Trending RF & Microwave News Stories this Week(17-21 Dec, 2018)

New Miniature Satellite to Investigate Ionospheric Turbulence that Disrupts RF Communications

On December 15, SRI International launched the Ionospheric Scintillation Explorer (ISX) - a miniature satellite on a space-weather mission.

The mission, supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), aims to investigate regions of natural ionospheric turbulence. These patches of disturbed ions and electrons corrupt radio transmissions and wreak havoc on essential Earth and space-based communication and navigation channels. Click here to read more.

Qorvo's 802.11ax 5GHz FEM Improves Enterprise Wi-Fi Performance

Qorvo has announced that its 5 GHz front-end module (FEM) - QPF4528 - is enabling one of the fastest, most energy-efficient 802.11ax enterprise access points. Qorvo’s FEM works with the Qualcomm IPQ8078 802.11ax chipset to power the WA6628 advanced enterprise-grade access point by leading digital solutions provider New H3C. Click here to read more.

Next-Gen Cellular Chipset Purpose-Built for IoT Applications

Qualcomm has launched its next-generation modem purpose-built for Internet of Things (IoT) applications such as asset trackers, health monitors, security systems, smart city sensors, and smart meters, as well as a range of wearable trackers. The new Qualcomm 9205 LTE modem is unique in bringing together key innovations required to build cellular-enabled IoT products and services in a single chipset, including global multimode LTE category M1 (eMTC) and NB2 (NB-IoT) as well as 2G/E-GPRS connectivity, application processing, geolocation, hardware-based security, support for cloud services and accompanying developer tools. Click here to read more.

60-GHz mm-Wave Sensors Enable Customizable Building Automation

Intelligent radar systems pioneer, Ainstein, has released an antenna and board design for 60-GHz mmWave radar over-the-door sensors (ODS) using Texas Instruments’ IWR6843 family of devices. With Ainstein’s innovative radar system design, customization, and manufacturing capabilities, building automation designers can now leverage TI’s new 60-GHz mmWave sensors in overhead mounting positions for highly customized applications. The new 60 GHz Evaluation Module enables near real-time decision-making and signal processing in advancing building automation use cases such as occupancy detection and management of HVAC, smart security lighting and fire safety systems. Click here to read more.

Researchers Develop an Ingestible Capsule that Can be Controlled Wirelessly Using Bluetooth

A group of researchers from MIT, Draper and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, have designed an ingestible capsule that can be controlled using Bluetooth wireless technology. The capsule, which can be customized to deliver drugs, sense environmental conditions, or both, can reside in the stomach for at least a month, transmitting information and responding to instructions from a user’s smartphone. Click here to read more.

60 GHz mm-Wave Wireless Solution to Provide Gigabit Backhaul for 5G Smart Tourism Project

Cambridge Communication Systems (CCS) has provided its Metnet 60G unlicensed mmWave wireless solution for the UK backed 5G Smart Tourism project in the historic city of Bath. CCS’ Metnet 60G delivers up to 12Gbps per radio, providing gigabit backhaul to support interactive 5G smart tourism applications and enhanced visual experiences using augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technology. The AR and VR content and technology capabilities will be provided by the BBC and Aardman with support from the University of Bristol’s Smart Internet Lab. Click here to read more.

Lockheed to Design, Develop & Deliver US Homeland Defense Radar in Hawaii

Lockheed Martin has received a contract worth $585 million from the US Missile Defense Agency (MDA), to design, develop and deliver its Homeland Defense Radar-Hawaii (HDR-H) in Oahu, Hawaii. The HDR-H radar will provide autonomous acquisition and persistent precision tracking and discrimination to optimize the defensive capability of the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) and counter evolving threats. Click here to read more.

Researchers Perform Analog, Wave-based Computations Using Wi-Fi Signals

A pair of French researchers have developed a way to use ordinary Wi-Fi signals to perform analog, wave-based computations. Researchers, Philipp del Hougne and Geoffroy Lerosey, from Langevin Institute and the company Greenerwave, have described their experiments and what they represent, in their paper published in the journal Physical Review X. Click here to read more.

Over One Billion Dual-Band GNSS Chipsets Expected to Ship in the Next Five Years

After many years of development at the fringe of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) industry, dual-frequency GNSS devices are finally ready to hit the mass market and will account for more than a billion chipset shipments in 2023, according to a new market data report by ABI Research. The report finds that the bulk of this growth will come from the adoption in the smartphone market with consumers hungry for better location accuracy. Click here to read more.

IZT Signal Generators Ready for Testing eCall-Systems

The European Union has deployed the emergency Call (eCall) system, which provides fast assistance in the event of a car accident. As a result, all new vehicles sold after the first quarter of 2018 in the European market, are required to have an In-Vehicle System (IVS) supporting eCall. These systems must be tested properly before being sold. Click here to read more.

Rohde & Schwarz, iBwave & Anokiwave Showcase an Indoor 5G-NR Network

Rohde & Schwarz, along with iBwave and Anokiwave, have implemented and measured an indoor 5G NR network on an experimental frequency license that uses the 26 GHz mmWave frequency band. The trial was performed as part of 5G Expert Days being held at the R&S headquarters in Munich. Hosted by Rohde & Schwarz, it is a well-established industry workshop that offers researchers, developers, manufacturers and test equipment users an excellent opportunity to discuss the recently finalized 5G NR technology. Click here to read more.