By Ken JavorTotally anecdotal, but this just happened to me. My wife uses a powered wheelchair. A very high end, high quality chair. We were on vacation driving north and had just crossed the 45th parallel in the state of Michigan. The 45th parallel anywhere is halfway between the equator and the North Pole. In Michigan it’s also halfway to nowhere, and it was there my wife’s … [Read more...]
Russian-Detected Signal Likely Terrestrial Interference
(August 31, 2016) According to The Guardian, "The team of scientists manning a huge radio telescope high in the Caucasus region have said that the signal they believed at first to have originated from distant star HD164595 was most likely the result of 'terrestrial interference'.""The Ratan-600, a telescope located in Zelenchukskaya in the Caucasus mountains, surveys as much … [Read more...]
FCC Fines Radio Operator for Malicious Interference
(August 2, 2016) Recently the FCC imposed a penalty of $25,000 against William F. Crowell for operating an amateur station in violation of Section 333 of the Communications Act and Sections 97.101(d) and 97.113(a)(4) of the Commission’s rules, by intentionally causing interference to other amateur radio operators and transmitting prohibited communications, including music.The … [Read more...]
New Stealth Technology Makes Russian Electronic Equipment Undetectable
(August 5, 2016) Russian scientists have developed a new ferrite-based fabric that promises to have the ability to make Russian military hardware much harder to detect for enemy electronic warfare systems.According to Sputnik News, "The new lightweight and highly flexible fabric, developed by the Rostec subsidiary JSC Ruselectronics, can protect the electronic equipment … [Read more...]
Radio Interference Caused by 1967 Solar Storm Nearly Started Nuclear War
(August 9, 2016) Business Insider reported that a colossal solar burst caused radio interference in 1967 that almost started a nuclear war.The "Great [Solar] Storm" of May 1967 caused widespread radio communications blackouts, and was seen as potential jamming from Soviet Russia. The Air Weather Service (AWS) — a relatively new branch of the Air Force — had warned military … [Read more...]
Spectrum Noise Study Receives Industry Support
(August 19, 2016) The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) should be starting the radio spectrum noise floor study thanks to positive industry stakeholder feedback.In June, the FCC “issued a public notice inviting comments and answers to questions about the rising noise floor in the radio spectrum, and missing quantitative data to support this presumption. The agency's … [Read more...]
Heart Implant Devices Tested to Resist MRI Interference
(August 22, 2016) According to the Guernsey Press, “A new model of implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) which is resistant to the MRI's strong magnetic fields has been tested at Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire.”“The Ellipse ICD, developed by US manufacture St Jude Medical, will now be tested in a further 165 patients at 60 MRI centres around … [Read more...]
B-1B Lancer Returns to BAF for RF Testing
(August 11, 2016) The B-1B Lancer was recently brought to the Benefield Anechoic Facility (BAF), the largest anechoic chamber in the world, for testing of its ALQ-161 threat protection system.“The ALQ-161 is a receiver/transmitter that detects and identifies threat radio frequencies then applies the appropriate jamming technique to protect the B-1 while on missions,” reported … [Read more...]
Driverless Cars Even Closer to Reality
Recently, Ford Motor Co. announced it will have a fully driverless car without a steering wheel or pedals for braking and acceleration by 2021.According to the Detroit News, company executives said “they plan to leapfrog semi-autonomous drive-assist systems like GM’s Super Cruise and Tesla’s Autopilot that require drivers to take control at a moment’s notice,” and “the cars … [Read more...]
Young High School Engineering Team Receives Company Sponsor
(August 9, 2016) Recently, four members of the Cybersonics Technology Team of Palisades High School presented their newest robot at Amplifier Research’s (AR) business meeting.The team's award winning robot recently won the Creativity Award sponsored by Xerox during a competition held at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy in Philadelphia, PA. Cybersonics recognized that this … [Read more...]
