Archive : 20 September 2015 год

Altium has announced the next major update to its flagship PCB design tool Altium Designer. According to the company, the addition of new automation and productivity tools to the package will allow engineers to get designs done more quickly and with fewer errors.

“The increasing complexity of today’s electronic designs requires the most productive design environment for engineers to remain competitive,” said Christopher Donato, VP Americas at Altium. “Our focus for this release is to provide PCB designers with the most productive and efficient PCB design platform available to meet the demands of every engineering challenge.”

Amongst the additions to the software are: an alternative part choice system, allowing designers to control their component selection process with backup part choices for manufacturing; visual clearance boundaries, allowing designers to understand the impact of their routing decisions in real-time; and a component placement system that allows organised and efficient board layouts to be created.

“These features reflect our commitment to the on-going value and growth of the Altium Designer platform,” said Sergey Kostinsky, VP of engineering. “This release furthers our goal of creating the best design tool for mainstream PCB designers who need to meet increasingly tight deadlines and budget."

Altium Designer 16 will be available as a free upgrade to all Altium subscription customers.

Author
Graham Pitcher

Source:  www.newelectronics.co.uk

Scientists from ITMO University, Australian National University and Aalto University have called into question the results of a study published by researchers from Cambridge University which claimed to have found the ‘missing link’ in electromagnetic theory.

However, according to the critics, having read the paper carefully, it became clear that the Cambridge group’s results were based on ‘an erroneous interpretation of experiments and surprising lack of understanding of theory’.

“Many rather sensational claims, made by our Cambridge colleagues, do not stand to the critical analysis and can be easily refuted simply by looking at the current literature on the topic,” said Professor Konstantin Simovsky from Aalto University. “In particular, the paper says that the effectiveness of a resonator is higher when its symmetry is broken or that electromagnetic waves can only be radiated by a non symmetrical antenna; these conclusions are absolutely incorrect and can mislead a inexperienced reader.”

In the original paper, the Cambridge scientists claimed their work could help decrease the size of antennas to the point where they could be integrated inside electronic circuits.

Author
Graham Pitcher

Source:  www.newelectronics.co.uk

The University of Surrey has opened the 5G Innovation Centre (5GIC), the world’s largest academic research centre dedicated to next generation mobile and wireless connectivity and a facility which it says will secure the UK’s leading role in the development of next generation communications technology.

The centre, which will accommodate more than 170 researchers, has received £70million of investment, including £12m from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).

Professor Rahim Tafazolli, director of 5GIC, said: “While we have already achieved record-breaking speeds, 5G is not only about delivering faster mobile internet. It is a transformative set of technologies that will radically change our private and professional lives by enabling innovative applications and services, such as remote healthcare, wireless robots, driverless cars and connected homes and cities, removing boundaries between the real and cyber worlds. These capabilities make 5G a ‘Special Generation’ of connectivity.

Opening alongside the Centre is the 5GIC’s new testbed facility, featuring a fully functioning advanced 4G network. Over time, this will be upgraded to include 5G technologies and large scale Internet of Things. By 2018, the testbed should deliver 10Gbit/s per cell, ten times faster than the highest 4G data rate.

Author
Graham Pitcher

Source:  www.newelectronics.co.uk