This article is part of the Ideas for Design Series: Volume 3

The Volume 3, No. 8 issue of Ideas for Design features:

• A way to use the GPIO port of a Cypress PSoC IC (plus software) to resolve and decode quadrature signals from a standard rotary optical encoder, and thus determine motor rotor position and direction. 
• A simple circuit that adds short-circuit load protection to a basic driver, such as the output of a simple logic gate, while allowing it to control a high-power load operating at a much-higher voltage without fear of destructive short-circuit conditions.

These links are to the articles, while the Download button provides access to the PDF of the article:

• Use PSoC GPIO And Interrupts To Resolve Optical Encoding Outputs
• High-Side Load Driver Enhances Short-Circuit Protection