Carbon composition resistors
Some really old history tells an instructive tale.
When I worked at Bertan High Voltage through the 1980s we used 100 K, ½ W carbon composition resistors as part of the RC high voltage filters in various modules delivering up through 7500 V…
USB4 device controller gains USB-IF certification
The VL832 USB4 endpoint device controller from Via Labs has achieved USB4 certification from the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF). Offering data transfer rates of 20 Gbps and 40 Gbps, the VL832 chip integrates a USB 3.2 hub, USB 2.0 hub, and…
Partners advance automotive radar development
R&S has verified NXP’s radar sensor reference design, which is based on the industry’s first 28-nm RFCMOS automotive radar SoC, the SAF85xx. The radar test system pairs the R&S AREG800A automotive radar echo generator with the R&S…
Heterogeneous framework advances blockchain computing
HeteroBlock from WiMi combines cloud servers, general-purpose computers, and FPGAs to form an efficient blockchain heterogeneous computing framework. Unlike conventional isomorphic blockchain computing, where all nodes have the same computing…
3D depth sensor is adaptable across varied platforms
Set to debut at next month’s CES 2024 trade show, MagikEye’s Pico depth sensor marks a significant step forward in the company’s AI and robotics journey. The sensor leverages MagikEye’s Invertible Light technology (ILT), which operates…
Hi-rel GaN HEMTs are space-screened
Teledyne has added three new devices to its lineup of off-the-shelf, space-screened GaN HEMTs for satellite and other high-reliability applications. The parts go through NASA Level 1 or ESA Class 1 screening flow and can be brought up to full…
AC/DC adapters get their GaN shrink
The humble yet ever-present AC/DC wall-power adapter doesn’t get a lot of consideration from consumers. It’s one of those things that’s needed but is viewed as a necessary nuisance. I suspect that part of that is due to the fact that the…
2024: A technology forecast for the year ahead
This time last year, as I mentioned at the time, we decided to try an experiment. In past few years, EDN had published my retrospectives on the prior year first, followed by my forecasts for the year to come roughly one month later. While, as…
Adding one resistor improves anemometer analog linearity to better than +/-0.5%
Awhile back I published a simple design idea for a thermal airspeed sensor based on a self-heated Darlington transistor pair. See Figure 1.
Figure 1 Older design idea with self-heated Darlington thermal airflow sensor.
In the circuit, Q1 plays…
Synopsys plus Ansys: The making of an EDA giant?
The big three of the EDA industry—Cadence, Siemens EDA, and Synopsys—largely owe their ‘big boys’ status to a plethora of small acquisitions. However, the news about Synopsys acquiring Ansys seems to be a different affair. While Synopsys…
End-of-year tech-hiccups redux
Last time, in introducing this blog post series, I mentioned that as the year was drawing to a close, I seemed to be dealing with an ever-increasing number of tech hiccups, big and small alike. I focused specifically on two classes of issues:
Those…
AI assistant for hardware design gets a vision upgrade
Copilot, an AI-based hardware design assistant that understands a project context automatically, now has a vision version, and that makes it the first multi-modal AI tool for hardware design. According to Flux, a startup based in San Francisco,…
