Dissecting third-party camera batteries, part 2: Swelling

It’s not uncommon for a midsection to become soft and distended with advancing age. That said, when it happens to a battery, it’s potentially quite problematic. In last week’s part 1, I took apart a third-party BLX-1 battery which had…

Component and layout rules for USB-C, PD, and CMTI

Over the last two months, we mapped out how USB-C, Power Delivery (PD), vehicle-to-load (V2L), and high common-mode transit immunity (CMTI) are reshaping the landscapes of test and measurement and electric vehicles (EVs). The next challenge…

Bear on a power pole

Live wire power poles present obvious danger to wildlife, but emergency response plans for such events unfortunately seem to be inadequate. The following screenshot image (Figure 1) shows a black bear that actually managed to climb to the top…

Why software-defined systems require a dynamic data layer

Every embedded project eventually needs to address similar challenges around how much storage should be allocated to the operating system, how much should be reserved for applications, how much capacity should be allocated for system and diagnostic…

Paper-based passives show impact of re-thinking substrate

I like to read about research innovations even if most of them don’t represent in an advance that can be commercialized or even leveraged to boost technology in general. Sometimes, the work that the team has done demonstrates innovation, discusses…

Drone bans harm customers and don’t actually close the door

Attempted prohibitions of foreign-sourced products based solely on theoretical claims, absent irrefutable supportive factual evidence, only invites domestic-supplier favoritism accusations. Last year I went on a “bit” of a(nother) drone-buying…

DDR5 MRDIMM chipset boosts server bandwidth

Renesas announced its third-generation DDR5 Multiplexed Rank DIMM (MRDIMM) chipset, delivering server-class speeds of up to 16,000 MT/s. The memory interface components, including the RRG5013 multiplexed registering clock driver and the RRG5103…

BMICs enable scalable battery monitoring

Two battery monitoring ICs (BMICs) from Nuvoton, the KA49703A and KA49713A, are designed for battery backup units used in AI servers and energy storage systems. They can monitor up to 16 lithium-ion cells, while daisy-chain communication enables…

CXL controller scales server memory

Montage Technology has introduced the M88MX6852, a CXL 3.2 Memory eXpander Controller (MXC) chip for AI infrastructure and data center applications. The device has entered trial production and has been integrated into next-generation CXL products…

MRDIMM enables higher DDR5 bandwidth

Innodisk’s DDR5 Multiplexed Rank DIMM (MRDIMM) uses a multiplexed registering clock driver and a multiplexed data buffer to achieve data rates up to 12,800 MT/s. By enabling simultaneous access to two ranks, the memory module increases bandwidth…

MCUs streamline single-motor control

Entry-level MCUs in Toshiba’s TXZ+ Series M4L Group integrate dedicated hardware and security functions for single-motor control applications. The devices feature an 80-MHz Arm Cortex-M4 core with an FPU and target home appliances, consumer…

Hz to 4-20mA or 0-20mA current source is compatible with grounded loads

Minimal circuit converts input frequency to a precision current source that also accommodates grounded inputs. I recently had the opportunity to share a design for frequency to current loop conversion using the versatile (if somewhat ancient)…