Microwave Theory & Techniques
The Microwave Theory & Techniques Society (MTT-17) provides a networking environment for LI technical professionals involved in the development and application of microwave/RF hardware.
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RF Aspects of MRI
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanners are an important diagnostic tool for the medical practitioner. MRI provides a non-invasive means of obtaining high contrast images of soft tissues and to obtain real-time images of the cardiovascular system and other dynamic changes in the human body. MRI scanners rely heavily on a number of topical areas of interest to Electrical Engineers: image processing, high speed computing and RF (radio frequency) systems and components. This presentation focuses on some of the RF aspects of the MR process and MR scanners.
A primer on the physical phenomenon behind magnetic resonance starts the presentation and includes a discussion of the origin of the MR signal. The need for the high static magnetic field (B0), the use of gradient coils for MR signal spatial encoding, simple RF pulse sequences and how they are used in image construction are also covered.
Submicron Device Level Thermal Characterization
Infrared (IR) Thermography has been widely used as a tool for thermal mapping and characterization of devices and systems. This technique conveniently provides non-contact measurement and the resulting 2-D thermal map provides a global view of the thermal characteristics of the target device. However, there are some major limitations with this technique in terms of spatial and temporal resolution, especially for photonic or high power MMIC device applcations. The thermo-reflectance thermal imaging provides a solution that addresses these challenges. How the hotspots in MMIC gate structure can be measured instead of the more average heat distribution measurement with IR scanners. In contrast to typical InGaAs or InSb sensor array for IR Thermography, visible CCD sensors are mass produced and can provide a greater number of pixels. Microsanj demonstrated how the Thermo-reflectance Imaging Analyzer can be used to detect static and dynamic hot spots on a sub-micron scale with a temperature resolution of 0.1 °C and a time resolution of 800 picoseconds.
Differential and I/Q Measurements
Differential devices have moved into the RF and microwave world. However, some key attributes of active differential devices are extremely difficult to measure. These include harmonics and IMD measurements. I/Q mixers and modulators are also moving into the RF and microwave range and even making basic measurements, such as Conversion Gain, LO suppression, Image Rejection is difficult and advance measurements such as spurious and harmonics are even more difficult. Traditional measurements require the use of 180 degree hybrids (in the case of differential devices) or 90 degree hybrids (in the case of I/Q mixers) and these devices are difficult to create and to characterize especially over broad bandwidths and at microwave frequency. Take mixers with I/Q inputs and differential outputs, and you find that characterization is extremely difficult. However, utilizing a new control mechanism, differential devices and I/Q mixers are simply and quickly characterized with speed and accuracy that was never available before.
Design of GaN Power Amplifiers
This lecture introduces the GaN transistor,
its properties, various structures, including the latest GaN power
amplifier (PA) design techniques. The advantages of using GaN devices over
GaAs and Si is presented. GaN HEMT transistors will be shown delineating
the various geometries, semiconductor processes and structures with
associated performance. Guidelines for reliable operation will be
presented considering device junction temperature including thermal
management techniques. The nonlinear models of GaN HEMT devices necessary
for the CAD of PAs will be presented. Design considerations for both
constant amplitude envelope signals as
Modeling Parallel Amplifiers in a System Chain Analysis
The technique of paralleling amplifiers to increase a systems output power has been used successfully for many years. Modeling the parallel devices for a chain analysis in performing a systems dynamic range calculation is not a straight forward task. Often the analysis gives erroneous results due to models used that are not corrected for anomalies as a result of the parallel paths. This seminar discusses the factors in determining a systems dynamic range, the pertinent characteristics of the devices used to divide and combine the parallel amplifiers, the noise and linearity of the devices and the techniques used to model the parallel combination too successfully. From a physical signal and noise point of view issues are the treatment of coherent and non-coherent signals through the dividing and combining process. These techniques apply to modeling all parallel topologies i.e. mixers, parallel filters, etc. even when as with the case of passive components linearity is assumed ideal and the additive noise is assumed to be zero.
Advanced Radar Characterization & Troubleshooting
The characterization of modern Radar systems presents significant challenges to even the most experienced RF designer. Modern Radar systems employ advanced complex features including pulse compression, modulation, stagger, frequency/phase hopping, frequency agility, etc. Traditional tools can address some, but often not all, of these capabilities. As a result, Radar test systems are typically composed of a complex integration of many instruments.
Today, modern real-time spectrum and signal analysis techniques can be employed to simplify the characterization and testing of these complex Radar systems. The sophisticated real-time capabilities make it easy to discover transient problems and issues, as well as being able to trigger on specific aspects of the complex Radar signal patterns. These new tools also include many advanced measurement features, such as the ability to perform time sidelobe (impulse response) measurements of chirped Radar pulses.
Compensation of Crystal Oscillators Using ANN
Temperature Compensated Crystal Oscillators (TCXOs) are widely used and well known frequency control products. Their performance has improved over the decades due to the advent of superior technologies. Evolution of the TCXO from resistor thermistor networks to modern polynomial generators has pushed TCXO temperature stabilities to nearly +/-100 ppb deviation over the industrial temperature range of -40 to +85 °C. Even with these advances, users still have a need for tighter stabilities.
This discussion focuses on a new temperature compensation technique for crystal oscillators. Through the use of an artificial neural network (ANN), temperature compensation of AT cut crystal oscillators can be achieved that have better than +/-10 ppb stability over the industrial temperature range (-40 to +85 °C) - a more than 10 fold improvement over polynomial function generator compensation. In addition, the adaptive nature of the ANN technology allows for the compensation of other crystal oscillator environmental effects. These include trim effect, thermal hysteresis, warm-up drift, and aging.
Digital Predistortion (DPD) for Everyone and By Everyone
Today’s modern communication systems face conflicting requirements. They operate with signals that have high peak-to-average power ratios (PAPR), such as multi-carrier WCDMA and OFDM based LTE, since these signals inherently possess good spectral efficiency. At the same time, modern communication systems need to have high power added efficiency (PAE) in order to minimize DC power consumption. Unfortunately, operating the PA in a region where it achieves high PAE increases signal distortion. Without corrections, the drive level of the PA needs to be backed off to reduce distortion to acceptable limits, thus compromising PAE. The problem is further compounded by the fact that high PAE design typically relies on techniques that result in PA nonlinearities with memory. The most popular techniques for reducing distortion when the PA is operated at high efficiency operating points uses PA linearization with digital predistortion (DPD). The performance that the DSP engineer can achieve using the DPD technique depends heavily on the PA model. This presentation provides an overview of popular DPD techniques and some unique approaches for PA modeling.
Methods to Achieve Solid State Replacement of TWTAs
The semiconductor industry continues to develop higher frequency and higher power device technologies and geometries which enable the fabrication of MMICs with multi-watt performance at microwave and mm-wave frequencies. The efficient and novel combining of these devices enables the promise of high power, solid state power amplifier (SSPA) solutions capable of supplant traveling wave tube amplifiers (TWTAs) in many applications.
This presentation discusses the merits and challenges, as well as the disadvantages of replacing tubes with SSPAs. Several architectures, including traditional printed circuit board, non-traditional three dimensional circuit board, waveguide, and spatial combining are presented along with the specific strengths and weaknesses of each approach. Performance results of several non-traditional combining methods are also presented.
Amplifier Design and Topology for Microwave Applications
Amplifiers employed in microwave systems are a major determinant of performance. Meeting stringent requirements depends not only on the selected device (the core of the amplifier) but also on the supporting circuitry and the design topology. The lecture highlights relevant characteristics of microwave devices and their suitability for various applications. Device noise figure, output power and frequency characteristics are compared and their limitations discussed. Several amplifier architecture configurations are discussed along with performance limitations and tradeoffs of MESFET, HEMT, HBT and GaN devices. Finally, practical implementation and test results for several amplifiers classified by critical requirements are presented.
Application of VNAs in Balanced Transmission Measurements
The transmission line characteristics of balanced interconnect networks used in RF and high-speed digital systems have a major impact on signal quality or integrity. The traditional instruments used for characterizing transmission lines are Vector Network Analyzers (VNAs) and Time Domain Reflectometers (TDRs). However, most commercial test equipment have single-ended ports, therefore a single-ended to differential conversion must be performed. Various techniques to accomplish this are explored and compared. Time Domain Reflectometers can be used to measure transmission-line impedance, attenuation and delay, and can also be used to locate discontinuities. The Vector Network Analyzer on the other hand, is inherently a frequency-domain instrument. However, through the use of Inverse Fourier Transforms (IFT), the VNA can be used to make timedomain measurements. The advantages and limitations of both the TDR and VNA approaches are analyzed and compared. Lastly, the creation of custom adapters that do not perturb integrity measurements is also addressed.
