Latest Power Technical Articles

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Unraveling the Thermocouple Approximation Error Using the Least Squares Method

Learn about the linear approximation error for a type k thermocouple and how to use the least squares method and Matlab to find the line of best fit that minimizes the approximation error.

September 25, 2022 by Dr. Steve Arar

Electronic Component Aging—Long Term Drift (LTD) in a Voltage Reference

Learn how manufacturers characterize and estimate the long-term drift (LTD) of a voltage reference for electronic component aging prediction.

September 11, 2022 by Dr. Steve Arar

Thermocouple Cold Junction Compensation Using Analog Temperature Sensors

Learn how analog circuits can be used to implement cold junction compensation using examples from Analog Devices and Texas Instrument's TMP35 and LM335 temperature sensors, respectively.

September 09, 2022 by Dr. Steve Arar

Piezoelectric Accelerometers: IEPE Sensors vs. Charge Output Sensors

Learn about integrated electronics piezoelectrics (IEPE) sensors, powering them, and how they compare to charge output (non-IEPE) systems.

June 26, 2022 by Dr. Steve Arar

PCB Layout Challenges—Improve Your Switched-mode Power Supply Designs

Switched-mode power supplies (SMPS) appear simple to route on your PCB, but are they? This article identifies two noise sources and simple fixes to improve your EMC performance.

June 02, 2022 by Adrian Gibbons

Understanding Side Channel Attack Basics

Learn the basics of side channel attacks (SCAs), the threat they pose security for hardware-level security, and why they can be so powerful.

March 27, 2022 by Jake Hertz

Understanding the Amplifier Offset Voltage and Output Swing in Resistive Current Sensing

How does an amplifier's input offset voltage impact the accuracy of a current sense resistor's measurement? And how does amplifier output swing affect your shunt resistor value? Learn this and more in this technical article.

August 22, 2021 by Dr. Steve Arar

Simulating Non-linear Transformers in LTspice

Learn how to use non-linear models in LTspice to simulate the characteristics of transformers, a crucial part of SMPS (switched-mode power supply) design.

August 20, 2021 by Ignacio de Mendizábal

Learn How Integrated Solutions Can Increase the Accuracy of Resistive Current Sensing

In this article, we’ll discuss why a discrete implementation cannot provide a high accuracy in resistive current sensing.

August 15, 2021 by Dr. Steve Arar

Resistive Current Sensing: Low-Side vs. High-Side Sensing

What's the difference between high-side and low-side resistive current sensing? This article explains the basics, as well as when each is the more appropriate design choice.

August 01, 2021 by Dr. Steve Arar

An Introduction to Digital Signal Processing

This article provides a general understanding of what DSP is, how it works, and what advantages it can offer. To appreciate the advantages of DSP, let’s first have a look at the conventional method of signal processing, i.e., analog signal processing.

June 30, 2021 by Dr. Steve Arar

Assessing the Effect of Load Capacitance on the Frequency of a Quartz Crystal

Learn how the load capacitance mismatch can “pull” the crystal to oscillate at a different frequency and how we can circumvent this problem.

June 16, 2021 by Dr. Steve Arar

Assessing the Advantages of Ultra-wideband Systems Through Impulse Radios

Using impulse radios as an example, we'll examine the advantages of ultra-wideband (UWB) technology compared to other short-range wireless communication technologies.

April 11, 2021 by Dr. Steve Arar

What Is the Power Spectrum of Quantization Noise?

Our series on quantization noise begins with a clarification of the framework the author used to determine the scope of his investigation into quantization noise.

March 07, 2021 by Wes Brodsky

Adding a Low-pass Filter to an ADC Model and DAC Modeling

In the final part of this series on modeling ADCs, we discuss one more model and also briefly cover DAC models.

March 02, 2021 by Wes Brodsky

Modeling ADCs Using Effective Number of Bits (ENOB)

Learn about the concept of ENOB (effective number of bits) and how it can be used in modeling data converters in system simulations.

February 26, 2021 by Wes Brodsky

All About Seeing Your Projects: Optical and Digital Magnification

Smaller electronics call for more powerful inspection equipment. If you're building a collection of at-home lab equipment, these visual tools may help you see where you're going on minuscule boards.

February 14, 2021 by Mark Hughes

How to Use Decoupling Capacitor Placement to Reduce Harmonic Distortion

Learn how to reduce second harmonic distortion by following some guidelines for placing decoupling capacitors in your PCB layout.

February 12, 2021 by Dr. Steve Arar

When Things Go Wrong: Battery Management System Failure Mitigation

What is thermal runaway in Li-ion battery systems? And how do battery management systems help mitigate failure for improved safety? Learn more in this technical article.

February 09, 2021 by Enrico Sanino

Introduction to Battery Management Systems

Learn the high-level basics of what role battery management systems (BMSs) play in power design and what components are necessary for their basic functions.

February 08, 2021 by Enrico Sanino