Signal Processing

Since Antares Audio Technologies first introduced its Auto-Tune vocal pitch correction technology in the late 1990s, musicians and fans alike have been somewhat divided about its use. Some artists like Cher and, more recently, T-Pain have openly embraced the voice processing tool while others have kept its use a closely guarded secret, and, at the opposite end, calls for an end to robo-voice gimmickry have been made by the likes of Jay-Z. Now, the company has announced that its Auto-Tune processing technology is being developed for the electric guitar - offering six-string slingers effortless intonation, pitch perfect tuning and access to whole new worlds of otherwise unavailable tone. Read More

Hardened first person shooter (FPS) veterans know that your ears can be as important as your eyes when battling hordes of enemy combatants. Such veterans will also be aware that the staccato of gunfire and the sound of exploding body parts aren’t always appreciated by other members of the household – particularly in the early hours. In response to extensive research to show what different gamers want from their headsets, Sony has unveiled its DR-GA500 and DR-GA200 headsets designed to maximize spatial awareness without waking up the neighbors. Read More

It’s a sign of the times when the speed of electrons moving through wires is seen as pedestrian, but that’s increasingly the case as technology moves towards the new world of optical communication and computing. Optical communication systems that use the speed of light as the signal are still controlled and limited by electrical signaling at the end. But physicists have now discovered a way to use a gallium arsenide nanodevice as a signal processor at “terahertz” speeds that could help end the bottleneck. Read More

OK, you’re right, it 's impossible to actually beam “nothing” across a room. It is, however, possible to beam light across a room, sending information in the form of extremely short dips in that light. That’s what America’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been doing with its dark pulse laser. Whereas regular lasers transmit information by using darkness as a zero point and light pulses as data, this one uses light as a zero point, with darkness as the data. Read More

Whether you’re tracking a moose, trying to locate a sinking ship, or conducting a little spying, you’re going to be using a field strength logger. One of the slickest units currently available is the WiNRADiO PFSL-G3 Portable Field Strength Logging and Surveillance System. Whereas such systems used to consist of several pieces of equipment, the PFSL-G3 is all contained in one portable, compact, rugged unit. It also now comes with an optional TETRA control protocol decoder, allowing users to prioritize signal traffic by importance. Read More

The human body is a fascinating, well-oiled machine forged and perfected by hundreds of millions of years of evolution. So, when two MIT researchers were looking for a highly efficient design for a spectrum analysis chip, they turned to one of the most efficient designs in nature — the human inner ear — with outstanding results that will bring us 'smart radios' and transmitters capable of adaptively maximizing bandwidth and data transmission rates across all fields of communication. Read More