Save on Willtek / Aeroflex Mobile Phone Testers

If you have software written for the Willtek line of mobile phone testers then we have several units in stock you may have interest in. When Willtek was acquired by Aeroflex in late 2010 they continued to manufacture, support and re brand some of these of products. One such mobile phone tester is the Willtek 4403.

Off Lease Single User Willtek 4403 for Sale

Aeroflex is now producing the 4403 under the Aeroflex brand. Our Willtek units have upgraded to Aeroflex OS and the newest firmware. The outside equipment case may have the Willtek logo, but the splash screen displays Aeroflex. These are current Aeroflex upgraded units at a significant savings. Options include CDMA2000, 1xEV-DO, 4400-CDMA and OXCO. Can these be upgraded to perform 4G testing? Sorry no 4G testing upgrades are available for these 3G models. Aeroflex continues to support the 4403 and a date of discontinue has not been determined for them. Since not all companies need 4G test capability, one can buy these at a fraction of list price. We also have the Willtek 4921 RF Shield box and the related 4916 antenna coupler for turn key wireless testing and production.

The Willtek 2201 is Perfect for Repair Shops

This user friendly ProLock instrument is for GSM, GPRS and WCDMA repair, depending on options. This is a 3G instrument, if you require 4G it falls short as well. Connectors on the back of this tester allows for a clean workbench eliminating cabling confusion in front. Accessories include the antenna coupler and shield box profiled above.  Recommended by many mobile phone vendors such as RIM for BlackBerry device testing and very popular for easy, simple Go/NO GO testing. All firmware can be updated to the current Rev level at no additional cost.

The 4400M Tester is Dedicated to GSM

The Wavetek / Willtek 4400M is a low price tester for small cell phone repair shops. When Aeroflex purchased Willtek, these Wavetek branded testers came along from a previous acquisition to round out the family of 3G products. Whatever your budget, we can fill the need and can also offer a lease to own program to smooth out your payments. We have more 4200 and 4300 Series testers to choose from including the 4201, 4202 and 4303. These mobile phone testers are approved by vendors such as Motorola, HTC, Nokia and Samsung, with many of these companies assisting in the design and actual product development.

So What 4G Testers are Replacing These?

The front-runner replacement for 4G mobile device test is the more expensive but excellent R&S CMW500 as previously highlighted in this blog. As of this date, Aeroflex has not announced successor units or hardware updates that can be used for low cost LTE device test. But the demand for 3G testers still is present, driven by the needs of developing countries where the mobile phone per capita percentage is low as compared to more developed countries with higher per capita usage. For a first time user, 3G speeds and features are a wonderful experience.

Free Megger Insulation Testing  Booklet

A Free 28 page booklet containing guidelines for insulation testing above 1 kV, and Megger product information.
Download HERE

The MIT520/2 measures to 15 T½, replacing the ambiguous “infinity” reading with an actual number that can be used for predictive/preventive trending on the highest quality insulation. Both units are supplied with test leads with medium insulated clips.

MIT520/2 Highlights:

• Line supply or battery operated
• Digital/analog back-lit display
• Measurement range to 15 T½ (MIT510/2 and MIT520/2) and 35 T½ (MIT1020/2)
• CAT IV 600 V safety rating
• Automatic dielectric absorption ratio, polarization index, step voltage, and dielectric discharge tests
• RS232 or USB download of results
• Ingress protection to IP65
• 3 mA short circuit current

North American SynchroPhasor Initiative

The mission of the North American SynchroPhasor Initiative is to improve power system reliability and visibility through wide area measurement and control.

Synchrophasors are precise grid measurements now available from monitors called phasor measurement units (PMUs). PMU measurements are taken at high speed (typically 30 observations per second – compared to one every 4 seconds using conventional technology). Each measurement is time-stamped according to a common time reference. Time stamping allows synchrophasors from different utilities to be time-aligned (or “synchronized”) and combined together providing a precise and comprehensive view of the entire interconnection. Synchrophasors enable a better indication of grid stress, and can be used to trigger corrective actions to maintain reliability.

The NASPI community is working to advance the deployment and use of networked phasor measurement devices, phasor data-sharing, applications development and use, and research and analysis. Important applications today include wide-area monitoring, real-time operations, power system planning, and forensic analysis of grid disturbances. Phasor technology is expected to offer great benefit for integrating renewable and intermittent resources, automated controls for transmission and demand response, increasing transmission system throughput, and improving system modeling and planning.

