- 37 Years of Service to the EMC Community
- March - April 2009
 Agilent's Infiniium Series 90000 oscilloscope. See story Implanted Neuromuscular Microstimulators RulesThe Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed to allocate spectrum and adopt service and technical rules for the use of new implanted medical devices that would greatly expand the use of functional electric stimulation to restore sensation, mobility and function to paralyzed limbs and organs. These implanted neuromuscular microstimulators would function as wireless broadband medical micro-power networks (MMNs) within a patient. By eliminating the wires now used to interconnect multiple implanted neuromuscular microstimulators and the external power source for the implants, MMNs would reduce the risk of infection and increase patient mobility and reliability. This technology could revolutionize medical treatment and therapy for millions of people living with brain and spinal cord injuries and neuromuscular disorders such as multiple sclerosis, polio, cerebral palsy, and ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gehrig's Disease) as well as numerous other neurological disorders. It could be used in conjunction with next-generation prosthetic limbs to provide wireless sensation and control to the prostheses. AR Announces New, Low Cost Rental Program"Times may be tough, but renting and owning AR equipment has never been easier." That's the message that AR RF/Microwave Instrumentation of Souderton, Pennsylvania is sending to its customers, and they are backing it up with a new rental program designed to help customers get the equipment they need without having to make a huge cash outlay. Under the new program, AR equipment is available for rental at a monthly cost equal to 10% of its list price. The only commitment required is a three-month minimum rental. What makes this program attractive is that the monthly rental fee can be credited toward a buyout — 90% of each rental payment is credited up to 95% of the equipment's list price. Equipment can be rented for as long as needed and customers can execute a buyout at any time. Agreement Promotes Standard Specs for RF RemotesThe Zigbee Alliance and the RF4CE Consortium, founded by Panasonic Corp., Royal Philips Electronics, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Sony Corp., have reached an agreement to deliver a standardized specification for RF remote controls. The Alliance will incorporate V1.0 of the RF4CE specification into its suite of global sensor and control network solutions. This Zigbee RF4CE specification will first be made available to Zigbee members this quarter. It creates a low-cost, easy-to-implement solution for control of products and a variety of public application profiles. The Zigbee RF4CE specification is designed for a wide range of products, including home entertainment devices, garage door openers, keyless entry systems and many more. "Zigbee is now on the fast track to enter millions more homes around the world because no other technology will be able to deliver what Zigbee can do in this space," said Bob Heile, chairman of the Zigbee Alliance. SWE Recognizes Harris Corporation's Wendy Martin Martin Wendy Martin, a Harris Corp. engineering director, has received the Outstanding Woman Engineer Award from the Space Coast chapter of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) for her leadership, integrity and contributions to Harris and the community. Martin was one of eight Harris women engineers who were nominated and recognized in different categories during the annual SWE awards banquet. Martin has been a Harris employee for 20 years. In her current position, she oversees new business in the civil growth area of the company's civil programs business. She also is an active in the community. In addition, Fortune magazine has named Harris Corp. one of the world's most admired companies for the third consecutive year, based on an annual survey of the 1,400 largest companies by revenue that are operating in the U.S. Harris ranked as the sixth most admired company in the network communications industry. It ranked fourth in the industry in social responsibility in the categories of people management, use of corporate assets, and long-term investment. Innovator in Electromagnetism Dies at 92 Whinnery On February 1, John Roy Whinnery, former dean of engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, and a distinguished innovator in the field of electromagnetism and communication electronics, died at age 92. Whinnery's earliest work focused on understanding discontinuities in electromagnetic wave devices. His research led to innovations in microwave amplifiers such as triodes, used in World War II communication devices and radar receivers, and in traveling-wave tubes, including the backward-wave amplifier, still used in radar and satellite communications. In addition to his research, Whinnery is widely credited with helping to bring the study of applied electromagnetic theory to a broader audience with the pioneering textbook, "Fields and Waves in Modern Radio," which he co-authored with Simon Ramo in 1944. In 1992, Whinnery's research contributions, excellence as an educator and record of service also earned him the National Medal of Science, the nation's highest scientific honor bestowed by the president. Whinnery was preceded in death in 2007 by Patricia, his wife of 63 years. He is survived by three daughters, Carol Whinnery of Torrance, California; Dr. Cathy Whinnery of