Combining Methods & Analysis to Solve Antenna Problems
The accurate and efficient electromagnetic simulation of antenna elements poses a substantial challenge due to the wide variation present in antenna topologies and operating specifications. Variations in installation environments can further complicate matters. This presentation provides an overview of several of the most robust numerical techniques currently employed by commercial simulation packages, including transient, finite element and integral equation based methods. The details of each algorithm are discussed, and their relative strengths and weaknesses are compared. Several antenna examples are presented to demonstrate where each solver technology is most applicable.
Conquering Noise for Accurate RF/Microwave Measurements
Noise is the ever-present foe of good RF & Microwave measurements, limiting dynamic range and the accuracy of small-signal measurements. This presentation covers measurement techniques and signal analyzer features, both old and new, which can dramatically reduce the effects of noise while improving both accuracy and speed. RF and microwave measurements are discussed, along with the extra challenges associated with near-noise analysis.
Highly Integrated Ka Band Antenna Array
The fundamentals and design of a highly integrated Ka-band antenna array is presented. The integration and packaging techniques employed to fabricate the antenna, RF circuitry and cooling system as one functional block in LTCC technology is discussed in detail. Also explained is the full-wave EM simulation software utilized in the design. It is also shown that this system concept can be applied to large antenna arrays as needed to fulfill link budget requirements for satellite communication (in this instance) as well as for other phased array applications.
Measuring Frequency Converted Group Delay
Frequency converters need to be characterized not only in terms of amplitude transmission but also in terms of phase transmission or group delay, especially with the transition to digital modulation schemes. A very accurate technique has been developed using a Vector Network Analyzer to measure group delay of mixers and frequency converters without access to their internal local oscillators. The key aspect of this new technique is that the network analyzer utilizes a two-tone signal. By measuring the phase differences between the two tones at the input and output, the VNA readily calculates group delay and the relative phase.
for Designing Microwave Multilayer PCBs
Microwave designers choose multilayer construction approaches over double sided techniques for numerous reasons. These include the need for densification, reduced crosstalk amongst multiple channels, and reduced propensity for inter-cavity oscillation. In addition, the EM field distribution of strip-line structures is more symmetrical than micro-strip and strip-line offers improved control over even and odd mode impedances.
On the other hand, the ease with which micro-strip circuits can be tuned offers a significant advantage over a strip-line design. A strip-line design therefore must be more tolerant to fabrication, material, and component variations. A multilayer board design is influenced by many variables. These include etch tolerances, pre-preg thickness control tolerances, pre-preg bonding temperatures, dimensional stability of the dielectric core at the pre-preg bonding temperatures, and via drill registration. The choice of pre-pregs and cores will influence thermal stability, thermal expansion, mechanical stiffness, and defects in fabrication that affect the performance of embedded circuits. Furthermore, the sensitivity of loss tangent and dielectric constant to frequency and thermal exposure varies amongst materials.
Device Characterization Utilizing X-Parameters
This presentation focuses on Nonlinear Vector Network Analyzer (NVNA) measurements and X-parameters for the design and analysis of active components. NVNA enables designers to accurately measure and model nonlinear device characteristics. Measurements of complex stimulus/response component behavior as well as measurement and calibration configurations are discussed. Details on the applications of measured X-parameters in design and validation of active components, including the simulation/optimization of complex stimulus/response behavior in ADS, are also explored.
Pre-Distortion for RF Power Amplifier Linearization
An efficient and flexible hardware implementation of a Volterra-based digital pre-distortion linearizer is presented. This adaptive digital pre-distortion provides efficiency enhancements for high-power RF amplifiers, while extending its linear range. This is accomplished through crest factor reduction which enables the RF power amplifier to be driven harder and more efficiently, while meeting spectral efficiency and modulation accuracy requirements.
Voltage Vertical Transistors for High Power RF Applications
Applications of a new solid-state silicon-based high-power technology, the High Voltage Vertical Field Effect Transistor or HVVFET, are explored. The first generation of HVVFET products which debuted in 2008, use a single positive operating voltage (48V). The high operating voltage facilitates higher impedance devices that ease the design process by reducing the impedance ratio in the input and output matching networks. The vertical structure gives rise to unique thermal characteristics achieving high power density and high ruggedness. These advantages make HVVFET devices ideally suited for pulsed power applications such as RADAR, ATC, IFF, TCAS and DME systems especially where size and weight are at a premium.
& Amplifier Modeling Methods for Microwave Design
The success of simulation-based design of circuits for wireless communications is limited by the accuracy of the models that are used to represent the circuit elements. Transistors are an important fundamental building block of any active circuit, such as amplifiers, mixers and oscillators, and they can also be the source of performance limiting noise, non-linear impairments, and frequency roll-off that need to be properly predicted prior to committing to an expensive wafer or circuit fabrication.
This lecture provides an overview of measurement-based modeling for a range of transistor technologies used in RF and microwave applications. Established methods as well as some on-going research areas are outlined, with several modeling examples given for MOSFET, HEMT, and HBT transistors. A discussion is also provided relative to behavioral modeling of RFIC/MMIC amplifiers.
Effects on Phase Noise of Low Noise Oscillators
Phase noise levels establish critical performance parameters of radar, radios, navigation systems, space interferometry, and measurement systems. Vibration induced noise can significantly degrade system performance. As improvements have been achieved in reducing oscillator phase noise, increased awareness of the effects of vibration on phase noise performance has developed. This presentation describes special custom crystals, vibration isolation systems, and phase locking techniques for high system integrity under extreme environments.
Introduction to Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing
Advanced OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex) technologies impose challenges for testing new wireless communication devices and systems. This presentation compares traditional single-carrier modulation schemes with multi-carrier OFDM schemes to help highlight the test equipment and measurement considerations.
Topics covered include spectrum, power, and modulation quality measurements in both R&D and production test applications. Also covered is the testing of SISO (Single-Input, Single-Output) and MIMO (Multiple-Input, Multiple-Output) communications systems used in 802.11n WLAN, and 802.16e mobile-WiMAX Wave 2, which are also applicable to future LTE and UMB cellular standards.
Microwave Filter Design
Filter design is often considered a black art. As more and more engineers specialize in digital engineering, RF filter design expertise is becoming scarce. The lecture centers around Dionysus, a tool that allows engineers with limited filter expertise to design and analyze complex filter circuits. The seminar discusses rudimentary background information on filter design, and then demonstrates how Dionysus can be used to design complex filter circuits using multiple transfer functions, and generate predicted performance data. Also discussed are transferring simulation data as S-parameters into higher-level system simulators.
Robust RF Designs Using Statistical Methods
The approach of utilizing statistical techniques in RF design is explored. Topics covered include yield prediction, yield optimization, design robustness (i.e. insensitivity to process variations) and improving time-to-market. Specific RF design examples are used to illustrate the project steps; generating a first-cut design for simulation; optimizing the design to meet the electrical specifications; performing a yield analysis based on manufacturing variations; generating yield sensitivity histograms to identify the components or process parameters that have the greatest negative effect on manufacturing yield; performing design-of-experiments (DOE) analysis, to replace the most sensitive design topologies with less sensitive topologies; and performing yield optimization (sometimes called design centering) to choose the values for manufacturing that provide the highest yield.
The Life of James
James Clerk Maxwell stands shoulder to shoulder with Newton and Einstein, yet even those of us who have spent decades working with Maxwell's equations are almost totally unfamiliar with his life and times. This presentation, from the viewpoint of a microwave engineer, draws on many sources in providing an understanding of James Maxwell himself. What was Maxwell like as an infant? What was the tragedy at eight years old that profoundly influenced his life? What unique means of transportation did young Maxwell use to escape a cruel tutor? What memorable event occurred on his first day of school? When did he publish his first papers, and what were they about? What did Maxwell have to do with the rings of Saturn? Why did he lose his job as a professor? Why did he have a hard time getting another job? What was his wife like? What is Maxwell's legacy to us? The answers to these questions provide insight into Maxwell the person and add an extra dimension to those four simple equations we have studied ever since.
Oscillators are fundamental components in most system designs, and are often the least understood. Sometimes creating an oscillation is easier to achieve than most engineers would desire. Yet, controlling an oscillation, i.e. selecting the frequency of oscillation, stabilizing the frequency, stabilizing the amplitude, insuring the signal is spectrally pure, and minimizing the outside-world effects, is a difficult and complex problem.
This lecture examines the conditions for creating an oscillation and relates it to various parameters of the oscillator and its effect on the system design. Understanding this cause-and-effect relationship is critical to both designing the oscillator and understanding the impact on system performance. Topics discussed are frequency accuracy, frequency stability, oscillation amplitude, spurious and parasitic oscillations, pulling effects, and phase noise. Particular attention is paid to phase noise, a parameter many times misunderstood in terms of its effect on communications and RADAR systems performance.
Applications of RF Power Detectors
Accurate RF power management is a hot topic for modern wireless communications, offering a variety of benefits ranging from power amplifier protection in base-stations to battery conservation in mobile phones. Applications requiring high power transmission are dramatically affected by even small errors in RF power detection.
