Northrop Grumman Corp. will build the Advanced Microwave Sounder for NASA. See story below.

Northrop to Complete Microwave Sounder for NASA

Northrop Grumman Corp. of Falls Church, Virginia, will build and deliver the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) for the Joint Polar Satellite Systems (JPSS) under a contract with NASA.

JPSS is a system of polar-orbiting satellites to be developed by NASA for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for weather forecasting, storm tracking and climate monitoring.

The ATMS instrument is the second flight model and is slated to fly on the first JPSS satellite in 2016. The first ATMS was completed in 2005 and has been integrated on the NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) satellite, which is scheduled to launch in October.

ATMS will provide critical microwave data, including atmospheric temperature and moisture profiles, to support weather forecasting for the operational JPSS system. The instrument has 22 channels spanning the frequency band from 23.8GHz to 183.3GHz. It was designed to be the functional equivalent follow-on to the Advanced Microwave Sounder Units with improved sampling and coverage.

U.S. Army Awards Contract for OWL Radar

The U.S. Army’s Intelligence and Information Warfare Directorate has awarded SRC, Inc. of Syracuse, New York, formerly Syracuse Research Corp., a $500,000 phase one development contract for an Omni-Directional Weapon Location (OWL) radar system. Under the terms of this contract, SRC will perform a preliminary design of the OWL radar system.

The OWL radar is to be developed as a state-of-the-art, yet affordable, weapon location radar system, providing the Army with the ability to detect, track and locate mortar, cannon and rocket firing positions with unprecedented accuracy over a wide variety of threat trajectories. OWL is a multi-mission-capable system that provides surveillance over a hemispherical coverage area – a capability not currently achievable with existing weapon location radars.

Harris Radios Awarded $7.3 Million

Melbourne, Florida-based Harris Corp. has been awarded a $7.3 million contract by the Montgomery (Alabama) Metro Communications Cooperative District to install a digital radio system.

The Harris P25IP (Project 25 to the Power of Internet Protocol) 800MHz radio system will enable reliable, interoperable communications for MMCCD’s 2,400 users, including upwards of 1,500 first responders, with surrounding agencies. The Harris P25IP system will provide a cost-effective migration path from Montgomery’s legacy EDACS system, minimizing disruption to public safety agencies. The contract also includes Harris M7300 mobile radios, P7300 and P5250 portable radios and CS7000 control stations for future-ready P25 Phase 2 operation.

The Harris radio system will enable communications for 2,400 users, including more than 1,500 first responders, and with surrounding agencies. The Harris system will allow for a cost effective changeover from the existing radio system in Montgomery County.

Analog Devices and Richardson Sign Agreement

Analog Devices, Inc. of Norwood, Massachusetts has entered into a worldwide sales distribution agreement with Richardson RFPD, Inc. of LaFoxx, Illinois. As one of the leading distributors of RF and microwave components, Richardson RFPD will support the design-in of ADI’s high-performance RF ICs along with the company’s full range of analog, mixed-signal and digital signal-processing products. ADI’s RF ICs and signal-processing technology are available now through Richardson’s North and South America offices and are expected to be available through Richardson’s offices in Europe, Middle East, Greater China, Asia Pacific and Japan in the first half of 2012.

ADI delivers world-leading data converters, amplifiers, MEMs, DSPs and power management ICs and a portfolio of high-performance RF ICs covering the entire RF signal chain from leading function blocks such as PLLs, mixers and power detectors, to highly integrated short-range single-chip transceiver solutions.EMGS and

Schlumberger Announce EM Deal

EMGS of Trondheim, Norway and Schlumberger of Netherlands Antilles have entered a cooperative agreement in which the parties will offer to the industry their respective expertise in the marine electromagnetic related fields of processing, advanced modeling and earth model building.

Schlumberger will immediately U.K. Kingdom, The Netherlands and the European patent office.

Schlumberger and EMGS have further entered into a cross-licence of patents relevant to the CSEM acquisition business.

