RF Shorts for May 19, 2014

By Doug Lung
published

Build Your Own RF Spectrum Analyzer

The Hackaday.com website is a good place to find out what makers and experimenters are up to. Sometimes the projects involve RF. A recent posting described A Modular 1 GHz Spectrum Analyzer: [MrCircuitMatt] has been doing a lot of radio repair recently, quickly realized having a spectrum analyzer would be a useful thing to have. Why buy one when you can build one, he thought, and he quickly began brushing up on his RF and planning out the design of a 1000 MHz spectrum analyzer."

See MrCircuitMatt's YouTube videos to see how the project turned out.

A Look at LTE ‘Internet of Things’ Limitations

Amy-jo Crowley says Internet of things can’t be built on LTE in her Computer Business Review article. She writes, "Expensive, energy inefficient and poor penetration will stop 4G cellular technologies such as LTE playing a major role in the Internet of Things (IoT)." This observation is from Ben Peters, head of products at Cambridge based networking start-up Neul, who claims devices connected across GPRS and LTE networks have no future in machine to machine (M2M) communications.

Of course, Nuel has a solution: "NeulNet," which relies on TV band "white space" frequencies.

Peters told the Computer Business Review that "They [LTE 4G networks] were really built for voice or broadband and with recharging phones in mind, which doesn't really fit for the IoT because a lot of these sensors that need to be connected need to last for years from a battery,"

For more on Neul, visit http://www.neul.com/.

Comments and RF related news items are welcome. Email me at dlung@transmitter.com.

Doug Lung
Doug Lung

Doug Lung is one of America's foremost authorities on broadcast RF technology. As vice president of Broadcast Technology for NBCUniversal Local, H. Douglas Lung leads NBC and Telemundo-owned stations’ RF and transmission affairs, including microwave, radars, satellite uplinks, and FCC technical filings. Beginning his career in 1976 at KSCI in Los Angeles, Lung has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast television engineering. Beginning in 1985, he led the engineering department for what was to become the Telemundo network and station group, assisting in the design, construction and installation of the company’s broadcast and cable facilities. Other projects include work on the launch of Hawaii’s first UHF TV station, the rollout and testing of the ATSC mobile-handheld standard, and software development related to the incentive auction TV spectrum repack.
A longtime columnist for TV Technology, Doug is also a regular contributor to IEEE Broadcast Technology. He is the recipient of the 2023 NAB Television Engineering Award. He also received a Tech Leadership Award from TV Tech publisher Future plc in 2021 and is a member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.