1. Match the terms with their definitions.

1. approach a) a very small set of electronic connections printed on a

single piece of semiconductor material

2. circuit b) a method of doing something or dealing with a

problem

3. wire c) likely to change suddenly and without warning

4. sensor d) electronic equipment that controls the flow of

electricity

5. architecture e) a piece of equipment used for discovering the presence

of light, movement, heat, etc.

6. scale f) formation, framework, structure

7. volatile g) a piece of metal, used for carrying electrical currents

or signals

8. transistor h) the size or level of something

9. nano i) one billionth part of a unit

2. Fill in the gaps with the following words: architecture, transistor, sensor, nano, circuit, volatile, approach.

1. Figure 1.2 shows a … having different characteristics at high and low frequencies.

2. In addition, with new technologies, it had become highly … and complex.

3. This one-… memory element is the most prospective among ferroelectric memory elements.

4. Network … affects Form Reader Enterprise Edition performance just like it affects any other network task which requires large file transfers via the network.

5. The use of this … allows preventing losses outside of these limits.

6. Vmin is a minimum velocity of a moving object for being recorded by the …, in meters per second.

7. Manipulation of atoms, molecules, and materials to form structures on the scale of nanometers is called …technology.

3. Match the words and phrases that go together in a and b and translate them.

A B

nano block

electronic nanoprocessor

building electronics

low power wire

consumer requirements

bottom-up paradigm

programmable circuits

4. Find the Russian equivalents of the terms:

Ultra-tiny nanocircuits; programmable nanoprocessor; nanowire building blocks; reproducibility; top-down approaches; bottom-up paradigm; transistor switches; much smaller, lighter weight electronic sensors; tiled architecture.

5. Answer the questions.

1. What are computer circuits assembled from?

2. Which way is conventional approach changed?

3. What possibilities does tiled architecture give?

4. Why do the circuits need less power?

5. What does “nonvolatile transistor switch” mean?

6. Why are engineers interested in nanoprocessor circuits?

Text 19 New wireless technology developed for faster, more efficient networks

A new technology that allows wireless signals to be sent and received simultaneously on a single channel has been developed by Stanford researchers. Their research could help build faster, more efficient communication networks, at least doubling the speed of existing networks.

Stanford researchers have developed the first wireless radios that can send and receive signals at the same time.

This immediately makes them twice as fast as existing technology, and with further tweaking will likely lead to even faster and more efficient networks in the future.

"Textbooks say you can't do it," said Philip Levis, assistant professor of computer science and of electrical engineering. "The new system completely reworks our assumptions about how wireless networks can be designed," he said.

Cell phone networks allow users to talk and listen simultaneously, but they use a work-around that is expensive and requires careful planning, making the technique less feasible for other wireless networks, including Wi-Fi.

A trio of electrical engineering graduate students, Jung Il Choi, Mayank Jain and Kannan Srinivasan, began working on a new approach when they came up with a seemingly simple idea. What if radios could do the same thing our brains do when we listen and talk simultaneously: screen out the sound of our own voice?

In most wireless networks, each device has to take turns speaking or listening. "It's like two people shouting messages to each other at the same time," said Levis. "If both people are shouting at the same time, neither of them will hear the other."

Their main roadblock to two-way simultaneous conversation was this: Incoming signals are overwhelmed by the radio's own transmissions, making it impossible to talk and listen at the same time.

"When a radio is transmitting, its own transmission is millions, billions of times stronger than anything else it might hear [from another radio]," Levis said. "It's trying to hear a whisper while you yourself are shouting."

But, the researchers realized, if a radio receiver could filter out the signal from its own transmitter, weak incoming signals could be heard. "You can make it so you don't hear your own shout and you can hear someone else's whisper," Levis said.

Their setup takes advantage of the fact that each radio knows exactly what it's transmitting, and hence what its receiver should filter out. The process is analogous to noise-canceling headphones.

Stanford University (2011, February 15). New wireless technology developed for faster, more efficient networks. Science Daily.

from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110214155503.htm