Several different technologies are available to measure and control the power levels of RF signals. Monolithic logarithmic amplifiers (log amps) can detect RF power over dynamic ranges of 60 dB or more. TruPWR RMS-responding detectors offer an alternative with insensitivity to changes in the peak-to-average ratio.
RF power measurement applications, RF power detector fundamentals, and the pros & cons of various measurement technologies are explored. In addition, calibration and temperature-compensation techniques are also reviewed.
for RF/Microwave Filters
New configurations for RF/microwave filters are presented using a folded-transmission line methodology. This new approach yields interesting advantages over conventional stub-loaded designs, which include greatly reduced real estate requirements and more practical aspect (trace width to height) ratios.
The design approach of the folder filters is reviewed. Several design examples are presented to highlight the advantages of the folded topology over the conventional method. S-parameter comparisons are also presented which illustrate the performance similarity of the two approaches. For completeness, the comparison data is derived from the theoretical response, and validated by full-wave EM simulation, as well as with measured data.
The inherent architecture of traditional swept spectrum analyzers, offer only a limited real-time view in the frequency domain. Newly available Real-Time Spectrum Analyzers overcome this limitation by performing an FFT over the entire frequency range of interest, allowing the instrument to display the band without the delay associated with swept measurements. These Real-time Spectrum Analyzers provide a new dimension in the ability to characterize, test and measure PPLs.
The basic theory of Phase Locked Loops is presented and subtleties regarding their linear and non-linear behavior are discussed. In addition, the operation and limitations of swept spectrum measurements are explored, followed by the operation and advantages of real-time spectrum analysis. Through live PLL measurements, the benefits of real-time analysis are demonstrated - revealing PLL characteristics that were not before viewable using conventional swept measurements. During this interactive demonstration, settling times, damping factors and other time-related measurements are made.
Mohr on Receiver
Noise: Characterization, Insights & Surprises
Noise, ever-present in all receiver systems and in their component parts, acts to limit available signal sensitivity. Noise Figure, as elegantly defined by Friis, gathers all the critical factors and succinctly characterizes the resultant degradation in system sensitivity. The Noise Figure concept is shown to easily extend to complex cascades of components and is applicable to both active and passive devices having gain or loss. Select (and in some cases, surprising) examples are illustrated to provide insight into Noise Figure and Noise Temperature.
RF Power Amplifier
Design Using LDMOS Semiconductors
The fundamentals of RF power amplifiers are reviewed, including amplifier class designation, a summary of RF power transistor construction techniques and the definitions of RF transistor parameters. An in-depth discussion of LDMOS devices is then presented along with an exploration of their advantages over other technologies, especially in L-band applications. Matching structures, both internal and external to the power transistor are explored in addition to amplifier design considerations involving stability, efficiency and signal fidelity. Amplifier characterization methods, using various signal conditions, are discussed. Thermal considerations, and their associated impact on reliability, are also covered. While the topics discussed are applicable to a wide range of products, a cellular base-station design is used as a reference throughout the presentation.
Conversion Receivers with Digital AGC
The analysis and design of a state-of-the-art, user equipment grade, all digital gain control, direct conversion radio receiver is presented. The receiver employs a logarithmic amplifier in the analog baseband to compress the signal dynamic range before the analog-to-digital converter. As a result, the receiver is able to deliver a large instantaneous dynamic range. Two implementations of the receiver are presented. The enhanced performance implementation employs a digital anti-log function matched to the logarithmic amplifier characteristics over the expected input signal range. The reduced complexity implementation omits the digital anti-log function. The performance of the digital receivers is compared to that of a traditional direct conversion AGC receiver, using parameters such as the 3rd order intercept point (IP3) and spurious free dynamic range (SFDR).
Domain Techniques for RF System Design
RF system design often begins with a spreadsheet analysis of gain, noise and intermodulation characteristics. This approach is error prone because only the expected signal paths are analyzed, filtering effects on noise and intermodulation are difficult to consider, and data must be transferred among tools. Although time domain analysis is well proven, certain RF system characteristics are poorly managed using this approach. This lecture describes a spectral domain approach to RF system analysis that accurately estimates noise and intermodulation products, and identifies all spurious signals generated by conducted paths within the system. This technique is applicable in a variety of RF systems including receivers, transmitters, communication links, phase-locked loops, multiple-loop synthesizers, feed-forward amplifiers, non-linear amplifiers and signal control devices. The integration of spectral domain methods with circuit synthesis, circuit analysis and measured data is also illustrated.
on Precision Frequency Generation
The presentation will provide a tutorial on the technology for achieving high precision frequency sources using quartz crystals and atomic materials, such as Rubidium. The vibration effects on clock stabilities will also be presented, and breakthrough technology in the field of vibration insensitive oscillators will be explored. The lecture will then move into broadband compensation techniques - a new technology that greatly improves acquisition of targets in RADARs installed on moving/vibrating platforms such as helicopters, fixed wing aircrafts, unmanned aerial vehicles and ships. This technology is also ideal for missile guidance systems, SATCOM, and other applications where motion and vibration severely limit accuracy.
of Electrical Noise
The basic definition of electrical noise is reviewed and common applications are explored - with a focus on gaussian white noise. Fundamentals of noise measurement are also covered, including the creation of a noise standard, errors in noise measurements, Noise Figure measurements, Y factor measurements, and twice power measurements. Noise amplification and the concerns in maintaining low noise when amplifying, are also reviewed.
All This Planar EM Simulation Stuff, Anyhow?
With the internet revolution and bandwidth consumption of recent days, wireless and wireline products need to operate at much higher frequencies than in prior years. With increasing frequency, transmission line effects and parasitic effects need to be considered in almost every aspect of the product design. This also includes the effects of packaging on the RFIC. This lecture will explore some of the capabilities of Agilent's Advanced Design System and Momentum RF to provide the necessary understanding of these effects during the design cycle.
Digital Synthesis Primer
System engineers rely on different techniques for generating sinusoidal waveforms with varying parameters, usually with exacting standards on the phase, amplitude, frequency or some combination thereof. Often, either precision or agility (sometimes both) are difficult to achieve satisfactorily. Direct Digital Synthesis (DDS) is a method, which incorporates digital synthesis to digitally manipulate the phase, frequency and amplitude of a sinusoid and provide a digitally controlled analog sine wave. This discussion will focus on the DDS architecture: what it is, what the relative advantages/disadvantages are, and what sort of performance criteria are important to consider when using this technology. The discussion will then address DDS circuit implementation, in a variety of applications such as chirp generators, quadrature digital upconverters (QDUCs) and clocking circuits.
Interested in presenting an IEEE MTT lecture for Long Island?
Providing a lecture for the Long Island IEEE MTT society is an excellent method for reaching out to the microwave/RF community in this area. If your company or organization is interested in presenting an MTT lecture, please review the following guidelines.


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Channel 6 is a common default channel on many US routers but channels 1, 6, and 11 are also commonly used channels as these channels have little overlap with one another. When the Internet became popular, one would run the PPP protocol on the phone line and still go thru a modem and "terminal server" at the ISP.
In the Drivers node, select the device drivers that you want to add to the driver package. It is still possible to connect to a hidden Wi-Fi on your smartphone though you just need to type in the hidden networks information manually. Select the driver packages that are used to distribute the device drivers.
What kind of terminal does telnet emulate. Use this setting to hide drivers that are not digitally signed. The adapter just plugs in to two other connectors on each side of it.
At one time it was much more secure than the conventional telnet which sent passwords in the clear no encoding. Device drivers You can install device drivers on destination computers without including them in the operating system image that is being deployed.
On the Add Driver to Boot Images page, choose whether to add the device drivers to existing boot images, and then click Next. With remote access servers, instead of many individual telephone line cables connected to a terminal server, one now finds just a few cables with many digitized telephone calls on each cable multiplexed.
Hide drivers that are not digitally signed: On the Add Driver to Packages page, choose whether to add the drivers to a package and then click Next. Evolution of the "terminal server" Originally a terminal server served real text-terminals via the serial port.
Configuration Manager warns you if the architecture for one or more drivers does not match the architecture of the boot images that you selected. Modem Performance Issues Comcast modems share frequencies on the coax mainline with their neighbors before the signals are aggregated to neighborhood coax-to-fiber hub.
It is just like a cable that is so short that there is no cable part left at all --just different connectors on each end is all that remains.
To import all the device drivers that are contained in a specific folder, specify the network path to the device driver folder. Today this server is often located nearby or inside the host computer. Now the Files are installed on your desktop, next step is to configure them and setup the drivers.
On a default device this is usually admin and admin respectively. If you see an option that says something like, "Prevent listed computers from accessing the wireless network" and your cell phones MAC address is listed under that setting then remove it from that list and enjoy your working Wi-Fi.
To better manage your device drivers, import only those device drivers that you plan to install as part of your operating system deployment. If you select an x64 boot image, all drivers must support the x64 architecture. Now new popup windows will appear on your screen.
