Vanguard: Reporting from the Front Lines of the 4G Revolution

At this moment on Earth, there are approximately 6 billion cell phones in operation. Of these six-odd billion, some 1.2 billion of these phones include mobile web access features. Already the mind goes into overdrive trying to comprehend the bandwidth needed for a wireless network of such dimensions. To cap it all off, with high-speed, digital 4G networks sprouting up overnight (and trans-globally), the wireless capacity of the world is ever more taxed to deliver better, faster, more broad ranging services for an ever-growing number of users.  While many figures in business, politics, and academia devote their careers to tackling the long-term need of increasing capacity, there are others who are caught up in the moment-by-moment race to deliver services at the pace at which they’re demanded. 

Vanguard’s Ultra-Vanshield and Microbridge EMI shieldinggaskets are ideal for providing EMI shielding and weather sealing for the base station units that are critical to providing this increased level of service. These base stations are responsible for sorting through the boggling number of wireless operations (anything ranging from speech channels, to transmissions, to pages, to clear reception) occurring at any given moment in the ether. 

Base sub-stations – BSS’s – transcode the actions of millions of cell phone users and incorporate them into the greater wireless cellular network. With the level of energy surging through these base sub-stations at any given hour of the day, there’s a matching need to provide protection from both within and without: within, to ensure signal clarity and interference free operation, and without to protect the units from outside unwanted RFI interference while providing substantial weather seal protection—a critical consideration in light of the places where the BSS is physically located, quite often in areas where the climatic elements are brutal, and the units are difficult to service. 

At Vanguard Products, we manufacture standard customized, weatheright seals to protect base sub stations from malfunctioning. Our materials and handiwork can be found in BSS systems throughout world  in some of the most punishing outdoor environments you could name. With a reputation for military-grade reliability under all circumstances, our seals will keep your communications systems up and running far into this century.

Hoping to See You in Philly at MD&M East!

As most of those reading this blog will already know, MD&M is the premiere conference and get-together for those in the medical device industry, whether they’re manufacturers, distributors, or end-users. The MD&M East Show taking place from May 21 – 24 in Philadelphia should prove no exception. The leading authorities in every possible medical manufacturing field – from cleanroom and sterilization, to medical grade materials, to electronic components and subassemblies, to motors, pumps, and motion control devices – will be strutting their latest products and findings at the Philadelphia Convention Center, located at 1101 Arch Street. In addition, 16 full-day conference programs will be offered to those who wish to attend them. Important discussion topics will include process validation, medical polymers, product development process, compliance, product lifecycle management, and global quality. Visitors can customize their own experience of these various topics by moving from one conference room to another. 

Being at the forefront of the medical manufacturing revolution (medical manufacturing itself being at the forefront of the new American “manufacturing renaissance”), Vanguard Products  will be looking, as always, for new clients and partnerships with others interested in making OEM medical devices of the first caliber. With our ability to provide both rubber extrusions and customized moldings, along with our intensive familiarity in EMI/RFI shielding gaskets, conductive gaskets, and silicone materials, we hope to impart our knowledge and services to those who are most looking to use them. We look forward to meeting with you at the Convention itself, as well as the possibility of exploring Philadelphia together in the hours between presentations and exhibitions.

Vanguard Takes the Lead in Designing N/B/C-Resistant Shielding

When given the acronym “NBC,” most Americans might be forgiven for flashing instantly to the media conglomerate that broadcasts hit shows such as “30 Rock” and the “NBC Nightly News.” But those who are in a certain line of work know an additional meaning for the acronym: “nuclear-biological-chemical.” Defense manufacturers and service-members alike realize the importance of having equipment that is resistant to the deadliest hazards of the modern battlefield. 

EMI shielding is a must for military electronics in general, and insuring that the EMI shielding will perform its job in even the harshest (and most unfortunate) circumstances is one of the necessities of 21^st century warfare. If, Heaven forbid, a tactical nuclear device were actually to be used against American forces, there would be the need for EMI shielding gaskets that are not only proof against the blast radiation itself, but are also resistant to the powerful cleaning agents used on vehicles and equipment that have been subjected to that level of aggression. 

