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Teardown Tuesday: 4th Generation iPod Shuffle

Teardown Tuesday: 4th Generation iPod Shuffle

In this teardown, we will look at the innards of an iPod Shuffle 4th generation to see what lingers inside one of the smallest portable music players around.


News Apr 18, 2017 by Robin Mitchell
Flexible ECG Front-End IC Serves Ultra Low-Power IoT Edge Node Signal Processing Designs

Flexible ECG Front-End IC Serves Ultra Low-Power IoT Edge Node Signal Processing Designs

As system designers search for power efficient signal conditioning components, they may find that there are very few ICs available under 100 μ‎A supply current and even fewer that include a small package variant.


Exploring UC Berkeley’s Wearable Sweat Sensor for Monitoring Dehydration

Exploring UC Berkeley’s Wearable Sweat Sensor for Monitoring Dehydration

Researchers develop a wearable sensor for detecting important analytes in sweat for monitoring dehydration.


Isolated Analog-to-Digital Conversion: A New Sigma-Delta Modulator from Broadcom

Isolated Analog-to-Digital Conversion: A New Sigma-Delta Modulator from Broadcom

Isolation components, such as the ACPL-C799, allow you to transfer data without establishing a direct electrical connection between two parts of a system.


2017 Goes Big on Tiny Electronics: A Bluetooth SoC, Satellite Communication Module, and Linux SBC

2017 Goes Big on Tiny Electronics: A Bluetooth SoC, Satellite Communication Module, and Linux SBC

In the last two months, some impressively tiny systems were unveiled or released.


News Apr 14, 2017 by Tim Youngblood
Teardown Tuesday: Solar Powered Security Light

Teardown Tuesday: Solar Powered Security Light

In this teardown, we will look at the internals of a motion-activated light which contains its own solar charging system.


News Apr 11, 2017 by Robin Mitchell
Easier PCB Design: EAGLE CAD Tips and Tricks Part 3

Easier PCB Design: EAGLE CAD Tips and Tricks Part 3

More important tips and tricks for using EAGLE CAD to help make your work much easier and faster.


Simplified Power Supervision for Portable Devices: A New Battery Management IC from Maxim

Simplified Power Supervision for Portable Devices: A New Battery Management IC from Maxim

There are many integrated circuits that can help you to optimize the performance of battery-powered devices. In this article we’ll take a look at the MAX17055.


The Race to Affordable LiDAR

The Race to Affordable LiDAR

LiDAR technology is becoming increasingly competitive, and the race to produce an affordable LiDAR sensor is heating up.


News Apr 09, 2017 by Dr. Steve Arar
Harnessing High-Frequency Sound: A New Ultrasonic Controller from Texas Instruments

Harnessing High-Frequency Sound: A New Ultrasonic Controller from Texas Instruments

You can do a lot with ultrasound, and whatever you’re doing will be easier with a highly integrated IC such as the PGA460-Q1.


Is 2017 the Year that RISC-V Will Catch on?

Is 2017 the Year that RISC-V Will Catch on?

Learn about RISC-V's challenges and competitors.


News Mar 30, 2017 by Chantelle Dubois
A Microcontroller Enthusiast’s First Look at Programmable Logic

A Microcontroller Enthusiast’s First Look at Programmable Logic

The FPGA can be a great addition to your arsenal, but it requires some adjustments to the way a microcontroller jockey thinks.


The Problem of Flexible Electronics in Wearable Device Tattoos

The Problem of Flexible Electronics in Wearable Device Tattoos

Researchers have created a printable electronic system that allows for a nano-material to flex with skin to create printable electrical tattoos.


News Mar 23, 2017 by Robin Mitchell
The Value of Customization: Customizable Raspberry Pi Computers vs PCs

The Value of Customization: Customizable Raspberry Pi Computers vs PCs

Could customizable single-board computers ever compete with PCs?


News Mar 15, 2017 by Robin Mitchell
Teardown Tuesday: Portable Power Bank and Solar Charger

Teardown Tuesday: Portable Power Bank and Solar Charger

In this teardown, we look at the Hiluckey solar charger with an inbuilt lithium-ion battery.


News Mar 14, 2017 by Robin Mitchell
PLC DCS Analog Input Module Design Breaks Barriers in Channel-to-Channel Isolation and High Density

PLC DCS Analog Input Module Design Breaks Barriers in Channel-to-Channel Isolation and High Density

This article will briefly discuss isolation in the process control analog input module and the traditional approaches to achieving this. It then outlines an alternative high density, easy to design channel-to-channel isolation analog input module architecture.


FET vs. BJT vs. IGBT: What’s the Right Choice for Your Power Stage Design?

FET vs. BJT vs. IGBT: What’s the Right Choice for Your Power Stage Design?

This article will help the reader understand the different types of power semiconductors: how they work, their key parameters, and trade-offs.


How Silicon Photonics Are Helping Data Centers Keep Up with the IoT, Big Data, and Cloud Computing

How Silicon Photonics Are Helping Data Centers Keep Up with the IoT, Big Data, and Cloud Computing

The use of photonics in networking and electronics is one of many possible solutions for handling the growing demand on data centers.


News Mar 11, 2017 by Chantelle Dubois
What 2017’s Potential Component Shortage Means for Design Engineers

What 2017’s Potential Component Shortage Means for Design Engineers

Veteran engineers and market forecasters alike have fears of an impending component shortage this year. What evidence is there to suggest such a claim and if true, how will engineers be affected?


News Mar 09, 2017 by Robin Mitchell
Teardown Tuesday: Sound-Activated LED Party Lighting

Teardown Tuesday: Sound-Activated LED Party Lighting

See what's inside a sound-activated LED for use in DJ environments.


News Mar 07, 2017 by Robin Mitchell