TELECOM Digest Thu, 17 Feb 94 00:56:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 86 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson An Inside Look at the Panasonic KXT-9000 (Joshua Hosseinoff) Program For Microwave Radio Links? (Dino Moriello) Help Needed Building Voice Mail Indicator Light (Marc A. Sarrel) Big Brother Inside Logo (Dave Banisar) Cellular/One * Codes (Johnny J Chin) Australian Broadband Services Inquiry - Call For Submission (T Worthington) Symposium on Design Productivity Improvement (Patrick Pype) Power Supply For Digital Cordless Phone (mmeyer@sol.uvic.ca) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie. Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu * The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers. To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com. ** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu ** Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to use the information service, just ask. TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 16 Feb 1994 23:48:51 -0500 From: hosseino@yu1.yu.edu (Joshua Hosseinoff) Subject: An Inside Look at the Panasonic KXT-9000 I've had my Panasonic 900MHz phone for about three months now and I thought the Digest readers might be interested in some of my observa- tions on it. I use the phone in my college dormitory where I get excellent coverage one floor above my room and two floors below, and decent coverage up to three floors above and all the way down to the basement. I currently am on the third floor of my building and I've tested the range outside the building and I've been able to get decent coverage up to a half block away (about 150 feet) outside, and absolutely no reception inside a different building than the base unit. I recently tested it by putting the base by a window on the eighth floor of the dorm and I was very surprised to see the range increase alot. I was able to go about 1 1/2 blocks away, and I could even connect while in another building. My next experiment was to open up the base unit and have a look inside. The first thing I noticed was two dipswitches located right next to where the tone/pulse switch is. The dipswitches were both set to the 0 position. The dipswitch on the left did nothing as far as I could tell. The right dipswitch changed between a fast pulse dialing and a slow pulse dialing, both of which dialed properly. It was originally set to the 0 position for slow pulse dialing. They have no effect on touch tone dialing as far as I can tell. The other interesting things were some little knobs recessed inside a metal cage. Most of them can be adjusted with a small screwdriver. Here is a list of the labels on the cage and my notes on what they did: 30db: this was only a hole in the metal cage and no knob was visible that I could see. 20db: the knob in here affects the transmission between the base and handset. In a certain position, the base will page the handset but the handset won't hear it. However, if the handset pages the base, the base will hear it. Level: same as 30db. Det: same as 30db. Tx Pwr: this knob didn't seem to do much. It would either be in a position that worked or one that didn't work with no in between level. This knob would spark a little if I adjusted it while the base and handset had a connection. Rx VCO: same as Tx Pwr. Tx VCO: same as Tx Pwr. Fre: I assume this meant frequency, it had some effect on the voice quality ranging from totally garbled to crystal clear. Base Unit Upper: same as 30db. IFT: didn't do anything at all. Dev: didn't do anything at all. I assume that opening up the base and playing around with the knobs voids the warranty and is a shock hazard so the usual disclaimers apply. Josh Hosseinoff ------------ hosseino@yu1.yu.edu ------------------------------ From: dino@CAM.ORG (Dino Moriello) Subject: Program For Microwave Radio Links Date: Wed, 16 Feb 1994 23:17:39 -0500 Organization: VE2DM I'm a microwave radio tech. My company has over 300 microwave sites and I have the following question: We installed a hop last summer that runs east-west and we noticed that at a certain time during the summer the sun got right in line with one of the dishes causing the noise level on the receiving antenna to go sky high and cause a cut off of the link during the entire time that the sun is in line with the two dishes at 7GHZ. Is there a way to predict when these outages will occur, either using a software program or by hand? Thanks for reading this. Dino Moriello PO BOX 105 Internet: dino@CAM.ORG Radisson,Quebec Compuserve: 76120,1472 Tel.: 514-974-0773 CANADA J0Y 2X0 Packet: VE2DM@VE2FKB 819-638-8281 Please E-mail replies since I can't always read the USENET postings. ------------------------------ From: mas@porgy.jpl.nasa.gov (Marc A. Sarrel) Subject: Help Needed Building Voice Mail Indicator Light Date: 17 Feb 1994 00:32:33 GMT Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory Does anyone have plans to build a small (less than a few cm^3) circuit that would detect the presence of messages and flash an LED or something? Alternatively, I have a SPARCstation LX (Solaris 2.3) sitting on my desk with a couple of unused ISDN ports. Is there some software that would allow me to run my phone line through those ports and give me an indication on my screen when I have messages (sort of like xbiff)? We're soon to get Pacific Bell voice mail in our section at