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Technology Stocks : Rambus (RMBS) - Eagle or Penguin
RMBS 87.70-3.8%Nov 18 3:59 PM EST
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To: Dave B who wrote (19373)4/27/1999 9:47:00 AM
From: TigerPaw  Read Replies (1) of 93625
 
no radio signals
I suppose this comes down to a matter of definition. Your friends assessment of the technology agrees with mine. I used the term radio signal not because there is an underlying carrier frequency, there is not, but because the information is carried primarily though voltage changes and not current changes.

information was encoded onto some underlying carrier
The Rambus signal is a high enough frequency to be considered part of the radio spectrum. The protocol calls for a minimum number of transistions in each packet. This means that you never get a string of all ones or all zeros that is so long that it makes the frequency fall below a certain threshold. This allows the signal to overcome capacitance quicker and with less distortion. A carrier is only necessary if the information signal is of too low a frequency (say voice or pictures) to act as it's own radio source.

Lastly, Rambus systems are still digital systems. This could be a case of splitting hairs, but the signal which is travelling between the processor and the RIMM has many analog characteristics. One of the most important is the reflections from the unterminated line. This reflection is critically dependant on the length of the line and it's impedance. The problems involved in getting this to work, especially across a plug-in connector, is more similar to the problems solved by radio engineers than digital engineers. It is true that the signal can be considered digital; so long as the correct reflections are achieved the end result is sending ones and zeros and not intermediate values.
TP
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