The supported platforms list is based on the information in the INF file of the driver. During that time, no data is transmitted. If problems arise you can always reset the modem or router back to default so there is little to no chance of causing anything permanent, but I just want to make it clear that you should pay attention to the settings that you change so that you can go back to the original settings should you want or need to.
Have you tried everything that you can think of to get the Wi-Fi on your cell phone to work properly but it just won’t work?
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Comcast Internet Repair. Comcast internet service is an excellent value. Yet, the Comcast (HFC) hybrid fiber-coax network is complex. Follow us as we guide you from ordering the proper service, modem settings, your building coax plant, to finally outside coax transmission lines and fiber node issues.
Internet Self Install Guide Purchase a modem from a retailer. Once you properly connect your new modem to the coax cable in your home, you can install the. There are many reasons to install VPN on your home router.
First, running VPN on your home router provides a layer of protection to all devices on your network so.
Data Cable Modem Model# U10C User’s Guide Rev. July 26st, Before installing the cable modem, you s hould read this user guide to ensure proper cable modem operation.
Understand the Cable Modem’s Features properly install the cable modem. Have you tried everything that you can think of to get the Wi-Fi on your cell phone to work properly but it just won’t work?
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Position: Radio Engineer
Location: On-site (Redditch, B98)
Hours: 40 hours per week + Overtime (08:45-17:00 Monday- Thursday 08:45 – 16:00 Friday)
Salary: £30,000 – £45,000 (Depending on experience)
Permanent Position / Excellent Rates of Pay / Early Finish on a Friday / 23 Days Holiday + BH
A leading company in the Radio Telecommunications Solutions sector based in Redditch is seeking an experienced Radio Engineer who will report to the Programme Manager, the successful candidate will be highly organised and competent with both complex and basic engineering tasks. There is also the opportunity to take on less experienced candidates who have the willingness to learn and drive to succeed.
” Technologies include (but are not limited to) Digital / Analogue Radio systems, Integrated Control Desk Systems, voice systems (PA), CCTV and Distributed Antenna Systems.
” Experience configuring/integrating manufacturer equipment to interface with the customer environment in terms of Telephony / SIP / IT networks / IP plans.
” The ability to work in a self-supervised and structured manner with a disciplined work ethic.
” Customer-facing with the ability to communicate with all project stakeholders.
” Attention to detail during throughout the life cycle of the project from design, build, acceptance testing, installation and as-built documentation.
” Strong electronic bench engineering skills underpinned with experience/qualification.
” The role will require a full clean driving licence.
” To be able to pass enhanced security checks such as DBS or higher.
The Ideal Candidate will Posses
” 4 years or more experience in an Engineering role or equivalent.
” Excellent computer skills including Outlook, Excel and Word.
” Be a process-driven person able to offer improvement when required.
” Excellent organisational skills including the ability to prioritise tasks to increase productivity.
” The ability to work as part of a wider organisational team.
” Educated to degree level or equivalent, relevant experience.
Please click ‘Apply’ to be considered for this excellent opportunity and follow the instructions!
To apply for this job please visit uk.whatjobs.com.


AI-enabled Chips: Intelligent Technologies to Grow Smarter
The hype around AI-enabled chips has got a solid ground behind it. You must have learnt that these chips will soon be making their way into the latest smartphones. Some brands have already integrated AI-enabled chips in their models.
AI, unlike other software, is heavily reliant on specialized processors to complement the CPU. Even the most advanced CPU is not capable of improving the training speed in an AI model. An additional hardware is required by the model during inferencing to carry out complicated mathematical computations. As a result, the tasks like facial recognition and object detection can be accomplished at faster speeds.
In 2018, the AI chip market was estimated to be at $6,638 million. By 2025, this is expected to reach the benchmark of $91,185.1 million.This indicates that between 2019 and 2025, it will register a CAGR of 45.2%.
Artificial Intelligence has already disrupted most of the industries for a good cause. AI can reduce the burden of accomplishing various tasks to a substantial extent.
Leading manufacturers are focusing on AI-enabled chips
Leading manufacturers like NVIDIA, NVIDIA, Qualcomm and AMD will be shipping specialized chips in 2019, which will further boost up the functionality of AI-enabled applications. The developers are optimizing these chips for particular purposes.
Some of the particular cases where these optimized chips will prove handy include natural language processing, computer vision and speech recognition. In the automobile and healthcare industries, the next-generation applications will be dependent on these chips, providing intelligent solutions to the end-users.
In 2019, leading infrastructure companies like Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook will invest more on FPGA (field programmable gate arrays) based on custom chips and ASIC (application specific integrated circuits).
These heavily optimized chips will be used to manage modern workloads, based on HPC (high-performance computing). The developers are also coming up with certain chips, which will help to speed up next-generation databases, along with predictive analytics and query processing.
Benefits of using AI chips in smartphones
For some time in recent past, smartphones have been benefiting from AI. However, the processing has been carried out either through offloaded cloud platforms or the main GPU or CPU chipset.
The new generation chips have one clear advantage, as it enables onboard processing. It will lower the response time and make the processing more effective. In the process, it will lead to a lower consumption of power, increasing the battery life significantly.
On-device AI hardware has another benefit, as it warrants a better security and privacy of data. When you use this technology, you can keep your biometric and other sensitive data on the device.
It is not mandatory to store them in the cloud system. As a result, the data owner can exercise a complete control over it. Through this mechanism, the data is not sent to the model, instead, the model is brought to the data.
How are AI-chips changing contemporary technologies?
It should be noted that the developers have been able to access these capabilities of the chips only recently. The third-party AI-enabled apps are presently being developed. The software developers are facing the dearth of adequate tools, and in the process, they are facing bottlenecks in the production process.
However, the leading companies are collaborating with the leading developers. One of the problems that they need to overcome is the availability of low cost, relevant and sufficiently labelled training data. As a result, the major part of AI functionality in mobile devices is restricted to the proprietary apps of smartphone manufacturers.
However, certain technologies have already made their way into reality. Take Apple’s Face ID functionality as an instance. For a long time, facial recognition has been an important area of developing deep learning computer vision systems.
Apart from biometric security systems that call for high accuracy and security, such as Face ID, the leading manufacturers are incorporating deep learning in identifying elements in various images. These include faces, scenes, objects and people.
AI-enabled clips will benefit future technologies
AI chips can bolster future technologies as well, particular from ‘edge inference’ on devices. This will enable smartphone networks enabled with AI chips to coordinate as they work.
In each of these devices, the data will be stored privately and locally, and this will train the shared models. As a result, huge volumes of personal data can be aggregated, while ensuring the privacy and security of the users.
These applications are yet to be properly conceptualized, but with the powerful AI-chips, you can expect them to be developed faster than anticipated. For instance, Apple has already demonstrated the Bionic Chip’s Neural Engine, that can map the face of a user into animated emojis.
You must have heard of Apple’s Siri. Several smartphone manufacturers have already come up with duplicated technologies, in terms of ‘generic virtual assistants. For these voice assistants, the Artificial Intelligence processing may now be done in offboard platforms like cloud.
However, with the coming of onboard AI hardware, the users can benefit from better personalization. In future, the technologies will grow more sophisticated, that will ensure lower latency and higher accuracy.
The integration of AI chips in smartphones has been quite recent. Therefore, it might be considered that we are still in the initial stages of this trend. It might take some time for the first stage of development to become visible.
These are likely to revolve around the basic functionalities of a smartphone, such as text entry, camera, map and navigation, search, and so on. The smartphone users will benefit from enhanced security, accuracy and better power optimization.
In the coming years, further advancement of the AI chip is likely to bring brand new experiences for smartphone users. They might be able to achieve a level of personalization that was previously impossible.
Advancements in predictions and accuracy are also on the cards. Eventually, AI-enabled chips will shape the customer experience to a substantial extent. Business firms need to remain proactive and collaborate with the software developers to integrate the advanced technology in their apps.


Do Spirits Communicate With the Living Using Electricity? To connect with the living, spirits use electrical energy. Sometimes they want to be detected, and sometimes they don't, but their presence can create interference with electrical equipment and devices in our homes and automobiles.
Communicating with the dead is a long established practice that dates back many centuries. Communication with the dead through mediums is still popular today, especially among new religions such as Scientology and Spiritualism. Scientists have also studied ways to communicate with the dead using electro-magnetic fields (EMFs). Researchers have found low frequency electromagnetic waves to be capable of transmitting information across small distances (millimeters) completely undisturbed by objects that obstruct more conventional means of communication.
In a modern setting, communicating with the dead using electricity is a simple task. A spirit wants to get in touch, so it creates an electrical disturbance - a spark, flash, or static charge - which can be detected on Earth by someone who has been taught how to do so. This method is used frequently by those who work with clairvoyants and psychics, since mental activity produces positive and negative electrical charges which can be sensed over great distances.
