Old rivalries, new arsenals: should the US worry?

Could a small country develop the capability to hit the United States with a long-range unconventional weapon during the first decades of the next century? Most certainly one could. But whether such a state would be inclined to try is an entirely different matter. The risk is real. Congress learned in 1998, according to “The Report of The Commission to Assess the Ballistic Missile Threat to the United States”, that the United States has entered “a new nonproliferation environment” in which there is a far greater availability of ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction. The main points of the report are discussed and a table is given showing the ballistic missile types held by lesser powers     

Cleaning up after Katrina

The 2005 earthquake that devastated Pakistan and Kashmir on 8 October and Hurricane Katrina, which struck the Gulf Coast region of the United States on 29 August, are reminders of how vulnerable we are. Rowan University classes were just days away from starting when Katrina hit, so we were presented with a unique opportunity. Since Rowan offers the Engineering Clinic each semester, it offered a chance to synthesize a new project that could engage a multidisciplinary team of students to undertake reconstruction miniprojects over the course of a semester.     

Can I patent that?

Patent protection is the most difficult intellectual property protection to acquire but it is also the most powerful. I am frequently asked the question, "What is patentable in the United States?" The answer is that four requirements must be satisfied in order to attain and maintain patent protection in the United States. Those four requirements correspond to sections of the patent statute that are located under title 35 of the United States Code (35 U.S.C.): 101 (statutory subject matter), 102 (novelty), 103 (non-obviousness) and 112 (certain written requirements). This article will detail those four requirements and focus on how they relate to inventions relating to circuits and systems.     

Transmission System Planning-The Old World Meets The New

Transmission systems in the United States and around the world have become more difficult to plan under deregulation. Uncertainties in generation type, location, and pricing coupled with market mechanisms that encourage transfers not designed for in the legacy transmission system have made the transmission planner's life difficult. This paper describes the planning process under regulation, some of the issues encountered during the present transition to a deregulated industry, and some of the open questions that need to be addressed in the United States.     

Standardization of coaxial connectors in the IEC

This paper reviews the requirements and standardization of coaxial connectors in the United States. It details the standardization of coaxial connectors within the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Subcommittee SC46D "Connectors for RF Cables." A list of published IEC connector standards and a list of IEC standards under consideration are included.     

Perspectives on the future of power generation and transmissionworldwide

A review is given of world-power demands, including energy-resource, environmental, technological, financial, and political aspects. International perspectives on the future of power generation and transmission to early in the next century in Germany, Italy, France, Japan, and the United States are provided. Discussed are nuclear power stations in Eastern Germany that are being closed down on safety grounds and the construction of semifinished nuclear plants that has been halted. Economic use of energy and combined heat and power is also evaluated. The Italian energy sector, which is the most import- and hydrocarbon-dependent of any of the major European economies, is discussed. Distribution of the generation between nuclear and hydro units in France is reviewed. International interconnections between France and European countries are discussed. Three major policy agendas for Japan are reviewed. A 1000-kV trunk line to transmit nuclear power to metropolitan areas that is under construction is also discussed. Proposed changes to Clean Air Acts to reduce SO₂ emissions from electric power generation in the United States are examined     

Computer control in the cement industry

The cement manufacturing industry in the United States is described, as are the processing problems which make the utilization of computer control attractive. Computers are being used to assist in the proportioning of raw materials, the operation of the rotary kiln, and in the raw material and product grinding operations. Process measurement and identification problems currently preclude complete automation, but significant economic benefits have been realized and further progress is under way.     

The Flexible Domestic Regulatory Approach for Direct Broadcast Satellite Systems in the United States

Of the eight direct broadcast satellite (DBS) system applicants originally granted conditional construction permits in 1982 for service within the United States, four have made sufficient progress in construction or contracting for construction to warrant the awarding of launch authority by the Federal Communications Commission. Action will soon be taken that could allow up to seven additional applicants to begin construction of their systems. As a result, satellite direct-to-home service could be available across the continental United States to home receiving dishes as small as 2-3 ft by early 1986. In the meantime, Congress has "legalized" home earth stations in bands allocated to the fixed-satellite service (FSS) under certain conditions. This paper describes the domestic regulatory policies and procedures, both technical and nontechnical, governing the DBS service in the United States. Consideration is also given to related regulatory matters which affect the future of DBS, such as technical standards, the growth of DBS-like services in fixed-satellite service bands, and frequency sharing between DBS and terrestrial systems.     

Voice over IP (VoIP) and access to emergency services: a comparison between the United States and the United Kingdom

Regulatory experts tend to think of the United States as the bastion of market-based laissez-faire telecommunications economics and regulation, and conversely to think of European regulators as being notably more willing to intervene in markets. Recent regulatory rulings relating to access to emergency services via voice over IP (VoIP) show the United States to be surprisingly interventionist and the United Kingdom, by contrast, to be far more liberal and temperate. The elements of similarity and of difference between these U.S. and U.K. policies are presented in this paper.     

