Low-noise circuitry is critical to image quality of medical ultrasound; an indispensable diagnostic tool. Despite the conceptual simplicity of the underlying principle, a complete, high-end ultrasound imaging system is a complicated device (Figure 1). The ultimate performance of the system is largely determined by the transducer and analog front end (AFE), while post-processing of the […]
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Minimizing electrical noise to improve medical-ultrasound images, Part 1
Low-noise circuitry is critical to the image quality of medical ultrasound, an indispensable diagnostic tool. Ultrasound technology, a widely used non-invasive tool in medical diagnostics and other applications, has shifted from static to dynamic images and from black-and-white to color Doppler images. These important enhancements are largely due to the introduction of digital ultrasound technology […]
Circuit boards don’t behave the way you think they do
Circuit designers increasingly must concentrate on the design of transmission lines, or the “spaces” between traces, instead of the “wires” on a circuit board. By Daniel Beeker, Technical Director, Automotive Field Applications Engineering, Senior Member, IEEE, NXP Semiconductors When it comes to the design of printed circuit boards, the industry focus has been on the […]
How do sensors improve home appliances? Pt. 2
Part 1 of this blog discussed sensors in the laundry room in washing machines and dryers. In the kitchen, similar to the laundry room, basic functions can be designed in using established sensing techniques. In the typical home, the refrigerator is the second-largest consumer of electricity (13.7%), with the air conditioner being number one. So, […]
What are insertion loss and return loss and how can I measure them?
These basic RF measurements often uncover system problems in wired and wireless communications. If you observe a signal traveling from a source to a load through a passive system of some sort, you will notice that the signal attenuates by the time it reaches the load, and you will also notice that some of the […]
How can you minimize BERs?
Bit error ratios (BERs, sometimes called bit error rates) measure the ratio of incorrectly received bits in a data stream to the total number of bits in the stream. BERs are an unfortunate fact of life for digital and communication system designers and can be minimized and controlled, but not eliminated. BERs are related to […]
Look inside the 5G mmWave signal chain
Millimeter wave signals provide wider bandwidths and higher data rates than signals at lower frequencies. Take a look at the overall signal chain that falls between the antenna and the digital baseband. 5G new radio (5G NR) adds mmWave frequencies to cellular devices and networks. With that comes RF-to-baseband signal chains and components not needed…
Why should you be using rigid-flex PCBs rather than flex PCBs in your next project?
Rigid-flex or rigid-flexible PCBs are the preferred interconnection circuits in today’s electronics. They have simplified the PCB assembly with superior mechanical stability and electrical reliability features. The driving factors for their popularity are reduced product weight, compact packaging, and quick assembly. Rigid-flex PCBs were designed primarily for critical interconnections in […]
How do sensors improve home appliances? Pt. 1
Today’s home appliances are increasingly connected for remote monitoring and control and smarter due, in part, to numerous sensors. The sensors help even lower end appliances implement their basic functions and, more importantly, enable smarter, top end appliances. While sensors provide these capabilities for several home appliances, this two-part series will describe sensing functions for […]
How can TinyML support sustainability on the edge?
Sustainability can be in the eye of the beholder. That’s certainly true for the question of how can TinyML (tiny machine learning) support sustainability on the edge? From a societal perspective, The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) believes that TinyML can help to achieve its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). From an engineering […]
