Hans

Hans Schantz is CTO of The Q-Track Corporation, and a co-inventor of NFER® technology. His prior work experience includes stints with IBM, the Lawrence Livermore National Lab, The ElectroScience Lab of the Ohio State University, and Time Domain Corporation. Author of The Art and Science of Ultra-wideband Antennas (Artech House, 2005), his thirty-five U.S. patents include antennas, RF systems, RF-based location systems, and related inventions. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE, and an amateur radio operator [KC5VLD]. Schantz earned his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Texas at Austin. He also holds degrees in Industrial Engineering and Physics from Purdue University. Dr. Schantz blogs at ÆtherCzar and is @ÆtherCzar on Twitter. His wife, Barbara, invented The Baby Dipper® Bowl. Hans and Barbara have two sets of twins: girls aged seven, and boys three years old. The views expressed are the author's and are not necessarily the views of his employer, clients, investors, sponsors, or customers.

Wireless Wednesday (and Location News) Links

 Posted by Hans at 05:12  No Responses »
Dec 072011
 

There’s an abundance of wireless and location news from the past week.

 Cell Phone, History, Location-Based Services, RFID, RTLS  Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,

The Secret History of Silicon Valley

 Posted by Hans at 05:12  No Responses »
Dec 052011
 

Entrepreneur Steven Gary Blank delivers an outstanding lecture on “The Secret History of Silicon Valley.” The story is in large part how Frederick Terman invented the culture of entrepreneurship at Stanford and Silicon Valley in the aftermath of World War II. Blank’s lecture is peppered with fascinating details.  For instance, I was interested to learn that DARPA backed radio astronomy in the 1950s so as to gather intelligence on Soviet radar signals using moon bounce techniques. I could quibble a bit with his characterization of WWII as the “first electronic war.” That honor rightly belongs to WWI where key battles like Tannenberg and Jutland hinged on signals intelligence (see: RTLS: Direction-Finding Goes to War). And a purist might go back to the use of telegraphy in the American Civil War. But that’s a minor complaint. Watch and enjoy below, or click through for this transcript of Blank’s talk.

Hat tip: Dewayne Hendricks.

 History, Technology  Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,

Steve Jobs – The Lost Interview

 Posted by Hans at 05:12  No Responses »
Dec 022011
 

When Bob Cringely produced Triumph of the Nerds in 1995, he interviewed Steve Jobs. This was back when Jobs was with NeXT Computing and before he’d retaken the helm at Apple.  Cringely used only a small portion of the interview and the rest was feared lost when the master tapes were missing. Back in October, however, the director of the show found the original footage in a box in his garage. Cringely details the story of the lost interview here.

Now, the interview is coming to the big screen in select theaters. Here’s a trailer:

 Business, Technology  Tagged with: ,

Q-Track RTLS Demo Wows I/ITSEC Attendees

 Posted by Hans at 05:12  No Responses »
Dec 012011
 

I’m passing on another press release from my company, Q-Track. The Q-Track team at I/ITSEC is having a great show and wanted to share this video, filmed yesterday, of their live demonstration.

ORLANDO, FL – December 1, 2011. Q-Track’s NFER Real-Time Location System (RTLS) demonstration wowed attendees during the first days of I/ITSEC 2011 — the world’s premier modeling, simulation, and training conference. Q-Track’s live NFER RTLS demonstration tracked not just within Q-Track’s booth, but also throughout the adjacent area. NFER or “Near-Field Electromagnetic Ranging” exploits the near-field physics of low frequency signals to deliver highly accurate real-time tracking at substantial ranges, even in difficult non-line-of-sight environments. The real-time updates, low latency, and low cost have drawn particular praise. In addition to U.S. attendees, visitors from the UK, China, Belgium, Sweden, Canada, the Czech Republic, and Israel all witnessed the demonstration. Today, December 1, is the last opportunity to see the demonstration live at Booth #2737, but a video is available at this link.

NFER RTLS is available in products suitable for Military Operations Urban Terrain (MOUT) training or for other training applications indoors, underground, or anywhere GPS is not available. The Q-Track system may be deployed in a stand-alone fashion in support of after-action reviews, or integrated for use in other training systems.

