Antenna crossword puzzle
Someone in the office recently found a fun antenna cross word puzzle on http://www.antenna-theory.com/intro/antennacrossword.php and challenged all the antenna engineers to see who could solve it the fastest. I must say my memory was a bit rusty, but one of our engineers completed it in 11 minutes with only one mistake. Follow the link above and see if you can beat his time.
Author: Robert Kellerman
New coffee espresso antenna
Who would ever imagine ground coffee could make an excellent dielectric? We recently did some research and experimented with different, cheaper dielectric materials. One of our engineers suggested that we should investigate ground coffee. We originally thought it was a ridiculous idea but after some research on the electrical properties of coffee, we did a few simulations and surprisingly found that a standard double espresso group packed with ground coffee makes an excellent cavity and dielectric for a circular patch antenna in the 3.5 to 4.5 GHz range. The image above is a photo of the new Circular coffee espresso antenna. Note how conveniently the cable fits through one of the spouts.
We have been experimenting with different types of coffees and so far it seems like Arabica coffees with a lot of flavor (like the ones mentioned in my previous roasting coffee blog) give the best performance. The image below shows the new coffee antenna with a typical gain pattern at 4 GHz.
Look out for the new Coffee espresso antenna soon to be included in the Antenna Magus database!
Coffee antenna gain pattern
Author: Robert Kellerman
Who would have thought that antennas and extreme sports have something in common? In the past two decades, base jumping has become more and more popular and apparently high antenna towers make excellent launch platforms. The sport evolved so that base jumpers can also wear special jumpsuits (or wingsuits) that shapes the human body into an airfoil which can create lift and allows them to travel horizontally at ridiculous speeds.
Base jumpers who live in the city far away from cliffs and mountains often have to make use of manmade structures to satisfy their need for an adrenalin rush. Usually jumping off buildings is illegal and jumpers mostly have to jump at night, facing the risk of being arrested. Since 2001 Kuala Lumpur launched an annual international event where jumpers from all over the world take part in jumping off the famous KL tower. This allows base jumpers to do several consecutive jumps during bright daylight with no police handcuffing them at their landing spots.
I’m wondering how many base jumpers become technicians (or maybe vice versa) who service antennas just to get access to ideal base jumping destinations? Has anyone taught them about ICNIRP compliance and the dangers of RF overexposure?
Free falling next to KL tower.
Author: Robert Kellerman
How many of you can remember doing anything on the internet before Google? Google was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin and was first incorporated as a privately held company on September 4, 1998. That is only 11 years and two months ago! I cannot imagine using the internet without Google but there was a time when libraries were the only place where knowledge could be acquired.
I want to draw a few parallels between Google and Antenna Magus.
| Antenna Magus | |
| The first internet search engine of its kind. | The first antenna design tool of its kind. |
| The easiest way to find information on the internet. | The easiest way to find information on antennas. |
| Founded by a small group of IT geeks. | Founded by a small group of antenna geeks. |
| Has the largest database of information in the world | Has the largest database of antenna designs in the world |
| Changed the way people use the internet | Is changing the way people design antennas |
It took a couple of years before Google became well known and widely used. That applies to anything new – people need to use it first to realize how much they like it and eventually realize they can’t live without it. Antenna Magus is still in the first phase where people are discovering how useful it is but there are already some users who are loving it!
Here is a quote from one of them:
Through Antenna Magus I’ve been exposed to a number of antennas that I knew nothing about! In addition Antenna Magus has given me a good feel for what they are good for, physical insight into how they work and perform, a grip on how to design them, and where to find the key references.
Author: Robert Kellerman
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