Aerospace and Defense

Training Center Classroom

Welcome to this installment of EE Classroom on Aerospace and Defense


Terms such as harsh environment, high-precision, radiation-hardened and tolerant, extreme temperature, humidity, and mechanical stress are fundamental in the aerospace and defense electronics lexicon — but can be downright cringe-worthy to the engineers designing the critical systems and subsystems for that market. The demand for greater precision, too, means electronic components such as PLLs and buffers for clock synchronization, for example, must meet stringent tests and those testing solutions must be flexible yet sophisticated enough to stay ahead of rigorous requirements. 


In this classroom, you will find resources that can help you stay ahead, too. These include tutorials on how to choose an integration level for PoL applications and deciding what type of data converter best suits your application. Check-in to some 101 “classes” on the evolution, future, and challenges of designing satellites and refresh your background on the tiny but critical timing components. Find the answers to your frequency asked questions around testing for phase noise and jitter and radar-signal simulation in three technical-basics articles. Finally, check out the links from our sponsor that offer key reference designs around communications and radar and other carefully curated and relevant technical resources. 


Designing for critical aerospace and defense application is not a space you can afford to get lost in. Consider this classroom a resource guide to staying on track — and ahead — in your design journey.

Aimee Kalnoskas

Editor in Chief, EE World Online

Aerospace and Defense

Microsatellites • Designs • Applications • ADCs

Smaller, cheaper, better: Microsatellites

Challenges in designing electronics for satellites

Choosing an integration level for power supply functions

Sigma Delta ADC vs. SAR vs. Pipeline: How to choose

Several factors limit satellite minimum sizes; solar panel area to generate power and a big enough antenna for reliable communications.

Satellite designs started evolving with the passage of time and a new era of satellite modeling began with the invention of MCUs.

There are generally three levels of power-train integration to choose from for POL applications: The controller, the regulator, and the power module.

One of the first considerations is what input your ADC has to work with. Sensors can vary widely in the sampling bandwidth.

Aerospace and Defense

Basics • Noise • Jitter

The basics of simulating radar signals with AWGs

Measuring oscillator jitter

Measuring phase noise and jitter

In digital electronics, jitter is a particularly insidious form of noise, to be understood, measured and where possible mitigated.

When it comes to testing radar, the situation has become easier thanks to the development of arbitrary waveform generators (AWGs) 

To mitigate jitter, it is necessary first to find its cause, which is often electromagnetic interference or crosstalk.

Oscillators • Basics • Types

How crystal oscillators and resonators work

Basic principles of RADAR

Classifications of RADAR

Basic principle governing the functionality of radar is due to the properties of radiated electromagnetic energy.

There are various kinds of Radar classified in different ways. This article explains the various radar types.

Electronics oscillators are used in frequency control application finding their usage in almost every industry ranging from small chips to aerospace.

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