In a Declaratory Ruling issued in early February, the Commission summarized its determination that calls that include AI-generated voices are “artificial” under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and, therefore, illegal. Under the TCPA, violators are subject to FCC enforcement authority, including fines and actions to block calls from telephone carriers that facilitate illegal robocalls. In addition…

ommunication has advanced at an unbelievable pace in the 150 years between the Pony Express and the advent of the internet. The shelf life of information has drastically decreased, from weeks to seconds, and the distance we are willing to travel for information has shrunk to virtually nothing. We demand instantaneous access to a massive range of data, no matter where we may be in the world. Companies are spending billions of dollars for faster access to information, and consumers spend more each year on faster devices. Cellular carriers, aware of this trend, have shifted from voice-only networks to data-centric services and are relying more heavily on spectrum sharing.

The first recognizable iteration of Wi-Fi launched in 1999. Prior to 2008, about two billion Bluetooth devices had been sold. But, in 2022 alone, 4.9 billion Bluetooth devices were shipped in the span of a single year. There are now Wi-Fi access points in planes, dog collars with GPS, and toothbrushes with Bluetooth connectivity. Radio devices are everywhere, and there are more users, more devices, and greater saturation of frequency bands.

oday’s communication, transportation, and power delivery systems all depend on the extensive use of batteries to keep them functioning in a safe and reliable manner. Battery cell technology has its origins in the late 1700s, while fuel cells were not available commercially until the mid‑20^th century. But today’s batteries and fuel cells are an amazing combination of the application of principles of chemistry and electrical engineering.

The standard approach today is that when a battery is the only power source of an electrical system (referred to as the primary power source), analysis techniques are normally applied to characterize the battery as being able to supply constant input voltage to its load. As we have all experienced in our daily lives, constant input voltage conditions do not really exist unless there is an additional power source to maintain the battery’s state of charge.

common path to achieving compliance to the European Union’s (EU’s) EMC Directive 2014/30/EU (which I shall call the EMCD here) takes many manufacturers down the route of utilizing a third-party EMC test laboratory to obtain EMC test reports for their products. This process was detailed in the article “IT Server Hardware Compliance, Part 1,” which appeared in the December 2023 issue of In Compliance Magazine [1].

However, it is important to understand that the EMCD contains no legal requirements for performing any EMC laboratory tests. This was equally true for the original EMCD, 89/336/EEC, and its 2nd Edition, 2004/108/EC.

he Earth’s magnetic field is a dipole that acts like a large magnet, with its poles relatively near to the geographic (rotational) poles. Although the magnetic north pole is really in the geographic south position and vice versa, the magnetic north pole is typically referred to as the end of the dipole closest to the geographic north pole, and the magnetic south pole is similarly referred to as the end of the dipole closest to the geographic south pole. The geomagnetic field lines of force leave the magnetic South through Antarctica, circle the Earth, and re‑enter through the magnetic North’s surface, through the Arctic pole, creating vectors of these ascending lines of force in the Southern Hemisphere and descending lines of force in the Northern Hemisphere, which are parallel to the earth’s surface at the equator.

As one moves closer to the equator, the strength of the lines of force steadily declines, reaching maximum values of around 60,000 nT at the poles and around 30,000 nT at the Equator [1]. These characteristics make the magnetic field a very reliable and omnipresent source of information, in which the magnetic vector (the vector between the line of force of the magnetic field and the line of force of gravity) provides directional information that the bird can use as a “compass.” Further, the spatial distribution of other factors, such as intensity or inclination, can be components of the “map,” providing information on the geographic position of the bird as they vary between the poles and the equator. [2, 3].

he impact of decoupling capacitors and a PCB trace length on signal integrity was discussed in [1], while the impact on radiated emissions was discussed in [2]. In this article, we evaluate the impact of the capacitors and trace length on conducted emissions.

he ESDA technology roadmap is written to support and guide the daily work of ESD and latch-up experts in the worldwide industry and academia. At the same time, it is intended to provide a glimpse into the future ESD thresholds of semiconductor devices and their impact on ESD control practices. It also presents current and future technical challenges in ESD and latch-up. With their expertise vision, the ESDA Advanced Topics Team has completed the most recent edition, published in January 2024 [1]. In this article, we want to highlight some of the changes and look at one key trend in advanced packaging.

n our last few “On Your Mark” columns, we’ve been putting a spotlight on the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Z535 standards. This family of U.S. voluntary consensus standards was created to enhance safety communication and promote consistent hazard recognition and understanding – making it important for manufacturers and workplaces across the country. These standards create a guide for the design, application, and use of signs, colors, and symbols intended to identify and warn against hazards and for other accident prevention purposes. Our theme of exploring each of these standards individually continues, this month focusing on ANSI Z535.6 – Product Safety Information in Product Manuals, Instructions, and Other Collateral Materials.