Power Tips #155: How to choose the best topology for isolated energy storage systems
With the increasing popularity of renewable energy and electric vehicles, the large-scale application of bidirectional isolated DC/DC converters is growing. This article will focus on energy storage systems (ESSs), with an overview of the isolated…
Active filters: Design tips and tricks
Filters are circuits comprising resistors, inductors and capacitors that pass certain frequency bands and attenuate others. Active filters use operational amplifiers (op amps) with resistors and capacitors, whereas passive filters do not include…
Why autonomous agriculture needs inertial navigation
Agriculture has become one of the fastest-growing applications for autonomous systems. Self-driving tractors, robotic sprayers, autonomous mowers, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are helping growers address labor shortages while improving…
Optimize hi-rel designs with rugged, flexible interconnects
As OEMs in high-reliability industries, including automotive, industrial, and military/aerospace, move to next-generation designs, they are looking for interconnects that not only offer high reliability and ruggedness but also greater design…
Unsung software and services heroes ease our days
Full-featured, high-priced products address many users’ needs. But free and low-cost options, sometimes for augmentation purposes, other times operating standalone, also have their place.
As regular readers may already have noticed, I regularly…
Compound uncertainty: AI’s hidden risk in safety-critical development
Here’s a question your grandfather could have answered: Would you rather have a million dollars today or a penny that doubles every day for a month? Most people take the million. The penny reaches $5 million by day 30.
Human intuition is simply…
How SiC and GaN are reshaping automotive power electronics
Wide-bandgap (WBG) materials, particularly silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN), are no longer considered exotic semiconductors. The automotive industry has chosen them for their ability to switch faster, tolerate higher blocking…
AI platform unifies PCB, advanced packaging workflows
Cadence says its AuraStack AI Super Agent is the industry’s first agentic AI platform for PCB and advanced packaging design. Running on the company’s Allegro AI Studio and accelerated by NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs and NVIDIA CUDA-X libraries,…
Half-brick converter packs high power density
Advanced Energy’s AIH03ZPFC power factor correction (PFC) converter delivers 1100 W of output power in a half-brick form factor. The board-mount module achieves up to 97.3% peak efficiency and a power density of 380 W/in³. According to the…
Ryzen processors power physical AI workloads
Optimized for physical AI, AMD’s Ryzen AI Embedded X100 series processors combine CPU, GPU, and NPU resources on a single embedded SoC. With up to 16 AMD Zen 5 CPU cores, an integrated GPU, power-efficient NPU, and unified memory, the processors…
Advantech AI servers leverage AMD EPYC
Advantech is launching a portfolio of servers based on AMD EPYC 9006 SP8 processors to support next-generation AI infrastructure. Servers, such as the SKY-924E5F, provide the scalability and reliability required for AI, high-performance computing…
Edge AI coprocessor adopts M.2 form factor
Based on BrainChip’s Akida neuromorphic engine, the AKD1500 edge AI coprocessor is now available in a compact M.2 2230 (22×30 mm) form factor. The card features a B+M key edge connector for use with Raspberry Pi 5 and compatible host systems,…
