Antennas serve as transducers between electromagnetic waves traveling in free space and guided electromagnetic signals in circuits. As such, they play a critical role in the performance of wireless communication systems. With the proliferation of mobile wireless services that deliver voice and/or data in smaller and smaller devices, the task to design an antenna for a portable unit that meets not only operational requirements but also aesthetic and packaging restrictions is becoming more and more challenging. As result, engineers rely on a combination of theory, simulation, and experimental investigation to arrive at a design that meets all the demands of a particular application.

Basic Antenna Parameters

The basic parameters of antenna are impedence, mismatch and ohmic efficiency, radiation pattern and polarization, directivity, gain and equivalent isotropically radiated power, and effective height and aperture. In addition, celebrated Friis equation is and equations for the signal to noise ratio (SNR) of an antenna and source-field relationships are also important.For a more detailed treatment of the material pointed out here, the reader is referred to “A HANDBOOK OF ANTENNA IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATION” OF CRC Press by Lal Chand Godara.

Continue reading ‘Future Antennas Will be Flat’ »

The tiniest endoscope yet takes 30 two-megapixel images per second and offloads them wirelessly. See how it works inside the body in an animation

Sayaka Endoscope Capsule: In situ, in your gut Photo by Medi-Mation

Continue reading ‘How It Works: The Endoscope Camera in a Pill’ »

FLIR P660

FLIR P660 - PS Enabled High Definition IR Camera

Continue reading ‘FLIR P660 - PS Enabled High Definition IR Camera’ »

From Tesla and Marconi’s electric coils and arcs to the youngster’s model car that speeds or stops at the nudge of the controls, we’ve had a fascination with wireless control and communication.

And with the explosion over the last 25 years of wireless from cell phones to Internet, interest in industrial uses has grown. This could easily afflict anyone from refinery or public works managers to manufacturing techs with equipment monitoring and control needs.

Regardless of the potential, early attempts to adapt wireless technology to industrial applications met with limited success.

Continue reading ‘Industrial Wireless Modems Come of Age’ »

Our design team was asked to develop a wireless system to demonstrate a triaxial accelerometer (Freescale MMA7260QT). The goal was to replace the serial cable of the original RD3112MMA7260Q (STAR) demo by a wireless connection using the latest Freescale technology to transfer accelerometer values from sensor to PC in real time.

Key features of the wireless demo include:

• Very small footprint (both hardware and software)
• Low power
• Battery powered
• 20 meter wireless range
• Printed wire antenna
• Real-time response
• Low cost
• May be used as a reference design

Continue reading ‘Ultra-low-power Wireless Designs white paper offers step-by-step guidance’ »

“Rarely is Wi-Fi invoked within the context of wireless sensor networking or industrial process control,” observes Sam Lucero, ABI Research senior analyst. “Wi-Fi is considered too power-intensive as many sensors, actuators, and other devices require battery operation while deployed for several years at a time – whereas Wi-Fi is optimized for limited time usage: from a few hours to less than a full day.”

But a new transition peeks over the horizon, put forth by a company called GainSpan.

A Wi-Fi chipset company, GainSpan has developed various techniques that provide the battery life needed by sensor networks for Wi-Fi.

Continue reading ‘Wi-Fi Moves Into The Sensor Networking Realm’ »