A new chip fuse offers temperature-sensitivity suitable for both over-current protection and protection against excessive ambient temperatures. The USN 1206 from Schurter is not a pure thermal fuse, per se. It requires a current flow to blow, thus providing protection against over-current, just as well as any conventional fuse. In addition, it is also designed […]
The challenges of HIL testing and ADAS
Engineers running hardware-in-the-loop simulations face difficulties associated with how to devise sensor signals that truly exercise advanced drive assistance systems. DAVID A. HALL, National Instruments Corp. More than 50 years ago, in 1959, the Cadillac Cyclone XP-74 concept car featured two modified aircraft radars designed to alert the driver about oncoming traffic. Today, an automotive […]
Simulations help explain why autonomous vehicles do stupid things
Special test programs hope to help robotic systems make better decisions in short order. Here’s a riddle: When is an SUV a bicycle? Answer: When it is a picture of a bicycle that is painted on the back of an SUV, and the thing looking at it is an autonomous vehicle. Cyclists painted on the […]
Managing EV batteries squeezed into odd shapes
Automakers are forced to fit EV batteries into nooks and crannies in an effort to maximize driving range. The resulting convoluted layouts call for a wireless approach to managing cells. GREG ZIMMER | Linear Technology Corp., now part of Analog Devices Inc. Lithium-Ion batteries require considerable care if they are expected to function reliably over […]
The danger of treating autonomous vehicle control as a solved problem
LEE TESCHLER EXECUTIVE EDITOR A panelist made an interesting comment during the recently concluded TU-Automotive connected car conference near Detroit. It happened during one of the many sessions devoted to software infrastructure and connected services. “In Silicon Valley, autonomous vehicle control and driving is viewed as a solved problem. The real emphasis is on making […]
Teardown: The super-adjustable Ketra A20 LED bulb
Ketra unapologetically charges $100 for its A20 LED bulb, and the bulb needs a controller to work. Here’s what you find inside the bulb that makes it worth the premium price. A tunable A20-style LED light bulb from Ketra, in Austin, Tex., may be the world’s most expensive classic LED bulb. It lists at about […]
LTE-Advanced RF conformance test system verifies IoT devices according to global standards
Anritsu Co. says it is the first test company to earn GCF approval for more than 80% of Cat-M1 RF conformance test cases for frequencies used in Japan, North America, and Europe. The test cases can be integrated into the LTE-Advanced RF Conformance Test System ME7873LA. The Cat-M1 RF conformance test cases are software tools […]
Reference design covers 12-W dimmable LED downlight with color management over Bluetooth
A new reference design, DER-612, describes a constant-voltage (CV), constant-current (CC) 12-W isolated flyback power supply with power factor correction for smart lighting applications. The design includes a 3.3-V power supply to drive a Casambi CBM-001 Bluetooth wireless module, which provides dimming and color management control of the four-string LED load from 0 to 400 […]
Specifying reliable network switching systems
Bryan Miller, MEN Micro From big data in the cloud to smaller data pieces in the fog (such as device-to-device), one of the more important pieces of hardware that moves data is the network switching system itself. Depending on where the data lives and where it needs to go, network requirements can vary greatly. Typical […]
The difference between industrial-strength and consumer 9-V batteries
Michele Windsor, Ultralife Corp. Today’s 9-V battery was originally invented for transistor radios in the 1950s. It was eventually standardized into the 1604 international ANSI standard. Of course, these batteries now find use in everything from speakers and smoke alarms to walkie-talkies and industrial meters. But some 9-V batteries aren’t built to handle the wide […]