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Important Considerations for Low Energy Bluetooth Design

Bluetooth Design Guidelines: Important Considerations for Low Energy Designs In my twenties, I could easily carry my laptop around the city without any sign of fatigue. These days, I tire out quickly and seek a nice massage after long periods of walking around with my laptop. That’s why I prefer to carry lighter working tablets instead of my bulky laptop. Technology has grown quite a bit since the classic Bluetooth. In electronics, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) does something similar for applications. It transmits short data Read Article

Finding Circuit Design Software Online: Search Parameters and Powerful Tools

How To Find Circuit Design Software Online: Search Parameters and Powerful Tools Often, designers and companies will choose a certain PCB design tool based on factors other than what the tool is capable of doing for them. The chosen software may have a very low price tag associated with it, but does it do everything that you need it to do? This question goes much deeper as well. Not only does this software do what you want it to—but does it really excel? You may invest in an application that satisfies your needs today--but Read Article

8-bit vs. 32-bit MCU: Choosing the Right Microcontroller for Your PCB Design

8-bit vs. 32-bit MCU: Choosing the Right Microcontroller for Your PCB Design I have very bad shopping habits when it comes to electronic gadgets. Torn between buying a new laptop or upgrading my tablet to an iPad Pro, I end up purchasing both and getting an endless lectures from my fiancé. Thankfully, I’m more decisive when choosing between 8-bit vs 32-bit microcontroller devices for my hardware design. They’re not too different in terms of cost, and one is more powerful than the other. To make the right choice, however Read Article

PCB Layout Tips for Hall Effect Applications Keep Your Designs Positive

PCB Layout Tips for Hall Sensor PCBs and Other Hall Effect Applications To me, one of the coolest things about kids is how much they can be amazed by science and other phenomena that, as an adult, you’ve just grown to accept. I gave a five-year old homemade magnetic slime for his birthday one year; consisting of iron oxide powder, Elmer’s glue, and liquid starch, the prospect of a black gooey mess delighted everyone except for the boy’s mother. No one could dispute the fun involved with mixing the stuff or the Read Article

Managing a 7-Segment LED Display Array With Minimal Pins

Managing a 7-Segment LED Display Array With Minimal Pins In my early 20s, I prided myself on my ability to multitask. On a moment’s notice, I could switch between multiple projects and wear the hats of the procurement officer, engineer, technician, marketing manager, and support specialist while simultaneously running my electronics startup. I thought it was a blessing to be able to multitask. A decade later, I realize that multitasking results in lower work quality while killing my brain in the Read Article

Raise the Volume: How To Design A Signal Amplification Device

Raise the Volume: How To Design A Signal Amplification Device When you’re used waking up to your baby’s loud cries in the middle of the night, you can sleep through any alarm clock. After a few months of babysitting, you stop hearing any alarm that isn’t amplified by a loudspeaker. Even in electronics, signals sometimes need to be amplified before being processed by microcontrollers. For example, audio signals and inputs from certain microsensors might require amplification before they can be processed by Read Article

Understanding the Nuances Between Breadboard Projects and Prototype Layouts

The Difference Between Breadboard Projects and Prototype Layouts I was just making myself some lunch and cutting up some fixings for a sandwich when it occurred to me that I was using a breadboard. Although I’ve always thought of it as a cutting board, it is actually what my grandmother would have called a breadboard; a flat piece of wood for slicing bread. For those of us in the electronics world, a “breadboard” is something very different. So, I decided to look it up. I was surprised to learn that in the Read Article

No More Wrong Ports: Implementing USB Devices In Your Hardware Design

No More Wrong Ports: Implementing USB Devices In Your Hardware Design I keep having what I like to call “Grouchy Old Man Thoughts” (GOMT). You know the type: “Why do I have to learn this new thing if what I have works for me?” or, “I wonder what it’d be like to have a conversation without them being on their phone half the time.” Well, my most recent GOMT has been that I think anyone born after the 90s is pretty lucky, technologically. They didn’t have to go through the painstaking phase before Universal Serial Read Article

Order Up! Finding Your Chef Voice in Mixed Voltage PCB Design

Order Up! Finding Your Chef Voice in Mixed Voltage PCB Design I was watching a cooking program on television the other day when I noticed how chefs always seem to be yelling whenever they need something or are demanding another kitchen staff to do something. It started to dawn on me how much of a mixture a kitchen has to be: there have to be all sorts of people who are both capable of being quiet and listening, and being loud and giving orders when something needs to get done. When you stop to consider all Read Article

