Latest Technical Articles

In this article I will discuss what switch bounce is and some ways to deal with it. First I will take you through the…

In this article I will discuss what switch bounce is and some ways to deal with it. First I will take you through the theory, and later I will show you some ways to handle it in both hardware and in software.

Part 5 in the “How to Make an Ambient Light Monitor” series.

Part 5 in the “How to Make an Ambient Light Monitor” series.

This article walks through SCADA systems used to automate various power systems used in numerous industries. It also…

This article walks through SCADA systems used to automate various power systems used in numerous industries. It also details what the system is made up of, how they optimize performance in large-scale systems, and how these systems still poses a threat to a company's vulnerability to data and resources.

Learn how to set up the Wunderbar platform to begin building your own IoT apps. This will demonstrate the "Can't Touch…

Learn how to set up the Wunderbar platform to begin building your own IoT apps. This will demonstrate the "Can't Touch This" and "Tell Me When" demo applications to measure WunderBar sensors and perform actions based on them. Some of the major bugs are discussed.

Basic refresher on instrumentation amplifiers, followed by a several real world applications in which an engineer would…

Basic refresher on instrumentation amplifiers, followed by a several real world applications in which an engineer would find this circuit.

Getting started with PSoC®, the Programmable-System-on-Chip by Cypress Semiconductor for developing and testing embedded systems.

Getting started with PSoC®, the Programmable-System-on-Chip by Cypress Semiconductor for developing and testing embedded systems.

A guideline for proper considerations when making electrical platforms that can be easily, cheaply, and quickly…

A guideline for proper considerations when making electrical platforms that can be easily, cheaply, and quickly manufactured. The purpose and methods of proper board design, validation, testing, and technical support is discussed, from small to large scale production.

This is the first in a multi-part series on writing PICAXE BASIC code. This article covers how to read PICAXE pin-out…

This is the first in a multi-part series on writing PICAXE BASIC code. This article covers how to read PICAXE pin-out diagrams, a circuit for coding practice, and the general program format.

Handling heat in electronics. Which components create heat, which components suffer from heat. Basics of heatsinking.

Handling heat in electronics. Which components create heat, which components suffer from heat. Basics of heatsinking.

This article will go into a bit of the background of FSK and demonstrate writing a simulator in Python.

This article will go into a bit of the background of FSK and demonstrate writing a simulator in Python.

Create a smart home by displaying the current salt level of your water softener with the CC3200 and a proximity sensor.

Create a smart home by displaying the current salt level of your water softener with the CC3200 and a proximity sensor.

Control systems engineering requires knowledge of at least two basic components of a system: the plant, which describes…

Control systems engineering requires knowledge of at least two basic components of a system: the plant, which describes the mathematically described behavior of your system, and the output, which is the goal you are trying to reach.

This article is part 2 of a two-part series that introduces the tools and techniques for programming PICAXE…

This article is part 2 of a two-part series that introduces the tools and techniques for programming PICAXE microcontrollers. Part 1 focused on construction of a test circuit and the AXEpad IDE; part 2 covers the PICAXE Editor 6 IDE.

Beaglebone Black is the most recent incarnation of the Beaglebone open source hardware platform. For less than $50, the…

Beaglebone Black is the most recent incarnation of the Beaglebone open source hardware platform. For less than $50, the board includes Ethernet, graphics processing, 4Gb of nonvolatile storage, and ports supporting USB, HDMI, and Beaglebone's custom I/O add-ons, called "capes". Here's how to run some simple commands to toggle digital I/O on the board!

Part 4 in the “How to Make an Ambient Light Monitor” series

Part 4 in the “How to Make an Ambient Light Monitor” series

This is one simple way to control a LED, fan, relay or solenoid with a computer and a PIC.

This is one simple way to control a LED, fan, relay or solenoid with a computer and a PIC.

Operational amplifiers are a cornerstone of EE design. Get your first taste of this topic through a few simple circuit exercises!

Operational amplifiers are a cornerstone of EE design. Get your first taste of this topic through a few simple circuit exercises!

An introduction to the properties and purposes of a negative resistance device. Later articles will extend to negative…

An introduction to the properties and purposes of a negative resistance device. Later articles will extend to negative impedances and some applications.

We've all been there - you've spent hours and hours trying to get that sketch working, but somehow, you're not reacting…

We've all been there - you've spent hours and hours trying to get that sketch working, but somehow, you're not reacting well to time critical events in your system. Maybe it's a wireless peripheral indicating when a packet is ready. Maybe it's an external Flash device signaling when data is ready to be read out. Maybe it's as simple as a button push that you need to react quickly to! But, try as you might, it seems the best way to see these sort of events is to just digitalRead() that pin over and over in your main loop() function until something interesting happens. ...or is it?