NASPI is a collaborative effort between the U.S. Department of Energy, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, and North American electric utilities, vendors, consultants, federal and private researchers and academics. NASPI activities are funded by DOE and NERC, and by the voluntary efforts of many industry members and experts. (source www.naspi.org)

Company To Develop One Of The Largest Solar PV Farms In The State

Lake Mary, FL., March 31, 2010 – BlueChip Energy, a provider of complete solar energy solutions for residential, commercial, government and utility applications, today announced a power purchase agreement to supply Progress Energy Florida with renewable solar photovoltaic (PV) power from the Rinehart Solar Farm, a 10 MW utility-scale solar PV facility the company is developing in Central Florida.

The Rinehart Solar Farm project, located in Lake Mary, Fla., will have a total capacity of 10 megawatts (MW) and an annual generation of approximately 15,000,000 kilowatt-hours. This is equivalent to the annual energy use of roughly 1,100 area homes. It will be the largest solar photovoltaic project in Central Florida.  It will cover a portion of the 380,000 square foot rooftop space and surrounding acreage of BlueChip Energy’s Lake Mary facility.

As a renewable energy project, the Rinehart Solar Farm will stimulate the local economy by creating an estimated 100 high-paying, high-skilled green jobs while building local expertise in solar energy.  “We expect the Rinehart Solar Farm to serve as a model in the state of Florida for large-scale, alternative-energy projects” commented Lawrence Hefler, Director of Corporate Marketing for BlueChip Energy.

The solar farm will be built in stages, starting with a roof top plant totaling 120 kilowatts (kW).  It is currently in the pre-construction planning phase and expected to be completed by the end of July, 2010.  Stage two is a roof top plant consisting of 500 kW.  Subsequent stages will consist of a third, 1.4 MW rooftop system and 8 MW of ground-based systems. Construction of the entire facility is expected to be completed by October 2010.  BCE will build the plant using mono- and poly-crystalline solar PV modules and providing its own project development, engineering, procurement, and construction capabilities.   The 10 MW of power generated from the plant will displace over 9,200 metric tons of CO2 per year, the equivalent of taking nearly 1,700 cars off the road. (source www.bluechipenergy.org)

Lockheed Martin and Itron Provide Demand Response-Ready Smart Grid Solution for Utilities

TAMPA, Fla. — Lockheed Martin and Itron, Inc. today announced an agreement to integrate Lockheed Martin’s SEEload Demand Response Management Solution with Itron’s smart grid platform. The integrated solution, which includes the OpenWay smart metering and Itron Enterprise Edition Meter Data Management (IEE MDM) systems, will reduce the cost, complexity and risk for utilities deploying smart meters and implementing demand response (DR) programs.

The offering leverages Itron’s global leadership in smart metering and enterprise utility software solutions and Lockheed Martin’s world-class capabilities in security, command and control and systems-of-systems integration. Both contribute technically-proven, market-ready products prepared for integration.

“The pre-integration and testing of Itron’s MDM platform with our demand response management technology will allow utilities to reduce technical risk and scheduling risk, while simplifying the deployment of DR programs,” said John Mengucci, president of Lockheed Martin’s Information Systems & Global Services-Defense. “Further, integration to OpenWay standard demand response interfaces will make it easier and quicker for utilities to deploy advanced energy management services to their customers, and will help maintain grid stability.”

“Fostering the smart grid requires unprecedented collaboration,” said Philip Mezey, Itron North America’s vice president and chief operating officer. “If there’s one thing that 30+ years of experience driving innovation for utilities has taught Itron, it’s that our complex industry is bigger than any one company. The importance of combining the complementary expertise of Itron and Lockheed Martin cannot be overstated.”

SEEload is one of Lockheed Martin’s SEEsuite Smart Grid Command and Control applications, and enables utilities and independent system operators to precisely and easily manage demand response events across an entire distribution network, including substations and individual feeders. SEEload provides complete DR life- cycle management, including DR program definition and customer enrollment, real-time DR event management, and post-event DR analytics.

OpenWay empowers customers to participate in energy management and conservation by providing a two-way network between the utility and each premise it serves. IEE MDM then brokers the communication between the OpenWay field communications architecture and utility back-office systems, providing an enterprise repository for managing the data generated by smart metering.

Itron is the world’s leading provider of intelligent metering, data collection and utility software solutions, with nearly 8,000 utilities worldwide relying on our technology to optimize the delivery and use of energy and water. Itron offerings include electricity, gas, water and heat meters, data collection and communication systems, including automated meter reading (AMR) and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI); meter data management and related software applications; as well as project management, installation and consulting services.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security company that employs about 140,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The corporation reported 2009 sales of $45.2 billion.
(source www.lockheedmartin.com)

Technology, analysis can better meet America’s energy needs

President Barack Obama has called for one million plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) to hit the road by 2015. If the demand for PHEVs skyrockets, a flood of new electric cars could strain America’s power networks to the limit.

