The Leyden jar, invented by the Dutch physicist Pieter van Musschenbroek in 1746, preceded what we today call the battery. Originally, “battery” denoted several units connected in series or parallel. Thus, there could be a battery of Leyden jars. Actually, the Leyden jar works on a principle completely different from that of a battery. It […]
FAQ
Stress & Strain, Part 1: Fundamental principles
The mechanical strain induced on electronic components due to mechanical and thermal stress is an important aspect of their performance consistency and limitations; stress is also used to enable some materials provide critical electronic functions. Although electronic systems and circuits invoke intangibles such as voltages, currents, power, EM fields, and Maxwell’s equations — to cite […]
Barcodes and Scanners, Part 2: History and development
Part 1 of this FAQ looked at the basics of the standard barcode system and UPC arrangement for retailers. Part 2 looks at the history of the development and successful adoption of the barcode system. Q: What started the barcode development? A: Unlike many innovations, the idea of bar codes was not one where potential […]
Flyback power converters, Part 1: Basic principles
Among the many available topologies used for power-supply converters, the flyback design offers some distinct advantages along with unique idiosyncrasies. There’s a wide and diverse array of power-supply converter topologies among which to choose, each with tradeoffs in their various performance attributes and cost. The flyback design is a converter approach which has been used […]
What you need to know about information theory
A lot of the testing and verification activities of EEs today centers on concepts having a theoretical basis in Claude Shannon’s (of Nyquist-Shannon renown) article titled, A Mathematical Theory of Communication, which appeared in 1948 in the Bell System Technical Journal. Shannon’s full treatise gets to be quite mathematical. Fortunately, some of the fundamental concepts […]
Barcodes and Scanners, Part 1: How they work
Barcodes: you can’t escape them, and all along the supply chain from raw source to end-user purchase, we can’t function without them. They are pre-printed on neatly everything we buy or use, they can be added later as stick-on labels, or they can be printed on demand as needed for custom projects. Barcodes are now […]
Mistakes to avoid when submitting a design for PCB assembly
Simple prototype Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) require, on average, 11.6 physical prototypes, whereas more complex PCBs require as many as 16.[i] And according to Advanced Assembly, a prototype PCB assembly house, “94% of assembly data is accidentally submitted with errors.”[ii] PCB assembly houses will extract design data from PCB design files and create a PDF […]
Choosing the right MEMS microphone interface for your project
by Bruce Rose, CUI Inc. Micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) microphones have been steadily increasing their market share, driven by the surge in popularity of voice-controlled electronics with applications like voice-enabled navigation devices and digital home assistants. But what are the different types of MEMS microphone electrical interfaces available and how do you apply them to your […]
Understanding wireless across the spectrum
Waves are part of our world as both waves in the ocean and radio waves coming in from the Sun’s corona share fundamental properties.[i] Wireless communication was born from the science of waves and how they travel. After more than a hundred years of study, we’ve organized waves into a large electromagnetic spectrum (EM) that […]
The nuts and bolts of verification: Recasting SystemVerilog for Portable Stimulus
by Matthew Balance, Mentor, a Siemens Business Nuts and bolts. So prosaic, yet so fundamental and essential. They can be reused, mixed-and-matched in endless ways. All those old jars and tins full of leftover nuts, bolts, and screws have saved many trips to the hardware store. Yet, if not for standardized gauge, thread count, and […]