Blog Post: Design a pre-tracking regulator, part 1: for a positive-output LDO
Published. February 18, 2019

By Arief Hernadi and Frank DeStasi The efficiency of a low-dropout regulator (LDO) depends on its input voltage and output voltage, since the input current drawn from the power supply will be equal to the current required at the output of the LDO. Therefore, a higher input and output voltage difference in the LDO translates to a lower efficiency value, and vice versa. An LDO with low efficiency translates into power loss and causes heating inside the device. Sometimes, you are going to need an LDO...

Electronics Engineering Video Blog

EEVblog #1179 – Mailbag
Published. February 13, 2019

Mailbag Forum HERE Stempedia Electronics Learning Kit: https://thestempedia.com Powerfilm Solar flexible indoor solar panels and bluetooth development board. https://www.powerfilmsolar.com/specialty-markets/indoor-solar-panels/ Synwit 25 cent ARM micro http://smdprutser.nl/blog/the-arm-chip-that-wont-cost-an-arm-and-a-leg/ https://lcsc.com/product-detail/Synwit_SWM050I2P7-65_C111818.html Xmas tree light PCB: https://goo.gl/U8H48y Casio Calculator watch teardown Full length video cuts: Stempedia Evive:...

Low Power Design

Tools – The Otii Arc, a Smart Power Supply for Optimizing Embedded Systems
Published. March 15, 2018

The ability to optimize an embedded system for how much energy it uses can have profound benefits. For example, a deployed IoT device may not require maintainers to visit the site for an additional 6 months or the development team may be able to decrease the size and weight of the battery which could product … Continue reading Tools – The Otii Arc, a Smart Power Supply for Optimizing Embedded Systems...

Tips and Tricks

7 Tips for using assertions in C
Published. December 20, 2018

One of the greatest bug squashing tools available to embedded software developers is the assert macro. Despite the power of assert, I rarely see it implemented and in the cases where it is used the implementation is either flawed or incorrect. The following seven tips should help elucidate not only when and where to use … Continue reading 7 Tips for using assertions in C...

Hardware

Tools – The April Board
Published. September 25, 2015

The April board is a break-out for the Imp Developer module. The April module provides the ability to power the Imp module using a standard USB-Mini cable, an optional battery connector, or through a standard .100 header. The April board also has an on-board 3.3V regulator that can with stand an input up to 17 … Continue reading Tools – The April Board...

Embedded Basics

Embedded Basics – Linear Dynamic Current
Published. September 26, 2014

When it comes time to start optimizing an embedded device for energy consumption it is often really tempting to start out by adjusting the operating voltage of the system.  If an engineer were to look back in his notes on MCU power consumption they would find something along the lines of Power = Constant * … Continue reading Embedded Basics – Linear Dynamic Current...

All About Microsoft

Microsoft's Dynamics 365 April '19 Update: What's new
Published. January 21, 2019

Microsoft's 315 pages of release notes about its coming April '19 updates for its various Dynamics 365 apps and Power Platform tools details what's coming next from Microsoft on the ERP, CRM and HCM fronts....

Tech Design Forums Blog

IEDM shows progress on embedded eMRAM
Published. December 12, 2018

Embedded magnetic RAM is emerging as a contender for on-chip memory not just from a density standpoint but from that of power....

Linux and Open Source

?Red Hat leaders praise IBM acquisition, but employees are worried
Published. October 28, 2018

Linux, open-source, and cloud power Red Hat's executives love the IBM deal, but the company's workers are nervous....

Laptops and Desktops Blog

These 12 laptops deliver the best battery life
Published. August 20, 2018

If you need a notebook that can last all day away from a power outlet, these dozen can handle it -- and then some. Your options include top-rated Windows, Mac and Chromebook systems....

Victor Chertakovsky

Battery Charging at Low Temperatures
Published. December 27, 2017

Low-temperature Batteries Charge/Discharge...

Functional Verification Blog

UVM-ML- Managers’ Freedom of Choice
Published. June 28, 2018

Freedom of choice is a term we hear a lot, especially in the last 10 years. It is defined in wikipedia as “an individual's opportunity and autonomy to perform an action selected from at least two available options…”. Is having many choices always a good thing? Well, usually it is- who would not want to live in a world where s/he has options and can make choices? However, there are also downsides to having multiple options. In the TED lecture, The paradox of choice , Barry Schwartz discusses...

