Western Digital set to raise flash game with HDD business spinoff
While the melodrama of Kioxia’s merger with Western Digital’s NAND flash business isn’t over, the U.S. data storage company is splitting its hard disk drive (HDD) and NAND memory businesses into two separate public companies. The HDD business…
Taking apart a rechargeable electric toothbrush
Early on in a wireless charging piece published back in March 2019, I shared two photos of one of my rechargeable electric toothbrushes (I’m using “rechargeable” here to differentiate them from also-electric toothbrushes that instead run…
A new cost-optimized high-performance oscilloscope
Following the release of the MXO 4 last year, and given its popularity, Rohde and Schwarz (R&S) are now showcasing the new MXO 5 (Figure 1)―an eight-channel oscilloscope with a bandwidth up to 2 GHz, a sample rate of up to 5 giga-samples…
DIY LED display provides extra functions and PWM
This design idea (Figure 1) shows how easily “new flesh can be added to the old bones” and how some new functions can be added to the simple LED display that was published earlier.
Figure 1 Upgraded simple LED display that preserves the…
How SiC turbocharges EV infrastructure building blocks
Designers of automotive subsystems constantly strive to develop innovative solutions to extend the range and reduce the charging time of electric vehicles (EVs). In the pursuit of these goals, they have pushed silicon-based technologies close…
How BAW addresses spectrum coexistence challenges in Wi-Fi 7
The transition from Wi-Fi 6 to Wi-Fi 7 has been a game changer, more than doubling the available frequency for wireless network. Traditionally, Wi-Fi has used the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz super high frequency (SHF) radio bands. But Wi-Fi 7 introduces…
Carrier links Arduino Pro with Raspberry Pi
Arduino Pro’s Portenta Hat Carrier transforms the Portenta system-on-module (SOM) into an industrial single-board computer using Raspberry Pi Hats. Outfitted with a Raspberry Pi-compatible 40-pin header, the carrier board provides access to…
Image sensor excels in difficult lighting
With improved sensitivity and minimized readout noise, Omnivision’s OS08C10 8-Mpixel image sensor is well-suited for home and professional security cameras. The sensor provides both staggered high dynamic range (HDR) and single-exposure dual…
Inductive position sensor achieves high resolution
Renesas has developed an inductive position sensor (IPS) technology that delivers a resolution of up to 19 bits and accuracy of up to 14 bits. The magnet-free, dual-coil technology can replace magnetic and optical encoders used in motor control…
Optical network chips power home gateway units
Gemtek has selected MaxLinear’s PRX 10G passive optical network (PON) chips for its mid-market Wi-Fi 6 AX3000 PON home gateway units (HGUs). In addition to the PRX series G-PON and XGS-PON devices, the HGUs integrate MaxLinear’s Wi-Fi 6…
Spectrum analyzer identifies uplink interference
Software for Anritsu’s Field Master spectrum analyzer performs uplink interference measurements in 5G and LTE time division duplexing (TDD) networks. This measurement is now included in the analyzer’s 5G and LTE measurement options. It provides…
Toward better behaved Sallen-Key low pass filters
The most common type of filter is probably the low pass. Among active filters, the Sallen-Key is the most widely used topology (Figure 1).
Figure 1 A first order op-amp-based Sallen-Key low-pass filter with broadband gain 1+Rf0/Rg0.
Wow the…