work. The voice mail is already installed where I work, but it is not universally used. Anyway, the way the system is set up, we have to lift the handset and listen for the beeps to tell if we have messages. We have to pay extra to get a phone with an indicator light or even more for a phone with an LCD type display. That's not going to happen. I'm not a EE, but I can probably build the thing if it's not too complex ... Also, please reply by email. I don't regularly read this newsgroup advTHANKSance Marc Sarrel Jet Propulsion Laboratory mas@porgy.jpl.nasa.gov N7OLI ------------------------------ Organization: CPSR Washington Office From: Dave Banisar Date: Wed, 16 Feb 1994 10:24:49 EST Subject: Big Brother Inside Logo Big Brother Inside Logo A parody of the Intel's Logo modified for the Clipper Chip is now available for use for stickers, posters, brochures etc. The Big Brother Inside graphic files are now available at the CPSR Internet Archive - ftp/gopher cpsr.org /cpsr/privacy/crypto/clipper big_brother_inside_sticker.ps (postscript-scale to fit your project) big_brother_inside_logo.gif (Color GIF - good startup/background screen) big_brother_inside_picts_info.txt (Info on the files) The files have also been uploaded to America Online in the Mac Telecom and Graphic Arts folders. big_brother_inside_sticker.ps is a generic postscript file, created in CorelDraw. The postscript image lies landscape on the page, and consists of the intel-logo's ``swoosh'' and crayon-like lettering on the inside. This design was originally created for the sticker project: the image was screened onto transparent stickers 1" square for the purpose of applying them to future clipper-chip products. (cdodhner@indirect.com was in charge of that project; as far as I know he's still distributing them for a small donation to cover printing & mailing costs). The design was created by Matt Thomlinson ------------------------------ From: jchin@panix.com (Johnny J Chin) Subject: Cellular/One * Codes Date: 16 Feb 1994 03:20:49 -0500 Organization: Onesimus Enterprises International, Inc. I am a Cellular/One customer and I was wondering does anyone have a complete list of the * (star) codes? In other words, like in the NYC area, I only know of one ... *FILM to get info on movies. Any and all replies appreciated. I will post a summary of all replies. Thanks, Johnny J. Chin (jchin@panix.com) LAN/WAN/PC Consultant/Reseller Onesimus Enterprises Int'l Inc. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The thing to remember is that this will vary from one community to the next. What works on Cellular One in Chicago won't necessarily -- or even probably -- work in New York, etc. Each 'Cellular One' company is an independent entity doing its own thing and no single standard applies. PAT] ------------------------------ From: tomw@ccadfa.cc.adfa.oz.au (Tom Worthington) Subject: Australian Broadband Services Inquiry - Call for Submissions Organization: Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, Australia Date: Wed, 16 Feb 1994 06:42:46 GMT On 8 December 1993, the then Minister for Communications, Mr. David Beddall, announced an inquiry into issues relating to the delivery of new communications services to homes, schools and businesses. These services could provide entertainment to consumers in the form of video-on-demand and interactive TV, or information in the form of electronic newspapers, and electronic and video mail. The Broadband Services Expert Group was established to conduct the inquiry, drawing its twelve members from industry, users, carriers, the union movement, and research, education and finance areas. The Group is now calling for submissions from interested groups and the public. This reflects both the Government's desire that the Group consult as widely as possible to ensure all interested individuals and organisations have an opportunity to contribute to the study, and a recognition of the potentially major implications of the availability of broadband services for the Australian community. Invitations to make submissions were published in major newspapers on Tuesday 1 February. A discussion paper identifying a range of issues relevant to the study follows. The paper lists the Terms of Reference and includes details on how to make submissions. It is expected that most submissions will be mailed, but an e-mail address is also provided. The Expert Group is seeking submissions by 18 March to enable the Group to produce a draft report for public discussion by mid-1994. Geoff Luther Manager - Secretariat Broadband Services Expert Group GPO Box 2154 Canberra ACT 2601 E-mail: bseg.secretariat@dotc.gov.au 4 February 1994 ------------------------------- Posted by Tom Worthington , Director of the Community Affairs Board, Australian Computer Society Inc., as a community service. 