PCB Signal and Power Integrity Tech Corner

Chalk Talk: Suppressing Noise from Via-to-Via Coupling
Published. June 20, 2018

Like Cristian Filip who recently spoke on SerDes design, I just did my first Chalk Talk with EE Journal. News editor Amelia Dalton and I talked about how important it is to diagnose via-to-via coupling and how it gets exacerbated due to the PDN (power distribution network) impedance. We also talked about what you can […]...

Verification Horizons Blog

Significantly Improve Your FPGA Design Reliability by Using Custom CDC Synchronizers
Published. April 24, 2018

[Preface: we are presenting a paper on this topic at the upcoming SEE/MAPLD conference, May 21-24, 2018 in La Jolla, CA – Join us!] Today’s FPGA designs include multiple cores, interfaces, test logic, and even different internal power and voltage domains. In particular, the multiple asynchronous clocks, and the signals crossing between asynchronous clock domains, […]...

Stephane Boucher's DSP Blog

Feedback Controllers - Making Hardware with Firmware. Part 4. Engineering of Evaluation Hardware
Published. October 10, 2017

Following on from the previous abstract descriptions of an arbitrary circuit emulation application for low-latency feedback controllers, we now come to some aspects in the hardware engineering of an evaluation design from concept to first power-up. In due course a complete specification along with  application  examples will be maintained on the...

Rands In Repose

How to Build a Rumor
Published. August 6, 2017

There’s a rumor wandering through your team right now. I’m sorry to report; it’s toxic. It’s the kind of rumor that contains so much interest and emotional energy that the humans can’t help repeat the rumor to each other. It’s about you, and it’s completely untrue. When you hear the rumor, the content will give… More...

Mocana IoT Security Blog

How Do We Protect Power Grids from Getting Hacked?
Published. July 12, 2017

Months after the Mirai Virus and WannaCry cyber attacks, another series of massive ransomware attacks shook companies across the globe, including a state power company in Ukraine. The impact of the NotPetya virus was devastating, locking down multinational corporations and disrupting critical services to healthcare patients. Earlier this month, it was reported that hackers are targeting US nuclear facilities....

Stack Overflow

EEPROM Wear Leveling
Published. July 5, 2017

A problem that occurs from time to time is the need for an embedded system to keep track of the number of doodads it has processed since it was put in to service. Clearly you can’t keep this value in RAM as it will be lost when power is removed. Thus the obvious solution is […]...

CFD doesn’t mean Color For Directors

CFD Helps Design More Efficient Datacenters
Published. March 22, 2017

Behind the scenes of our ever-growing information and entertainment consumption, huge datacenters are an essential part of today’s massive Internet connectivity. In addition to the general web-support services provided by the likes of Google, large companies also are running their own datacenters. With so many proliferating, the efficiency, reliability, and energy-use of these buildings that […]...

scalability.org

Requiem
Published. March 22, 2017

This is the post an entrepreneur hopes to never write. They pour their energy, their time, their resources, their love into their baby. Trying to make her live, trying to make her grow. And for a while, she seems to. Everything is hitting the right way, 12+ years of uninterrupted growth and profitable operation as […]...

Electrical Engineers Talk Tech

What’s the Nucleus of Mentor’s Push into Industrial Automation?
Published. February 14, 2015

Mentor’s once nearly-orphaned Nucleus RT forms the foundation of a damned impressive software suite for controlling meat packing or nuclear power plants. Industry 4.0 is basically the promise of interoperability between currently bespoke (and proprietary) I.A. systems with smart, connected IoT devices plus a layer of cyber security thrown in. Continue reading →...

The Moth

Attend my Tech Ed 2014 session: Debugging Tips and Tricks
Published. May 6, 2014

Just a week away, at Tech Ed 2014 NA in Houston Texas, I will be giving a demo presentation that you will not want to miss (assuming you code in Visual Studio). Add it to your calendar now: DEV-B352 Debugging Tips and Tricks in Visual Studio 2013 (link) Monday, May 12 1:15-2:30 PM, Room: General Assembly C As a developer, regardless of your programming language or the platform that you target, you use the debugger on a daily basis. Come to this all-demo session to learn how to make the...

Gabe On EDA

Synopsys's ESL Power Analysis
Published. March 18, 2014

Pat Sheridan, Sr. PMM for Synopsys Platform Architect Rich Collins, Sr. PMM ARC Processors and Subsystems In response to my question: "What tools or methods do architects and developers have or should have to define a realistic power budget at the system level?" Pat and Rich offered the following article. read more...

Ed Burnette's Dev Connection

On the road to Google I/O 2012
Published. June 26, 2012

Ed wishes fervently for the invention of the matter-energy transporter. Or at least a first class ticket....