About Q-Track and NFER RTLS: Q-Track, a privately held company located in Huntsville, AL, has been pioneering NFER technology since 2002. Q-Track’s NFER technology is the basis of the Dosimulation system piloted at Southern Company’s Plant Vogtle nuclear facility. RFID Journal recognized the breakthrough nature of Q-Track’s innovative NFER RTLS offering with a “Best-In-Show, Finalist,” designation for the third annual RFID Journal Awards. The Nuclear Energy Institute awarded Southern Company the 2010 Top Industry Practice (TIP) Award for Training for their use of Q-Track’s NFER RTLS-based “Dosimulation” system. Q Track’s NFER RTLS is also employed in a proximity detection system and other location awareness products. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.q-track.com. “NFER” “Dosimulation” and “Q-Track” are trademarks or registered trademarks of the Q-Track Corporation.

 Near-Field, RTLS  Tagged with: , , ,

Now Available from Amazon: UWB Planar Horn Antenna

 Posted by Hans at 05:12  No Responses »
Nov 302011
 


Next-RF’s Model 310C UWB Planar Horn Antenna is now available from Amazon. This ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna approximates a constant aperture. Thus, the time domain voltage signal closely approximates the time domain behavior of the incident fields themselves. In addition to use as a UWB impulse antenna, this antenna provides a low cost alternative to ridged horns and other EMC or spectrum analysis antennas. Additional details on the performance of the Model 310C UWB Planar Horn Antenna are available in a previous blog post. Many thanks to the Czarina for including this UWB offering in her line of children’s feeding products.

 UWB  Tagged with: , , ,

Q-Track to Demonstrate MOUT RTLS Training System at I/ITSEC

 Posted by Hans at 05:12  2 Responses »
Nov 282011
 

Q-Track is demonstrating NFER® RTLS in and around Booth 2737 at I/ITSEC 2011, the world's premier modeling, simulation, and training conference, in Orlando, FL today, November 28, through December 1.

Today, I’m passing along a press release from my company, Q-Track. Swing by Booth 2737 at I/ITSEC in Orlando this week to see a demonstration of NFER RTLS.

ORLANDO, FL – November 28, 2011. Q-Track Corporation, the pioneer in Near-Field Electromagnetic Ranging, will be demonstrating NFER Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS) products in and around Booth 2737 at I/ITSEC 2011 — the premier modeling, simulation and training conference — today through December 1 in Orlando.

The high accuracy and low cost of  NFER RTLS products allow Q-Track’s Dosimulation™ Systems to provide unprecedented realism in simulated dosimetry and radiation worker training. Now NFER RTLS is available in products suitable for Military Operations Urban Terrain (MOUT) training or for other training applications indoors, underground, or anywhere GPS is not available. NFER RTLS may be deployed as a stand-alone system in support of after-action reviews, or integrated for use in other training systems.

In a demonstration at a MOUT training range, Q-Track deployed four QT-550 Locator-Receivers to track tags to a typical accuracy of 30cm-1m within a 50m x 50m (165ft x 165ft) city block, including in and around three buildings.  A video is available below:

About Q-Track and NFER RTLS: Q-Track, a privately held company located in Huntsville, AL, has been pioneering NFER technology since 2002. Q-Track’s NFER technology is the basis of the Dosimulation system piloted at Southern Company’s Plant Vogtle nuclear facility. RFID Journal recognized the breakthrough nature of Q-Track’s innovative NFER RTLS offering with a “Best-In-Show, Finalist,” designation for the third annual RFID Journal Awards. The Nuclear Energy Institute awarded Southern Company the 2010 Top Industry Practice (TIP) Award for Training for their use of Q-Track’s NFER RTLS-based “Dosimulation” system. Q‑Track’s NFER RTLS is also employed in a proximity detection system and other location awareness products. For more information, visit the company’s website a www.q-track.com. “NFER” “Dosimulation” and “Q-Track” are trademarks or registered trademarks of the Q-Track Corporation.

 Near-Field, RTLS  Tagged with: , , ,

This Weekend Only: 25% Off Baby Dipper Feeding Products

 Posted by Hans at 10:24  No Responses »
Nov 262011
 

The Baby Dipper bowl - number one "baby bowl" (usually) on Google - is simply a better baby bowl.

