Communications

Mobile phones could have DAB digital radio within the next 12 months according to London-based RadioScape. “I know companies are considering putting it in phones now, so it won’t be long,” said Nigel Oakley, vice-president of marketing at RadioScape. “I don’t think it will be GSM chipsets holding digital radio up.” Oakley said the price of DAB was not necessarily ...

Two German companies have introduced a high tech jacket with its own Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone

Pace Micro Technology is recruiting 40 engineers in the UK and is not planning to reduce its R&D effort here, despite plans to increase its outsourced team of engineers in India. “These are mainly ‘leadership positions’ to oversee the outsourcing of the basic engineering tasks,” said a Pace spokeswoman. These positions include project managers, software engineers and team leaders, hardware ...

The two major groups proposing technical specifications for the IEEE 802.11n next generation wireless LAN standard are separated more by IP ownership issues than any real technology differences. Last week an IEEE plenary meeting saw the first proposals for 802.11n, intended to support multiple HDTV streams around a home, with additional space for voice and data traffic, put before the ...

Marconi remains confident of an increase in sales this year despite a disappointing first quarter which saw sales 10 per cent down on the previous three months. The telecoms system manufacturer said the dip in sales was expected as the “typical seasonal trend at the beginning of the financial year”. The company also saw the profit margin on sales fall ...

A timescale for switching off analogue radio broadcasts will be considered this year by culture, media and sport secretary Tessa Jowell. “Later this year I will be reviewing the take-up of digital radio and considering how long it would be appropriate for sound digital broadcasting services to be provided in analogue form,” said Jowell in her introduction to a Digital ...

Nokia has voiced concern over a consultation currently being run by Ofcom on ensuring competition in a spectrum market. A question in the document suggests the regulator is going back on undertakings, made in a consultation from November last year, that it would take specific steps to protect competition. In the new consultation Ofcom states that “imposing new regulatory measures ...

Philips Research last week opened a €60m cleanroom for multidisciplinary R&D at its High Tech Campus in Eindhoven. The MiPlaza (Microsystema Plaza) centre will provide researchers with facilities for developing sensors, displays, healthcare devices, and materials. There is a strong focus on system-in-package, with chipscale packaging a key theme. Henk van Houten, senior v-p and programme manager for lighting, devices, ...

There you are standing at the bus stop when your mother’s voice starts emanating loudly from your pocket, asking if you’ve got to the bus stop alright and to let her know when you reach the other end. This could prove embarrassing for anyone, even those under the age of 14, but similar situations could be occurring in the UK ...

There has been a radiation spill at a nuclear re-processing plant which has triggered an emergency response. An unstable isotope-laden cloud drifts off into the surrounding countryside, but where is it depositing radioactivity? With current technology, people drive into the area with radiation monitors and take measurements. These people have to arrive from all over the country, and none of ...