2025: A year in which chaos seemingly thrived

A year back, this engineer titled his 2024 retrospective “interconnected themes galore”. That said, both new and expanded connections can sometimes lead to chaotic results, yes? As any of you who’ve already seen my precursor “2026 Look…

SCR topology transmogrifies into BJT two-wire precision current source

Recently, frequent Design Idea (DI) author Christopher Paul showcased an innovative and high performance true-two-wire current source using a depletion mode MOSFET as the pass device in “A precision, voltage-compliant current source.” In…

Power Tips #148: A simple software method to increase the duty-cycle resolution in DPWM

Have you ever had a duty-cycle resolution issue in your digitally controlled power supply? In a digital pulse width modulation (DPWM)-controlled power supply, the duty-cycle adjustment is not continuous, but has a minimum step. This is one significant…

Magnetometers: Sensing the invisible fields

From ancient compasses to modern smartphones, magnetometers have quietly shaped how we sense and navigate the world. Let us explore the fundamentals behind these field-detecting devices. Magnetic fields are all around us, yet invisible to the…

Guard circuit provides impedance matching

The first hits from a Google search of the term “guard circuit” produce a series of references to the National Guard on some security circuit. Deep in the list is a printed circuit board company that touts that they design guard rings on…

Where co-packaged optics (CPO) technology stands in 2026

Co-packaged optics (CPO) technology, a key enabler for next-generation data center architectures, promises unprecedented bandwidth density and power efficiency by tightly integrating optical engines with switch silicon. But after nearly a decade…

2026: A technology forecast for AI’s ever-evolving bag of tricks

Read on for our intrepid engineer’s latest set of predictions for the year(s) to come. As has been the case the last couple of years, we’re once again flip-flopping what might otherwise seemingly be the logical ordering of this and its companion…

Gray codes: Fundamentals and practical insights

Gray codes, also known as reflected binary codes, offer a clever way to minimize errors when digital signals transition between states. By ensuring that only one bit changes at a time, they simplify hardware design and reduce ambiguity in applications…

Crowbar circuits: Revisiting the classic protector

Crowbar circuits have long been the go-to safeguard against overvoltage conditions, prized for their simplicity and reliability. Though often overshadowed by newer protection schemes, the crowbar remains a classic protector worth revisiting. In…

Does the cold of deep space offer a viable energy-harvesting solution?

I’ve always been intrigued by “small-scale” energy harvest where the mechanism is relatively simple while the useful output is modest. These designs, which may be low-cost but may also use sophisticated materials and implementations, often…

Ignoring the regulator’s reference redux

Stephen Woodward’s “Ignoring the regulator’s reference” Design Ideas (DI) (see Figure 1) is an excellent, working example of how to include a circuit in the feedback loop of an op amp to support the stabilization of the circuit’s operating…

Active two-way current mirror

EDN Design Ideas (DI) published a design of mine in May of 2025 for a passive two-way current mirror topology that, in analogy to optical two-way mirrors, can reflect or transmit.  That design comprises just two BJTs and one diode. But while…