Berkeley, California; and Barbara Whinnery of Santa Monica, California; and three granddaughters. Emrise Gets $1 Million Order for Radio SystemAerospace-electronics industry manufacturer Emrise Corp., based in Rancho Cucamonga, California has received a $1 million order for radio frequency generator subsystems from a major international defense contractor. "This is a follow-on order for a new generation frequency generator subsystem to be used in an electronic systems application on... navy ships in Europe," the company said in a statement. "The design phase will begin immediately with initial shipments of product scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2010." The company's United Kingdom-based subsidiary, Pascall Electronics Ltd., received the order. The below-$1-a-share noncompliant indicator beside Emrise's stock trading symbol was removed in January. President and CEO Carmine Oliva said in a late February statement he was pleased the company was "able to continue to generate orders for multi-year military programs such as this one." Moore Industries Wins Engineer's Choice Award Moore Industries-International, Inc. of North Hills, California has won an Engineer's Choice Award from Control Engineering for the new miniMOORE™ family of multi-channel signal conditioners. Control Engineering's Engineer's Choice Award highlights the most notable new products from the past year. The miniMOORE signal conditioners, released in November of 2008, won in the networks and communications products category for signal conditioners or diagnostics. miniMOORE analog signal conditioners deliver up to four low-cost input/output (I/O) channels in a 1in (25.4mm) footprint, which equates to 0.25in (6.35mm) per channel. The complete miniMOORE family can be used to isolate, convert, boost and split analog signals. Despite their slight size, miniMOORE signal conditioners feature the company's rugged, industrial metal housings that provide superior protection against the effects of RFI and EMI interference. The winners of Control Engineering's Engineer's Choice Award (pictured above) were chosen by end-users either responsible for or with specific influence on technology purchases for their respective companies. EMS Awarded $35.7 Million Contract from GrummanEMS Technologies, Inc. of Atlanta, Georgia has won its latest Northrop Grumman award, valued at $35.7 million, for continued concept advanced development work for the new extremely high frequency satellite communications system for the B-2 stealth bomber. Northrop Grumman is the U.S. Air Force's prime contractor for the B-2, flagship of the nation's arsenal of long-range strike aircraft. The new EHF system will allow the B-2 to fully use the communication techniques of both heritage Milstar and Advanced EHF satellites and will provide much improvement compared with the current UHF satellite communications system. The award funds the work of EMS Defense & Space through July 2009. "This most recent B-2 award puts us in a strong position to supply airborne terminals for military vehicles, and represents our increasing capability as a systems provider to the military," says David Smith, VP and GM, EMS D&S. Ronald Brett Named President of Park ChemicalPark Electrochemical Corp. of Melville, New York has named Ronald Brett as president of Nelco Products Pte. Ltd., Park's high-technology electronics circuitry materials and advanced composite materials subsidiary located in Singapore. Brett also will serve as resident of Nelco Technology Ltd., Park's electronics circuitry materials subsidiary in Zhuhai, China. Brett had been president of Neltec Europe SAS, Park's circuitry materials business unit located in Mirebeau, France, since his appointment to that position in September 2005. He received a BSc (honors) degree in chemistry from Southhampton University in 1969. Park Electrochemical Corp. is a global advanced materials company which develops and manufactures high-technology digital and RF/microwave printed circuit materials principally for the telecommunications and internet infrastructure and high-end computing markets and advanced composite materials, structures and components principally for the aerospace markets. Next Generation Ships 100,000th Remote RF Extender Next Generation Home Products LLC, a provider of product solutions for the a/v markets, has achieved a significant sales milestone. As of February 2009, Next Generation has shipped more than 100,000 of its award-winning remote control extenders, an affordable product that turns the infrared signal from any remote control into a long-range RF signal. Bob Dolatowski, president of Next Generation commented, "Our remote extender has been called the greatest thing to happen to the remote control since infrared. Since its introduction, it has been such a hit that many of our sales come from customer referral and word-of-mouth." The RF Extender Kit comes supplied with an RF receiver (i.e., flying saucer) that has a built-in charger, a battery transmitter (available in either 433 or 418 frequencies) that works with most AA and AAA batteries, a single-eye IR Emitter and two rechargeable batteries. Analyst Confident on RF Rebound in '09Overall semiconductor industry in 2009 forecasts are dire, but favorable trends in the handset market should keep the market for RF chips from crashing this year and ready to bounce back more quickly than many industry segments, according to an analyst. Analysts are now forecasting overall chip industry contraction on the order of 20% or