Dispersion control in magnetostatic wave delay lines

A major impediment to the realization of practical magnetostatic wave (MSW) devices is the inherent non-linear delay versus frequency characteristics of MSW delay lines. Most device applications require either nondispersive (delay vs. frequency slope=0) or linearly dispersive (delay vs. frequency slope = constant) characteristics. There are four basic approaches to the elimination and/or linearization of MSW dispersion: (1) modification of the magnetic film properties as a function of film thickness, (2) modification of the ground plane geometry, (3) modification of the bias field uniformity, and (4) perturbation of the propagation path surface with metal electrode reflective arrays. In principle all four approaches can yield either linearly dispersive or nondispersive characteristics with a suitable choice of bias field orientation and critical design parameters. These dispersion control techniques are reviewed, and data from recent experiments demonstrating the strengths and weaknesses of the various approaches are discussed. To date the most extensive experimental work has been done with the multiple layer (magnetic properties varied as a function of film thickness) and ground-plane spacing techniques. At present the ground-plane spacing technique produces results acceptable for some systems applications, while the multiple-layer approach is still under development.Research supported in part by Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFSC), United States Air Force, under contract Number F49620-82-C-0081 and Rome Air Development Center (RADC), United States Air Force, under Contract Number F19628-82-C-0098. The United States Government is authorized to-reproduce and distribute reprints for governmental purposes notwithstanding any copyright notation herein.     

第六代战斗机的竞争

在美俄等国加紧第五代战斗机研制的同时,研究、探讨第六代战斗机方案和相关技术已悄然兴起,第六代战斗机竞争之战也已拉开序幕。介绍了美国、日本、俄罗斯等国及欧洲各国对第六代战斗机技术方案的设想;归纳了各国对第六代战斗机技术方案所具有的共同点。     

Demonstration of the technical viability of PLC systems on medium- and low-voltage lines in the United States

Several companies in the United States are interested in applying power line communications for broadband Internet access. This article provides an in-depth report of one specific end-to-end PLC trial carried out in the United States. This article includes useful information on the various devices utilized to construct the network, the applications demonstrated, and the performance characteristics of the particular field trial selected as emblematic. Insight into the main components and challenges involved in the testing activity is also given.     

纳米技术专利分类研究

介绍了国际上纳米技术专利的分类方法、技术内容,以及美国专利局和欧洲专利局推出的纳米技术专属分类977和Y01N。对国际专利分类、美国专利分类和欧洲专利局专利分类中针对纳米技术的专利分类进行了介绍。     

Transborder direct-to-home satellite service

Transborder receipt of direct-to-home satellite transmissions is a timely topic which has international implications. This article addresses some of these international implications, but for the most part, it focuses on transborder receipt of satellite services in the United States and the legal ramifications thereof under American law. Some legal terms and the regulatory nature of the aforementioned satellite service will first be discussed. Then, the role of the Federal Communications Commission in terms of its rulings and authority in transborder direct-to-home satellite service will be presented. Afterwards, the policy implications of foreign direct-to-home satellite service to the United States will be examined.     

Occurrence of intense rainfall

In order to estimate variability, durations, and multiple occurrences of rainfalls at rates of over 150 mm/h, a mathematical expression is fitted to excessive shortduration rainfall data for the United States. Geographical distributions of average durations and depths of intense rainfall are found to be surprisingly uniform. Prediction of expected rainfall versus return period and calculated risk is considered, as well as variability of time distributions.     

An overview of CDMA evolution toward wideband CDMA

Third-generation mobile radio networks, often dubbed as 3G, have been under intense research and discussion recently and will emerge around the year 2000. In the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), third generation networks are called International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 (IMT-2000), and in Europe, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). IMT-2000 will provide a multitude of services, especially multimedia and high-bit-rate packet data. Wideband code division multiple access (CDMA) has emerged as the mainstream air interface solution for the third-generation networks. In Europe, Japan, Korea, and the United States, wideband CDMA systems are currently being standarized. This article provides a comprehensive introduction to wideband CDMA. It also provides a review of the wideband CDMA air interface proposals including WCDMA in Europe and Japan, cdma2000 in the United States, and wideband CDMA in Korea.     

Strengthening the competitiveness of US microelectronics

It is argued that US competitiveness problems have not been due to a lack of research; rather, they stem from difficulties in sustaining competitiveness when commercialization is dominated by product- and process improvements. Partial shifting of R&D investment by the private sector from innovative new products to improvement of manufacturing processes will help correct these deficiencies, but it may not be sufficient to regain competitiveness in areas where US industry has fallen behind foreign competition. In order for the United States to catch up with Japan in all areas of microelectronics, it is recommended that industry-wide, catch-up consortia be established or continued in the six areas where the United States is rapidly becoming noncompetitive. In addition, it is recommended that the United States establish programs managed by consortia for microelectronics research integration, application, simulation and modeling     

New evidence on the economic effects and diffusion of FMS

It is argued that flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) are a very important recent development in industrial automation. Based on a three-year study of over 200 firms in Japan, the United States, and Western Europe, a summary of new data concerning the economic effects of flexible manufacturing systems and their rate of diffusion is presented. The following three conclusions are suggested: the potential economic advantages of FMS seem often to have been achieved, the average estimated rate of return from an investment in FMS appears to have been substantially lower in the United States than in Japan, and, relative to other important industrial innovations of this century, the rate of diffusion of FMS has been slow     

The Status of Reliability Engineering in the United Kingdom

A survey of reliability activities in the United Kingdom with particular emphasis on the electronics industry is given. The guidelines which were laid down by the Organizing Committee of the 1968 Annual Reliability Symposium are followed in a general way. A survey of the status of reliability engineers in the United Kingdom is presented with a discussion of the training facilities that are available for them. Reliability processes relevant mainly to military procurement are given, detailing specific activities and the emphasis which the procuring agency places on such activities. As such, some of the differences between the United Kingdom and the United States on such matters of policy are highlighted.