Friday 27 July 2012

The world’s first 3D-printed gun | ExtremeTech

The world’s first 3D-printed gun | ExtremeTech:

An American gunsmith has become the first person to construct and shoot a pistol partly made out of plastic, 3D-printed parts.

Tuesday 10 July 2012

Monday 18 June 2012

Vodafone unveils mobile signal-boosting umbrella

Vodafone unveils mobile signal-boosting umbrella developed with University College London

From E&T Magazine:

'via Blog this'

Via preps 20-member LTE patent pool

Via preps 20-member LTE patent pool

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Wednesday 2 May 2012

World's first WiMax+4G phone

YTL and GCT Semiconductor Collaborate to Launch World's First WiMAX + HSPA 4G Smartphone in Malaysia

'via Blog this'

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Intrinsically safe handheld mobile computer

ecom instruments and Intermec Announce New Intrinsically Safe Handheld Mobile Computer 
The i.roc Ci70 -Ex is the latest edition of the award-winning i.roc series of handhelds from ecom and the first to be jointly engineered and developed with Intermec. A new paradigm in intrinsically safe mobile computing, the i.roc Ci70 -Ex offers an unmatched feature set among hazardous environment computers, carries the widest range of explosion-hazardous area approvals worldwide, and is fully compatible with applications originally developed for Intermec 70 series devices operating under Windows Embedded Handheld 6.5.3.



By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Thursday 8 December 2011

Xilinx ships the first parts in its Zynq-7000 extensible processing platform and extends the high end for wireless multimedia

Xilinx ships the first parts in its Zynq-7000 extensible processing platform - EETimes Europe

Xilinx has demonstrated its Zynq-7000 Extensible Processing Platform (EPP) for the first time as it starts shipping devices to customers. The platform combines 28nm FPGA fabric with a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore processing system, with the 30K logic cell Zynq-7000 EPP shown running a Linux-based application.

Wednesday 7 December 2011

World's first Software Defined Baseband chip for LTE-Advanced

World's first Software Defined Baseband chip for LTE-Advanced

Cognovo in Cambridge has launched its Software Defined Baseband development chip for 3G, LTE and LTE-Advanced networks. The 45nm CDC160 is based on Cognovo’s latest Modem Compute Engine core, the MCE160, and enables licensees to develop soft modems in all cellular and wireless standards up to and including LTE-Advanced.

The device is supplied in a system-level development platform providing support for rapid development, debug and validation, against reference test equipment such as the R&S series of communications testers, or integration with RF devices for field testing

“Creating a chip was the logical next step for us, allowing us to showcase the performance of our core IP, and at the same time providing a validation platform for our customers whilst their own chips are under development,” said Dr Gordon Aspin, CEO at Cognovo. “The benefits of the soft modem approach are clear: the silicon came back around 5 weeks ago and we have already brought up a Cat4 LTE downlink. The device is dimensioned for future standards supporting in excess of 300 Mb/s. By using this device our customers can develop soft modems, ranging from 2G to beyond 4G, all on the same silicon.”

Cognovo’s soft modem approach uses a cluster of high performance Vector processors programmed in high level C code, together with a novel control and scheduling system. Because the generic hardware is configured by software alone, the hardware can be finalised before the software, and the same chips can be used in development and the final product. The CDC160 device can also be used to support development of other modem standards, such as LTE, 3G, or 802.111abg, n, af, ac etc.

Cognovo has instantiated its IP core in a baseband device to provide customers with a development vehicle and to prove the performance of the IP.

As the next generation 4G wireless broadband standard defined in 3GPP, LTE-Advanced is capable of supporting data rates in excess of 1Gb/s, or three times the performance of the 3.9G systems rolling out today. Developing new wireless modems in software directly on target silicon allows manufacturers to save cost and time, as well as de-risk the complex modem development process.


By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Thursday 3 November 2011

New Antenna Tuner Enables Small Antennas to Deliver High Speed Connections across Worldwide Frequency Bands

WiSpry's WS2018 combines industry’s smallest form factor with RF performance

WiSpry in California has launched a single-chip tuner that sits in the RF signal chain between the antenna and the front-end module of a mobile phone and provides superior transmit and receive chain impedance optimization over the full 824 MHz – 2170 MHz Global mobile frequency range.
WiSpry’s innovative digitally tunable capacitor technology enables a completely new type of RF matching component that combines excellent RF performance with versatile digital control of the capacitance values. The WS2018 can be quickly re-programmed to compensate for antenna source impedance changes due to the need to operate over different frequency bands as well as to compensate for antenna load changes that are caused by hand, head and other body effects.
The digitally programmable capacitive elements are controlled by the modem via a MIPI Alliance RFFE or SPI serial interface, and make the WS2018 compatible with all popular Smartphone chipsets and modems.
“Our new WS2018 antenna tuner combines the industry’s best RF performance with the smallest form factor and the ability to tune any phase, any VSWR for 2G, 3G and LTE frequency bands,” said Victor Steel, VP of Products of WiSpry. “Our latest offering enables smaller antennas to deliver the high quality reception performance that today’s Smartphone users demand. We have also integrated the widely adopted MIPI RFFE interface, making this tuner plug-and-play compatible with all major Smartphone chipset vendors.”
The ultra low power WS2018 can be driven by an existing single supply rail such as an LDO regulator output or directly from the battery supply. The charge pump, serial bus and driver circuits are all fully integrated on the same CMOS die as the MEMS capacitor elements, making the WS2018 a true single chip solution for antenna impedance matching.

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Wednesday 2 November 2011

O2 - not, not that O2 - starts $33m rollout of LTE network in rural US

A small startup in the US called O2 Secure Wireless has started on the first phase of an ambitions $33m rollout of an LTE broadband multimedia network across 65 cities. The company - which is not connected with the O2 brand owned by Telefonica - plans to provide coverage to over 500,000 customers in under-served or un-served markets in Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
O2 says it will construct the most technologically advanced LTE network presently available, capable of download speeds of 25Mbyte/s, although this implies a 200Mbit/s network that LTE and even LTE Advance does not support so it looks more like 25Mbit/s which is still high for a wireless network. However, it may fall foul of Telefonica which runs the O2 wireless network in the UK and uses the brand extensively.
The $33m loan to O2 Secure Wireless will be administered through the Rural Utilities Service Telecommunications Program, a division of the US Department of Agriculture, at an equivalent rate of 2%.
"The remarkably low interest rates are extremely attractive, as compared to traditional commercial loans, whose offers have been presented at prime plus 275 basis points," said Val Kazia, CEO of O2 Secure Wireless. " In addition, the USDA offers interest only payments for the first 12 months during the construction of the network; we believe this will enable exponential domestic growth. The application has been submitted for review."
The goal of the Broadband Program is to ensure that rural consumers enjoy the same quality and range of services that are available in urban and suburban communities. 
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