I created a brief video showing what an impedance matching network created using analytical techniques looks like on the Smith Chart. The impedance matching network was created in an exercise that is part of the Introduction to Impedance Matching course.

An early version of the Smith Chart web app is now available to try out. There are a couple of issues that I will be working on initially, such as the frequency entry dialog box appears to be transparent for some reason. I'll also be working on the layout to try and make the various parts of the app fit better on the page. At the moment, the app is only optimized for mouse input and does not respond to touch-based dragging events (to move elements around on the chart).

I've made substantial progress in developing the JavaScript version of the Smith Chart matching applet. The interface components that allow for changing frequencies and viewing component values have basic functionality at this point. A basic interface for setting the chart impedance is all that is needed and then all of the basic pieces will be in place. I should be able to make it available users very soon - although the appearance will start out a bit "unrefined".

Back in the mid-1990's, Les Besser and I wrote a series of articles on RF amplifier design for Applied Microwaves and Wireless magazine (unfortunately this magazine is no longer in circulation). Since that time, Les Besser and Rowan Gilmore have written a two-volume textbook on RF circuit design that covers this topic as well as a great deal of background knowledge on working with RF circuits.

Now that browsers are dropping support for the Java plug-in, it seems that the days of applets are coming to an end. Although Java applets never dominated the mainstream web experience as much as more popular Flash-based content, they did find a niche in scientific and engineering applications - which is one of the few areas where they will likely be missed.

The successful landings of Space-X's first stage rockets (and Blue Origin's success as well) signals a major breakthrough in the future reduction of the cost of space access. It seems to reason that this will result in a dramatic increase in the entrepreneurial interest in using satellite-based infrastructure to provide new services to a global audience. For example, companies like Google could deploy wireless internet access using small "cube" satellites that cost much less to build and launch than current systems.

Another application of using Python to demonstrate RF concepts comes in the form of a calculator to plot L-C series reactance. This plot shows two useful concepts: resonance and the effect of parasitic capacitance or inductance. For a capacitor, the magnitude of the series reactance decreases with increasing frequency, while the opposite is true for an inductor. For a capacitor with parasitic inductance, there will come a point where the two reactances are equal in magnitude and cancel each other out. This point is the resonant frequency of the combined circuit.