“We look forward to building on both companies’ strengths and are hopeful that this agreement will enhance the adoption of EM technology,” says Roar Bekker, EMGS CEO. “Furthermore, our combined service offerings will provide the global oil and gas industry with improved integration capabilities and accelerate the growing portfolio of EM applications.”

Digi-Key Expands Relationship with Microsemi

Zack

Digi-Key Corp. of Three River Falls, Minnesota, has expanded its distribution relationship with Microsemi Corporation to include programmable logic solutions including the company’s SmartFusion® customizable system-on-chip (cSoC) products, low-power field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and related evaluation boards.

Microsemi’s products include individual components, integrated circuit solutions as well as low power FPGAs and mixed signal FPGAs that enhance customer designs by improving performance and reliability, battery optimization, reducing size or protecting circuits. The principal markets the company serves include implanted medical, defense/aerospace and satellite, notebook computers, monitors and LCD TVs, automotive and mobile connectivity applications.

“We’re delighted to provide our customers top-of-line innovations essential to aerospace, defense and security, enterprise and communications, and industrial and alternative energy markets,” said Mark Zack, VP of semiconductors, Digi-Key Corp.

AR RF/Microwave Names Regional Sales Manager

Alferman

AR RF/Microwave Instrumentation of Souderton, Pennsylvania has appointed Mike Alferman to the position of regional sales manager for the Pacific Rim. Alferman joins Alan Melnyk in servicing AR clients in this region. Alferman will provide service to India, Singapore, the Pacific Rim countries, South America, and South Africa.

Alferman became a Ham Radio operator more than 40 years ago; and he was able to turn his interest in electronics and RF into a successful career. He’s held key positions in RF applications engineering, product marketing and business development throughout his career at EPCOS/Siemens, Andersen Labs, IWPC, Eastman Kodak, and Loral. His experience includes working on the development of integrated RF modules that enabled the size reduction and functionality in the cell phones and laptops that are in widespread use today.

IEEE Names Eileen M. Lach General Counsel

IEEE, the world’s largest professional association advancing technology for humanity, has named Eileen M. Lach general counsel and chief compliance officer. Lach joined the IEEE executive staff in this newly created position in November, reporting to IEEE Executive Director and COO James Prendergast. She serves on the association’s management council and is based in IEEE’s New York headquarters.

Previously, as the VP, corporate secretary and associate general counsel for Wyeth (now Pfizer), she was instrumental in addressing matters relating to corporate governance and ethics, global business operations and enterprise risk.

She earned her undergraduate degree in international relations at the University of Minnesota, where she was the first woman ever to be nominated for a Rhodes scholarship. She earned her master’s of public affairs from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, and her juris doctor from New York University School of Law.

Comtech Gets $1.0 Million in Orders

Comtech Telecommunications Corp. reports that its Tempe, Arizona-based subsidiary, Comtech EF Data Corp., received $1.0 million of orders from a European systems integrator for SATCOM products. A government agency in the Middle East will utilize the infrastructure products to power its IP-based, secure satellite communications network.

The customer selected the SLM-5650A Satellite Modems and the Vipersat Management System (VMS). The SLM-5650A Satellite Modem is compliant with MIL-STD-188-165A, modem types I, II, IV, V and VI for applications on government and commercial satellites. Advanced SLM-5650A options ordered were the TRANSEC module that provides bulk AES-256 encryption/decryption certified to FIPS-140-2 Level 2 and the network processor module featuring advanced Internet Protocol features – routing, switching, Quality of Service and Vipersat dynamic bandwidth control.

The SLM-5650A integrates with the Vipersat Management System for fully automated network and capacity management. The VMS is the engine that provides dynamic Single Carrier per Channel (dSCPC) bandwidth management of the space segment.

NIST on Electromagnetic Momentum Density Debate

Researchers from the NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology and the University of British Columbia have shown that the interaction between a light pulse and a light-absorbing object, including the momentum transfer and resulting movement of the object, can be calculated for any positive index of refraction using a few, well-established physical principles combined with a new model for mass transfer from light to matter. This work creates a foundation for understanding light absorption in metamaterials, artificially tailored materials of intense interest in nanophotonics and microwave engineering that can have negative indices of refraction, and have potential applications in high resolution imaging, lithography, optical sensing, high gain antennas, and stealth radar coatings.

