ISTF2008: Cutting the Cord

Component Two

Identify two companies and one product produced by each company that directly relate to the NCT technical application your team has selected.

Image courtesy of
QuinStar Technology, Inc.

QuinStar Technology, Inc. was founded in march of 1993. QuinStar has acquired the capability and product line of Berkshire Technologies, Inc. QuinStar has expertise with millimeter-wave products, micro electric assembly, rapid prototyping, and mass customization. QuinStar has customers all over the world. Their program experience includes US Department of Defense research and development, high reliability space flight, and volume production of cutting edge broadband wireless communication networks.

Their mission statements are:

To fulfill our customer's expectations of performance, delivery, value, quality and service.
To employ superior technologies, responsive engineering and efficient manufacturing.
To create highly rewarding careers for our employees in a stimulating and fun work environment.

The QCA series cryogenic amplifier is a cooled, low noise amplifier. This amplifier and ones like it are important for uses in satellite earth stations. The components of this amplifier system is the amplifier, associated waveguide and coaxial components, helium refrigerator, and the dewar and its radiation heat shield. The amplifiers are connected to the refrigerator, which is surrounded by the heat shield. The shield impedes the heat flow to the amplifiers from the dewar. The QCA-C_5.0-30H amplifier creates a frequency between 4.8 and 5.1 gigahertz and a noise temperature of 9 kelvin.

Image courtesy of QuinStar Technologies

Image courtesy of
MicroWave Technology, Inc.

MicroWave Technology, Inc. is a company located in California’s Silicon Valley. MicroWave Technology, Inc. (MwT) was founded in 1982 by technical principals with broad experience in Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) device design and fabrication. They are equipped with a factory covering 35,000 square foot, the Company’s principal assets include GaAs semiconductor fab and a hybrid chip and wire microwave integrated circuit (HMIC) manufacturing facility. MwT is a leading U.S. based merchant manufacturer of discrete Gallium Arsenide diodes and transistors. MwT's Mission is to provide the customer with outstanding value through the dynamic and sustainability of the MwT's Quality Management System and Business Quality Objectives to continually improve.

Image courtesy of MicroWave Technology, Inc.

This High-Power, High-Linearity GaAs FET is perfect for commercial, millitary, and hi-rel space applications. This chip is a ultra linear, high dynamic range, low phase noise chip. This GaAs process is approved for space applications with proven reliability. This semiconductor is estimated to have a life span of 1 million hours, or 114 years.

Although Parise Research Technologies does not currently have any products for sale, Dr. Parise stated that "with a focused microwave beam as an energy source you are dealing with cutting edge technology that is being developed. There are prototypes from bench scale to very large demonstrations, but nothing 'off the shelf' with which to put your hands on."1 The following is an example of an innovative technology being developed by his company.

Image courtesy of
Parise Research Technologies

Parise Research Technologies is a high technology company dedicated to the efficient utilization, conservation, and conversion of energy. In March 2000, Parise Research Technologies premiered its Vehicle Remote Charge in Detroit, Michigan to the Society of Automobile Engineers World Congress. This is one of their many patents implementing microwave power transmissions.

Image courtesy of Parise Research Technologies

This image is of vehicles using wireless power transmission to cleanly and safely recharge their batteries with a wireless beam from a nearby power source. This invention is critical to our project since we want to use a microwave power beam to transfer energy from the moon to rectennas on the earth similar to the way a vehicle receives power from a nearby pod, which is a local power source mounted on a stand alone pole. When a pod receives a "request" signal from passing vehicle's fuel a wireless connection is created called a "handshake". The handshake supplies power to the vehicle and keeps power flowing to it. As soon as a full fuel tank message is sent, the transmission of power is stopped.

A power beam is used to send the power to the receiver. In the center of the receiver is a guidance beacon. The origin of this beacon is what the pod then targets. Environmentally this concept is effective since it prevents harmful microwave beams from going astray.

