The article Why Clean PCBs Matter, Part 1, covers the effects that a dirty Printed Circuit Board can have on electronics, especially those supporting high-frequency signals or sensitive analog components. Keeping a PCB clean begins in assembly when components are preferably soldered to the PCB in a clean environment. Of great importance is the type […]
Why clean PCBs matter, Part I
Printed circuit boards (PCBs) are essential in modern electronics. Dust and other contaminants are more important to watch out for than ever. As components get smaller, the relative size of contaminants is larger, heat is more of an issue with densely packed circuits on modern ICs, and devices operating at high frequencies (~1 GHz and […]
An Open Source RTOS for IoT
An operating system (OS) is software that supports essential computer functions by managing software and hardware in a computer system. An embedded OS is typically tailored for a specific system and is usually as small as is necessary to do its job. You can find OSes in smartphones, routers, smart watches, game consoles, Alexa/Google Home, […]
SSDs: secure erase or sanitize?
When you’re done with a data storage drive, it’s nice to make sure that all of the data is scrubbed from it. A drive that’s returned, repurposed, or discarded can have personal or confidential data on it. Discarded drives have been found with everything from financial and medical data, email, and even pornography on them. […]
In defense of the toggle switch
The world has gotten much fancier with capacitive and resistance touch input on displays, buttons that don’t give tactile feedback, or buttons that do but bounce the input signal on occasion. Buttons are everywhere. They’re on microwaves, refrigerators, garage door openers, smartphones, and inhabit the soul of the electric start/stop for modern automobiles. For designers, […]
802.11ax: Are we there yet?
Many who develop with microcontrollers have access to compatible Wi-Fi modules. Do you need to be concerned about updating to the latest version 802.11ax when it comes out? The answer depends on whether your MCU will reside in an area where the Wi-Fi access point is typically congested. If so, 802.11ax can help. In short, […]
IoT via Cellular: Out with 2G and 3G, in with LPWA
Wireless connections are convenient and cheap to set up, but Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and other commercially available technologies do not always have the range needed. Wireless cellular is an option, but cellular connections are expensive. A lot of devices use 2G and 3G cellular technologies because they cost less, especially when only little chunks of data […]
Can you operate circuits at sub-threshold voltages?
Yes, you can operate circuits below the 0.9 volts where some transistors can run. The result is mind-blowingly low power consumption, as in a full-featured Real Time Clock (RTC) with a supply current below 14 nA (that’s nanoamps). First, some background on how transistors work Transistors operate much like an electronic switch. Apply voltage above […]
When tin whiskers spontaneously erupt
First reported in the 1940s, Metal Whiskers (MW) are spider-web-thin conductive filaments that sprout (most often) from tin, zinc, and cadmium metal surfaces. A “tin whisker” can be manually formed with poor soldering techniques, but metal whiskers actually grow on their own, too. They are a phenomenon that many engineers are not aware of. Silver, […]
What is the COM Express standard?
The COM Express open standard, initially released in 2005, covers Computer on Modules (CO) and Single Board Computers (SBCs) under the auspices of the PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturer’s Group (PICMG), a consortium of equipment and system vendors, component suppliers, and end users for the embedded computer market. Open standards are not open source, but they […]
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