards from our industry"s leading publications speaks volumes about the high caliber and exceptional quality of our POLARIS 2 TOTAL RADIO products," said Eric Creviston, corporate vice president of cellular products at RFMD.

Thorburn Steps Down at Zilog

Zilog Chairman and CEO Jim Thorburn has resigned and has been replaced by CEO Robin Abrams who currently serves on the company"s board of directors. Abrams, most recently CEO of Firefly Mobile, will act as CEO on an interim basis while the board searches for a permanent replacement.

"We are positioned to compete globally and we have expanded our product portfolio to address the market needs," said Thorburn. "I felt the time was right for me to step aside to allow new leadership to steer Zilog."

"On behalf of the board, I want to thank Jim for his leadership efforts the past five years," Abrams said.

Zilog builds semiconductor products that enable design engineers to break through the barriers to creativity and innovation in embedded design.

Alliance to Certify IEEE 802.11n Interoperability

Wi-Fi Alliance will certify interoperability of Wi-Fi products that include baseline features from the developing IEEE 802.11n standard in the first half of 2007. This is the first phase in a certification program of next generation of Wi-Fi products. A second phase brings full alignment with the ratified standard.

"This two-phase approach balances our longstanding commitment to standards-based technology with the current market need for product interoperability certification," said Wi-Fi Alliance managing director Frank Hanzlik. "While we are committed to supporting a full 802.11n standard when it is available, pre-standard products are reaching a level of maturity and there is enough market uptake that a certification program makes sense for the industry."

The Wi-Fi Alliance expects the second phase of the program, introduced at the time of final IEEE 802.11n ratification, will support compatibility between Wi-Fi-certified products and those certified to the full standard. The certification marks used for the first phase of the program will clearly indicate that the certified products are a pre-standard not based on a ratified IEEE standard.

The IEEE recently updated its estimated timeline for ratification of a full 802.11n standard and is now targeting the first quarter of 2008 for final approval.

Frontier Silicon Announces Recruitment Drive

Frontier Silicon is recruiting an experienced software engineering staff at its Cambridge, U.K. product design center. The center, which has expanded to over 75 engineers since it opened in 2004, has 25 vacancies in software development.

The Cambridge design center is part of Frontier Silicon"s 200-strong worldwide operation, headquartered in Watford, with offices in Ireland, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China. It delivers radio frequency IC design, digital design, digital and hardware product development, embedded software development and product testing, and has made contributions to many of the chips being used in today"s DAB radios and mobile phones receiving television broadcasts in Germany, South Korea and China.

Anthony Sethill, CEO of Frontier, commented, "Our Cambridge design center has been instrumental in providing the technology for customers such as Philips, Sony, Sharp, Samsung, Bang & Olufsen, and Denon.

Frontier Silicon is the leading supplier of digital and RF integrated circuits and modules for mobile TV and DAB digital radio products.



Sirenza Microdevices Appoints New Sales Director

Sirenza Microdevices, Inc. opened its Central Europe sales office in Nuernberg, Germany in August and appointed Klaus Buesselmann the office"s sales director.

Buesselmann has over 17 years of experience in the RF/microwave market, having served in numerous sales, purchasing, and program management and engineering management roles, most recently at Ericsson (a division previously owned by Marconi and Bosch). Buesselmann will be based out of a new sales office in Nuernberg, located within the existing facility of Sirenza"s subsidiary Premier Devices.

Sirenza Microdevices is a supplier of RF components.

IMAPS-UK Joins U.K. Electronics Alliance

MAPS-UK has become a member of the United Kingdom Electronics Alliance (UKEA), the consortium initiated by the DTI and Intellect established late in 2005 to address the state of play and needs of the U.K. electronics industry.

The UKEA membership now comprises AFDEC, COG, JEMI, IABM Gambica, Electronics-Scotland and the Welsh Electronics Forum in addition to IMAPS-UK.

Peter Ongley, chairman of IMAPS-UK, says the invitation to join UKEA has given a great opportunity for the membership to help shape the UK"s electronics policy.

Philips Semiconductors Now Known as NXP

After being bought by a consortium of private equity investment companies, Philips Semiconductors will now simply be known as NXP.

According to CEO Frans van Houten, NXP stands for the consumer"s "next experience." NXP is also associated with Philips Semiconductors" Nexperia platform where audio and video processing technologies reside.

The NXP trademark will include a "Founded by Philips" tagline as part of its branding. "We want to create the bridge between the ‘next experience" and our rich heritage," said van Houten. "We have agreed as part of the disentanglement that we can use the Philips brand link to NXP Semiconductors."

NXP is planning a strategic investment in cellular baseband technologies in order to save what appears to be a lackluster baseband business. The move would also help it gain substantial market share in the mobile wireless sector. NXP will also make a sizable investment in development tools to increase product quality.

LG Electronics Orders 150 Bluetooth® Testers

LG Electronics has ordered about 150 Bluetooth testers from the German electronics company Rohde & Schwarz. The Korean electronics firm intends to use the testers in the production of its Bluetooth-compatible mobile phones. What tipped the scale in favor of the R&S CBT32 was its high measurement speed. Should it become necessary to generate and analyze audio signals, the Rohde & Schwarz Bluetooth testers can be retrofitted with the R&S CBT-B41 option.

The EDR test specification stipulates four new transmitter and four new receiver tests. The CBTgo software from Rohde & Schwarz offers a total of 18 of the test cases required by the standard. The EDR option supports the loopback test mode defined by the specification. In the loopback mode, receiver sensitivity is tested under nearly realistic conditions, with a Bluetooth connection set up to the mobile phone. It is also possible to perform receiver tests with a dirty transmitter.

The R&S CBT32 as well as the larger R&S CBT stand out for high measurement speed, which considerably reduces the time and cost of production tests.

DuPont Opens Semiconductor Center in Taiwan

DuPont Electronic Technologies has established the Semiconductor Materials Technical Center in Taiwan"s Hsinchu Science Park.

The center is DuPont Taiwan Technical Center"s (DTTC"s) third facility in Taiwan. In the design and construction phase for two years, the state-of-the-art facility includes single wafer processing capability, advanced analytical and metrology tools, and is staffed with top researchers in the field of semiconductor process technology. DuPont also has semiconductor materials research facilities in the United States, Europe, and Japan.

"With Taiwan"s large and rapidly growing role in the development of advanced semiconductor technologies, it is strategically important for DuPont to have research for advanced semiconductor materials capabilities near our customers, so we can better serve the needs of the marketplace," said David B. Miller, vice president and general manager, DuPont Electronic Technologies.

DTTC has facilitated DuPont Taiwan"s close networking between research institutes, industry and government agencies.

Artificial Intelligence Powers Prosthesis

The PROPIO FOOT™ prosthetic foot from Ossur North America in Aliso Viejo, California, is the first motor-powered and artificially intelligent prosthesis for transtibial amputees. The foot"s motion analysis capabilities are provided by real-time sensor technology that mimics the body"s neural receptors, providing a sense of where the limb is in space--an important safety issue for amputees.

Artificial intelligence processes information from the sensors and activates the most appropriate response for the next step, enabling the foot to detect and adapt to changes. It can identify slopes and stairs, instructing the ankle to flex. A motor and battery generate the necessary amount of prosthetic function to the foot.

The U.S. Department of Defense and the Veterans Administration are using the foot to benefit both servicemen returning from the Iraq war and veterans of past wars.

For more information, visit www.ossur.com.