That is why the U.S. Department of Energy is analyzing how the power grid can be redesigned to better meet America’s energy needs. A multidisciplinary mix of scientists from Argonne National Laboratory is working to help develop a “smart grid” that will not only adapt in real-time to handle larger electricity loads, but also operate more cheaply and efficiently than the existing grid.

“The smart grid proposes to reorganize the way power is used in the home and how it is distributed,” said Ted Bohn, an electrical engineer at Argonne’s Center for Transportation Research.

In the home, electric vehicles and all major appliances would be connected to a central hub that monitors how much electricity they use. The hub in turn would “talk” to local power suppliers. All of these appliances and the grid would talk to each other and could also share power.

Today manufacturers are meeting to agree on a standard plug for the home hub, cars and appliances. But it turns out that American manufacturers already agreed on a standardized electric vehicle plug—in 1913! In the early days of cars, electric vehicles seemed a likely competitor for gasoline-powered engines and 30,000 were on the road; thus, the plug seen here—complete with wooden handle.

The communication between vehicles, appliances and the grid allows suppliers to track electricity use in real-time. With that information, more utilities could vary the price of power by time of day and create incentives for consumers to use electricity at certain times. If power suppliers are overwhelmed during peak demand, consumers will receive a high price signal that will encourage them to reduce their consumption until the situation eases.

“Say you’re running the air conditioning and charging your car battery at the same time during a hot afternoon,” Bohn said. “With a smart-grid infrastructure, your AC and battery charger will automatically dial down their consumption, and then run it back up again when prices are lower.”

The smart grid offers more choice to consumers by letting them micro-manage their energy bills. A consumer concerned about price could set a dishwasher to run when power is cheapest, usually at night, when demand is lowest. Environmentally conscious consumers could also choose to pay a clean energy premium for solar and wind power and thereby promote the use of these renewable energy sources.

“The smart grid doesn’t propose to revolutionize the way we do power,” Bohn said. “It’s just about doing the same things more efficiently—smarter.”

Les Poch and Matt Mahalik of Argonne’s Center for Energy, Environmental, and Economic Systems Analysis (CEEESA) are concerned with the demand on the existing grid as more and more electric vehicles hit the road. Poch and Mahalik model the potential strain on the grid if millions of new electric vehicles were to plug in every night.

“Depending on what Americans do with their new cars, energy suppliers could be overwhelmed—or they could stand to gain a lot,” Poch said.

Electricity suppliers closely monitor regional demand. To prevent shortages, they must predict how much electricity will be needed at any given time. “Until now, the pattern of power use in the U.S. has been relatively stable and predictable for the past 30 years,” said Mahalik. “The last major bump was probably the widespread adoption of air conditioning.”

Now, electric vehicles stand poised to throw off that stable pattern. No one knows how quickly electric cars will catch on, in what areas they’ll be most popular, or when everyone will choose to plug in their cars.

Today’s electricity demand follows well defined cycles. It increases during the daytime when commuters head to work, as homes and offices turn up the air conditioning and factories power up the machinery, and falls sharply during nighttime.

Utilities must prepare for that afternoon peak. “The way we build power plants now is to make sure we have enough to meet the highest demand possible—the maximum amount of power on the afternoon of the hottest day of the year,” said Vladimir Koritarov, deputy director of CEEESA. “Then they add some more for backup in an emergency. The rest of the year we won’t need nearly so much power, but we have to be prepared for that one day.”

For this reason, utilities must maintain a large reserve capacity that is unused for the majority of the year. Koritarov thinks that with the right approach, the smart grid could work out to everyone’s advantage.

By using incentives to smooth out demand for electricity between day and night, a utility can produce power more economically. Also, smart charging of electric and hybrid vehicles during the off-peak periods can significantly help with that goal by filling up “demand valleys.”

A significant stumbling block for power distribution is the lack of technology to store power for extended periods. Stockpiled power from variable resources, such as solar and wind, could be fed back into the grid at peak times to reduce the strain on the grid and conventional power plants. A team of Argonne materials scientists, chemists and engineers – already renowned for their successes in the field of advanced battery development for vehicles – is working to develop large-scale energy storage technologies that will capture energy whenever it’s available and store it for use at a later time.

“The smart grid isn’t a theoretical concept,” said Bohn. “It’s happening now.” Across the country, aspects of the smart grid are being tested in homes and neighborhoods. As America moves forward, science and Argonne work to improve the future—for households, businesses and utilities alike.

Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation’s first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America ‘s scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. (source www.anl.gov)

(Download a fact sheet on the smart grid.)

Watch a demonstration of the smart Grid

CASS Test System

The Navy recently awarded an $83 million contract for e-CASS development, production and testing. The AN/USM-636(V) Consolidated Automated Support System (CASS) is the US Navy’s standard automatic test equipment family. It provides intermediate, depot and factory level support, both ashore and afloat, for testing all Navy electronics, from aircraft to ships and submarines.

CASS has been around since 1990, and it’s time for an upgrade. The Navy is planning to replace the existing 5 CASS mainframe systems with the next-generation electronic CASS (e-CASS) system. US Naval aviation currently uses 713 CASS stations for testing of aircraft electronics. CASS is also used at the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) and in 9 foreign countries.

The new e-CASS system will replace the following 5 CASS mainframe systems:

• Hybrid – The CASS Hybrid station provides the core test capability for general purpose electronics, computers, instruments, and flight controls.

• Radio Frequency (RF) – The CASS RF station provides Hybrid station test capability plus electronic countermeasure, electronic counter-countermeasures, and electronic warfare support measures; and fire control, navigation, tracking, and surveillance radar, and radar altimeter support capability.

• High Power – The CASS High Power station provides RF station capability plus the capability to test high power radar systems, such as the APG-65 and APG-73.

• Communications/Navigation/Interrogation (CNI) – The CASS CNI station provides RF station capability plus communication, navigation, interrogation, and spread spectrum system support capability.

• Electro-Optic (EO) – The CASS EO station provides Hybrid station test capability plus support capability for forward looking infrared, lasers/ designators, laser range finders, and visual systems.

In addition to these systems, the Navy uses a mobile CASS variety called the Reconfigurable Transportable CASS (RTCASS), supplied by Boeing. RTCASS provides a man-portable CASS configuration using COTS hardware and software to meet USMC V-22 and H-1 support requirements as well as to replace mainframe CASS stations at USMC fixed wing aircraft (EA-6B, F/A-18 and AV-8B) support sites.

Lockheed Martin, Boeing,  and Northrop Grumman supplies CASS electro-optic subsystem and DRS Technologies provides CASS high-power subsystems. (source www.defenseindustrydaily.com)

Network Test Automation Forum brings together commercial testing vendors, test equipment vendors, and other industry experts to create interoperable testing solutions for service providers, network equipment manufacturers, and other enterprise organizations with large network deployments.

Fremont, Calif. – March 16, 2010 – Leading companies from across the communications and networking industries including BreakingPoint Systems, BT, Cisco, Empirix, Ericsson, EXFO, Fanfare Software, Ixia, JDSU, Spirent Communications, and Verizon today announced that they have joined forces to form the Network Test Automation Forum (NTAF), www.ntaforum.org, a global effort designed to promote interoperability between test tools and to simplify lab automation efforts. With representation from service providers, network equipment manufacturers and test & measurement vendors, NTAF advocates a customer-centric, device-agnostic framework that reduces time, complexity, and cost of product test cycles.

NTAF represents a fundamental shift from the stand-alone and proprietary approaches to an open lab automation approach. The forum asks test equipment vendors to collaborate with their customers to define an open and advanced automation framework. Through the agreement and adoption of multi-vendor technical architectures for test automation systems, test engineers and lab managers will benefit from accelerated deployment of next generation network products and services.

“Our goal is to provide complete transparency in the Forum’s activities and ensure a level playing field for all members.” said Keith Kidd, president of NTAF. “By encouraging industry wide participation, NTAF is working toward establishing
interoperable testing solutions for service providers, network equipment manufacturers, and other enterprise organizations with large network deployments.”

About Network Test Automation Forum (NTAF)
The Network Test Automation Forum brings together users, vendors, and other telecommunications and data communications industry experts for the purpose of creating interoperable testing solutions for service providers, network equipment manufacturers, and other enterprise organizations with large network deployments.
NTAF is professionally managed by Association Management Solutions (AMS). For over a decade, AMS has provided leading technology groups, associations and standards bodies with a powerful combination of experience, dedicated staff, internal technology development, event services and strategic marketing resources to meet its clients, goals. Some of AMS’ clients include: Broadband Forum, IETF, Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF), MultiService Forum (MSF) and the Gaming Standards Association (GSA). (source ntaforum.org)

Korea Sets Trend in Mobile Radio Tags

Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology was introduced during the first decade of the new millennium with much fanfare. But the radio tags were practically limited to just replacing conventional barcodes.