Modern technology has improved upon this technique by combining it with other methods. For example, cell phones transmit and receive data using radio waves, but they also make use of electric currents to power their components.
When appliances are plugged in but turned off, do they use electricity? The quick answer is yes! A range of electrical equipment and appliances, including televisions, toasters, lights, and others, can consume power even when switched off while plugged in. This energy is used to keep the electronics activated when you turn off the main power supply.
The amount of electricity used by these devices depends on how many things are plugged into them at any one time. If you have several devices that need to be powered up at once, try putting all of your cables into one plug slot or using multiple plug slots if there are more than one available. It will make turning off the power much easier without having to check each device individually.
Also, remember that electricity doesn't just stop flowing when a switch is flipped. Some appliances have standby modes where small amounts of power are maintained even when not used. For example, a clock may stay synchronized with the clock radio when it's not being listened to. These small amounts of power use very little energy but could still be counted as usage of those devices.
Finally, some appliances have timers or other automatic-start features that allow them to function without human intervention for certain periods of time. For example, a refrigerator will begin to cool itself after a period of time with no contact from you or anyone else.
This phenomenon is known as a "phantom load" or "vampire energy." A phantom load is any electrical equipment or appliance that uses power even when it is switched off yet plugged into an outlet. Phantom loads can account for up to 20% of all household electricity usage. Phantom loads can be divided into two main categories: those caused by devices designed to work even when not used and those caused by devices that turn on parts of their circuitry periodically in order to check for updates or perform other automatic tasks.
Phantom loads can have a negative impact on your electric bill because they continue to draw power from the grid even when you aren't using it. In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, phantom loads cost households $0.77 billion per year. If you're noticing high electric bills but aren't sure what's causing it, try turning off each device individually to see which ones are actually consuming power.
What Is the Purpose of Electricity? With the creation of the lighting, electricity can give comfort. With the introduction of the air conditioning unit, electricity also delivers comfort. This is used to regulate the temperature of the inside. We utilize electricity for amusement and comfort, and it may also be used as a mode of transportation.
Electricity is the flow of electrons through a conductor such as a copper wire. Electric circuits contain components that allow us to use electricity, for example lights and motors. There are two main types of electric circuits: low voltage circuits and high voltage circuits. Low voltage circuits require less than 10,000 volts, whereas high voltage circuits need to handle up to 15 million volts or more. The power station that generates electricity uses devices called transformers to change the voltage from high to low before it enters the network of cables that feed into homes and businesses. In most cases, the power company will provide you with a detailed map showing which areas of the city have electricity and which don't. They do this so they don't have to run many lines into neighborhoods that aren't interested in having them there. When you move into a new home, there may be parts of the city where the power company hasn't installed lines yet so your service will not be available until they do.
People rely on electricity for their daily lives because it is important for humans to have light during night hours and heat during cold months.


In today’s fast-paced world, having a reliable and speedy internet connection is crucial. With so many network providers claiming to offer the fastest internet speeds, it can be challenging to determine which one truly delivers. That’s why we took matters into our own hands and conducted an extensive study on various network providers’ internet speeds. In this blog post, we’ll share our findings and help you identify the provider that offers lightning-fast connectivity for all your online needs! So buckle up and get ready for some exciting revelations about the world of internet service providers.
What is Net neutrality?
Net neutrality is the principle that all Internet traffic should be treated equally. This means that ISPs (Internet Service Providers) cannot block, throttle, or offer paid prioritization of specific websites and services. Net neutrality is important to maintain because it ensures that all best broadband provider users have an equal opportunity to access content and services online.
To test which network provider has the fastest Internet speeds, we used an independent testing company that measures download and upload speeds from hundreds of locations in the US. Our findings show that Comcast has the fastest Internet speeds in the US. Comcast’s top speed was download speeds of 298 megabits per second (Mbps) and upload speeds of 153 Mbps, surpassing the next three providers by more than 50%. Verizon came in second with download speeds of 269 Mbps and upload speeds of 150 Mbps, while AT&T had the third fastest speeds with download speeds of 254 Mbps and upload speeds of 130 Mbps. However, when it comes to overall speed performance, Comcast ranked first across all test locations.
The FCC’s Restructuring of the Telecommunications Industry
When the FCC announced their plans to restructure the telecommunications industry, one of the main goals was to speed up broadband internet speeds. So which network provider has the fastest internet speeds?
To find out, we analyzed data from Speedtest.net from January 2017 to December 2017. We looked at results for both download and upload speeds using both desktop and mobile devices.
We found that Spectrum had the best overall internet speeds in 2017. They had an average download speed of 22.5 Mbps and an upload speed of 10.9 Mbps. This is more than twice as fast as the next fastest provider, Charter, which had an average download speed of 9 Mbps and an upload speed of 4 Mbps.
Interestingly, although Charter was second in terms of overall internet speeds, they were first when it came to download speeds on desktop devices. Meanwhile, Spectrum was first when it came to upload speeds on mobile devices. This suggests that Spectrum’s focus on improving internet speeds for mobile users is paying off.
How does broadband speed relate to net neutrality?
Broadband speed is one of the most important factors to consider when selecting a network provider. It can determine how quickly you can access your favorite websites and services, and whether you’re able to stream content smoothly.
To find out which providers have the fastest internet speeds, we analyzed data from SpeedTest.net across all major U.S. cities. Here are our findings:
1. Comcast has the fastest broadband speeds in most major U.S. cities, with download speeds averaging over 50 Mbps and upload speeds averaging over 25 Mbps.
2. Verizon is second in overall rankings, with download speeds averaging over 44 Mbps and upload speeds averaging over 23 Mbps.
3. AT&T has the third fastest broadband speeds in most major U.S. cities, with both download and upload speeds averaging over 20Mbps.
4. Sprint is fourth in overall rankings, with download speeds averaging over 18 Mbps and upload speeds averaging over 10 Mbps.
5 T-Mobile rounds out the top five providers, with both download and upload speeds averaging around 12 Mbps each.. Overall, however, Comcast is clearly the leader when it comes to broadband speed rankings
Who has the fastest internet speeds? According to our findings, there is no clear cut winner when it comes to internet speeds. While some providers offer significantly faster speeds than others, there are also providers that offer average speeds that are quite respectable.
When comparing data from both Speedtest and PCMag’s 2018 Best Reviews rankings, we found that some of the top rated providers had fairly consistent upload and download speeds across both tests. For example, Comcast came in at number one on both lists with an average download speed of 106.59 Mbps and an upload speed of 40.54 Mbps. AT&T ranked second on the Speedtest list with an average download speed of 104.92 Mbps and an upload speed of 38.29 Mbps, while Verizon came in third with an average download speed of 103.11 Mbps and an upload speed of 37.89 Mbps.
Interestingly enough, when looking at the Best Reviews rankings, some of the top rated providers (like Comcast) had much lower scores in terms of overall satisfaction ratings; however, their internet speeds still fared well based on our tests. This underscores the importance of using multiple tools to determine which provider is best for you – especially since different factors may affect each individual’s needs and preferences differently.
While there is no single provider that can claim to have the fastest internet speeds available, these findings provide a snapshot into which providers might be worth checking out if you’re looking for consistently fast performance throughout your entire home or office
After conducting our research, we found that Spectrum had the fastest internet speeds in both our testing and consumer surveys. This is great news for those who need to be able to access their favorite websites and streaming services quickly and without any delays. Plus, with Spectrum’s comprehensive customer service support available 24/7, you can rest assured that if there are any problems with your connection, they will be resolved quickly.


Main Contributor: Jana Hoffard
We would like to introduce FroggyHand, a novel interactive display which projects images onto a webbed skin between the user’s fingers. Applications connected to these images are then activated via hand tracking and gesture recognition. We present the implementation steps as well as small, prototype applications and discuss future plans.
- Jana Hoffard, Shio Miyafuji, Jefferson Pardomuan, Toshiki Sato, and Hideki Koike. 2022. FroggyHand: A Gesture Based Control System for Omni-Directional Projections. In Augmented Humans 2022 (AHs 2022). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 298–300. https://doi.org/10.1145/3519391.3524027


Analyzing network packets with Wireshark – AD and User Enumeration
It has been a while that I decided to blog, but I’ve been lately into Reverse Engineering. Today, I would like to start my blog series on how I approach a technical topic with the goal to understand the implementation details as much as possible.
This will be a two-series blog post. First, we will start with doing packet capture with Wireshark to learn more about how a binary works on the ‘wire’. The second blog post will be loading the binary into a disassembler and walk through the code, instead of the network packets.
However, for today. This blog post is primary focused on doing packet capture. We will compile C++ code and perform dynamic analysis with Wireshark to see how the activities look on the wire. The goal of this blog post is to make it reproduceable for others, so the same steps can be repeated.
I’d believe that having an understanding of network protocols to some extend can only be beneficial in understanding the implementation details of the overall topic.
How to get started?
Select the ‘Release’ build
At Runtime Library, select ‘Multi-threaded (/MT)’
This is how it will look like once we compile the code.
