Bench Talk

Bench Talk for Design Engineers | The Official Blog of Mouser Electronics

Barry Manz is president of Manz Communications, Inc., a technical media relations agency he founded in 1987. He has since worked with more than 100 companies in the RF and microwave, defense, test and measurement, semiconductor, embedded systems, lightwave, and other markets. Barry writes articles for print and online trade publications, as well as white papers, application notes, symposium papers, technical references guides, and Web content. He is also a contributing editor for the Journal of Electronic Defense, editor of Military Microwave Digest, co-founder of MilCOTS Digest magazine, and was editor in chief of Microwaves & RF magazine.

For Today’s Telecom Boom, Thank Judge Green

On August 21, 2014 in RF by Barry Manz

In 1982, telecommunications in the U.S. changed forever when U.S. District Court Judge Harold Greene ruled in United States vs. AT&T that the industry was a monopoly. Like smashing an ice cube, this single action created seven regional holding companies within which were 22 Bell local operating companies along with AT&T, which retained Bell Laboratories. Judge Greene’s ruling, his first case after taking the bench was, to say the least, a monument in anti-trust litigation, but is also largely responsible for today’s booming telecommunications industry.

Tagged With: Judge Green, RF, Telecom

The Results Are In: Ham Radio is Healthy

On July 29, 2014 in RF by Barry Manz

A few years back I wrote an editorial in which I bemoaned the fact that thanks to the effortless ability to communicate virtually anywhere by picking up the phone (wired or wireless), fewer young people were interested in communicating via the ether, and amateur radio in general was not growing. This went over like a lead balloon with the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), which refuted my claim by providing statistics proving just the opposite. And they were right; it was growing, albeit slowly. So I was wrong and they were right, although I received 29 emails, some of which were several hundred words long, agreeing that it was indeed difficult to get today’s youth interested in amateur radio.

Tagged With: ARRL, Ham Radio, RF

Wireless in 2014: The Industry at Mid-Year

On June 26, 2014 in IoT, RF by Barry Manz

As members of the RF and microwave industry make their annual pilgrimage to IMS 2014 (this year in Tampa), I offer my opinion on the industry’s overall health at mid-year. Fortunately, it appears that it’s going to be hot in Tampa in more ways than one. Just how hot depends on many factors, many of them company-specific, so there’s no single answer to “How’s business?” Nevertheless, a realistic approach with this blog is to look at key markets in the wireless industry.

Tagged With: IMS, IoT, LTE, microwave, RF, Wi-Fi, wireless

DAS and the Wild West

On April 24, 2014 in RF by Barry Manz

If you’ve been following the progress of Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS) and small cells and find yourself with more questions than answers you’re not alone. Many very knowledgeable people I speak with on this topic find it difficult to define with any certainty precisely what is going on in this environment.

Tagged With: DAS, transceiver, Wi-Fi

5G: Coming Sooner than Later

On April 11, 2014 in RF by Barry Manz

Now that most of us have smartphones with LTE capability, life is good. Video streams nicely, downloads are quick, and if you happen to be standing next to a base station data rates can be truly impressive. It won’t be long before LTE Advanced shoves LTE aside with data rates 10 times faster, which means we will be able to download HD movies very quickly and do virtually anything else almost instantly. That however, is apparently not enough for the wireless industry, if developments in South Korea and the European Union are any indication.

Tagged With: 5G, LTE, RF, Samsung, smartphones

The “Death of the Downconverter”? Not Just Yet

On April 2, 2014 in RF by Barry Manz

The impact of converting analog signals to digital form is one of the greatest advances the electronics industry has ever achieved. Although today almost every consumer, industrial, commercial, and military system depends on this capability, one of the last remaining outliers is directly converting analog signals at microwave frequencies into digital data streams without using large amounts of intervening microwave hardware (i.e., downconverters).

Tagged With: digital signal, direct-to-digital, downconverters, DSP, microwave, RF

When All Else Fails, Ham Radio Shines

On March 10, 2014 in RF by Barry Manz

Let’s face it: When it comes to communicating, we’re spoiled. We can talk, text, or e-mail nearly anyone we want whenever we want, by simply picking up the phone -- be it wired or wireless. But ham radio can work when nothing else can get through.

Tagged With: Amateur Radio, Ham Radio, RF, Transceiver

GaN the Giant Killer?

On January 28, 2014 in Wide Bandgap by Barry Manz

Gallium nitride (GaN) has evolved from a promising laboratory curiosity to a major force in RF power generation in less than a decade. Much has been made of its inherent advantages, leading to projections that it will displace gallium arsenide and silicon LDMOS. However, for a variety of reasons GaN is more likely to complement its more entrenched rivals than displace them.

Tagged With: GaN, MOSFETS, RF Power, Silicon, Wide Bandgap

Company

Resources

Support

Connect with Us

Bench Talk

Bench Talk for Design Engineers | The Official Blog of Mouser Electronics

Search

Categories

Featured Authors

All Authors

Archives

Tags

Customer Service Office

Company

Resources

Support

Connect with Us