IEEE-EMC SYMPOSIUM Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, July 2007 Pioneers in EMC who were honored at the Hawaii Symposium awards lunch are Sam Burruano, Bob Goldblum and Vince Mancino. Sam was Vince’s first boss at RCA. See PHOTOS and STORY

Keithley Instruments Acquires RF Waveform

Keithley Instruments, Inc. has acquired Lyocom, Inc., a private company located in Richfield, Ohio. Lyocom develops and sells software algorithms used for generating and analyzing complex digital waveforms.

This technology will be used with Keithley’s Model 2800 Series RF vector signal analyzers and Model 2900 series vector signal generators. These products combine complex signal measurement capabilities with high performance and unprecedented ease of use. The Models 2800 and 2900 Series instruments offer significant testing advantages in the areas of wireless devices, wireless transceiver modules and RF components.

“Adding this technology to our existing RF measurement capability makes our RF offering an even more powerful solution for customers who need to test WiMax, MIMO and WLAN devices,” said Mark Hoersten, Keithley’s vice president, business management.

Laird Technologies Closing Pennsylvania Facility

Laird Technologies, a St. Louis-based maker of components and systems for electronics and wireless products, announced the closing of its Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania, facility on July 31.

This decision was made to mitigate the risk of further flood-related disruptions similar to those experienced in September 2004, April 2005 and June 2006 service. The company is working to ensure a seamless transfer of production and support services to other Laird locations.

“Laird Technologies recognizes and wishes to thank the employees of its Delaware Water Gap operations for the skill, dedication, and many contributions provided during its years of operation,” said Ron Hull, president. A number of employees have been offered relocation to other Laird facilities. Others are being offered a severance package.

Renault Opens EMC Testing Center

Renault has opened a £7 million EMC testing unit in Aubevoye, U.K. The 1,800 square-meter unit has three chambers to test electronic equipment and will reduce Renault’s development time for new models. Its work will include ensuring that all electronic systems fitted in Renault – and later, Nissan – vehicles are immune to interference from external sources, controlling electromagnetic emissions from the vehicles themselves, and measuring the radiation performance of the cars’ aerials, sat nav and TV systems. Work began this summer.

TÜV SÜD to Service New EMC Directive

TÜV SÜD America Inc., a global testing and certification services firm, has been recognized as a Notified Body, able to perform all related services for EMC Directive 2004/108/EC. The European Commission acknowledged TÜV SÜD America as a valid organization nominated as a U.S. Conformity Assessment Body (CAB) for the Electromagnetic Compat-ibility Sector of the U.S.-EC Mutual Recognition Agree-ment (MRA). A U.S. CAB is equivalent to an EU Notified Body.

This recognition means that TÜV SÜD America may conduct tests and approve products according to the new European EMC Directive 2004/108/EC, which became effective July 20, 2007. TÜV also holds Competent Body status for all purposes related to testing and approval of the former EMC Directive, 89/336/EEC.

“As a Notified Body, TÜV has access to current information on the new EMC Directive, which brings a significant level of insight to our certification services,” said Steve Dykstra, vice president, testing.

Brain Implants

Purdue University has developed tiny devices that are implanted in the brain to predict and prevent epileptic seizures, and a nanotech sensor implanted in the eye to treat glaucoma. The first project is a transmitter three times the width of a human hair that is implanted below the scalp to detect epileptic seizures before they occur. The electrodes record neural signals in the brain.

Said Pedro Irazoqui, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, “When epileptics have a seizure, a particular part of the brain starts firing in a way that is abnormal. Being able to record signals from several parts of the brain at the same time enables you to predict when a seizure is about to start.” Data from the transmitter are picked up by an external receiver, also developed by the Purdue researchers.

The second project is a sensor implanted in the eye to monitor glaucoma by measuring pressure in the eye’s interior. The disease causes blindness from a buildup of fluid pressure in the interior chamber of the eye, killing fibers in the optic nerve. Glaucoma patients have their eye pressure checked regularly, but it can change at any minute.

“What you really need to do,” said Irazoqui, “is check it often, every couple of minutes, but you can’t go to the doctor every couple of minutes for the rest or your life. So what you need is a device that measures your eye pressure continuously.”

The pressure sensor, which is placed between two layers of tissue in the eye, measures the interocular pressure and transmits the information to an external receiver so pressure can be continuously monitored.

Molnar

Agilent Names Molnar V.P. and G.M.

William Molnar has joined Agilent Technologies Inc. as vice president and general manager of the Stratagene Division. Molnar has more than 20 years of senior management experience in marketing, business development, manufacturing and sales in lab chemicals, analytics and bioscience reagents.

“We’re extremely pleased that Bill has accepted this key role in building synergy and cohesiveness among Agilent and the new Stratagene Division,” said Nick Roloefs, V.P. and G.M. of Agilent’s Life Sciences Solutions Unit.

“Combining Stratagene’s portfolio of bioscience reagents, kits and tools for life science research with Agilent’s instrumentation will position the company to harmonize chemistries, processes and analytical techniques,” Molnar said.

Molnar holds an MBA in finance/industrial marketing from Loyola College, a master’s degree in chemical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Bethany College.

Nic du Toit

AR RF/Microwave Appoints
Engineering Manager

AR RF/Microwave Instrumentation of Souderton, Pennsylvania, has appointed Nic du Toit as engineering manager. He will assume responsibility for product development, configuration man-agement, and technical support.

A cum laude graduate of South Africa’s University of Stellenbosch, with a M.S. degree in engineering, du Toit has lectured in RF and microwave engineering at the University. He also worked in South Africa’s defense industry, creating EW receivers, and managed sales and technical support for a South African company before coming to the U.S.

Pippin

EMS Technologies Founder Dies

Dr. John E. Pippin, founder and first CEO of EMS Technologies Inc., died at age 79 on July 13 after a prolonged illness.

Pippin founded the company (then Electromagnetic Sciences Inc.) along with eight employees in 1968, and retired as the company chairman in 1998. At that time he said, “The main reason we were successful was our people.” From its earliest days, the company focused on developing technologies for advanced wireless comm-unications and was the place to go when the engineering community had “impossible” microwave problems to solve.

In the early 1970s EMS pioneered the use of ferrite technology in space applications. A major milestone came in 1976 when the company built the first electronically steerable antenna flown in space for the Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS), precursor to both Milstar and advanced EHF built to ensure secure communication transmissions among the U.S. military and country leaders.

Today, almost every major military satellite flying in space carries EMS hardware.

Prior to founding EMS, Pippin was vice president of research at Scientific-Atlanta from 1964 to 1968. A Fellow of the National Science Foundation and of the IEEE, he was an engineering graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology and earned his Ph.D. in applied physics from Harvard University.

FCC Measurements on TV White Space Devices

On October 12, 2006, the Federal Communications Commission adopted a First Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rule Making in ET Docket Nos. 04-186 and 02-380, 21 FCC Rcd 12266 (2006), on authorizing the operation of new low power devices in the TV broadcast spectrum at locations where individual channels/frequencies are not being used for authorized services (TV White Spaces). The Commission’s laboratory was to conduct a testing program, including field testing, to assess the potential for interference from low power devices operating in the TV bands and issue a report of these test results by July 2007. Technical reports are now available at http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs/.