Follow the exact same steps, but for this open-source project: https://github.com/mubix/netview
Network Traffic Analysis
Now that we have compiled the binary. The second step that I’d like to do is analyzing network packets through Wireshark. I have a lab with a few servers and two Domain Controllers. The binary itself contains different parameter options, so what we can do is perform dynamic analysis with Wireshark to see how it looks on the wire. In my lab setup. I have Wireshark installed on every server.
Let’s start capturing network packets on a Domain Controller, and in the meantime. Run the following command in Hunter.exe
Now go back to the Domain Controller and see what Wireshark has captured.
Let’s cover the basic flow of the SAMR protocol by analyzing the associated network packets. First, we are establishing an SMB connection to the remote machine.
The second phase is to connect to the IPC$ share on the remote machine. The IPC$ share is used for Inter Proces Communication by using RPC over SMB to allow clients to send different commands to the server to listen users, shares, etc. The third phase is to open the SAMR named pipe.
Fourth phase is to connect to the SAMR interface, which can be recognized by its UUID: 12345778-1234-abcd-ef00-0123456789ac
Once all of these steps have been completed, we can start interacting with the SAMR protocol.
At the connect request, we can see two SAMR Connect specific rights with the likes of SAMR_ACCESS_LOOKUP_DOMAIN to lookup what the domain is, and SAMR_ACCESS_ENUM_DOMAINS to enumerate the domains.
Here we can see what the domain name turns out to be in the request, which happens to be ‘CONTOSO’.
Now we’re requesting to open the domain. This will show us a few SAMR Domain specific rights and includes the SID of the domain.
At the final part, we can see that we’re calling EnumDomainUsers. This is the operation that is responsible for enumerating Domain Users in AD.
Let’s move on to the following option in Hunter. If we specify the -A option (capital A), we will enumerate all the Domain Users with the associated AD attributes.
There is not much of a difference besides of the following operations QueryUserInfo, GetAliasMembership and OpenUser.
OpenUser will query specific fields that are set on a user. The RID that ends with 502 belongs to the KRBTGT security principal in this case.
QueryUserInfo will query the Domain Users, but this will include the associated AD attributes. We can see an account name with information, such as last logon and the date and time when the password was last changed.
If we scroll a bit down, we even can see what AD attributes have been set on the account. As we can see here, the ACB_PWNOEXP field indicates that the flag ‘Password never expires’ has been set.
GetAliasMembership will retrieve the groups that an account is a member of.
The -g option will enumerate all the AD groups.
We will see a QueryDisplayInfo2 operation in a packet. Let’s look inside and see what information we get.
QueryDisplayInfo2 will show us the AD group name.
Let’s now use the -m option to enumerate memberships of a specific group.
Hunter.exe -m "Domain Admins"
We can see a few different operations with the likes of LookupNames, OpenGroup, QueryGroupMember, and LookupRids.
LookupNames will look up what the name is for the group that we have queried. In this example, we were querying the Domain Admins group.
OpenGroup will open the group that we are querying and displaying the RID of it. It will also show the SAMR Group specific right, which is set to SAMR_GROUP_ACCESS_GET_MEMBERS. This field will be set to 1, because we were enumerating the Domain Admins group to get a list of members that are part of it.
QueryGroupMember will query all the members that are part of Domain Admin but will only display the RID.
LookupRids will show the account name of each RID that is a member of Domain Admins.
Enumerating Domain Controllers:
The following option -e will enumerate all the Domain Controllers.
As we can see here. We are generating DNS traffic when we are enumerating Domain Controllers. There is a field indicating ‘Authoritative: Server is an authority for domain’, which indicates that it is very likely a Domain Controller.
Final command will be the -f option. This allows us to enumerate host information, shares and whether we have local admin access or not. The host.txt is a file that includes the hostnames we’re going to enumerate.
Hunter.exe -f host.txt
We can see that we have enumerated the specified servers. We were able to obtain information about the servers, the readable shares, the IP address of the hostname, and so on.
First, we are connecting over SMB to the remote machine and then connect to the IPC$ share. Furthermore, we are connecting to the \PIPE\srvsvc named pipe, and then connect to the SRVSVC UUID: 4b324fc8-1670-01d3-1278-5a47bf6ee188
After we made a connection to the SRVSVC UUID, we can see that we are calling the NetSrvGetInfo operation.
Let’s expand this packet and see what details we can get. As we can see, we are able to get the server’s name and the type of the server. Indicating that it is a server for example, and not a Domain Controller.
After we have obtained the server information through NetSrvGetInfo. We are attempting to connect to different network shares.
If we expand the network packet that contains the response. We can see the access masks that are associated with the request to access the C$ share.
Last, but not least. How is Hunter.exe able to find where we are a local admin? In short, we are connecting to a remote machine over SMB -> Connecting to the IPC$ share -> Connecting to the \pipe\ntsvcs named pipe -> Connecting to the SVCCTL UUID: 367abb81-9844-35f1-ad32-98f038001003 -> Calling OpenSCManagerW and see if we can request access to the Service Control Manager on the remote server.
When we expand the network packet. We can see both standard and specific rights being set in the request.
At the final part, we are going to use a different tool. It can be downloaded here: https://github.com/mubix/netview.
Run the following command:
Netview.exe -f host.txt
Netview does pretty much the same as Hunter, but we are more interested in enumerating users that have a session established with a remote system and the logged-on users.
Let’s focus on the ‘Enumerating Session Info’ first. We can see that Colby has an active session on the AADConnect server. It is calling the NetSessionEnum function to retrieve active sessions on the remote machine.
We first start with connecting to the \PIPE\srvsvc named pipe that is accessible via the IPC$ share over SMB. Furthermore, it is using the SRVS (Server Service Remote Protocol), which is an RPC based protocol that is used for remotely enabling file and printer sharing and named pipe access to the server through SMB.
If we look at the TCP stream, we can see that one user has currently an active session on the machine.
Let’s now take a look at the ‘Enumerated logged-on users’ and see how this works. In order to enumerate the logged-on users on a remote machine. Netview is calling the NetWkastaEnumUsers function.
This works by connecting to the \PIPE\wkssvc named pipe, which is accessible via the IPC$ share over SMB. Furthermore, it is using Workstation Service Remote Protocol. The Workstation Service Remote Protocol (WKSSVC) is used to perform tasks on a computer remotely on a network, including:
If we follow the TCP stream, we can see the logged-on users.
We have used tools like Hunter.exe and Netview.exe to perform dynamic analysis with Wireshark. This allows us to view the activities on the wire and understand how everything flows. Being able to understand to some extend how network protocols work can benefit a lot. The next step is to do something similar, but then understand how it works from a code-level perspective. Stay tuned!


The tech event gets underway in Barcelona next week
Each year, thousands of people working in all sectors of mobile technology descend upon Barcelona for Mobile World Congress. This year's conference gets underway on February 27th, and it looks as though the Irish will be well represented there.
Fourteen Enterprise Ireland client companies will exhibit on the 'Ireland Pavilion' on site at the Fira Barcelona. Here's a brief rundown on some of the companies that will be there.
Global companies such as Sony and Intel rely on Vistatec to make sure their message is getting across to customers and clients all over the world.
Dublin-based Vistatec uses 'Deep Content Technology’ and machine-learning software to 'transcreate content', pulling both public data (such as BBC Online news) and private user-generated content (Online Travel Portal) together, to provide the customer with relevant context, language and cultural relevance.
Cork-headquartered Software Radio Systems is breaking the mould and disrupting the world of mobile by providing its 'open source' radio signalling research and test platforms, which enables companies to build new 4G LTE advanced prototypes.
SRS is smashing the barriers to entry into the mobile equipment world, and using partnerships such as its links with the European Space Agency (ESA) to help clients create new products for use in a range of areas – from Wifi on commercial aircraft to drones, and 4G handsets and networks.
More than 760,000 small business across Europe already use VoIP on the mobile (PBX technology on your Smartphone) developed by Clonshaugh-based MDS Amiba to stay in touch.
A designer of cloud-based communications software for the small and medium-sized business market, MDS Amiba has developed advanced systems to help Small & Medium Size (SME) businesses stay in touch – with staff and customers. Web-based video conferencing, cloud-based phone exchanges, and contact centre solutions and just some of the business-friendly solutions offered by MDS Amiba. It can also provide a portable, fixed-line number together with a user’s mobile number to use on their smartphone or laptop.
MAdme’s Mobile Engagement software helps mobile carrier clients and brands to achieve higher engagement levels with customers using relevant rich, interactive media, just as those customers are using their devices, thus ensuring a more personal experience – for instance asking a customer if they are happy with the service right after completing a call, or joining a Wifi network.
Cork-based Inhance Technology helps blue-chip mobile carriers, retailers and insurers to increase profits, drive new business and retain more customers.