more. But indications are that the RF semiconductor industry may contract closer to 1% in 2009 and bounce back with double digit growth in 2010 and beyond, according to Tom Hackenburg, an analyst at IMS Research. Hackenburg said the RF chip market will benefit from lower resistance to reduced consumer purchasing power in the mobile handset market, advancements in 3G and 4G technologies and consumer demand for more advanced smart phones. Overall, high-performance semiconductors such as 32- and 64bit processors and 32- and 64bit core-based ASIC, ASSP and FPGA products are likely to see less than 5% contraction for 2009, while many applications will actually see slight growth, Hackenburg said. Schaffner Adjusts to Volatile Markets The Schaffner Group of Switzerland is adjusting its structures in response to volatile order flows and insufficient market visibility. The group's global staff head count has been gradually reduced from 2,318 full-time equivalents (average) in 2007/2008 to 2,013 full-time equivalents (average) in the first five months of 2008/2009, mainly in the production centers in China and Thailand. From March 2009, a short-time working program will be introduced in Switzerland. This will affect 34 of the 114 staff at the company's headquarters in Luterbach. The Schaffner Group believes it is still well positioned for long-term, sustainable growth in sales and earnings, with among other things, new innovative products for the growth markets of energy-efficient drive systems and electronic motor controls, renewable energy sources — with wind energy playing an increasing role — and public transport, especially railroad infrastructure, in the regional market of China in particular. STMicro Extends Collaboration with ApacheChipmaker STMicroelectronics has formed a partnership with Apache Design Solutions, a power and noise integrity technology provider for chip, package, and system convergence, to address the power and noise challenges associated with 45nm and 32nm designs. STMicro already uses Apache's RedHawk and Sentinel platforms for 3D-IC power integrity, DDR jitter detection and prevention, chip-package-system convergence, and EMI analysis. The companies also worked together to provide power and noise applications for SoC power signoff, advanced low power design validation, custom IP analysis and modeling, and early-design power/ground grid prototyping. Philippe Magarshack, group vice president of Technology R&D at STMicro, said,"We selected Apache as our partner for power and noise integrity, because of their solid technical vision, their specific focus, and their expertise in this very important and difficult area, as well as for the quality of their R&D and support teams." Laird Launches New Comprehensive WebsiteLaird Technologies, Inc. of St. Louis, Missouri, a global leader in the design and manufacture of customized, performance-critical components for wireless systems and other advanced electronics applications, has launched its newly designed website, The redesign of the website offers easy home-page navigation of all products, full product and custom capabilities content, as well as local points of contact for inquiries and distributors. "Customers and visitors alike will now have much better access to the entire company versus only limited product line areas," said Blaine Bateman, Laird Technologies vice president of marketing. Easy one- or two-click navigation sends visitors directly to product categories with drill-down to product lines and individual products without leaving the home page. The company's major product categories include antenna and reception solutions, mechanisms for mobile devices, EMI solutions, thermal management solutions, as well as wireless m2m and telematics solutions. RF Alliance Poised to Create National RF CenterWith $4 million in fresh federal funding, Crane, Indiana-based Radio Frequency Alliance plans to draw together statewide wireless resources with the goal of creating a national center of excellence for radio frequency technology. "There exists a considerable amount of microwave and wireless expertise across the state. Indiana should be a global leader in digital radio frequency technology development and deployment," said Matt Harvey, RF Alliance director. The organization has already built strong ties with the U.S. Department of Defense's Technology Transition Office at the Pentagon. The RF Alliance ultimately plans to serve as a bridge between academe, government and business for radio frequency development. The RF Alliance enjoys broad support both from major universities across the state and from commercial defense operations such as ITT, Raytheon, TSC, WavePoint and other organizations. D.L.S. Is Now Authorized iNARTE Testing CenterD.L.S. Electronic Systems, Inc. of Wheeling, Illinois, has met the requirements of the International Association for Radio Telecommunications and Electromagnetics, Inc. and is declared to be an authorized testing center for iNARTE. An authorized testing center is a facility which meets the iNARTE guidelines to offer examinations to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) commercial license applicants as well as to professional engineers who want to become iNARTE-certified. The exams will be given on Saturday, May 16, 2009 at 8 a.m. at D.L.S.'s EMC testing facility at 1250 Peterson Dr., Wheeling, IL 60090. Registration must be completed on line at For more information, contact Brian Mattson at D.L.S. (847) 537-6400 or by email to bmattson@dlsemc.com. |
