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Wearable Technology in the Future Will Be Seamless and Convenient
When I was younger I was a bit of a nerd, and I guess I still am. The most visible sign of my nerdiness was my fashion sense or lack of it. Tall socks, cargo shorts, and a brown Pacman hoodie that I wore in every season, except summer, made up my daily wardrobe. I was simply more interested in gizmos and gadgets than I was in looking good. I’m still more interested in electronic devices than clothes, but the line between the two is beginning to
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Badgerloop’s Run for Hyperloop Glory Captures the Attention of Elon Musk
Team Badgerloop at the June Pod II Reveal In 2013, Elon Musk introduced the concept of a Hyperloop transit system in a white paper . He proposed a completely open source approach to its development and invited universities to participate in a pod competition. SpaceX funded the construction of a near-mile subscale version of a vacuum tube in which to trial pods for the competition. For the first competition, only 3 pods would earn an opportunity
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IoT Storage Technologies: Ultra Low Power CBRAM
Do you remember using those old floppy disks back in the day? I remember my computer had two floppy disk drives. You’d put the disk with your program in one and a disk for the data in the other. Eventually, the incredible invention that is the hard drive came about and storage space exploded. Our memory capacity is still increasing, but now size is becoming less of a factor. When it comes to the Internet of Things (IoT) energy usage is the next
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Will RS485 Survive Wireless Communication Technology
I am a huge fan of the Nokia 3310 that has recently made a comeback in the mobile phone industry. If you’ve never used one in your life then you’re missing out one of the most reliable and durable mobile phone in recent history. Unlike the early 2000’s, it’s not common to find mobile phones that can double as a nut-cracker and survive the worst of falls. The same form of robustness and reliability in the world of electrical design is RS485
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How FRAM Memory Simplifies Embedded System Data Logging
I’ve always found it easier to make decisions when the options were clear cut. Choosing between black or white, right or wrong, you could make your decision and never regret it. However, decisions that involve picking black, white or one of many shades of gray really stress me out. I was happy abiding by my binary logic until Ferromagnetic Random Access Memory ( FRAM ) came on the commercial market and I was forced to embrace one of the shades of
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How to Setup and Interface with WS2812B LEDs
Are you in the mood for a good laugh? Well, I have a story for you. I’m a design engineer with decades of experience, but a LED project recently almost brought me to my knees in despair. I used to think that LEDs were as simple as getting the light emitting diode connected to a limiting resistor and a power supply. Aren’t they? That’s exactly what went through my mind as I worked on an architecture model lighting project a couple of years ago. On
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How to Choose a Solder Reflow Oven for Efficient PCB Assembly
Whether you’re an electrical engineer, like me, or an electronics hobbyist, solder reflow ovens enable fast and convenient printed circuit board (PCB) assembly. If you have assembled dense PCBs with many small surface-mount components or used ball grid array (BGA) devices in your designs, you have undoubtedly come across solder reflow ovens. While the ambitious hobbyist may choose to build a toaster oven “reflow oven” , many businesses can save
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Meet the Baja Racing Team from New Jersey Institute of Technology
Bob Burghart is a Sophomore who is studying Mechanical Engineering at NJIT, and is the leader of the sub-team responsible for electronics designs for their Baja racing car. In the car, there is a main dash system, a data acquisition board, a display board, and front and rear dongles that connect to 20 sensors. As a kid, Bob had the typical curious mind of a budding engineer--always enjoying taking things apart. By middle and high school he began
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A Comparison of Active Cooling Systems and Techniques for Electronic Equipment
A review of some of the more common and useful active cooling systems.
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CS 1.4 has been released - Now easier than ever to migrate from Eagle™
Of particular note in this release, is the addition of Classes. Within the schematic, Net Classes can be generated using the new Net Class directive and Component Classes are automatically generated for each Schematic Sheet within the hierarchy. Within PCB a new Classes dialog is available on the Home tab in the Design Rules section, and this can be used to create Pad, Polygon, Component, Layer, and Net Classes. CircuitStudio is the world’s
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How to Design a 4-20mA Current Loop Receiver with Minimal Components
I’ve always been a fan of Gordon Ramsay. He never fails to amaze me with his colorful cursing as raw scallops are continuously served by hapless Hell’s Kitchen contestants. But what really amused me was when he tried his hand at Asian cuisine. The tables were turned, and he learned the hard way that good Asian cuisine is a completely different beast than his usual beef wellingtons. Process Control: Where 4-20mA reign supreme. I had a similar
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Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery vs Lithium Ion For Embedded Systems
Two of the most popular battery choices for embedded systems are lithium-ion batteries (Li-Ion) and lithium iron phosphate batteries (Li-phosphate or LiFePO 4 ). These two types of batteries have very different charging and discharging characteristics, although they have similar chemistry and use some of the same materials. In some systems, you could use either type of battery, but each has its advantages in different applications, which can
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How Internet of Things Wireless Sensor Networks Can Benefit From Multi-Sensor Platforms
Some people like dogs or cats, but my family has always been a cat family. We have one important rule to keep us from graduating from a “crazy” cat family. We are not allowed to have more cats than we have family members. Sometimes we don’t want limits, but we still have to have them to keep things from getting out of hand. The same principle applies to the Internet of Things (IoT). While I do think many IoT devices are a bit overboard , their
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How to Design MicroSD Card Power Circuits Without Destabilizing the On-Board Voltage Supply
PCB designers often have the tough job of balancing perfection in design and keeping the cost down. For designs dealing with storage medias, like microSD, neglecting simple terms like “hot insertion” or “inrush current” can result in a prototype that imperfect and costly. My philosophy is to keep my hardware designs simple. I am quick to discard any components that seem superficial in my design. Unfortunately, I learned the hard way that keeping
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FIRST Robotics Competition Makes STEM Students into Superstars
Over 25 years ago, FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) founder and prolific inventor, Dean Kamen, envisioned a high school robotics competition that rivaled the energy and excitement of the Super Bowl. An event that would turn science students into superstars and infect them with an unshakeable passion for STEM activities and careers. Chris Jennings has an infectious enthusiasm for the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) , as well as a rich history
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Hyperloop Shows How Crowdsourcing Integrates Community into PCB Engineering Design & Prototyping
Earlier this year, student design teams gathered to participate in Hyperloop’s largest design competition yet. Their goal? To create a prototype high-speed vehicle for next-generation transportation. Through this unique strategy, Hyperloop brings a compelling example of crowdsourcing at work. Crowdsourcing also stands to impact the PCB design space, providing new routes to project development and prototyping. Through combined efforts, cost
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Three Dumb Internet of Things Devices Using Smart PCB Designs
Sometimes the fork is not in the road. With the advent of the Internet of Things (IoT), I’m afraid that Skynet is just on the horizon. Myriads of everyday items are being imbued with the gift of “intelligence.” The only comfort I have is that many IoT “smart” devices are so useless that there’s no way they could take over the world. There are three devices in particular that put Skynet class PCBs into items that should have stayed dumb. These
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