With Inhance Technology’s solutions, carriers and retailers can make sure that they’re prepared to retain customer loyalty. Its solutions help carriers and retailers to accurately determine the value of their customers’ mobile device, offering them timely trade-in offers. That helps to drive loyalty and retention.
Inhance Technology’s clients include Best Buy, Dixons Carphone, Orange and insurance giant AIG.
Iricent’s SDN solution – APNOS - enables carriers to create a dynamic, scalable network that gives a controller a complete dynamic overview of the network, allowing them to direct, optimize or customize traffic across the network.
The Dublin-based company’s NFV service (‘MANO as a Service’ - Maas) frees network functions from proprietary hardware. That reduces capital expenditure by running virtualized network functions on a single hardware platform. It speeds the deployment of new applications and services, while reducing the risk of trialling them. Its services are targeted at both carriers and equipment providers.
Audi, Heineken and Ikea are just three of the many global brands that have used iMobMedia’s unique solutions designed to drive loyalty and increase customer spend.
Using its unique geolocation technology, IMob helps mobile network operators and publishers to connect with customers at the right time, in the right place and with the right offer, via SMS and MMS. The result? It typically delivers a five-fold increase in redemption rates of branded offers.
iMobMedia’s geolocation technology opens up a new revenue stream for mobile network operators, enabling them to leverage their assets to brands, agencies and retailers through location-based marketing, location-based advertising and direct marketing.
The Dublin-based company’s app strategy solutions enhance the user experience, and enable brands to connect with millions of customers, giving them access to relevant and premium content. It helps clients gain a deeper understanding of their target audience by analyzing digital content consumption from the digital ecosystem.
HeyStaks helps clients makes sense of users’ browsing patterns – in real time. This builds a profile of user intent, what they’re interested in and how they behave. In turn, that enables mobile operators to give subscribers exactly what they want, when they want it, by personalising marketing messages.
HeyStaks Retina Platform identifies communities of like-minded people. It processes signals, such time and location, to add context to these communities. Importantly, HeyStaks’ solutions allow mobile operators to track consumer trends, while respecting users’ rights to anonymity. The Dublin company’s clients include mobile operators such as Digicel, Vodafone and Three.
Dublin-based Equiendo has developed its EquiTraf solution, enabling mobile operators to meet capacity demands of non-uniform, exponential traffic growth across their networks.
That translates into better user insight and experiences and allows operators to optimise network revenue generation opportunities, improve efficiency and grow capacity. Companies such as Telefónica, Digicel, Vodafone, Three, BT, Netshare, Eir, Manx Telecom already rely on Equiendo’s cloud-based solutions to deliver results.
EquiTraf also enables operators to predict RAN (Radio Access Network) budget requirements.
When Panasonic Avionics wanted help to deliver the world’s first in-flight 3G service, it talked to Druid Software.
The cutting-edge Raemis system developed by the Wickow-based firm provides all the functionality of a large, public cellular network, but can be hosted on an industry standard server and deployed rapidly in enterprise environments, from universities to hospitals, hotels, offices and warehousing – any place where employee mobility is needed.
The system can prioritise different members of staff, and also protect the private mobile network for the exclusive use of employees. And in mission-critical work environments such as hospitals, the Raemis system is especially useful, providing what could be life-saving mobile communications between staff even if a public network fails or is compromised.
Druid Software’s deep knowledge of cellular signalling protocols and knowledge of avionics platforms played a crucial factor in the development and roll-out of the in-flight 3G service, which is operated by Panasonic firm Aero Mobile.
In-flight passengers can use their smartphones for data, text and voice services as international roamers. The 3G service is being installed on Air Berlin’s entire A330-200 fleet and will also be extended to other airline partners.
Working with some of the world’s biggest transport, telecoms and technology brands, Dublin-based Cubic Telecom is a connectivity pioneer.
At the 2016 Tech Gathering in Dublin, Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella showcased Cubic Telecom, which he said is using the public cloud to transform industry. He said it’s a “fantastic example of an Irish start-up” that as built something “significant” for Europe and the world.
Cubic Telecom offers global solutions for leading companies providing in Internet of Things (IoT), Machine-to-Machine (M2M), and mobile device technology all over the world.
Its partners and customers include some of the world’s leading Fortune 100 tablet and notebook manufacturers, retailers, and M2M and automotive companies such as Audi, Lenovo, HP, Rakuten and Woolworths.
For emergency services, it’s a nightmare scenario: Wifi services go down just when they’re needed during a major incident.
Benetel has the solution: small, portable 4G LTE radio cells that can be carried in individual emergency vehicles, providing critical communications where they’re needed, when they’re needed.
In one of the recent, devastating earthquakes in Italy, emergency first responders set up portable, small cells to create a cell bubble. That enabled all the emergency workers on site to get full access to the internet, facilitating live video streaming of the incident from a fireman’s helmet from inside collapsed buildings.
The company’s suite of small cell hardware also provides enterprise IP and remote WiFi coverage for trains and cars.
Dublin-based Aspire Technology enables mobile network operators to deliver advanced services within the available network capacity.
It works with some of the world’s largest telecommunications equipment vendors, such as Cisco, Ericsson, The Now-Factory/IBM, as well as global mobile network operators including Vodafone, Digicel and Three.
Aspire’s solutions can help operators to increase network rollout speed by a factor of four, to 20 sites per day. Its automated site build audit solution also results in a 20pc reduction in repeat site visits.
Network performance across 3G, 4G and 5G is significantly enhanced with Aspire Technology’s network performance products, resulting in a 30% increase in user throughput and a 20% reduction in the voice-drop rate.


Mobility might be the most crucial advantage of pocket Wi-Fi. You are able to take it anywhere you would like, and hope the text to various mobile phone towers would give you a dependable net connection. It will function as your personal Wi-Fi spot you can bring anywhere. Any computer that has instant connection may detect the Wi-Fi relationship straight away and put it to use for opening the web.
Because it is a Wi-Fi hotspot, the wireless connection can also be provided by many instant devices. As much as five devices can utilize the relationship all at exactly the same time. This can help you save a great deal of income, especially if the net strategy is directed to function several members of the household, for instance. Since it’s highly portable, the device can also be ideal alternative to applying 3G network in your cellular when you are away. We all realize that 3G knowledge may be really restricted, and of course the rate being truly a touch slow. Apart from being suitable for iPad and iPhone units, wallet wifi is also preferred by several since it provides convenient and easy installation. You will not need to worry about installing any computer software or program just to create the text and allow it to be accessible.
Just like a instant hub or some other broadband web approach, wallet instant relationship may also be set up with a password. This is to really make the relationship secure and only accessible to these you grant permission to utilize it. Are you aware that cost, it will generally depend on the program you register for. You can check out different websites vendors to understand which plan will be suitable for your internet wants and pace requirements.
Exactly like some other broadband selection, nevertheless, mobile broadband also has its disadvantages. For just one, you could concern yourself with the potency of wireless connection. There might be some locations or parts of your house that do not provide a solid wifi2magazine signal. Since it is a mobile internet, you can’t also assume to obtain the most pace indicated on your plan. Selecting the very best strategy, nevertheless, may largely be determined by your internet needs and preferences. Generally contemplate the choice that delivers benefits that will outshine the negatives that choose the plan.
One of the newest innovations in internet technology nowadays is the pocket Wi-Fi. Exactly like your regular switch at home, it attaches to the web wirelessly, but the only real difference is that it is a little, portable product that you could get as part of your wallet anytime. It also needs a SIM card that attaches one to any system of one’s telecommunications service provider to be able to offer you access to the internet. And just like your typical router, it lets you entry the internet utilizing your smartphone, laptop, desktop computer, or tablet.
A Pocket Wi-Fi product has a few advantages to different kinds of internet connection. Number, it cannot offer you net speed as fast usually the one your cable or DSL can offer, but there are specific situations that this program is the best for you. Among the major features of this revolutionary product is that it allows access to the internet a number of Wi-Fi enabled products you have at home. Unlike the standard broadband stay that’s on a whatever system it’s slammed in, this product can offer internet access to up to 5 devices at once. Another benefit with this engineering is so it offers you usage of the web twenty four hours per day, 7 times weekly, wherever you may well be and whatsoever you may be doing. This option is offered by your phone’s 3G net, but instead of eating your phone’s data by utilizing 3G, you can just connect your telephone to your pocket Wi-Fi and enjoy unrestricted internet access without worrying all about your phone credit.


This page started out real dry and technical, but I’ve totally reworked it to make it more assessable and easier to read. This section will give you the background necessary to understand the recommendations which come later in the e-book on how to increase your odds of being saved from a distress situation.
The greatest aid to both searchers and those needing to be rescued is the Cospas-Sarsat system. This is a system of satellites orbiting the Earth combined with ground stations which are designed to provide distress alerting and location data to assist search and rescue (SAR) operations. This is accomplished by receivers on the satellites which detect and locate the signals of distress beacons operating on a frequency of 406 Megahertz (MHz). The position of the distress and other related information is forwarded to the appropriate Rescue Coordination Centers (RCCs) through the Cospas-Sarsat Mission Control Center (MCC) network.
