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U.S. Navy's MUOS Satellite. See story below.

Lockheed Delivers SATCOM to Navy

Lockheed Martin has delivered a cutting-edge communications system module for the second satellite (pictured above) in the U.S. Navy's Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) program. Supporting ultra-high frequency (UHF) satellite communications (SATCOM), MUOS will provide assured communications, including simultaneous voice, video and data, for mobile warfighters.

Designed and built by Lockheed Martin in Newtown, Pennsylvania, and delivered to the company's facilities in Sunnyvale, California, the module features a wideband code division multiple access payload that incorporates advanced technology to provide a 10-fold increase over legacy UHF SATCOM in the number and capacity of satellite links. These technologies will support new mobile satellite terminals that are under development for the Joint Tactical Radio System. The module also includes a legacy UHF payload provided by Boeing Defense, Space and Security of El Segundo, California, that is compatible with more than 10,000 deployed UHF SATCOM terminals that will transition to MUOS as existing UHF Follow-on (UFO) satellites reach the end of their on-orbit life.

Avago Announces Changes to Board of Directors

Avago Technologies Ltd. of San Jose, California, a leading designer, developer and global supplier of a broad range of analog semiconductor devices with a focus on III-V based products, reports that John R. Joyce and James H. Greene, Jr. have resigned from its board of directors. In connection with their resignations from the Board, Messrs. Joyce and Greene have each withdrawn as candidates for re-election at Avago's upcoming annual general meeting of shareholders. The board has decided not to fill the vacancies created by their resignations and no other nominees for election will be named.

Joyce and Greene were director designees of Silver Lake and KKR, respectively. Silver Lake and KKR, through their ownership of Bali Investments, Avago's principal and controlling shareholder, beneficially own approximately 54% of Avago's outstanding ordinary shares. In light of the company's transition to being a public company and the completion of its recent secondary offering, KKR and Silver Lake believe it is an appropriate time to decrease their presence and allow independent directors to comprise a greater proportion of the board.

Halstenbach Takes Over As TUV Rheinland Taiwan GM

Halstenbach

Uwe Halstenbach officially took over the position of GM of TUV Rheinland Taiwan Ltd. in Taipei on April 9.

Halstenbach, who used to be in charge of the company's EMC Telecommunication, international approvals and medical services in Taiwan, said his top strategy for running the company is to bring more testing and certification services to the local market, with a focus on the IT industry.

As TUV Rheinland Taiwan GM, Halstenbach hopes to expand the company's scopes further into fields such as green energy and photovoltaic products. In November 2009, the company inaugurated its 1,000-square-meter PV lab in Daya, Taiwan. He also envisions that the company's number of employees will reach more than 500 from the current team of over 300 in the next five years.

Halstenbach sees himself as a servant to customers and employees, for whom he will continue making every effort to provide better services. "We'll build a structure to consider very much Taiwanese interest," he added.

EMF Exposure Benefits Alzheimer's Mouse

Arendash

A new study in mice suggests that long-term exposure to an electromagnetic field (EMF) protects against and even reverses cognitive impairment in normal mice and those transgenically engineered to develop Alzheimer's disease (AD), reports Medscape Medical News. Furthermore, in this model, long-term exposure was associated with less amyloid-ß (Aß) deposition in the brains of the AD mice.

Dr. Gary Arendash, a University of South Florida research professor, was the study's lead author. He and his colleagues examined 96 mice — some transgenic AD mice and some their normal littermates — after seven to nine months of high-frequency EMF exposure. Exposure was similar to what the human head is exposed to during two one-hour periods of cell phone use per day (918MHz; 0.25W/kg). This was achieved by arranging cages around a centrally located antenna.

The previous suggestion that these exposures increase the risk for glioma was not borne out in this study, with no autopsy evidence seen of abnormal growths in brain or peripheral organs.

They are currently evaluating whether different sets of EMF frequencies and strengths will produce more rapid and even greater cognitive benefits than those seen in this study. "If we can determine the best set of electromagnetic parameters to effectively prevent Aß aggregation and remove preexisting Aß deposits from the brain, this technology could be quickly translated to human benefit against AD," says coauthor Chuanhai Cao, PhD, also from the University of South Florida, in their statement.

ANADIGICS Celebrates 25 Years

Rivas

Celebrating its 25th anniversary helping shape the mobile communications industry, ANADIGICS, Inc. rang the closing bell at the NASDAQ Stock Market on April 22. Founded in 1985, ANADIGICS has set the industry standard in high performance radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) design technology. ANADIGICS has built its reputation as a pioneer of RF technology over the course of 25 years by combining its expertise in RF design, communications industry knowledge, and commitment to innovating in process manufacturing.

