


An integral part of modern RF/microwave circuit design is circuit simulation and evaluation in which scattering parameters (S-parameters) for each element of a system are utilized to predict the overall small signal performance as the elements are cascaded to form the entire system.
This paper describes...
Published: Jul 20, 2018



In a design of a modern switch-mode power supplies (SMPS), the designer has to ensure that the converter is operating in its specified values over all circumstances. For example, some of these tests to ensure proper performance are output voltage deviation test, load transient test, output voltage ripple, input voltage...
Published: Sep 03, 2020



Rail voltages are getting smaller, and tolerances are decreasing. As a result, making accurate power rail measurements has become much more difficult.
Industry dynamics are driving both a decrease in rail voltage values as well as tighter tolerances across a wide range of rails. Making an accurate ripple measurement...
Published: Jun 04, 2020



Power has always been a design consideration. Traditionally, though, a lower priority has been assigned to power than to most other variables (speed/performance, cost, time-to-market, risk, etc.). In today’s marketplace, however, power has become a very important component in the designer’s decision making...
Published: Jul 19, 2018



Vector Network Analysers (VNA) are gaining popularity in the Signal Integrity community as Time Domain Measurement and Analysis tools.
VNAs with 8 ports or more can provide significant decreases in test time by migrating from a 4-port measurement system to an 8-port measurement system. For tight tolerance DUTs...
Published: Sep 01, 2020



Bus bridging, interfacing and control are common functions in many electronic systems. The use of these functions spans virtually every end market segment, including automotive, consumer, communications, computing, industrial and military.
In many cases, designers turn to programmable logic devices, either low-capacity...
Published: Jul 19, 2018



This paper will focus on the industrial use of public standard IEEE 802.11 technology while providing a broad comparison of different spread spectrum wireless technologies currently deployed in industrial automation applications.
Sometimes called Wi-Fi, WLAN, and Wireless Ethernet, devices based on IEEE 802.11 standards...
Published: Jul 25, 2018



Multi-hop mesh protocols, such as Zigbee® , are getting a lot of press for their ability to link together low data-rate Machine-to-Machine (M2M) applications. Zigbee, in particular, is targeting itself as the standard bearer for wireless, low-power meshing protocols. Many of the features of a Zigbee solution touch...
Published: Jul 23, 2018



The embedded storage market is full of various solutions touted as “industrial grade” by their suppliers. But, not all of these SSDs are created equal. Many of the supposed “industrial” SSDs are actually originally built as consumer-grade devices. They are then repackaged and marketed as industrial...
Published: Jul 18, 2018



Safety, availability, and cost considerations can make performing thorough tests of embedded control devices
using the complete system impractical.
Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation is a real-time test technique used to test these devices more efficiently.
During HIL test, the physical system that interfaces...
Published: May 01, 2019



This article describes best practices for new designs of PROFIBUS DP nodes, and covers bus node isolation, PROFIBUS compliance, and bus signal polarity. It includes a review of a new family of PROFIBUS International recognized isolated transceivers, whose isolation technology is based on Giant Magneto Resistance (GMR)....
Published: Jul 17, 2018



The only system that’s safe from cyberthreats is one that’s never powered on. While this is an overstatement meant to highlight the seriousness of security threats that surround things like our computers and phones, it’s something to be considered as threats to embedded systems evolve.
Today...
Published: Aug 27, 2020



This paper provides an overview of controller hardware and firmware technology. Managing the interfaces to non-volatile memory such as NAND flash on one side and to a host system on the other, as well as translating the different protocols used on both sides, is a basic function of all controllers. Additionally, flash...
Published: May 19, 2020



Power-up control, general purpose I/O expansion, voltage level translation and interface bridging are common functions in telecom infrastructure, server and industrial applications. System designers are turning to the use of programmable logic devices (PLDs) to implement these functions in their designs due to the inherent...
Published: Jul 19, 2018