Enter “baby bowl” into your favorite search engine. For the last couple of years, the top link has usually been The Baby Dipper Bowl. Why is this Mom-invented product the buzz of the blogosphere? Because Baby Dipper is simply a better baby bowl. And now, for this weekend only, you can purchase any Baby Dipper product for 25% off. Read on!

Faced with feeding twin girls, the Czarina was appalled at how poorly conventional baby bowls worked. So, she invented a bowl that would stay put without tricky suction cups, a bowl that would guide food to a collection point, a bowl that could be used one-handed – the perfect bowl for feeding babies or for young self-feeders trying to master feeding themselves.

Long available in blue, now the Baby Dipper feeding set comes in "tickled pink," also.

In testing, children using the ergonomically optimized Baby Dipper bowl need about half the time to empty the Baby Dipper bowl compared to standard children’s feeding products (see: A Little Baby Bowl Makes a Big Difference). This means a much easier time for parents feeding their babies and for toddlers learning to feed themselves.

Baby Dipper’s Black Friday to Cyber Monday Deal offers 25% off for Facebook fans who purchase the first 100 Baby Dipper bowl sets starting Friday morning, November 25, through the Facebook “Shop Now” tab. This discount is good on blue or pink Baby Dipper bowl sets and the combo listings for blue or pink Baby Dipper bowl sets plus an additional utensil set. The 25% discount will be gone at the end of the day on Cyber Monday, November 28.

 Parenting, Personal  Tagged with: ,

Vannevar Bush on Electromagnetic Energy

 Posted by Hans at 05:12  No Responses »
Nov 252011
 

I came across the following by Vannevar Bush, and thought I’d pass it along. This is one of the clearer descriptions of how electromagnetic energy works that I’ve run across.

In fact, the very definition of the radiation during a transient is a matter of some concern. Radiation in the steady state is easily defined. When steady alternating potential and currents exist in a circuit, they are accompanied by steady electrostatic and electromagnetic fields surrounding the circuit. These fields constitute a storage of energy. When a field collapses, the stored energy largely returns to the circuit, but not all of it returns. Some of the energy stored in one half-cycle does not return during the next half-cycle. This residual of energy is the energy of the radiated wave, which proceeds out from the circuit at the speed of light. The power radiated from a circuit in the steady state is the energy lost per second in this manner.

[Commenting on Charles Manneback, “Radiation from Transmission Lines,” Transactions of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, Vol. 42, Feb. 1923, pp. 289-301.  Behind  IEEE paywall here. See p. 300.]

 Electromagnetics, Near-Field  Tagged with: , ,

DecaWave RTLS Demo

 Posted by Hans at 05:12  No Responses »
Nov 232011
 

DecaWave has joined the ranks of companies offering UWB-based real-time locating systems. Here’s a video showing a demonstration of their system.

DecaWave RTLS and ranging demo – YouTube.

 RTLS, UWB  Tagged with: , ,

Time Domain Releases PulsON® 400 MRM Coherent UWB Radar Module

 Posted by Hans at 05:12  No Responses »
Nov 222011
 

Time Domain PulsON 400 MRM Coherent UWB Radar Module with Broadspec Dipole Antenna. Source: Time Domain

Time Domain has released a compact (3″ x 4″) UWB radar module with 1.4GHz bandwidth at a 4.3GHz center frequency.  From their website:

Time Domain’s PulsON® 400 (P400) Monostatic Radar Module (MRM) is a fully coherent, short-range radar that packs 1.4 GHz of RF bandwidth in a small, low cost, low power OEM module. The P400 MRM achieves the RF bandwidth normally associated with 10 and 20 GHz systems but at a fraction of the cost. This bandwidth provides the resolution required to achieve clutter rejection for operation inside buildings and in other complex environments. Operating at a low center frequency of only 4.3 GHz, the MRM also enjoys much better propagation characteristics. All together this gives the MRM the most RF bandwidth and the lowest possible center frequency.

The unit comes with a pair of Broadspec UWB antennas.  Elsewhere, I described the genesis of this UWB dipole antenna. The 310C Planar Horn Antenna provides a directional alternative to the omni-direction behavior of the Broadspec antennas.

 UWB  Tagged with: , , , ,
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