ANADIGICS is focused on enabling the telecommunications industry's move into fourth-generation (4G) technologies by delivering advanced RF ICs that significantly improve product design and functionality for wireless communications. The company also delivers the latest technology for broadband and CATV.

"Reaching a silver anniversary is a significant milestone for any technology company, and we take tremendous pride in the innovations we've brought to market over the years," stated Mario Rivas, president and chief executive officer, ANADIGICS.

Schaffner Extends Contract with Orange Business

Schaffner, an international leader in the fields of electromagnetic compatibility and power quality, has extended its contract with Orange Business Services for wide area network and videoconferencing services in 13 countries.

With headquarters in Luterbach, Switzerland, Schaffner became an Orange customer in 2003. Orange Business Services provides WAN and videoconferencing services for 18 Schaffner sites in Asia-Pacific, Europe and the U.S.

In response to the economic downturn that has affected the company, Schaffner developed a comprehensive transition and restructuring. The plan is designed to reduce costs and increase employee productivity and includes new business-critical applications, including a new SAP deployment and video conferencing. The new applications benefit the whole group, from the CEO to engineers to every employee in all Schaffner plants.

Microsemi Acquires White Electronic Designs

Microsemi Corp. of Irvine, California, a leading manufacturer of high performance analog mixed-signal integrated circuits and high reliability semiconductors, says that its acquisition of White Electronic Designs Corporation closed on April 30. White Electronic is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Microsemi.

"White Electronic is an excellent fit for Microsemi," said James J. Peterson, CEO of Microsemi. "This acquisition extends our offering into high-growth sectors in our core aerospace and defense markets and adds an extraordinary anti-tamper functionality to our existing product suite. We continue to expect the acquisition to be accretive immediately and to perform within our targeted corporate gross margin range during its first full quarter of contribution."

Accounting for the acquisition of White Electronic, Microsemi now expects for the third quarter of fiscal 2010 that net sales will increase between 9 and 11% sequentially.

AWR Announces Power Amp Student Design Contest

AWR Corp. of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida has launched the 2010 International Microwave Symposium High Efficiency Power Amplifier Student Design Competition. Winners of the contest will be awarded with one-year personal term licenses for Microwave Office and Visual System Simulator software suites. The suites are inclusive of AXIEM 3D planar EM software. The contest will provide students with the an opportunity to work with hands-on software experiences. The design contest is another building block in the corporation's student/university outreach program and complements its Graduate Gift Initiative.

AWR helps electronics manufacturers complete the circuit. The company specializes in software for designing analog, RF, and mixed-signal semiconductors; microwave printed circuit boards; wireless telecommunications equipment; high-speed computers; and networking systems.

Ember Ships 10 Millionth ZigBee Chip

Ember Corp. of Boston, Massachusetts, has reached a key milestone in its quest to become the world's foremost provider of ZigBee technology for smart meters and home area network (HAN) products when it became the first company to ship more than 10 million ZigBee wireless chips. The company's record revenues and sales bookings make Ember well positioned for almost 300% annual revenue growth in 2010.

Ember's spectacular ramp has been driven by large-scale deployments of smart energy technologies by utilities, device manufacturers, and smart home products for applications in energy management and home security, monitoring and automation. Many ZigBee smart energy products hitting the market are Ember-enabled.

"Energy management technologies like ZigBee are providing new ways to acquire and communicate energy data to consumers accurately, reliably and in real time," said Adrian Tuck, CEO of Tendril, an Ember partner and leading energy management technology provider.

Federal-Mogul's Systems Eliminates EMI Issues

Federal-Mogul Corp. of Southfield, Michigan, has recently developed a new optimized EMI shielding protection range. EMI is the unintentional generation and reception of electromagnetic disturbances traveling through a circuit or wiring harness that can cause computer-controlled systems to power-up, power-down or create a variety of other unwanted effects. EMI can be solved using specially designed protective sleeves, thereby preventing the transmission and reception of the disturbance and its negative consequences.

Other shielding techniques, such as foil wrapping or full wire mesh over-braiding, are also available in the marketplace but can limit harness flexibility, accessibility and increase overall weight.

For the aerospace industry, Federal-Mogul's Systems Protection division is a global leading supplier of protective sleeving and shielding solutions for wires, hoses and mechanical assemblies. Systems protection products bundle wires and protect against abrasion, fluids, heat, fire and EMI interferences.

Seasoned Executives Join Amalfi Semiconductor

Amalfi® Semiconductor of Los Gatos, California, a developer of high-performance CMOS RF and mixed-signal semiconductors for cellular mobile handsets, reports that Douglas Goodyear and Greg Hildebrand have joined the company. Goodyear has taken the new position of senior VP of worldwide sales and was formerly the CEO of Enigma Semiconductor, while Hildebrand has taken the new position of CFO, having previously been the CFO of Volterra Semiconductor. Goodyear and Hildebrand collectively bring to Amalfi Semiconductor 30-plus years of executive management experience in the semiconductor industry.

