Bench Talk

A lot of talk in the tech world lately has centered on an idea called “The Internet of Things”. What is “IoT”, as it is commonly abbreviated? Is it just the latest in a laundry list of tech buzzwords? Or is it something that is really going to change our lives?

One of the things that comes with studying electrical engineering is that people assume you know the answers to all kinds of questions. Some are good questions even if they are incompletely worded, like: “How much work does it take to move a kilogram?” It took some discussion but at the end he understood physics a bit better.

Every now and then our little group of engineers gets into philosophical arguments that go off into the weeds of extreme detail. A Dilbert comic catches this perfectly when a group of engineers argues about how to share two pizzas in a meeting. In our case, it started when I wanted to know the difference between an Instrumentation Amplifier (in-amp) and a Precision Amplifier. I know that an in-amp is a precision amp, but there must be something more if you have to rename it.

Have you ever tried to set up a home wireless network? Was it easy? You’ve probably heard of Plug-and-Play (PnP). Does PnP work for you every time? During the recent holiday I had to vacate my home office to turn it into a temporary guest room. I left my cable modem and wireless router in the room but I had to move my printer (not wireless) and my desktop PC to my bedroom.

“Dad, what’s a circuit?” Coming from my nine-year old daughter every question is perilous, but this one was precious because it touches something I love, and even more rare it is a question I can answer. My talking about circuits quickly turned into showing about circuits; in a few minutes we were digging through the electrics bin in the garage for parts. We found some three-color LED strips (leftover from a previous Mouser purchase) and away we ran.

On Oct. 31, 2013, Broadcast Engineering, a publication I’ve been reading for 20 years, closed its doors. The company chose to throw in the towel rather than retreating to “digital only”, typically the last gasp before the grave. I learned this not from the company itself but from my colleague Lynnette Reese who sent me a link to back issues (of which there are 340) on a site her Ham dad found: americanradiohistory.com. She blogged about it too, but I had to take a description of this site a step further, as it is absolutely every bit the “gem” she described. It’s also hardly a secret as Alexa ranks it 147,429 in the U.S., placing it above most trade journal sites, but it was a revelation to me.

We’re going to jump right in with this blog post. If you haven’t done so already I highly encourage you to read this article about an automated mailbox delivery project I recently completed. Also check out the first blog post in this series that discussed some key lessons learned, including the importance of reading the manual and some thoughts on open source software

What is that in-between place between boring and floundering? It’s that place where you feel challenged, but not overwhelmed. For me Modern Physics is that place. I enjoy going to class. I like reading the material and doing the homework. I find myself thinking about the math and therefore thinking about physics in general.

In a recent article published last month titled Solar Energy Harvesting Project to Power a Remote MSP430 with 2.4GHz Notification, we tried to inspire designers and makers that have limited experience outside of the Arduino microcontroller platform to explore different platforms typically used by more seasoned design engineers.

If National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation has taught me anything, it’s to not hold back on my insane desire to light up the house one Christmas, regardless of how many lumens get blasted into the neighborhood. A “Griswold” display used to be placing as many lights as your fuses could handle onto your house. As of late, it’s become more creative. A LOT more creative.