Vanguard Products is fully capable of manufacturing such N/B/C-resistant EMI shielding gaskets. We account for everything from biological warfare to jet fuel spillage when we design our ITAR-certified custom shielding. The fact is our troops go into battle with some of the most advanced technology the world has ever seen, and that technology comes with highly specific requirements for remaining effective in the worst of conditions.

Insuring Galvanic Compatibility for Defense Electronics

In 1990, with the Soviet Union in its death throes, it seemed high time to begin stowing away some of the tens of thousands of tons of electronics the United States military had accumulated to fight the Cold War. At least, that was the line of thinking in the first half of the year. Then, that August, Iraqi forces rolled into Kuwait, and our line of thinking had to change yet again in preparation for the First Gulf War. 

As American forces began their rapid build-up to Desert Storm, a major issue came to light. The electronic equipment onboard tanks, Humvees, and mobile artillery, much of which had been corralled in storage sheds throughout the United States and West Germany, began to malfunction in the rugged desert environment. Due galvanic incompatibility, caused in many cases by inadequate EMI shielding gaskets and gasket design, the electronic enclosures on many of these items simply couldn’t withstand the environment they were subjected to, and began in many cases, just falling apart.

In short, the American military discovered what thousands of grade school science students have discovered when building their first primitive wet cell batteries:   galvanic action can cause the fast sacrifice of enclosures, especially aluminum and magnesium, in tough environments. The need became apparent to develop moldings, extrusions, and EMI/RFI shielding gaskets that would allow for the American military’s high-performance, high-maintenance electronic equipment to perform at optimal level for long periods of time.

Since those days of 1991, we’ve come a long way in terms of our design-work for military electronics and, by extension,  ruggedized commercial applications. At Vanguard Products  we’ve fabricated any number of custom moldings, rubber extrusions, and shielding gaskets for some of the most sophisticated vehicles and weapons systems in America’s arsenal. Just ask the soldiers and marines who fought in the Second Gulf War. While it’s a given that mil-spec equipment is prone to breakage and failure in wartime (just as in peacetime), the anticipated epidemic of mechanical and electronic failures similar to the First Gulf War never materialized for the Second, at least not on the same scale. It’s because we as a country had learned our lessons from 1991. It’s because companies like Vanguard Products had applied those lessons with consideration and care to the equipment they had designed.

The Effects of Miniaturization of Applications on Components and Materials

It was not so long ago – most likely in a majority of our lifetimes – when the highest-performance computing machines of the day took up half the space of an entire large university, corporate, or government laboratory building. Consider the goliath-sized computer of the 50s and 60s, and then compare their computational power to the touch-screen iPhone you may very well right now be holding in your hand. That iPhone holds exponentially greater levels of functionality than did those unwieldy behemoths from 50 years back. Nor does the trend need be observed from the vantage point of decades in order to be readily apparent. During the later course of this year, all the major Smartphone and computer suppliers introducing items that bear all the features and functions of the original model – but still uses a considerably smaller amount of space. It all boils down to the ever-increasing (or should we say decreasing trend) in electronics and mechanics: the miniaturization of parts, components, and applications.

From the Smartphone to the Smartcar, it seems as though the trend were endemic in most, if not all, industries. Since Vanguard makes its business both in supplying EMI/RFI gasket shielding for electronic devices, as well as more conventional extrusions and molds for silicone- and elastomer-based products (that don’t necessarily have an electrical application), we make it our business to keep current with the ongoing miniaturization process, and how it affects our industry and the business we conduct as a company.

In order for manufacturers like ourselves to remain ahead of the curve, we must anticipate the new demands for miniaturization. We must readily be able to provide EMI shields for ever smaller computers, phones, and electronic reading devices. By necessity, we must heed the so-called “Moore’s Law,” which posits that the number of transistors on any given circuit is able to double within the next 18 months. With technology moving ever more swiftly, we must ever more swiftly keep pace with its advances, and be capable of presenting solutions in anticipation of these issues as much as (if not more than) in reaction of them.