Goodyear has more than 25 years experience in sales, marketing and general management in the semiconductor industry. Previously, he held CEO positions at start-up companies Enigma, TakImaging and Nuelight.

Hildebrand has more than 16 years experience in corporate financial management. Before joining Amalfi, he had served as vice president of finance and CFO at Volterra Semiconductor.

MET Labs Reapproved by Measurement Canada

MET Labs of Baltimore, Maryland has been re-approved by Measurement Canada to test electricity meters as a recognized test facility, with additional authorization to conduct radiated and conducted susceptibility EMC testing. Formerly, MET performed load performance (demand) testing and external magnetic field testing.

MET was first designated in September 2007 by Measurement Canada as a recognized test facility under its ISO 17025 Accredited Test Facilities Program as set out in RT-01. MET was, and continues to be, the only company authorized to test under this program.

This recognition from Measurement Canada allows MET Labs to test previously approved watt-hour meters that have been modified and are being re-submitted for approval. Possible meter modifications include firmware upgrades, hardware changes and other modifications.

Semiconductor Industry Forms DA5 Consortium

Bosch (Division Automotive Electronics), Freescale Semiconductor, Infineon Technologies, NXP Semi-conductors and STMicroelectronics have formed a consortium to jointly investigate and standardize the acceptance of alternatives for high-lead solder for attaching die to semiconductor packages during manufacturing. The consortium is known as the DA5.

A previous joint effort known as the E4 successfully implemented more environmentally friendly materials for semiconductor packages. Lead-free high melting temperature die attach was not in the scope of the E4 effort since this solder material was exempted from the 2006 EU RoHS Directive.

The DA5 consortium aims to reinitiate the earlier E4 cooperation and use the proven formula for success to lead the industry into the next phase of the lead-free semiconductor evolution. In this way the DA5 companies are also actively supporting the demands of the European Union towards reduced lead in electronics.

Richardson to Distribute LS Modules and Kits

Richardson Electronics, Ltd. of Lafox, Illinois has signed a global distribution agreement with longtime engineering partner LS Research to distribute its line of innovative embedded solutions products.

LS Research offers a unique combination of FCC pre-certified wireless modules, gateways and development kits based on 802.11b/g/n, ZigBee®/802.15.4 and 900MHz Technology. The ModFLEX™ modules share a common design and footprint to give designers the flexibility of choosing a wireless platform. All LS Research ModFLEX modules work with LS Research gateway products, which will be released later this year.

The ModFLEX line currently includes two brands: ProFLEX™ (2.4GHz 802.15.4/ZigBee modules) and SiFLEX (900MHz 802.15.4 and FHSS modules).

PCTEST Lab Selects Rohde & Schwarz

PCTEST Engineering Laboratory, Inc. of Columbia, Maryland, a premier one-stop wireless testing and certification laboratory has expanded its services to include long-term evolution (LTE) carrier conformance testing for device manufacturers and operators. As a result, PCTEST Lab selected Rohde & Schwarz (R&S) LTE Test Platform as the 4G test solution for carrier conformance testing requirements.

"The addition of the R&S test platform demonstrates our engineering commitment to leadership in wireless testing and certification of mobile devices, including LTE," said PCTEST Lab President Randy Ortanez. "We believe our timely investment in the 4G conformance testing solutions will help accelerate the LTE deployment schedules of our customers and operators worldwide."

"The R&S LTE test platform is the most comprehensive turnkey solution available," explained Steve Coston, PCTEST Lab Technical Manager. "I'm thrilled with this new venture and in our choice to strategically partner with R&S for LTE conformance testing."

Comtech Awarded $4.8 Million SATCOM Order

Comtech Telecommunications Corp. of Melville, New York reports that its Tempe, Arizona-based subsidiary, Comtech EF Data Corp., was awarded a $4.8 million SATCOM equipment order from a leading telecommunications service provider. The equipment will be utilized to upgrade an existing network in Asia that currently has legacy cellular backhaul equipment.

The order comprises a variety of Comtech EF Data products, including the CDM-625 Advanced Satellite Modem, companion redundancy switches and the CSAT-5060 C-Band Transceivers.

Also included in the order is the CX-U Series cellular backhaul platform from Comtech EF Data's subsidiary, Memotec, Inc. Memotec's CX-U Series is a dedicated cellular backhaul platform delivering radio access network optimization and A/E voice trunks compression. The CX-U reduces the bandwidth required to backhaul cellular traffic, therefore avoiding costly forklift network upgrades. The result is a significant reduction in operating and capital expenses.

