MCU enables ASIL D safety and control

Built on a 28-nm process, the Renesas RH850/U2C automotive microcontroller delivers robust connectivity and security for modern E/E architectures. This 32-bit MCU expands the RH850 lineup with a cost-optimized option for chassis and safety systems,…

VNAs perform production test up to 9 GHz

With typical measurement speeds of 25 µs/point, Copper Mountain’s three SC series VNAs enable efficient testing in both R&D and manufacturing environments. The SC0402, SC0602, and SC0902 two-port analyzers cover a common frequency start…

EV system design from components to modules to software

Electric vehicle (EV) design at the system level is a rapidly evolving landscape encompassing components, hardware modules, and software platforms. So, on the first day of Automotive Tech Forum 2026, which was dedicated to EV designs, a panel…

Cardiac monitors: Inconspicuous, robust data collectors

As follow-up to last month’s narrative of a cardiac abnormality thankfully detected by wearable devices, this engineer details the monitoring system he subsequently donned for a month. Two-plus years ago, my contributor-colleague John Dunn…

MWC 2026: Apple, Google, Samsung and Other Contending Contestants

Ever imagine that memory supply (translating to system capacity and price) concerns would ever dominate multiple companies’ announcements? “And so it goes”, to quote Kurt Vonnegut. The Mobile World Congress (MWC) show, held each year in…

EV design: The truth about 400-V to 800-V battery transition

In electric vehicle (EV) designs, the shift from 400-V to 800-V battery systems is now a pressing issue. So, the panel discussion on the first day of Automotive Tech Forum 2026 was a good venue for a reality check on the future of 800-V EV architectures. The…

Stretching a bit

I love Design Ideas (DIs) with a backstory.  Recently, frequent DI contributor Jayapal Ramalingam published an engaging tale of engineering ingenuity coping with a design feature requirement added unexpectedly and very (very!) late in product…

Custom design PWM filters easily

It’s well known that the main job of a pulse width modulator’s filter is to limit the maximum peak-to-peak amplitude of the fPWM Hz-induced ripple. It attenuates this to a specified fraction—Frac of the full-scale PWM output—while passing…

Plant pulse sensors: From soil probes to tree tattoos

Plants do not just grow—they signal. From the subtle moisture shifts in soil to the faint electrical rhythms coursing through leaves and stems, botanical sensors are turning greenery into living data networks. What began with rugged soil probes…

A defunct Amazon Echo: Where did its acumen go?

A multi-day weather-induced, utility-instigated electricity cutoff thankfully left this engineer’s residence and its contents largely unscathed…with one geriatric smart speaker exception. Last December’s high-wind-induced extended power…

USB-C and Power Delivery: Too much of a good thing?

I’ve recently been doing some detailed research and studying related to the USB Type-C connector and the associated USB Power Delivery (PD) specification. At first, both seemed like such a good idea, but now I am not so sure – especially…

Scope boosts high-speed interface validation

Keysight’s XR8 real-time oscilloscope accelerates high-speed interface debug and compliance validation with powerful parallel, multicore analysis. A newly designed frontend ASIC combined with an integrated 12-bit ADC and DSP engine preserves…