Miniaturisation, telecommunications

Nonetheless, near-IR is the most widely used IR technique. Less intense water absorptions permit to increase the sampling volume to compensate, to some extent, for the lower near-IR absorption coefficients and the inferior specificity of the absorption bands can for many applications be overcome by application of advanced chemometric methods. Miniaturised light sources, various sensor probes, in particular based on transmission or transflectance layouts, and detectors for this spectral range are available at competitive prices, as are (telecommunications) glass or quartz fibres. 

As pointed out by Thermacore Inc. (McGlen et al., 2003), the major manufacturer of heat pipes for electronics thermal control, the microelectronics, telecommunications, power electronics and, to some extent, the electrical power industries, are constantly striving towards miniaturisation of devices that inevitably result in greater power densities. Therefore, there is a challenge to develop efficient management of heat removal from these high flux devices. 

Current systems consist of rack mounted units, as one might find in telecommunications installations, with total electronic chip powers of up to 120 W per printed circuit board (PCB) and total rack powers of approximately 5kW. From the point of view of convenience and compatibility, it is desirable to maintain the standard sizes of casings and electronic connections in the back of each case. Therefore, more components are inserted onto the same size of PCB creating higher packing densities, facilitated by the miniaturisation of components. 

The trend for miniaturisation is countered by the considerably increased proportion of plastics in telecommunications equipment and the overall consumption of plastics by the industry has increased significantly. 

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