EMS Aviation Covers Broad Market

The three business units that comprise EMS Aviation, a newly formed subsidiary of U.S. conglomerate EMS Technologies of Norcross, Georgia, are pooling their resources to create a company with a range of expertise in cabin communications. The EMS Satcom, EMS Formation and EMS Sky Connect brand names remain.

EMS Satcom is the leading builder of Inmarsat satellite communications equipment for aircraft. The company supplies stand-alone satcom systems and related gear to airlines, business jet operators and militaries as well as the satcom systems that are branded by Honeywell and Rockwell Collins.

The recent acquisitions by EMS Technologies of EMS Formation, a supplier of technology for the Aircell ground-to-air high-speed Internet service in the U.S., and EMS Sky Connect, a maker of Iridium satcom hardware, have expanded the reach of the aero division, necessitating the name change and business realignment.

"With our realignment, we can now address all connectivity markets for virtually any aircraft, from helicopters and military airplanes to business jets and airliners," said EMS Technologies President and CEO Neil Mackay.

Dust Networks Joins Zigbee Alliance

Dust Networks® of Heyward, California, a leading supplier of wireless sensor networks (WSN), has joined the ZigBee® Alliance, an association of companies working together to enable reliable, cost-effective, low-power, wirelessly networked, monitoring and control products based on an open global standard. ZigBee technology will be embedded in a wide range of products and applications across consumer, commercial, industrial and government markets worldwide. The ZigBee Alliance standardized its ZigBee specification on top of the physical and medium access control layers of the IEEE 802.15.4 global standard; adding the application profile layers, security and network layers to create ZigBee.

"Dust Networks new family of ultra-low power IEEE 802.15.4 SoCs will provide an excellent platform for ZigBee applications. We have a long standing commitment to delivering standards-based WSN products," said Brenda Glaze, vice president of sales and marketing.

Crown Deploys Antenna System at Stanford

Crown Castle International Corp. of Houston, Texas, reports that one of its subsidiaries has deployed an outdoor distributed antenna system to facilitate wireless communications services at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. The distributed antenna system is a network of antennas connected by fiber to a communications hub designed to facilitate wireless communications services for multiple operators.

Crown Castle has also received approval from Stanford to add in-building antenna nodes to support various other locations on the university campus, including the Stanford School of Medicine and Stanford Hospital & Clinics.

Stanford has 15,000 students, nearly 2,000 faculty members and approximately 150,000 visitors annually.

The distributed antenna system deployed at Stanford utilizes strategically placed rooftop antennas, pole-mounted antennas and a stealth scoreboard pole at the 50,000-seat Stanford Stadium. The system currently facilitates wireless coverage for three major wireless communication operators and another operator is in the process of deploying. The current system has capacity for a fifth operator.

Kavveri Eyeing Acquisition in Radio Frequency Space

Telecom products manufacturer Kavveri Telecom Products has been evaluating acquisition targets in North America and Central and Latin American countries. It has been evaluating four to five potential target companies in the U.S., Central and Latin America to expand its footprint in the RF antenna manufacturing space.

Europe is another market where Kavveri is looking to tap opportunities. The Bangalore, India-based company manufactures antennas and radio frequency RF products for the wireless space catering to industries such as telecom and defense. The company reported revenues of Rs190 crore during fiscal 2008-09.

All four acquisitions carried out by Kavveri Telecom in the past four years have been in Canada. These include DCI Digital Communications, a radio frequency interference products manufacturer, Til-Tek Antennae and Spotwave Wireless.

Ball Wins Navy Contract

The U.S. Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) in San Diego, California, has selected Ball Aerospace Technologies Corp. of Boulder, Colorado, for Geosat Follow-on 2 (GFO-2), the next generation ocean altimetry satellite. GFO-2 measurements will be used for global ocean, and tactical battlespace characterization.

Under the GFO-2 contract, Ball Aerospace will upgrade the payloads, as compared to the original GFO satellite that was launched in 1998, with a dual frequency radar altimeter, and provide enhanced radio frequency interference immunity with significantly reduced data latency.

For GFO-2, Ball Aerospace directs the activities of several experienced altimeter mission partners, including instrument suppliers Thales Alenia Space and ITT/EDO.

Black Sand Acquires CMOS Power Amplifiers

Black Sand Technologies, Inc. of Austin, Texas, a specialist in advanced power amplifier technology for wireless applications, has acquired a patent portfolio related to CMOS power amplifiers (PAs) from Silicon Laboratories also of Austin, Texas.

Black Sand received a number of issued and pending patents from Silicon Laboratories. The U.S. and international patents include claims and methods related to power amplifier architectures and implementations that can be used in a CMOS process.

Black Sand targets RF PA products at mobile phones and other 3G wireless devices, such as datacards and netbooks. Mobile phones and wireless products today use power amplifiers based on Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) semiconductor technology. Replacing GaAs with CMOS improves manufacturing yield, performance, cost, battery life, and call quality.