The engineers that time forgot

You and I, dear reader of IEEE Microwave Magazine, are set to become more valuable day by day. Let me see if I can paint a picture of why

A letter to the editor

The goal of this letter is to point out that the fastest way to weaken any society and its business model, including the IEEE and its reader-pays stance, is to lose your professional integrity

Hopf algebras up to homotopy and the Bockstein spectral sequence

Anick proved that every q-mild Hopf algebra up to homotopy is isomorphic to a primitively-generated chain Hopf algebra. We provide a new proof, that involves extensive use of the Bockstein spectral sequence.Comment: Published by Algebraic and Geometric Topology at http://www.maths.warwick.ac.uk/agt/AGTVol5/agt-5-7.abs.htm

Group-delay measurement of frequency-converting devices using a comb generator

We propose a new method for the measurement of (group) delay from the radio-frequency (RF) input to the intermediate-frequency (IF) output of a mixer or a receiver. The method is particularly convenient for measuring the change in group delay with the local-oscillator (LO) tuning frequency of the receiver since the method does not require access to, or even knowledge of, the LO signal. The method employs a calibrated comb (impulse) generator. Other required equipment is limited to a reference signal generator and a digitizer of modest bandwidth, allowing the measurement to rely on a low-frequency generator and an oscilloscope. Simulated and measured data are presented to verify the approach

Impact of Repair Joints in Fencing Wire on Data Communications: How to Receive Radio and Block Data using No. 8 Wire

Modern electric fences have remote controls and remote monitors that communicate with the energizer through the active fence wire. This manuscript looks at the impact of repair joints on the data communications between energizer and remotes. We report measurements of nonlinear rust-induced characteristics in joints and we draw conclusions about their effects in the context of an electric fence carrying data communications signals. We furthermore demonstrate how their nonlinear characteristics can cause mixing and detection effects that could account for radio reception

Identification of threshold concepts involved in early electronics: Some new methods and results

This manuscript reports the threshold concepts identified over a two-year study in early circuits and electronics courses. Some novel methods have been used to improve confidence in the identification process. We also identify some concepts, potentially threshold, that ought to have been mastered in high-school physics courses but that are often absent from student repertoires. Weak understanding of these underlying concepts may be a confusing factor for researchers in their search for threshold concepts as well as an additional source of trouble for students of electronics

Impulse TDR and its application to measurement of antennas

The traditional stimulus signal used in a time-domain reflectometer (TDR) is a voltage step. We propose an alternative technique, whereby an impulse generator is employed in place of the step generator in a TDR. The advantage conferred by “impulse TDR” is that more energy is available at higher frequencies than with conventional step TDR, and so a higher bandwidth and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is achieved. The theoretical result is compared with measurement

Electronics: A potted history and a glimpse of the future

Keynote Speech. New Zealand has a thriving electronics industry with a long history. The renowned Kiwi ingenuity fits in well with the creative, understanding-based aspects of electronics, a discipline that is both an art and a science. However, the face of electronics is changing with the passing decades