Acal BFi has added a range of miniature MEMS timing components to its portfolio of frequency control products with the signing of a franchise agreement with SiTime. SiTime’s MEMS-based silicon oscillators are designed to provide immunity to noise and resistance to shock and vibration. This makes them good alternatives to conventional quartz-based timing components. According …
Multi-band UMTS modem has global radio regulatory approval
Alpha Micro Components is offering a small cellular module supporting 2G and 3G, which has global radio regulatory approval. The SARA-U201 from U-blox is pin and form factor compatible with its other region-specific 2G and 3G variants, such as the 2G SARA-G350, also available through Alpha Micro. Measuring 16 x 26 x 3mm, the 96-pin SARA-U201 …
Comment: Brexit must not reduce research funding
Let us hope that the EU referendum in June does not have implications for the funding of research in the UK’s universities and smaller technology companies. Each year UK institutions get a share of hundreds of millions euros from the many EU research programmes. This EU cash is an important, if not vital, source of …
Sony patents camera contact lens, but….
Sony has applied for a patent** for a contact lens with a built-in camera and display. But, unless I am reading it wrong, in which case I am really sorry, it reads like a boy saying “if I had a staircase a million million miles high I would walk to the moon. I would take …
Osram to light Eurovision Song Contest
Osram will light the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm. Around 800 moving heads equipped with “state-of-the-art light sources” from Osram’s subsidiary Clay Paky will be used, said Osram, although it did not say if they were all led-based. Clay Paky also makes arc-based lamps. Contest lighting designer Frederik Jönsson said: “For lighting designers the Eurovision …
Bluetooth SIG reports 2016 Brand Perception (consumer)
The Bluetooth SIG publishes a 2016 Brand Perception report, outlining consumer attitudes towards Bluetooth technology.
Researchers build a battery that lasts 200,000 cycles
Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have made a battery that is almost unchanged after 200,000 charge-discharge cycles over three months. It exploits the high surface area of gold nano-wires coated with manganese dioxide, into which lithium ions are added and removed. The cells are symmetrical, with identical nano-wires attached to both electrodes, separated …
Nexeon raises £30m for silicon Li-ion batteries
Silicon lithium-ion battery firm Nexeon has completed a £30 million funding round, from existing investors and a new investor, Woodford Investment Management. The Oxfordshire firm will use the new funds to acquire IP and “complementary technology”, said Nexeon, to open a development lab in Asia near key customers, and to begin designing a larger manufacturing facility. …
German Government Starts Electric Car Push
This month Germany’s electric car subsidy programme kicks off. The project gives subsidies to people buying electric cars and contributes to the installation of charging sites. Baader Bank reckons that the growth in electric and hybrid car manufacturing will add $300 million to the automotive IC TAM by 2019 with the main beneficiary being, of …
Sequans to bring LTE access to European aircraft
Sequans, the French LTE specialist, is to enable LTE in European aircraft by having its LTE chip-set inside European aeroplanes as part of the European Aviation Network (EAN) high-speed in-flight broadband access solution. The LTE access devices – called complementary ground component (CGC) terminals – will be fitted onto aircraft flying over Europe and will …