Fabulous Folding Phones Microsoft doubles up with its dual screen Surface Duo (Image source: Microsoft) I like to think that I'm riding the crest of the technology wave, but every now and then something slips past my eagle eye and then leaps out to surprise me when I least expect it. Such was the case when I ran across the fact that Microsoft is planning on rolling out a fabulous folding smartphone called the Surface Duo in 2020. We will return to this in a moment, but Read Article Which IoT Protocols to Use for Industrial Environmental Monitoring? The progression of industry and manufacturing throughout the past 250 years A report from the M cKinsey Global Institute estimates that IoT devices could have an annual economic impact of $3.9 trillion to $11.1 trillion across many different settings by 2025, including factories, cities, retail environments, and the human body. IoT devices can be used to gather and process information remotely, either for automation or analysis purposes. IoT Read Article Paralyzed Man Walks with Aid of Mind-Controlled Exoskeleton Paralyzed man walks with aid of mind-controlled exoskeleton Image source: A frame from BBC video In an earlier column we introduced a tiny (2.5 mm x 0.6 mm) device called Injectsense , which can monitor the pressure inside the eye. In the not-so-distant future, the goal is to use devices like these to provide organ-to-cloud data connections that will allow clinicians and physicians to monitor our health and determine the effectiveness of Read Article Great Spock! NeoSpectra-Based Tricorders are (Almost) Here! The lightweight handheld NeoSpectra-Scanner provides material analysis capability Image source: Si-Ware Systems I have a cousin who lives in Canada. We’ll call her Rachel (because that's her name). Rachel is extremely allergic to almost any form of shellfish. The slightest hint of a sniff of a mollusk, crustacean, or echinoderm will leave her gasping frantically for air and grasping feverishly for her EpiPen. Rachel's allergy is so severe that Read Article Pad Stack Design And Fine Hole Pitch Components, Part 1 What happens when you try to route two traces between pins on 1mm pitch BGAs? As noted in the previous article on pad stack design and fabrication , there are a number of factors that need to be taken into account when it’s time calculate the complete dimensioning of the finished hole size on a plated through-hole in a PCB. When it comes to fine pitch components, there are always questions regarding what happens when 1mm and smaller pitch Read Article Injectsense Real-Time Eye Pressure Monitoring A prototype of Injectsense's wireless silicon sensor module next to a grain of rice and a quarter (Image source: Injectsense) A little over a year ago, I noticed that things sometimes got a little blurry while I was looking at my computer screen. My cousin Graham in England has macular degeneration, which has left him almost totally without sight. I have to admit that the thought this might happen to me was lurking in the back of my mind, so I Read Article Concord Pro and the Library S.M.A.R.T. Rule Part-2 Altium Concord Pro™ as a standalone product and brand name has been discontinued and the capabilities are now available as part of our Altium enterprise solutions. Learn more here . Introduction In the first part of this blog , we saw how you could use Concord Pro® to set up and support the S.M.A.R.T. Rule of Data Management , specifically the Singularity and the Management of your data. Now, we will continue to look at the additional pillars Read Article Shaper Engineer Jeremy Blum on Arduino Engineering and Building Consumer Products Jeremy Blum, Director of Engineering at Shaper, talks about his upcoming keynote speech on a holistic approach to engineering and design at AltiumLive PCB Design Summit in Frankfurt, Germany. Read Article Concord Pro and the Library S.M.A.R.T. Rule Part-1 \ Altium Concord Pro™ as a standalone product and brand name has been discontinued and the capabilities are now available as part of our Altium enterprise solutions. Learn more here . Introduction The saying goes that “The lead dog always has the best view.” When it comes to the race of the ECAD Software companies, for many years, Altium has led the pack. They got to that prized position for several reasons.The main reason, I believe, is that Read Article OnTrack Newsletter: Music & Electronics, MCU Selection, Brain Food - October 2019 OnTrack Newsletter October 2019 VOL. 3 No 5 PianoArc: A Circular Piano Fit for Princes and Mega Stars Earlier this year I met a fascinating designer at the San Diego Altium® Users Group. Dave Starkey told me about a circular piano he and his partners had designed and built called the Pianoarc. In this interview, learn more about Starkey’s background and how he came to co-create this unique instrument that now graces a Middle Eastern Palace and is Read Article Naming Convention and PCB Data Management Introduction There is a poem by John Godfrey Saxe that was from a Hindu fable about the six blind men of Indostan who went to see the Elephant. The first went up and felt the side of the Elephant and concluded that he was touching a wall. The second went up and felt a tusk, exclaimed: “This is not a wall at all; it is a spear.” The third blind man, feeling the huge trunk, decided that it was a snake. The fourth man felt the elephant’s leg and Read Article Pad Stack Design And Fabrication—Part 2, Thermal Ties As noted in part one of this article , there are a variety of aspects regarding manufacturability and reliability that come into play as part of the pad stack design process. When it comes to soldering through-hole components into the plated through-holes in a PCB when the pin connects to a plane, you have to thermally isolate those holes from the planes to ensure successful soldering of those components. This is accomplished via a feature called Read Article Getting Connected: Altium’s User Community Forums The Altium design environment is a complex and sophisticated set of software tools. Not surprisingly, becoming proficient with these tools will take some time, and you’ll need to practice every step of the design process from beginning to end. So what happens if you get stuck along the way? The online documentation includes a “Getting Started” tutorial and a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) list, and Altium also has a customer support system to Read Article Pad Stack Design And The Fabrication Process—part 1 “Pad Stack” is a term used by PCB layout personnel and PCB fabricators to refer to all of the features associated with a hole in a PCB. The hole can be plated or unplated, through-hole or blind or buried. Components of the pad stack include the drilled hole size, the finished hole size, the size of pads plotted on the inner and outer layers, the clearances in planes through which the holes drilled in the PCB pass, and the clearances in the solder Read Article PCB Design for Manufacturing Report Cards One of my earlier BLOGs talked about PWB Cost Drivers . What is required for the printed wiring board (PWB) Value Delivery Chain is a method of predicting the cost of fabrication for the printed circuit board (PCB) substrate, as well as the cost of PCB assembly and PCB assembly testing. With these tools and the wiring density metrics, tradeoffs can be performed early in the product's life. Many call this Design for Manufacturing and Assembly , I Read Article Advanced Electronics: Understanding Design Challenges For Space Applications Part 2 In the previous article we saw that when a particle that hits a BJT with enough energy, part of this energy may get absorbed by the component and may create unwanted current between the emitter and the collector. If this issue is neglected, we may have some malfunctions. This phenomenon is called SEE (Single Event Effect). It is the responsibility of the designer to design the board in a way that will be SEE tolerant. As I wrote in the previous Read Article Production-Grade Raspberry Pi Cluster Design This is what most people see when they think of a Raspberry Pi Cluster Just this year, two IBM-built supercomputers, named Summit and Sierra, were installed at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, respectively. These two supercomputers overtook China’s Sunway TaihuLight system at the National Supercomputing Center in Wuxi. While your next edge Read Article Pagination First page « First Previous page ‹‹ Page88 Current page89 Page90 Page91 Page92 Page93 Next page ›› Last page Last » Load More