Taxes Aren't All You'll Pay Without PCB Manufacturing Process Reviews

Taxes Aren't All You'll Pay Without PCB Manufacturing Process Reviews Some people are afraid of spiders or snakes and I’m afraid of those too, but one of my worst fears is being audited. Now it’s time to start getting organized again and collect on all of my organization last year to make reviewing my notes and preparing for taxes easy. But, wait: my drawer full of notes and important receipts is also full of assorted shopping lists, grocery receipts, home repair goals, and that list I wrote in February for a Read Article

Practical Setups for PCB Design and Other Tips for Success

Practical Setups for PCB Design and Other Tips for Success My father did not say a lot as he was a quiet man armed with a subtle wit, but he was very wise. He’s been gone for many years now, but I will always remember how he modeled for us a consistent perseverance in getting the job done and getting it done right. Every night, regular as clockwork, he would go through the house to make sure that all of the doors and windows were locked. This was his regular practice to make sure that his family was Read Article

Listen to the Baby: Use Circuit Board Visual Indicators for Serviceability

Listen to the Baby: Use PCB LED Indicators and More for Serviceability I’m a new dad and let me tell you: it is tough. I know everybody always tells you about the two sides of parenting, but I hadn’t really taken it to heart until now. That happy, sleeping, cuddly infant is around for about forty minutes after being fed, and then the crying begins. Sometimes, the problem is the milk temperature, sometimes a wet diaper, and sometimes because they feel like crying. In my years alive, I never anticipated being grateful Read Article

What’s Worse: Holes in Your Winter Gloves or Copper Layer Defects?

What’s Worse: Holes in Your Winter Gloves or Copper Layer Defects? Much of the United States is going through a remarkably cold period right now; as I write this there is only about 10% of the country experiencing temperatures above freezing. It was a true, white Christmas for many; however, not the white that most expect: instead of snow, they got ice. Living in areas where the temperature can vary by up to 40℉ in a day means dressing in layers. If you’re anything like me, you’re still mastering the art of Read Article

Avoid Loose Signals With Successful Coin Acceptor Programs

Avoid Loose Signals With Successful Vending Machine Coin Acceptor Programs It’s been cold as an ice cube in an igloo lately, and the only thing that’s keeping my hands warm in the morning is my coffee. You know it won’t be a good day, though, when you’re getting a hot latte from a vending machine and the vending machine eats your coins. I end up with frozen hands and a caffeine headache by 10 am, or I end up having to reroute my whole morning just to run to another cafe. I understand that vending machines fail sometimes Read Article

Hide and Seek: Key Serial-Number Chips for PIC Microcontroller Code Protection

Hide and Seek: Key Serial-Number Chips for PIC Microcontroller Code Protection One of my favorite games, when I was young, was hide and seek. I would play with my friends and it was always fun to try and find a good hiding place. As an older brother, I played the same game with my younger brothers, but with a twist. Instead of hiding myself, I had to hide my stuff from them. If I picked good hiding places, my stuff was safe. However, if I was lackadaisical and chose poor hiding places they were sure to find my toys or Read Article

Completing a Pre-Layout Design Checklist Can Keep Your PCB Design from Crashing

Completing a Pre-Layout Design Checklist Can Keep Your PCB Design from Crashing Many years ago I got my private pilot’s license, and there is nothing that I love better than being behind the controls of a small plane. When the plane leaps off the runway and into the sky, the feeling is exhilarating. Then, after executing a perfectly smooth landing, there is a sense of triumphant success. In addition to the pure joy of flying, there are also many ideas and lessons that I have taken from my time in the air. One of these has Read Article

Boats With The Current: Microstrip and Stripline Transmission Line Trade-offs

Boats With The Current: Microstrip and Stripline Transmission Lines Trade-offs In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the narrator, Nick Carraway, is torn between infiltrating the notorious elite social circles by attending his neighbor Jay Gatsby’s infamous mansion parties in Long Island, New York and establishing himself on the east coast in a finance career. It can be easy to have an understanding of The Great Gatsby through its context - the roaring twenties, flappers, prohibition - it wouldn’t do justice to any of Read Article