16 February 1994 NOTE: The discussion paper can be found on FTP archive "archie.au" in directory "ACS/Broadband-Enquiry/". The announcement and paper are distributed at the request of the Secretariat of the Broadband Services Expert Group. The views expressed are not necessarily those of the ACS. Please direct all comments to the Secretariat. Submissions close Friday 18 March. This enquiry was first mentioned by Paul Keating, Prime Minister of Australia, in an election speech 24 February 1993. At that stage it was to be limited to optical fibre networking, but was later broadened. ABOUT THE ACS: The Australian Computer Society is the professional association in Australia for those in the computing and information technology fields. Established in 1966, the ACS has over 14,000 members and on a per capita basis is one of the largest computer societies in the world. Activities are announced in the Usenet newsgroup "aus.org.acs". Information is available via e-mail from info@acs.org.au or the Gopher at acs-gopher.mit.csu.edu.au Port=1605 courtesy of Charles Sturt University. ------------------------------ From: pype@imec.be (Patrick Pype) Subject: Symposium on Design Productivity Improvement Organization: IMEC, Belgium Date: Wed, 16 Feb 1994 10:35:21 GMT Improving Design Productivity for DSP Telecom & Multimedia Implementations Symposium & Hands-on organized by IMEC Mentor Graphics/EDC in cooperation with HP, Texas Instruments, IEEE Benelux Section A "DSP Valley" initiative - This symposium is the first in a series organized by the IMEC-EDC Center of CompetenceS, member ob the RDSP Valley group in Leuven. The symposium will form the launch of the IMEC-EDC Center of Competence. The goal of this cente is to perform initial design services and software customization in the domain of DSP system design, based on research results from IMEC and commercial DSP design tools from EDC. The DSP Valley group is a joint marketing initiative of the research centers IMEC and ESAT (KU Leuven), and the companies Easics, EDC/Mentor Graphics, ISI and ITCL. Who should attend? The course in oriented to developers of telecom and multimedia systems, system implementers, DSP programmers, users of DSP processors and VLSI designers. Focus of the SYMPOSIUM The current ongoing digitization of the world has created a strong need for highly complex signal processing under stringent real-time constraints. Digital signal processing has experienced a booming growth in all types of applications, ranging from speech and image processing, via telecomunications and audio/video, towards the recent multimedia revolution. The aim of this course is to satisfy the need for an international symposium which bridges the gap between the DSP system designers community and the IC-designers community. The goal is to reduce time-to-market between a systems idea and its final implementation in a product. Course content The course will concentrate on the description, specification, simulatin and implementation of DSP sustems, covering the full range of commercial DSP processor solutions to full customized VLSI chips. This will be done by means of: - Efficient multiformat system specifications consisting of a mixture of schematics in terms of predefined functional library blocks and textual editing supporting multiple languages, such as VHDL, C, C++, Verilog, DFL and so on. - System-level simulation - Fast system-level exploration by comparing implementation alternatives in terms of high-level models of cost, area, throughput, power dissipation. - Studying the impact of implementation decisions at algorithmic level and vice-versa. Course material The participants will be provided with a comprehensive set of lecture notes which will be distributed upon arrival at the course location. The material is not available for sale outside the course. Symposium Programme April 18 1. DSP for tomorrow * The importance of DSP in telecom and multimedia * The role of DSP Valley and the "DSP Center of Competence" * The history and evaluation of the CATHEDRAL/DSP StationTM 2. Demonstration * Explanation on demonstrator design used throughout symposium 3. Architectures and Design Methods for DSP * DSP hardware architectures and implementation targets * DSP design flow and optimisation steps 4. Specification or simulation of DSP Systems * A global specification language for DSP algorithms * Synchronous & Asynchronic Data Flow Simulations * Simulation and analysis libraries April 19 5. Implementation of DSP systems on microcoded processors * Architecture Model * MISTRAL-II design route 6. Extensions to hardwired implementations * Architectural extension * New optimisation tasks for datapath synthesis * Optimization of memory management April 20 7. Final implementation issues * Link of architectural synthesis tools to commercial CAD-tools (Mentor Graphics, Cadence, Synopsys) * VHDL-interfaces 8. DSP filter analysis & design * Architecture Model * MISTRAL-1 Design Route 9. Commercial DSP-Processor solutions * Code generation for TI and Motorola processors * Emulations in multi processors 10. Future strategic research directions * Evolution to a design technology for heterogeneous systems * Retargetable code generation * Synthesis for interprocessor communication Program Hands-on sessions Participants will have the occasion to follow a complete demonstrator design during the first three days. During two additional days of hands-on sessions they will have to implement applications such as a Viterbi decoder and a modulator/demodulator. The complete design flow will be experienced: 1. Explanation of application 2. Description in DFL 3. Simulation 4. Design space exploration (trade-offs different implementations) 5. Implementation 6. Final improvements with new datapath optimization techniques Please complete and return this form (email, fax, letter) : IMEC/EDC Symposium Annemie Stas IMEC-VSDM Kapeldreef 75 B-3001 Leuven Belgium Fax: 32/16281515 e-mail: annemie@imec.be IMEC/EDC Symposium Surname/Family Name................................................... Organisation.......................................................... Address............................................................... ..................................................................... Country............................................................... Post Code............................ Telephone............................................................. Fax....................................... e-mail: .............................................................. I subscribe to: O Symposium, April 18-20, price 25000 BEF (industry) O Symposium & Hands-on Sessions, April 18-22, price 40000 BEF (industry) O Symposium, April 18-20, price 15000 BEF (university/IEEE) O Symposium & Hands-on Sessions, April 18-22, price 25000 BEF (university/IEEE) IEEE Membership Nr. ........................... I wish to make a hotel reservation in O Hotel Arcade, Leuven (2350,- BEF per night, payable upon departure at hotel desk) Arrival........................................ Departure................................... O Begijnhof Congres Hotel, Leuven. (3650,- BEF per night, payable upon departure at hotel desk) Arrival........................................ Departure................................... We have an option on these hotel rooms till February 25, 1994. Reservation requests received after this date are subject to availability. If you want to obtain a travel grant, please add an application letter. Signature Date Venue The symposium and hands-on sessions will be held at IMEC, Kapeldreef 75, 3001 Leuven, Belgium. Accomodation Hotel Reservation is possible if subscription takes place before February 28. Reservation requests received after this date are subject to availability. Please fill out the registration leaflet, make your hotel choice, and inform us on your arrival and departure days. You will receive a confirmation at the beginning of March. Travel grants A few travel grants will be available in the scope of the European LIP (Large Installation Plan) programme for interested European attendees. Applications should be sent to the Chairman not later than February 15, 1994. General Chair Patrick Pype Program Chair Herman Beke Ivo Bolsens Hugo De Man Dominique Genin Local Organization and Secretariat Annemie Stas Instructors Dr. Ivo Bolsens received the Electrical Engineering Degree and Ph.D. degree at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. Since 1981 he was member of the CAD group at the ESAT Laboratory of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, where he was working on the development of an electrical verification program for VLSI circuits and on mixed-mode simulation. In 1984 he joined the IMEC-Laboratory, where he was doing research on the development of a knowledge based verification program for VLSI circuits, exploiting AI tools. Since 1989 he became head of the Applied Behavioural Synthesis group. In this context he is responsible for the application and development of the CATHEDRAL-II silicon compilation environment for real-time signal processing applications. Dominique Genin received the degree of Electrical and Software engineer from the University of Liege, Belgium in 1980. He got the montefiore prize in 1981. He is currently director at the European Development Center of Mentor Graphic, responsible for the development of the DSPStation. From 1986 to 1989, Dominique was the manager of a research team at Tektronix working on object oriented compilers and databases. Prior to tektronix he was project leader at the research center of Bell telephone. Mark Van Canneyt received the degree of Industrial Engineer Micor Electronics form the Industriele Hogeschool van het Rijk, Gent. He received the RBest Engineer 89S award from the same institute. Since 1990 he has been Application Engineer for Mentor GraphicsU DSP station. He is currently Technical Marketing Engineer, responsible for the European DSP market. Prof. Francky Catthoor received the Engineer degree and a PhD. in El. Eng. from the KU Leuven, Belgium in 1982 and 1987 respectively. Since 1987, he has headed research domains in the area of architectural and synthesis methodologies, within the VSDM division at IMEC. His current reserach activities mainly belong to the field of application- specific architecture design methods with emphasis on memory architectures and system-level transformations. Pype Patrick e-mail: pype@imec.be Imec vzw. Tel.: (32) 16/281 207 Kapeldreef 75 Fax.: (32) 16/281 515 3001 Leuven, Belgium Telex: 26.152 ------------------------------ From: mmeyer@sol.UVic.CA (Flying Dutchman) Subject: Power Supply For Digital Cordless Phone Organization: University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada Date: Tue, 15 Feb 94 22:29:03 GMT I need a 3 V supply for the "new" logic chips. I intend to use only three AA batteries. I have tried simulating a transistor/zener regulator but with a load of about 10 ohms, the voltage drops too low. I have not been able to find an IC regulator that will operate at such a low voltage (only a 0.6 V drop). A voltage divider setup is no good since the voltage will vary from about 3-4 V from the NiCAD batts. Any ideas? Please forward to my E-mail address ONLY. I don't want to switch batteries, or add more of them. Thanks, Mark ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #86 *****************************