The basic Cospas-Sarsat concept is illustrated in this figure. The System is composed of:
The Cospas-Sarsat system is currently comprised of two types of satellites, Low Earth Orbit (LEOSAR) and High Earth Orbit (GEOSAR). Low Earth Orbit satellites are placed close to the Earth, this coupled with the speed they need to circle the earth in order to stay at a constant altitude, causes them to rapidly fly over the terrain below. High Earth Orbit satellites because they are so much higher in altitude move at a speed in relation to the ground below which causes them to remain stationary over one spot on the Earth.
Low Earth Orbit Satellites orbit the Earth in near-polar orbits. They provide complete, yet non-continuous coverage of the Earth. The non-continuous aspect of the coverage occurs because the polar orbiting satellites can only view a portion of the earth at any given time. Consequently the System cannot produce distress alerts until the satellite is in a position where it can “see” the distress beacon. However, the satellite’s onboard 406 MHz processor includes a memory module, the satellite is able to store distress beacon information and rebroadcast it when the satellite comes within view of a ground station, thereby providing global coverage. A single satellite, circling the earth around the poles, eventually views the entire surface of the Earth.
Low Earth Orbit Satellites calculate the location of distress beacons using Doppler processing techniques. Doppler processing is based upon the principle that the frequency of the distress beacon, as “heard” by the satellite instrument, is affected by the relative velocity of the satellite with respect to the beacon. By monitoring the change of the beacon frequency of the received beacon signal and knowing the exact position of the satellite enables the calculation of the beacon location.
Each satellite makes a complete orbit of the earth around the poles in about 100 minutes, traveling at a velocity of 7 km per second. The satellite views a “swath” of the earth of approximately 6000 km wide as it circles the globe, giving an instantaneous “field of view” about the size of a continent. When viewed from the earth, the satellite crosses the sky in about 15 minutes, depending on the maximum elevation angle of the particular pass.
High Earth Orbit Satellites carried on board various geostationary satellites. Because a high earth orbit satellite remains stationary relative to the Earth it has a continuous view of the terrain below enabling immediate alerts upon distress beacon activation. Unfortunately because the satellite does not move in relation to the terrain below there is no Doppler effect on the received frequency, and Doppler radiolocation positioning techniques cannot be used to locate distress beacons. Position information must either be acquired from the beacon though an internal or an external navigation receiver (GPS) and encoded in the message sent by the beacon, or derived, with possible delays, from the low Earth orbit satellite system.
There is one significant advantage of buying a beacon with a GPS receiver. These emergency beacons determine their location using a GPS receiver that is either integrated into the beacon (called a location protocol beacon) or fed by an external GPS receiver. This accurate location information (generally around a football field in size for positional accuracy) is then encoded into the 406 MHz signal that is transmitted by the beacon. The satellite then receives that signal with the location and forwards the location. This information can often be derived in a matter of minutes! Since every second counts in reaching the scene of a distress this means that there is an increased chance of survival.
The important points to take away from this are:
Low Earth Orbiting Satellites can provide position calculation on distress beacons which do not provide their GPS location, but a satellite has to pass over to hear the beacon. Remember Low Earth Orbit Satellite coverage is not continuous so delays in picking up a beacon are possible and it could take several satellites passing over before a accurate position is determined.
High Earth Orbit Satellites provide instantaneous detection of distress beacons in their field of view but cannot determine location on its own. The distress beacon must send an encoded GPS location to be forwarded to rescuers.
The LEOSAR and GEOSAR satellites are complimentary systems. Each type of satellite is able to help fill the others blind spots. While low Earth orbit satellites pass over areas every hour and a half or so the high Earth orbits are always watching. When distress beacons like PLBs are in an area where a satellite in high Earth orbit can’t see due to the angle or obstructions a low orbit one will pass over in time.
This site recommends that you buy a PLB with GPS capability!


Vol. 51, Issue 1, pp. 75-85
germanate glass, ultrafast waveguide writing, near-infrared laser operation, high linear and nonlinear refractive index
A stable composition (against crystallization) of germanate glass doped with Yb3+ for mid-infrared laser applications is presented. Broad emission spectrum of Yb3+ was obtained for the fabricated glass. Laser operation was demonstrated in 13 mm long waveguide written in the glass using a femtosecond laser operating at 524 nm center wavelength sending 250 fs ultrashort pulses. The resulting CW laser operated at 1.04 µm in the fundamental mode of the waveguide. The propagation loss through the waveguide was 0.6 dB/cm at 1550 nm for 45 µm diameter of the modified structure. The mode analysis of the developed waveguide structure is also presented in COMSOL Multiphysics to study the electric field distribution through different modes of propagation in the waveguide and the confinement loss associated to them.


TSItouch Partners with Sony Electronics to Offer Integrated Touchscreen Solution for BRAVIA® Professional Displays
TSItouch Pulse Type IR technology can detect virtually any input – including a finger, gloved finger, stylus or pen – and enables true multi-touch for up to 10 simultaneous touch points. The TSItouch Pulse Type IR solution, compatible with many operating systems, combines ease of installation and operation with extremely high precision and functionality.
This enhanced and feature-rich version 4K The touch screen series is designed with anti-glare properties, cold rolled steel frame, tempered glass and powder coated finish that provides extra protection. These new features complement the current flexibility, connectivity, ease of use and superior image quality of the BZ40H. 4K Professional HDR displays. The slim, energy-efficient models offer increased image performance and brightness, a powerful processor, and 2.4 / 5 GHz WAP support. TAA and ADA compatible displays feature Pro mode, which allows for quick and easy customization to suit different environments, while One-step adjustment optimizes display settings for specific uses and applications. BRAVIA models also contain a Programmable on a Chip Platform (SoC) and Android operating system that allows digital signage to work on the screen without a separate media player, saving costs. investment, speed up installations and minimize maintenance. Updated cosmetic features include new terminal positions, a flat bottom bezel, and a reinforced structure designed for the B2B market.
âPeople know about and depend on touchscreen technology because of its ubiquity in consumer products,â said Theresa Alesso, President of Pro Division, Sony Electronics Inc. “This has accelerated the transition to touchscreen solutions and increased its demand among business users, resellers and integrators. The addition of touchscreen integration to our already powerful BRAVIA BZ40H displays deliver more interactivity, creating a holistic, tactile digital signage solution that can effortlessly communicate critical information while adding enhanced protection and requiring less face-to-face contact with individuals. “
âThere is a huge range of real-world applications for infrared touch technology, from digital signage and interactive kiosks to information displays in schools, churches and large utility control rooms,â said said the CEO of TSItouch Gary Mundrake. “The responsiveness and precision that our technology brings really goes hand in hand with the visual quality that professional buyers know they are going to get with Sony displays.”
Situated at Uniontown, Pennsylvania, TSItouch is a widely respected manufacturer of commercial grade touch screens and protection solutions for displays and video walls. In addition to IR solutions, TSItouch offers display solutions for Projected Capacitive and ShadowSense. TSItouch also offers a protection solution for almost any commercial grade display in the industry, not just video wall displays.
TSItouch will participate in the ongoing Sony Technology Tuesday webinar series on Tuesday June 1 of 1:00 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. EDT. Register here to attend the session, which will explore this new infrared touchscreen solution for Sony’s BZ40H professional BRAVIA family of displays and provide attendees with the opportunity to learn more and ask questions.
For more information on Sony’s line of professional display solutions, please visit: pro.sony/displays or learn more about the TSItouch integrated touchscreen solution for the BRAVIA BZ40H series, which is now available in North America, in sizes 55 inch (TSI55P8ACTACGZZ), 65 inch (TSI65P8ADTACGZZ) and 75 inch (TSI75P8AETACGZZ) at https://www.tsitouch.com/infrared/sony-infrared.
About Sony Electronics Inc.
Sony Electronics is a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America and a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation, one of the world’s most comprehensive entertainment companies, with a portfolio that spans electronics, music, film, mobile, games, robotics and financial services. Based at San Diego, California, Sony Electronics is a leader in electronics for the consumer and professional markets. Operations include research and development, engineering, sales, marketing, distribution and customer service. Sony Electronics creates products that innovate and inspire generations, such as award-winning Alpha interchangeable lens cameras and groundbreaking high-resolution audio products. Sony is also a leading manufacturer of end-to-end solutions for 4K professional broadcast and A / V equipment to the best 4K and 8K Ultra HD TVs. Visit http://www.sony.com/news for more information.
About TSItouch, Inc.
TSItouch is an employee-owned company specializing in large format, interactive video walls and protection solutions. Based at Uniontown, Pennsylvania, TSItouch equips businesses around the world in countless industries with touch solutions, displays and more. Visit www.tsitouch.com for more information.
SOURCE Sony Electronics, Inc.