One of the interesting things about critical needs is that we tend to take them for granted once achieved. Food, clothing, and shelter have been joined by power and connectivity as survival demands in modern society. One of the critical requirements in such an environment is proper time and timing determination. Now that time is a ubiquitous commodity, many don’t think about it anymore. However, those designing advanced embedded systems must think about it all the time.
Timing and synchronization are vital to electronics in many ways, from on-board circuit control to inter-device communications, to network management and beyond. The ability to accurately time and coordinate events, data, and signals is fundamental to the performance of a smart, connected embedded system today. In this podcast, we talk to Ron Stephens, former president of Q-Tech, about advanced timing systems and the applications they serve.
SHOW NOTES
0:31 – Importance of Timing
5:05 – How Do we Control Time?
9:33 – Electronic Warfare
12:04 – Aerospace
14:38 – Market Disruptions
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An Army veteran, Alix Paultre was a signals intelligence soldier on the East/West German border in the early ‘80s, and eventually wound up helping launch and run a publication on consumer electronics for the US military stationed in Europe. Alix first began in this industry in 1998 at Electronic Products magazine, and since then has worked for a variety of publications in the embedded electronic engineering space. Alix currently lives in Wiesbaden, Germany.
Also check out his YouTube watch-collecting channel, Talking Timepieces.
