Perhaps it is an effect of the economy, but this year’s winners in the Best of Ideas for Design (IFDs) voting feature simple—almost trivial-looking—solutions to design challenges. The winner, “Use A DAC To Bias Your...
This year’s top Idea for Design, “Use A DAC To Bias Your Varactor Diode” by Jefferay Lawton, calls to mind an injunction ascribed to Albert Einstein to “make things as simple as possible, but no simpler.” The great...
An old bit of advice says that luck happens when opportunity meets preparedness. That seems to have been the case for Erik Matlin’s single-op-amp, single-supply level shifter (see “Non-Inverting Level Shifter Requires...
The automobile is a tough venue for today’s electronics. Supply voltages can range from 12 to 16 V, depending on battery charge state. On top of that are the spikes and ac noise coming out of the alternator...
When Dwayne Reid first approached the design of a dc-dc converter for an LED lighting controller, he had one clear goal in mind: low cost (see “Build Your Own Ultra-Low-Cost Isolated DC-DC Converter”). His product’s...
Several evolving technologies have combined to create new opportunities for video to serve as an information resource. Advances in image compression and broadband wireless communications along with falling costs...
A world filled with cameras watching streets, stores, buildings, and hallways brings to mind two diverging images. One is of an ability to catch crime or detect emergencies as they happen, increasing security and...
The universe is full of energy, and efforts to harvest that ambient energy are as old as the windmill and sailing ships. The convergence of three exponentially improving technologies, however, is creating...
With its 2007 release of the DDR3 SDRAM standard, JEDEC promised dramatic performance improvements at reduced power. The key to gaining those benefits lies in a complex physical-layer (PHY) interface that...