The researchers propose a set of postulates for light-matter interaction that encompass: The Maxwell equations, which govern classical electromagnetic behavior; A generalized Lorentz force law, which describes the force felt by matter in the presence of an electromagnetic field; A model for electromagnetic mass density transfer to an absorbing medium; and the Abraham formulation of momentum density. Using both closed-form calculations and numerical simulations of the interaction between an electromagnetic pulse and a test slab, the researchers demonstrated that their postulates yield results that are consistent with conservation of energy, mass, momentum, and center-of-mass velocity at all times. They further showed that satisfaction of the last two conservation laws unambiguously identifies the Abraham form as the true form of momentum density in a positive-index medium.

Kaelus Range To Fault (RTF) Technology

ACAL BFi, a division of UK-based Acal plc. has been honored with an Outstanding Sales Achievement Award by Acromag Inc., for significant growth in their UK sales of Acromag’s embedded I/O boards and FPGA computing modules to customers in the military, aerospace and transport sectors.

“This award recognizes how highly customers value the support of ACAL BFi’s specialist design teams and in-house manufacturing and test facilities. These clearly make a major contribution in helping customers streamline their design-to-production process and increase the reliability of embedded products operating in harsh environments,” explains Acromag’s Russ Nieves, International sales manager.

ACAL BFi’s Philippe Gruson, president Electronics Division, adds; “Acromag’s products are based on fifty years of experience as a leader in industrial I/O and offer customers robust and reliable performance by addressing issues such as ground loops, RFI, EMI and temperature drift, as standard.”

China Mobile Tests TD-LTE With T&M Equipment

China Mobile uses the R&S CMW500 in its Research Institute labs to perform RF tests on user equipment for time division LTE (TD-LTE). China Mobile plays a leading role in TD-LTE, the Chinese 4G mobile radio standard that succeeds TD-SCDMA, the Chinese 3G standard.

The R&S CMW500 from Rohde & Schwarz, a leading manufacturer of LTE test and measurement equipment, is a reliable, extremely fast and highly flexible wideband radio communications tester that supports all common wireless communications standards in a single box. It is the ideal solution for all phases in the development and production of chipsets and mobile wireless devices as well as for lab tests by network operators.

The China Mobile Research Institute performs measurements both in the lab and under real-world conditions. Since the beginning of 2011, it has already implemented TD-LTE test networks in six major cities: Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Xiamen. Commercial operation starts this year.

MIPI® Advances RF Interface Technology

MIPI Alliance reports two specifications targeting the digital modem and the front-end radio portions of a mobile device. The DigRF v4 v1.10 specification defines the interface between one or more baseband ICs and RF ICs, and delivers increased bandwidth for data-intensive HSPA+/LTE architectures. The RFFE v1.10 specification defines a standardized control architecture for RF front-end devices, and offers a low-complexity solution for multi-mode, multi-band and multiple antenna configurations. Both specifications expand on previous versions by addressing today’s complex multi-radio wireless systems.

DigRF Delivers One High Speed Interface for Multiple ApplicationsFlexible and efficient, the DigRF v4 interface supports next-generation technologies including HSPA+, LTE, Mobile WiMAX, and existing 3GPP standards including 2.5G and 3.5G.

RFFE Encompasses Simple to Complex Master/Slave ConfigurationsRFFE v1.10 offers a consistent, flexible method for controlling RF front-end devices, including power amplifiers, low-noise amplifiers, filters, switches, power management modules, antenna tuners and sensors.

Hopes Rise for Electromagnetic Cancer Treatment

Photomicrograph of a human liver section with cancer.

Scientists have used low-intensity electromagnetic fields to treat cancer patients in trials which they say could lead to the development of a new type of anti-tumor therapy.