In this climate, experts point out that the hype originally promised by RFID would be realized only when its applications go mobile and Korea is currently leading the world in the shift toward mobility. Mobile RFID is based on portable readers imbedded in such wireless devices as cell phones with which people can check detailed data of groceries or movie previews by attaching their handsets to radio tags on vegetable wraps or movie posters.

“No matter how many radio tags are around us sporting fancy applications, its usefulness would not be realized if a number of people do not carry the readers,” a spokesperson at the Mobile RFID Forum said.

“In my view, the idea of ubiquitous RFID readers will be materialized when they are incorporated in such devices as cellular phones or other handheld devices. Korea is setting the global trend.”

Entities both from the public and private sectors convened in 2004 to form a Mobile RFID Forum involving the state-run Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics and SK Telecom. The companies and organizations have finished pilot tests geared toward checking the commercial viability of mobile RFID, faster than competitors in other countries. On top of commercial deployment, Asia’s fourth-largest economy has taken the initiative in technological advances as demonstrated at an international conference on RFID standards. Korea hosted the conference, which started Monday to continue through March 26 on Jeju Island, and asked for 16 technologies to be made global standards, or around 16 percent of the 68 overall proposals. Of these, observers predict that the country’s offers in mobile RFID and real-time location systems are highly likely to be endorsed because the country is ahead of the pack in these segments.

Then, Korea will be able to preempt the mobile RFID markets, which are expected to explode in the not-so-distant future, said the Ministry of Knowledge Economy. The RFID tag is a small integrated-circuit chip together with a radio circuit. The tiny tags emit radio waves so that its identification code can be scanned from a distance through a reader. The cutting-edge technology has been expected to offer a variety of information on any product like their ingredients, origins, producers and transportation histories as well. However, the hitch was that the fixed reader of the mobile RFID was not available to the general public. This prompted many countries to come up with wireless readers but they were prone to mistakes in recognizing the tags accurately. To tackle the problems, many Korean researchers have worked on improving the precision of the readers in motion to make a substantial advancement in the studies, according to the Mobile RFID Forum.

(source www.koreatimes.co.kr)

United Launch Alliance Launches Solar Observatory Mission for NASA

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V with NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory launches from its Space Launch Complex-41launch pad at 10:23 a.m. EST here today. SDO is the first satellite of NASA’s Living with a Star (LWS) program. Its purpose isto examine the sun, the source of all space weather. Photo by Pat Corkery, United Launch Alliance.

Cape Canaveral, Fla., (Feb. 11, 2010) – United Launch Alliance successfully launched NASA’s latest scientific exploration mission, the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), aboard an Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 at 10:23 a.m.EST today. This was ULA’s first launch of 2010 and marked the 100th use of the commercial Atlas Centaur launch vehiclesince its first launch on July 29, 1990. The first commercial launch was NASA’s Combined Release and Radiation Effects Satellite (CRRES) spacecraft.

“ULA is extremely proud to be a part of the SDO mission, NASA’s first satellite launch of its ‘Living with a Star’ program,” saidMark Wilkins, ULA Vice President, Atlas Product Line. “This launch culminates years of hard work by our NASA customer andour ULA launch team. It’s appropriate that our 100th use of a commercial Atlas Centaur was for a NASA mission since Centaur was originally developed for NASA’s lunar program.”

The Centaur upper stage began launching as a NASA vehicle on top of Atlas in 1962 to land surveyor spacecraft on the Moon in preparation for manned landings by Apollo. As the original government-managed Atlas Centaur program was nearing its end, it was resurrected as a commercial vehicle in the late 1980s by General Dynamics. Upgraded versions of

Atlas Centaur have been flying missions since 1990, with the SDO launch marking its 100th flight. Centaur is probably most famous for its role in NASA’s recent Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LRO/LCROSS) mission where it crashed into the Moon in October 2009 to help NASA confirm the presence of water at the Moon’s South Pole.

“Our Atlas launches of the past two decades would not be the success they were without the Centaur upper stage conducting its mission flawlessly,” Wilkins said. “We look forward to the next 100 Centaur missions.”

The SDO mission was launched aboard an Atlas V 401 configuration and it used a single common core booster poweredby the RD-180 engine.

ULA’s next launch is the NASA/NOAA Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite P (GOES P) mission, which will belaunched aboard a Delta IV rocket on behalf of Boeing Launch Services. The launch is scheduled for Mar. 1, 6:19 p.m. EST,from Space Launch Complex-37 here. (source ulalaunch.com)