The patent 6,114,834 - "Remote Charging System for a Vehicle," is held by Parise Research Technologies and is available for licensing.

Identify one professional association or trade organization associated with the products your team identified. Include:

its name,

description of its mission, and

number of people/companies involved.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Incorporated (IEEE) is one of the premier affiliations working on the development of technological progression. This organization ranges its study from biomedical engineering to computers and public relations as well as aerospace technology and electrical power. IEEE is spread throughout more than 160 countries and consists of more than 370,000 members, which over 80,000 of them happen to be students.
Under IEEE, the Microwave Theory and Technology Society believes strongly and diligently in the advancement of microwave technology. MTT-S publishes information and research on IEEE. In March of 2000, MTT-S debuted its company's first magazine, IEEE Microwave Magazine, which is distributed quarterly. The group makes sure their point can get across to as many people as possible by allowing their members to reach approximately 90% of their magazines via online. MTT-S manages to produce over 400 articles on the progression of the microwave theory and the applications.	Image used courtesy of MTT-S
MTT-S has been around for over 50 years striving to aggrandize every day life through microwave technology. In January, 2008, MTT-S held a conference in Orlando, Florida on IEEE's Radio & Wireless Symposium incorporating WAMICON. The International Microwave Symposium will be held in June, 2008 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Propose and describe a new product or new process based on your team's NCT technical application.

Our product is the application of superconducting-semiconductor amplifiers/emitters to a phased array transmission system. This product represents an advancement of the technology over magnetron and klystron microwave systems by reducing the size and weight of components, by increasing efficiency and reliability in the operating environment of the moon, and by allowing improved control of microwave beam formation and direction.

Via the Internet, locate a company that might be able to manufacture your team's proposed product. Send the company an e-mail asking that someone in the company evaluate the product your team proposed. If your team is not able to obtain a response to your inquiry, provide on your website an example of the e-mail request you sent and the names of manufacturers to whom you sent the request.

2008 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium - Atlanta
  http://www.ims2008.org/

2008 IEEE Radio and Wireless Symposium
  http://rawcon.org/rws2008/RWS08FinProg.pdf

IEEE - About IEEE
  http://www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/home/index.html

Microwave Theory and Techniques Society
  http://mtt.org/index.html

Microwave Theory and Techniques Society - Meetings and Symposium Committee
  http://mtt.org/conferences/index.html

Microwave Theory and Techniques Society - Publications
  http://mtt.org/publications/index.htm

MicroWave Technology, Inc. - About
  http://www.mwtinc.com/about.htm

MicroWave Technology, Inc. - GaAs Device Technology
  http://www.mwtinc.com/PDFs/MwT%20GaAs%20Device%20Technology.pdf

MicroWave Technology, Inc. - GaAs Fet Selection Guide
  http://www.mwtinc.com/cat/fets/htm/new-html/gaasfets2.htm

MicroWave Technology, Inc. - Quality Management System
  http://www.mwtinc.com/quality_system.htm#Quality%20Policy

Parise Research Technologies
  http://parisetech.com/index.html

Parise Research Technologies - Remote Charging System for a Vehicle
  http://www.parisetech.com/VRCPat1.pdf

Parise Research Technologies - Technologies
  http://www.parisetech.com/technology.html

QuinStar Technology, Inc.
  http://www.quinstar.com/

QuinStar Technology, Inc. - Company History
  http://www.quinstar.com/about_us.html

QuinStar Technology, Inc. - QCA series Cryogenic Amplifiers and Systems
  http://www.quinstar.com/qca_cryogenically_cooled_amplifiers_and_systems.html

The Auto Channel - Researcher Foresees Day When Motorists No Longer Need to Stop And `Fill `Er Up'
  http://www.theautochannel.com/news/press/date/19991230/press005072.html

Dr. Ronald J. Parise
  1email correspondence February 5, 2008