Patients hold a spoon-shaped antenna in their mouths to deliver a very low-intensity electromagnetic field in their bodies. In trials of patients with advanced liver cancer, the therapy – given three times a day – resulted in long-term survival for a small number of those monitored, the team has reported in the British Journal of Cancer. Their tumours shrank, while healthy cells in surrounding tissue were unaffected.

However, the scientists – from the U.S., Brazil, France and Switzerland – also stressed that the technique was still in its infancy and would require several years for further trials to take place. “This is a truly novel technique,” said the team’s leader, Professor Boris Pasche of the University of Alabama, Birmingham. “It is innocuous, can be tolerated for long periods of time, and could be used in combination with other therapies.”

Pasche stressed that the intensity of the fields used in his team’s experiments were between 100 and 1,000 times lower than those from a mobile phone.

Electromagnetic Waves for Medical Scanning

A breakthrough in exploiting electromagnetic waves has potentially opened the way for future terahertz waves (T-rays) systems to be smaller, more portable, easier to operate, and much cheaper than current devices, for medical diagnostics.

T-rays are already in use in airport security scanners, prototype medical scanning devices and in spectroscopy systems for materials analysis.

They can also sense molecules such as those present in cancerous tumors and living DNA, since every molecule has its unique signature in the THz range, the journal Nature Photonics reports.

The researchers say their more efficient continuous wave T-rays, the technology behind full body scanners, could be used to make better medical scanning gadgets, similar to the ‘tricorder’ scanner used in Star Trek.

Current T-ray imaging devices are very expensive and operate at only a low output power, since creating the waves consumes large amounts of energy and needs to take place at very low temperatures.

Materials science researchers have made T-rays into a much stronger directional beam than was previously thought possible, at room-temperature conditions.

Veran Ships SPiN Drive® Platform to Customers

Veran Medical Technologies of St. Louis, Missouri, has started shipping its SPiN Drive® electromagnetic navigation platform, an advanced solution that biopsies peripheral Solitary Pulmonary Nodules (SPNs) for the potential early diagnosis of lung cancer.

The SPiN Drive system design may improve efficiency and enhance workflow by allowing the physician to never lose or remove navigation at the time of biopsy with the Always-On Tip Tracked™ instruments. The platform is the first in electromagnetic navigation to provide optimal facility flexibility by requiring no unique bed or room calibration. Additionally, the ability to view airways during procedures may provide a significant advantage toward targeting SPNs.

Targets are viewed on high resolution CT images using a patient-specific view, without any radiation being delivered to the patient, physician or staff. In addition, the SPiN Drive technology includes bi-planar virtual fluoroscopy view used to navigate multiple planes simultaneously.

Giga-tronics Hires Sales Representative for Russia

Giga-tronics Inc. of San Ramon, California reports the appointment of a new Sale Representatives for Russia and the Russian Federation, to cover its growing business in RF and microwave test and measurement equipment. The products include the company’s high-performance microwave signal generators, broadband microwave power amplifiers, and extensive line of power meters and power sensors.

Giga-tronics is increasing its focus on providing high-end RF and microwave test and measurement in the international market. OOO GiGaProM represents a number of leading test and measurement companies in Russia.

WiSpry Wins RF-MEMS Mass-Production Deal

WiSpry, Inc. of Irvine, California, a manufacturer of high-performance tunable RF semiconductor products for the wireless industry, says that its technology is at the core of the first mass-produced RF-MEMS-enabled handset. Chosen by a major manufacturer and in production now, WiSpry’s antenna tuner extends usable bandwidth for small form-factor antennas and can dynamically compensate for interference from hand and finger placement, even when users physically touch the antenna.

WiSpry’s WS2017 tunable impedance match circuit comprises a network of low-loss inductors combined with WiSpry’s digitally tunable, low-loss MEMS capacitors. The resulting impedance-transforming network can dynamically compensate for VSWR up to 20:1 or greater. The setting for the network is controlled via a serial bus and continuously updated in sync with the radio signal.

WiSpry is a fabless RF semiconductor company that designs and manufactures RF-CMOS integrated circuits and components for leading manufacturers of mobile phones, laptops and wireless data products.

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